David M. Lynn
With over twenty years of experience in the consulting industry, David has sold to and consulted with organizations ranging from FORTUNE 100 firms to start-ups. Since 2001 he has served as Vice President of Business Development with IMPAX Corporation, a leading sales consulting firm specializing in executive selling. David currently leads major consulting and training engagements with DuPont, MASCO, National Starch, PriceWaterhouseCoopers, Penske, Eli Lilly, and American Express.
David spent 12 years with Blessing/White, Inc., an international training and consulting firm before joining MOHR Development in 1996 as Managing Partner. He helped grow this sales consulting company until it was acquired by Siebel Systems in 2000. David is a sought after speaker, has appeared on CNBC and Monitor Radio and has been frequently quoted in the Wall Street Journal. He received his Bachelor of Arts Degree in History with a minor in Psychology from Miami University, Ohio. David's educational background also includes graduate work in Organization Development at the University of Cincinnati.
Cliff Heberd
Cliff is Senior Consultant & Executive coach with LeadFirst. In this capacity, he facilitates both group and one-to-one leader development. Cliff also has hands-on experience in interactive learning and instructional design. He has been published in a variety of newspapers and magazines, the most recent article dealing with Quantum Leadership at a community bank, published in the ASTD magazine, Training & Development. Other published articles include: “Creating a Relative Value Position” Survey System / Cargill Animal Nutrition Division; ”A Story of Real Change,” Training & Development Magazine (community banking and long-term change initiatives; and “Managing Effectively in Asia,” Training & Development Magazine (management development options and issues in Pacific Rim locations for global corporations).
As a behavioral skills trainer, he uses a low-key, interactive approach. He has created and delivered hundreds of workshops, most in the area of staff and management/leadership development. His experience as a facilitator ranges from developing trainers and facilitators to helping non-profit organizations. He is especially well grounded in three core communication skills – interpersonal, writing and presenting. As a consultant he has tracked and helped develop corporate cultures, as well as developing and conducting focus and problem-solving groups. He has helped clients build staff involvements in vision and values development, identification of internal issues and problems, and related areas.
Cliff is certified in a variety of instruments, including the FIRO-B, NEO PI-R, Change Style Indicator, Decision Style Profile, Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, Denison Organizational Culture Survey and popular simulations such as Paper Planes, Inc. and Edgework. He is also a certified HelixPLAN facilitator and has served clients in a variety of other ways, including instructional design, case-writing, executive coaching and developing national sales conferences.
He served as an adjunct and visiting professor intermittently at Syracuse University for more than 18 years, specializing as an instructor in news writing and reporting. A Buffalo, N.Y. native, he now lives with his family in Charlotte, N.C.
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Dan Roberts
Dan is a professional coach and consultant, specializing in facilitating change and growth for individuals and companies. An intuitive leader and mentor, he began pursuing his passion for facilitating development in the corporate world and then branched out into personal development.
A student of behavioral sciences, particularly in the fields of Organizational Development, I/O Psychology and Leadership/Management Development for 17 years, Dan has applied the principles of these fields to facilitate growth and change in multiple companies and industries with many different types of people. Through this experience he realized the power of intentional development in individual lives and in the workplace. A Senior Consultant & Executive Coach with LeadFirst Learning Systems, Dan provides Coaching and Consulting in the areas of Personal & Professional Development, Organizational Development, Team Building, Customer/Client Service Development, Business Development, Solutions Development and Leadership Development.
Ohio born and bred, Dan attended Ohio State University and the University of Akron: graduating with a bachelor’s degree, which combined Business and Industrial/Organizational Psychology. The combination of the two fields was a perfect match for his interest in helping develop people and companies. He is working for Fortune 500 clients included: GE, McAfee, Sun Microsystems, Yamaha, Compaq Computer, Lockheed Martin, AC Delco, Rubbermaid, and 3M. Also, his contribution fostered positive and productive cultural environment and relationships. This success is seen in the many mutually beneficial strategic partnering relationships he brought to small and medium size businesses.
His training, credentials and associations memberships include: BA in Psychology & Business, Coach University, International Coaching Federation, American Management Association (AMA), Organizational Development Network (ODN), Society for Human Resource Development (SHRD) & Toastmasters.
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Rajendra S. Sisodia, Ph.D.
Adademy Faculty Member
Adademy Faculty Member
Raj is Professor of Marketing and Founding Director of the Center for Marketing Technology at Bentley College. He has a Ph.D. in Marketing and Business Policy from Columbia University. He has published nearly 100 articles in journals such as Harvard Business Review, Journal of Business Strategy, Journal of Business Research and many others. His research, teaching and consulting expertise spans the areas of strategic marketing, marketing productivity and stakeholder-based marketing.
In 2003, Raj was cited as one of "50 Leading Marketing Thinkers" by the largest marketing association in the world. He also coauthored The Rule of Three with Jag Sheth. This book altered current notions on competition in business, has been translated into five languages and was the subject of a seven part television series by CNBC Asia. Raj also consults with and provides executive seminars for companies in various industries. Clients have included Sprint, Volvo and IBM to name a few. Forthcoming books include Tectonic Shift: The Coming Realignment of Nations (with Jag Sheth), The 4As of Marketing (with Jag Sheth, Thomson Publishing) and Does Marketing Need Reform? (co-edited with Jagdish N. Sheth, M.E. Sharpe).
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In 2003, Raj was cited as one of "50 Leading Marketing Thinkers" by the largest marketing association in the world. He also coauthored The Rule of Three with Jag Sheth. This book altered current notions on competition in business, has been translated into five languages and was the subject of a seven part television series by CNBC Asia. Raj also consults with and provides executive seminars for companies in various industries. Clients have included Sprint, Volvo and IBM to name a few. Forthcoming books include Tectonic Shift: The Coming Realignment of Nations (with Jag Sheth), The 4As of Marketing (with Jag Sheth, Thomson Publishing) and Does Marketing Need Reform? (co-edited with Jagdish N. Sheth, M.E. Sharpe).
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Liz McBride
Liz began her business career working full-time on the third shift in a manufacturing plant, while earning a masters degree in Human Resources Development at Clemson University. Upon graduation, Liz developed a training and development department, from the ground up, for Compact Air Products, makers of custom pneumatic and hydraulic cylinders. Later, Liz created the executive development, leadership and sales development programs for Lozier Corporation, a store fixtures manufacturer. She was later the Regional Training Manager for five Allvac companies, an Allegheny Teledyne FORTUNE 500 company.
During the dot-com boom, Liz joined Osprey Consulting as an Integrated Learning Solutions Consultant, winning a Hawk's Crest Award for corporate achievement. Prior to joining LeadFirst as a Leadership Development Consultant, Liz was Program Development Manager for Bank of America's Global Quality & Productivity division. There she developed and implemented more than a dozen blended learning solutions and three bank-wide e-learning initiatives.
Liz joined LeadFirst in 2001 and brings twelve years of consulting, executive development, and coaching experience in manufacturing, e-commerce, and banking environments. She lives in Fort Mill, South Carolina with her husband, Mike, and two sons, Jack and Charlie. When she's not on the road consulting, she enjoys participating in or viewing Charlotte Area Theater.
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Gerard F. McDonough
Gerry is LeadFirst's Chief Executive Officer. His career spans 24 years and includes a diversity of experience in senior corporate positions and successful business start-up and scale-up ventures primarily in the leadership development and business strategy consulting space. He has experience in both competitive business-to-business and business-to-consumer markets with senior executives for corporations including Bank of America, Mobil Oil, American Express, JPMorganChase, Black & Decker, The Hartford and Bank One. He has demonstrated expertise forming and leading organizations, allocating enterprise resources, developing customer centric governance teams and cultures, maximizing the value of large, complex customer portfolios, all to create shareholder value. He also facilitates leadership development programs for experienced executives as well as cultural interventions for client companies in a variety of industries.
Gerry has been co-founder, or on the founding management teams, of four companies, three of which were acquired by larger corporations. Prior to joining LeadFirst, Gerry was Senior Vice President of Customer Value Analytics for Bank of America. Earlier in his career he was founder and managing principal of Booth Morgan Consulting, a customer value strategy consulting firm. Before that, Gerry held senior positions with two successful leadership development and culture change companies. He was Vice President of the Business Intelligence Division for The Atlanta Consulting Group and Mid-Atlantic Regional Director of Strategic Services for Zenger-Miller, Inc.
An accomplished business strategist, speaker, facilitator and executive coach, Gerry has established long-term relationships with FORTUNE 250 executives, has had budget oversight responsibility up to $20 million, and has enjoyed award-winning recognition for turnaround successes and for start up profitability from USA Today and Business Week. He is published in refereed business journals and is a guest lecturer at Bentley College.
Trained in economics and finance at The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., Gerry has authored several papers on corporate governance, leadership, managing the customer asset to maximize shareholder value, customer value profiling, and customer-profit causal relationships. He lives with his wife Barbara and daughters Christen and Alison in Charlotte North Carolina.
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Gary Melling
A LeadFirst Canadian associate, Gary was formerly an executive with Andersen Consulting (now Accenture) where he was a Human Capital Management subject matter expert in the Global Financial Services Practice. Specializing in Financial Services organizations, high tech and manufacturing companies on Wall Street and Bay Street, Gary quantifies the contribution Human Capital makes to revenue and profitability and uses that information to design, develop and implement sustainable business solutions. From start-ups looking for sound business architecture to global mergers and acquisitions, his focus is on fast-tracking human capital optimization.
Gary was also the thought-leader for Computer Sciences Corporation's (CSC) eHR practice and the lead executive on the development of CSC's global Human Resources Business Process Outsourcing offerings, including: the capability as a credible service provider to enter this global market, the design of Shared Service Centers, the integration of third party packages with ERPs to support Employee and Manager Self-Service, executive coaching, succession planning, organizational architecture design, performance management, benchmarking, competency modeling, formal skills assessments and human performance optimization. Gary also recently co-authored an article (with Dr. Lehr McKenzie) that was published in the Journal of Cost Management. Previously, Gary was the global Training Manager for Atomic Energy of Canada and Lead Instructor for the Combat Systems Engineering Division of the Canadian Navy.
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Robert Handfield, Ph.D
Rob Handfield is the Bank of America University Distinguished Professor of Supply Chain Management at North Carolina State University, and Director of the Supply Chain Resource Cooperative. The SCRC is the first major industry-university partnership to integrate student projects into the MBA classroom in an integrative fashion, and has had 15 major Fortune 500 companies participating as industry partners since 1999.
Handfield has consulted with over 25 Fortune 500 companies, including GlaxoSmithKline, Freightliner, Boston Scientific, Delphi, Chevron, British Petroleum, Nortel Networks, Chevron Phillips, Lyondell Chemical, Conoco Phillips, Federal Express, Milliken, and others. He has published more than 100 articles in top management journals including California Management Review, Sloan Management Review, IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management, Journal of Product Innovation Management, Journal of Operations Management, and Decision Sciences.
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Dan B. Lynn
As Vice President of Client Services for LeadFirst, Dan works closely with the leadership of client companies to develop and document client expectations and coordinate implementation activities with LeadFirst Analytics and Consulting staff.
Dan is also responsible for managing ongoing, value-added relationship strategies with LeadFirst clientele. Specifically, Dan coordinates the collection and dispersion of best practice research in the areas of organizational culture, leadership, team performance, executive assessment and strategic succession management.
A graduate of Villanova University School of Business, Dan majored in Economics and minored in Business Studies. An entrepreneur at heart, he was a key contributor in the growth of Baseball Factory, Inc., a college placement and player development company. He helped develop the sales process and training program used to make BBF the leader in its industry. His leadership and management skills enabled him to consistently motivate teams of new employees to exceed company goals. Dan has also worked with Think, Inc., the strategic negotiation consulting firm.
Originally from Baltimore, Maryland, Dan now resides in Raleigh, North Carolina and is active in a wide variety of athletics. He also has a strong interest in fitness and nutrition, and is an avid reader.
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David B. Wolfe
David is an internationally recognized customer behavior expert in middle age and older markets. He is the author of Serving the Ageless Market (McGraw-Hill, 1990) and more recently Ageless Marketing: Strategies for Connecting with the Hearts and Minds of the New Customer Majority (Dearborn Publishing, 2003). David's assignments have taken him to Asia, Africa, Europe and throughout North America. He is widely published in publications in the U.S and abroad. He has consulted to numerous Fortune 100 companies including American Express, AT&T, General Motors, Hartford Insurance, Marriott, MetLife, Prudential Securities and Textron.
Sandra Hubert Gil
Leadership Facilitator & Executive Coach
Leadership Facilitator & Executive Coach
Sandy is a clinical psychologist, an executive coach and
organization consultant originally from New Orleans, Louisiana.
She lives in Mexico City and has fifteen years of experience in
assessment-based coaching with managers and executives, 360º
feedback, cross-cultural coaching, and personal/professional
developmental planning. Her professional focus is on executive
assessment and cross-cultural coaching, consulting for
Organization Development, team building and group performance,
and training in international business environments.
She has had the opportunity to work in the US, Mexico, Venezuela, and Argentina, working for international organizations such as: Inter-American Development Bank, DuPont de México, Ford Motor Company México, Equity Residential Properties, Unilever, Colgate, and Procter and Gamble. She has also worked with Team, Tecnología Administrativa Moderna, a training and consulting organization that provides leadership training and assessment for development, in Spanish, for Latin executives.
Sandy is a certified facilitator and trainer for YPO International, the Young Presidents' Organization, designing and delivering training modules and workshops emphasizing self-awareness, personal development, conflict resolution, transition management, and teambuilding programs.
She has collaborated with in The Executive Coaching Program at the IDB, Inter-American Development Bank, assisting participants to discover their strengths and develop personal and supervisory skills and competencies.
Sandy has a Master's degree in Clinical Psychology and has completed the academic requirements for a Doctorate degree in Psychology. She is a Licensed Marital and Family Therapist in Mexico with a focus on systems. She has a postgraduate Professional Certification in Organization Development from Georgetown University. She has studied and worked both in the United States and Mexico and has the ability to coach, train, and facilitate fluently in both English and Spanish in different cross-cultural settings.
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She has had the opportunity to work in the US, Mexico, Venezuela, and Argentina, working for international organizations such as: Inter-American Development Bank, DuPont de México, Ford Motor Company México, Equity Residential Properties, Unilever, Colgate, and Procter and Gamble. She has also worked with Team, Tecnología Administrativa Moderna, a training and consulting organization that provides leadership training and assessment for development, in Spanish, for Latin executives.
Sandy is a certified facilitator and trainer for YPO International, the Young Presidents' Organization, designing and delivering training modules and workshops emphasizing self-awareness, personal development, conflict resolution, transition management, and teambuilding programs.
She has collaborated with in The Executive Coaching Program at the IDB, Inter-American Development Bank, assisting participants to discover their strengths and develop personal and supervisory skills and competencies.
Sandy has a Master's degree in Clinical Psychology and has completed the academic requirements for a Doctorate degree in Psychology. She is a Licensed Marital and Family Therapist in Mexico with a focus on systems. She has a postgraduate Professional Certification in Organization Development from Georgetown University. She has studied and worked both in the United States and Mexico and has the ability to coach, train, and facilitate fluently in both English and Spanish in different cross-cultural settings.
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Rick Vipperman
Rick is founder and Chairman emeritus of LeadFirst and continues his prominent role of leadership facilitator for the firm. He has 30 years experience in the leader development field. Prior to founding LeadFirst a quarter century ago, he was Director of Management and Leadership Development for what is now Wachovia Bank, and spent more than 12 years in that industry. Since 1982, LeadFirst has focused on executive development and Vipperman has forged his way to international acclaim by creating a leader process specifically for experienced managers. Forty-four successful companies have experienced a profound impact on their organizational culture by involving their present and future leaders - more than 20,000 of them -- in the LeadFirst leader development process.
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Becky Choi, J.D.
Becky Choi manages LeadFirst's diversity practice, and has been helping organizations and leaders understand and leverage their individual and group dynamics since 1991. Since 2001, she has been helping organizations build efficient, productive, high performing teams, and strong leaders that achieve sustainable results. She brings a unique blend of experience in organization development, business, law and human resources to her clients. With a Certificate in Organization Development from Georgetown University and a Doctorate of Jurisprudence from the University of Texas at Austin, she has a solid understanding of how best to help people and organizations move forward to achieve their goals.
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Karen Warner
Karen's career spans 27 years in corporate settings, holding management and executive positions in product management, corporate communications, marketing, and strategic planning. In these roles, Karen has worked with some of the finest strategy and marketing groups in the world, including American Express and IBM.
Karen currently provides consulting and executive coaching services to high-profile and top-performing leaders in the high tech, services and entertainment industries. Clients and companies that Karen has worked with include: Microsoft, IBM, ARAMARK Corporation, Los Angeles Unified School District and law firm Littler-Mendelson.
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