Our People

Our People

For more than 20 years, ELG has assisted such clients as Sunoco, Deloitte & Touche, Chase Manhattan Bank, Seagate, Qwest, St. Paul Companies, Coors Brewing and US Military. ELG takes a results-oriented approach, basing its consultation on empirically proven methods and models. No fads here. The leadership, staff and associates of Executive Leadership Group, Inc. have achieved distinction within their respective areas of expertise and for their skills in instructing and consulting with executives.

	LEADERSHIP
	Wendi Peck is one of the founders of ELG and consults on rapid business improvement. She specializes in developing measurable representations of strategy and aligning structure, processes, programs and resources to them. She has led the way in the development of research-based methodologies that assist organizations in building what ELG calls implementation strength. In addition to her consulting work, she lectures on a variety of management topics in both corporate and academic settings. Wendi also specializes in large-scale program management. She coauthored Keys to Project Success, the text for ELG's foundation course in project management. She sponsored and directed a benchmarking study on best-in-class project management practices in the telecommunications industry. Prior to her current work in this area, Wendi directed several multimillion-dollar projects in a Fortune 50 company. Her clients have included Qwest Wireless, Coors Brewing Company, US West, Seagate, The St. Paul Companies, Wegener Corporation, US Navy, US Marine Corps, US Coast Guard, and the Naval Postgraduate School. Wendi received her MBA from the University of Denver and a Masters Certificate in Project Management from George Washington University. Wendi co-authored with Bill Casey of "Managing for Results," a monthly column in the Denver Business Journal, and a contributor to the book, Business Driven Information Technology: Answers to 100 Critical Questions for Every Manager, sponsored by the University of Colorado at Denver's College of Business and published by Stanford University Press. www.amazon.com
	W illiam Casey, Ph. D. William Casey, Ph. D. consults in the area of organizational behavior management specializing in organizational structure design and large project management. Before co-founding Executive Leadership Group, Inc., he was a vice president with a subsidiary of Touche Ross, the Garr Consulting Group. In addition to his consulting practice, Bill serves on the faculty of the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California, teaching strategic planning and execution to senior civilian and military leaders, in the Navy's Executive Business Course and Corporate Business Course. Bill has also taught for the Haas School of Business (UCal, Berkeley), the Daniels School of Business and University College (University of Denver), and others. He completed his doctorate in psychology at the University of Kansas, with a dissertation that focused on business applications of reinforcement theory. He also has a masters degree in counseling from the University of Denver. His clients have included Chase Manhattan Bank, Sunoco, Zurich Life Insurance, The Denver Post, The May Company, Microsoft, Qwest, Coors Brewing Company, ING, US Navy, US Marine Corps, US Coast Guard, and the Naval Postgraduate School. He writes both professional and popular articles on management and has co-authored three books in the areas of psychology and communication, and co-authored a chapter for each of two texts on management. For two years Bill co-authored, with Wendi Peck, “Managing for Results,” a monthly column in the Denver Business Journal, (http://www.elg.net/id27.htm" http://www.elg.net/id27.htm) and a contributor to the book, Business Driven Information Technology: Answers to 100 Critical Questions for Every Manager, published by Stanford University Press. www.amazon.com
	CORE STAFF
	Rebecca Hoskins is vice president and senior consultant with over 14 years of experience directing strategic initiatives - from strategic planning to large-scale programs such as international product launches. In addition to her program management expertise, she offers broad experience in marketing and communications. She leverages this expertise in every engagement to help ensure success through the comprehensive understanding and commitment of all key stakeholders. Rebecca is also a seasoned educator and facilitator. She received a BS in Journalism from Northwestern University and has achieved advanced certification in ELG's courses and methodologies related to strategy articulation, planning and execution. She consistently receives top ratings from clients because of her ability to make complex concepts practical and applicable to achieving measurable results. Her clients have included US Navy, US Coast Guard, National Security Agency, Thompson Micromedex, Qwest, Syntex Laboratories, and DuPont Pharma.
	Luciann Lajoie is a strategy consultant and has a strong research background spanning industrial psychiatry and psychology. She specializes in optimizing performance from an organizational psychology perspective. Prior to joining ELG, she worked in partnership with PricewaterhouseCoopers London to revamp their mentoring program with aims to retain and advance diverse populations. That work led to significant restructuring of their processes - and increased retention and promotion of talent from diverse populations. Lucie holds an MSc in Industrial Psychiatry and Psychology from Kings College London and an MFA in acting from Florida State University. She has performed and taught extensively in academic and corporate arenas. Her military clients have included US Air Force, US Navy, National Security Agency.
	Natalie Roemer excels in facilitating organizational improvement initiatives employing the disciplines of strategic planning, business optimization, process redesign, project management, and change management. Natalie’s client organizations are large and small, domestic and international, where she consults, facilitates, and trains. With a keen ability to stay issue-focused in politically imbued initiatives, Natalie ensures that the tactical successes of a project really do add up to its strategic success. Her projects range from “soft side” initiatives (e.g., improved corporate communication) to technical (e.g., a PeopleSoft CRM implementation). Her clients have included T-Mobile, Sprint, Comerica Bank, Lockheed Martin, and Thomson MICROMEDEX. Natalie holds a BA in International Relations from Scripps College, has completed additional undergraduate coursework in Biology and Chemistry from the University of Colorado, and is a Fulbright Fellow. She is fluent in German and conversational in French and Spanish.
	Linda Thaut has over eighteen years of executive administrative experience and office management. She is indispensable when it comes to project coordination, resource management, bookkeeping, and many other executive and operational tasks. Additionaly, she has experience in financial management handling contract negotiations and financial reporting, budgeting and analysis. Linda is currently working towards her BBA.

	ASSOCIATES
	Claudia M. Baca, PMP, OPM3 Certified Assessor/Consultant Claudia has been active in the project management industry since 1984 and has experience in the information technology, telecommunications, and e-commerce industries. During her varied career, Claudia has managed many mission critical projects for a major telecommunications company and several Internet companies. She most recently was the VP of Consulting Services for a nationally known project management consulting firm. She lectures and teaches for the Project Management Institute's Denver chapter as well as for Colorado State University and Front Range Community College. Claudia is a member of the leadership team that produced the standard for Project Management Maturity, OPM3 and is currently working on the second edition of that standard. In addition, she has a Masters Certificate in Program Management from Denver University. She earned her PMP in 1995 and was re-certified in 2001 and 2004. Claudia is also an experienced writer and technical editor. She is a co-author of the paper “Organizational Project Management Maturity Model (OPM3)” presented at the PMI Global Congress Europe, 2003. She also co-authored the “The Past, the Present and the Future of OPM3” presented at the PMI Global Congress North America, 2004. In addition, she is the technical editor of the PMP Project Management Professional Study Guide and the IT Project + Study Guide and is the co-author of PMP Project Management Professional Workbook, all published by Sybex. In 2005 she published the Project Management Spotlight on Change Management in March and the PMP Project Management Professional Study Guide Deluxe Edition in August both by John Wiley Publishing. She is currently working on Project Management for Mere Mortals by Addison Wesley. It is due out in 2007 Claudia is a certified OPM3 ProductSuite Assessor and Consultant. She has assessed and improved project management maturity in organizations ranging in size from a nuclear power plant to a 50 employee telecommunication networking company.
	Ralph Brainard specializes in Business Process Reengineering, Strategic Planning & Execution, Technology Design, Executive Level Coaching, Team Building & Leadership, and Program Management. Ralph has been involved in some significant engagements. He led, managed and coached both the sale and delivery of an Order Fulfillment Process evaluation engagement for a $1 billion software products company. Identified opportunities to utilize J.D.Edwards' OneWorld ERP software to not only introduce new internet based self-service, but also improve order accuracy 90%, increase employee productivity 155%, and reduce maintenance billing cycle time 92%. The bottom line - an initial investment of $2.7 million that would return 116% over 4 years with payback within 17 months. He served as interim Process Owner for Order Fulfillment during transition of this business transformation effort over to the client. Ralph also led, managed and coached both the sale and delivery of a process reengineering effort within the Information Technologies organization of a major Regional Bell Operating Company. He identified opportunities to reduce system support response time by 50-80%, reduce required resources to support the system change process by 40-50%, reduce rework by 60-70%, improve system development productivity by 60-70%, and improve overall quality. He transitioned the implementation of this business transformation effort over to the client, providing project management assistance to client implementation teams and organizational change coaching to senior management. Led, managed, and coached both the sale and delivery of a major turnkey, strategic change engagement. He defined a new $20 million first year targeted market segment for a global e-messaging services company. He designed a new business process model that leveraged the client's defined competitive advantage for their new, hosted Microsoft Exchange Service offering. Designed, built, validated and deployed the core Go-to-Market operational support processes and organizational structure. Ralph has his MBA in Finance from the University of Chicago, Graduate School of Business, a BSEE with Honors from Lafayette College, and Certificate of Mastery from the Hammer and Company: Business Process Reengineering & Change Management.
	Jodi Grossman has 15 years experience leading projects in the private, public, and not-for-profit sectors. She has taken that experience and used it to conduct training programs in subjects such as project management, leadership development, team effectiveness, interpersonal communication, organizational communication, and job performance management. Jodi has facilitated project planning and review meetings, strategic planning sessions, group problem-solving meetings, and focus groups. Jodi managed the design and implementation of a comprehensive project management curriculum for an international manufacturer of data storage systems. This project required the assessment and integration of multiple clients' requirements into an acceptable curriculum that included training in basic project management skills, using the company's cross-functional product development methodology, leading project teams, and using project management software. In another position with a major multinational oil company, Jodi led organizational development and training efforts for a business unit undergoing major cultural change. Additionally, while working in the public and not-for-profit arenas, she successfully managed projects with volunteer staffs and severely constrained budgets. Jodi has a BA from the University of Colorado and a Masters degree in Applied Communication from the University of Denver.
	Paul Houston is a management consultant and internationally-known expert in market and competitive intelligence (CI). His career began with five years at sea during the Cold War as a Damage Control Assistant on a guided missile frigate and then as a Russian-speaking Naval Intelligence Officer on the USS Enterprise (CVN-65). In the business world, Houston has consulted with clients ranging from public sector and not-for profit to biotech, big oil, publishing, mobile telephony and food packaging. He has worked globally in Japan, Russia and Kazakhstan, and has expertise beyond CI in general management, executive recruiting, strategic planning, marketing and market research. Paul is skilled at both human source intelligence collection and in formulating targeted research questions and designing, implementing and analyzing qualitative and quantitative inquiries to resolve those matters. He is a graduate of the U. S. Naval Academy at Annapolis, MD, has an MBA from the Daniels School of Business at the University of Denver, and completed the American Management Association's “Management Course for Presidents.”
	Mitzi Katz has taught and consulted on computer software applications for the past twenty years in the business, industry, and government sectors, with clients ranging from small business to Fortune 500 companies and the Federal government. She also managed the Computer Applications Program for the University of Colorado for several years, a program hosting hundreds of computer classes in five labs withseventy-five instructors. She trains and coaches Microsoft Project and a full range of other Microsoft products, in addition to desktop publishing and ERP packages. Mitzi's goal in teaching is to provide solutions for people to simplify their workload. Mitzi emphasizes basic shortcuts that can often eliminate hours of tedium. Mitzi received a Bachelor of Science in Education from the University of Kansas and a M.Ed from the University of Montana.
	Purvish C. Kothari is a leader in managing change, while improving profitability and customer satisfaction, in service and manufacturing industries both domestically and internationally. His broad general management and “hands-on” technical skills, along with extensive expertise in eBusiness capabilities and strategic planning, have been recognized throughout his career. He has a record of improving systems and procedures that consistently increases productivity while reducing costs. Purvish C. Kothari began his career as a Special Project Manager for Sara Lee Personal Products assisting in implementation of operational excellence initiatives and information technology systems. While at Sara Lee, Mr. Kothari held a number of positions including Quality and Productivity Improvement Consultant, Director of Operations-Services, and Director of Worldwide Technology/Processes. He is the former Vice President of USWest Marketing Resource Group, Vice President of New Products/New Ventures, Quality, Engineering and Systems for Teledyne Water Pik (a former division of Allegheny Teledyne Inc.), Vice President, Operations Systems and Strategy for Coors Brewing Company, Vice President of NexGen Systems (and Taco Bell CIO) for Tricon (parent company of Pizza Hut, Taco Bell and KFC), Sr. Vice President/Chief Information Officer of EchoStar Communications Corporation and most recently Vice President of Product Innovation and Product Delivery for Cendant Travel Distribution Services. Purvish received his BS degree from Gujarat University, India and MS in Industrial Engineering from the University of Texas.
	Susan May has 15 years of experience in leadership, organizational development, human performance, and change management consulting. She began her career at Accenture where she spent nine years helping clients achieve greater levels of performance via various initiatives. Her expertise lies in organization design and development, business process improvement, program / project management, large-scale change management, communication planning / execution, leadership development / alignment, performance metrics / management, and training design / development. In 2002, Susan continued her consulting career in Denver. She is known for her facilitative, partner-based approach. Her clients have included: Accenture, Corporate Express, Rock Bottom Restaurants, Samsonite, Boeing Military Aircraft, Gateway, Hospital Shared Services, Tenneco Shared Services, Tenneco Energy, Tenneco Packaging, Burlington Resources, United Dominion Realty Trust, Blue Cross / Blue Shield of Tennessee, Mobil (pre-merger), Celanese, Williams Energy, and Federal Express. Susan's client accomplishments include: Co-developing the overall strategy for how a large consulting company would position and sustain leadership development for their high-level executives. Co-facilitating the strategy articulation of two companies seeking a better sense of their purpose and direction. Helping a rapidly-expanding business effectively implement new back-office technology in 100 of their stores and in their headquarters so they could operate more efficiently and grow with greater ease. Defining and leading the Change Management efforts for a global SAP implementation resulting in a successful roll-out and consolidation of duplicative costs / functions. Helping a high-growth company identify and develop leadership competencies for their various leadership levels. She has a B.A. in Psychology from Texas A&M University, where she graduated Summa Cum Laude with a minor in Business Administration.
	Linh Nguyen has over two 20 years of experience in helping clients envision their future, realize their plans, and sustain meaningful change. Specializing in complex business transformation, Linh is in his element helping clients manage large initiatives and programs. Having advised numerous clients through complex change, he is also an experienced coach to senior executives and managers and a trained facilitator of large-group dynamics. Prior to his current position, Linh was a partner at Accenture Ltd. (formerly Andersen Consulting). Linh led Accenture's U.S. Public Sector Organizational and Human Performance Practice, with services encompassing organizational strategy, business transformation, change enablement, human resources and workforce transformation. Prior to Accenture, Linh was a manager at Cambridge Associates, a well know financial and investment consulting firm serving endowed and non-profit institutions, where he specialized in financial planning and performance measurement for large endowments. Linh's clients have included Fortune 100 companies such as Microsoft, Verizon, and Freddie Mac; major federal government agencies such as the U.S. Departments of Education, Homeland Security, Defense, Energy, Housing and Urban Development, and NASA; as well as municipal governments such as LA County and Salt Lake County. He has also worked with well-known endowed and non-profit institutions such as the Albuquerque Community Foundation, ACCION New Mexico, United Way of Central New Mexico, the World Bank, National Geographic Society, and World Council of Churches. Linh graduated from Yale University in 1987 with a BA in Anthropology, with joint concentrations in pre-medicine and art.
	Jan North has 15 years Project Management, Process Management, Change Management and Training experience with numerous Computer Manufacturing, Insurance, and Food Distribution companies. She has led the conversion activities for several custom software implementations, primarily in the Sales Force Automation, Order Processing and Call Center functions. She has managed several project teams to implement process improvements and call center technologies. Jan introduced and implemented several call center technologies which helped increase productivity by 30% and maintain improvement gains of over $6MM. She managed an inter-department project team which developed one of the first web-based process management systems designed to help 6-SIGMA projects maintain productivity and monetary gains. She also developed and implemented a series of 6-week “turn-key” business, software systems, and change management training programs for hundreds of new and transferred employees impacted by a project which centralized 18 order processing call centers. Jan has conducted numerous system conversion and continuing education technical training courses, primarily for Sales and Marketing and Call Center audiences. Jan designed, developed and wrote the curriculum for many of the courses. Jan has a B.A. from Colorado College and an M.B.A from the University of Colorado.
	Laura Olinger specializes in Project Management, and the communications that surround projects inside of complex systems. Her inaugural training and experience in Project Management came early in her career when working in radiation protection for Rockwell International at Rocky Flats Nuclear Weapons Plant. A transition into the early stages of regulated waste management and environmental cleanup with EG&G provided experience with multiple high visibility stakeholders including regulatory agencies and public forums. Laura has a BS in Environmental Health, specializing in Health Physics from Purdue University, and some graduate courses in nuclear physics and Environmental Engineering from Georgia Tech, and Colorado School of Mines. While her education is highly technical and science oriented, Laura's affinity and professional training are for solid project design, and the communications that ensure strong teamwork and project delivery. Recent study has focussed on human dynamics, communication that adds value, and executive coaching. Her clients have included: TwoJet, ThreeGuesses, Scales, Sherman, Jacobs and Associates, and Probita; and mid and larger-size companies: XOR Network Engineering, Rogue Wage Software, and CSG Systems. With Project Management as the focus of her work, Laura has provided executive coaching, project design, meeting and teamwork facilitation, and internal organizational issue analysis.
	Lorien Pratt, Ph.D. is one of the world's most respected technology analysts, especially in the area of telecommunications. She combines her software engineering expertise with in-depth market knowledge to provide strategic planning, decision engineering, and market positioning services to a number of companies and organizations worldwide. Through executive brainstorming and problem solving exercises she has helped her clients to combine their expertise and intuition with hard data to improve decision making and to align strategic and tactical decisions with processes and people. Formerly global director of Frost and Sullivan's OSS/BSS market research organization, Lorien's credentials also include software entrepreneur, college professor, chief scientist, project manager, and process engineer. She was a member of the Human Genome Project and has worked on teams addressing problems in hazardous waste characterization, speech recognition, forensic analysis, heart disease diagnosis, financial analyst retention and telecommunications churn reduction. Lorien is known for her pioneering work on inductive transfer in neural networks. She is a recipient of the NSF's prestigious CAREER award and the Exemplary Research Award from the Colorado Advanced Software Institute. Lorien is a graduate of Dartmouth College and holds three computer science degrees, culminating in a Ph.D. from Rutgers University. Coauthor of the book Learning to Learn, a contributor to several other books, and guest editor of the Machine learning Journal and Connection Science, she is widely published in both academic and industry journals and is a frequent keynote speaker. Lorien's clients have included HP, IBM, Progress Software, Alcatel, Lucent, Bell South, Microsoft, BEZ Systems, SAS, Unisys, Sun, Amdocs, the Colorado Bureau of Investigation, CSG, Idaho National Engineering Laboratories, and Comptel.
	David Roberts works closely with senior executives to develop and implement practical business strategies to grow profits and shareholder value. For more than 25 years, he has advised over 100 companies in 45 industries and 15 countries, including clients in financial services, consumer products, business process outsourcing and technology-based businesses. His approach to business strategy emphasizes creating value propositions to win and retain the most valuable customers in a market, then aligning operations, processes and organizations to fulfill the customer commitments efficiently and effectively. David began his consulting career with Bain and Company. As a Bain partner, he lived in Tokyo for four years while building Bain's successful Asia -Pacific consulting practice. In addition to his consulting work, David served as a Senior Vice President for First Data Corporation where he was responsible for global corporate strategy and developing new lines of business. Mr. Roberts is a graduate of Brown University and earned an MBA with distinction from the Harvard Business School. He is an adjunct professor in the University of Colorado (Denver) MBA program where he teaches courses in Strategic Management. He is also a private investor and advisor with many entrepreneurial ventures.