Viji Annamalai is a Principal at ghSMART. She serves leading private equity investors, hedge fund managers and Fortune 500 clients in the areas of management assessment, leadership coaching and organizational change initiatives.
Prior to joining ghSMART, Viji ran her own business advising Fortune 500 companies and entrepreneurs in the consumer products, healthcare and media industries. She specialized in growth strategy and new business development, helping companies identify, launch and profitably grow new and existing businesses.
Prior to starting her own business, Viji was a Manager at Bain & Company in the New York, Singapore, Hong Kong and Dallas offices. At Bain, Viji advised CEOs and senior executives of Global 1000 companies and private equity firms on business strategy, operational improvement, M&A and organizational change issues. Her client list included industry leading corporations in the consumer products, healthcare, retail and financial services industries. In addition to client work, Viji ran associate consultant recruiting for the firm’s Singapore office, led a core regional training program for the Asian offices and was an active contributor to other recruiting and professional development programs at the firm throughout her 10 year tenure.
Viji holds an MBA from the Harvard Business School and a BA degree in Economics and Political Science from Rice University, where she graduated cum laude. She currently lives in New York City.
A trusted advisor to hundreds of CEOs and senior executives for more than 20 years, Ted has advised the founders, CEOs, and boards of dozens of global organizations such as The World Bank, Credit Suisse, Putnam Investments, Fidelity Investments, Johnson & Johnson, and State Street Corporation, as well as preeminent private equity and alternative asset management firms such as Apax Partners, CVC Capital, Bain Capital, The Blackstone Group, The Carlyle Group, Icahn Associates, Goldman Sachs, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts, Perella Weinberg Partners, Pershing Square Capital, and Vornado Realty Trust.
Ted advises founders and CEOs on how to be more powerful and influential leaders, how to select and develop the next generation of their firm’s leadership, and how to position their organizations for maximum profitability and financial success over the long term. A recognized expert on leadership, succession planning, and organizational development, Ted is a frequent speaker at leadership and investment conferences and has been featured in Fortune magazine and on CNBC’s Power and Money. A Harvard-trained clinical psychologist, Ted takes a very personal, interactive, and relationship-based approach to his work as an advisor to global investors, CEOs, and families involved in generational wealth transfer issues.
Ted was formerly the founder and general managing partner of the Boston office of Personnel Decisions International, a global management consulting firm, as well as the first head of executive and organizational development at State Street Corp. Ted has been on the faculty of Harvard University for more than a decade, teaching in several of the graduate schools and executive development programs of the university, and has served as a trustee of one of Harvard’s major teaching hospitals. Ted led the leadership development segment of the Advanced Management Program at Harvard Business School for five years.
A magna cum laude graduate of Harvard College, Ted earned an M.A. and Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from Loyola University of Chicago. He served as a clinical instructor at Harvard Medical School and McLean Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts for several years. Ted serves in several leadership roles at many professional and charitable organizations in Boston and New York, including as Officer of the Corporation at the Perkins School for the Blind in Watertown, Massachusetts, and Special Advisor to the CHARGE Syndrome Foundation, an advocacy organization devoted to helping children with complex, life-threatening illnesses.
Elena is a Partner at ghSMART. She serves major corporate and alternative investment clients globally, including: Centerbridge Capital Partners, Citadel Investment Group, IBM, New Mountain Capital, Starwood Capital, and many others. She is a frequent speaker at leading industry events on the topic of talent management.
Prior to joining ghSMART, Elena was an Associate Partner at McKinsey & Company, where for six years she advised CEOs and senior executives of Fortune 500 companies and major private equity players on the issues of M&A, business strategy, organizational change (including CEO "100 day" plans), and operations. Her client list included major corporations in media, technology, and financial services industries. Elena was a core member of the McKinsey Media & Entertainment practice and authored several publications on advertising sales strategies, marketing effectiveness, and organizational transformation. Elena led design and rollout of a new candidate assessment system across McKinsey US offices and has been actively involved in candidate assessment, training, and coaching since 1999.
Prior to McKinsey Elena was a Corporate Finance Associate at Andersen Worldwide in New York and an Investment Officer with a private equity fund in Moscow, Russia. Elena has been active in pro bono work, including leading a McKinsey project for NYC to assist businesses affected by 9/11 events.
Elena holds an MBA in finance from the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania. She is a CPA and received BS in Accounting with Magna Cum Laude honors from State University of New York at Binghamton. Elena completed Leadership Coaching certification at Georgetown University. She also completed three years at the Moscow State Pedagogical University majoring in education. Elena lives in New York City with her husband Carlos.
Jordan Burton is a Partner at ghSMART, and leads the firm's West Coast practice. Jordan serves private equity and corporate clients in the area of management assessment, feedback, coaching, organizational effectiveness and succession planning. His advisory approach bridges strategic and human factors, based upon his combined expertise in business strategy and talent development. He has a particular focus as a trainer, coach and advisor on organizational change initiatives, helping clients bring talent management best practices in-house.
Prior to joining ghSMART in 2007, Jordan was a Case Team Leader in Bain & Company's San Francisco office, where he focused primarily on private equity and high technology engagements over his 5-year tenure with the firm. He worked closely with one of the top performing US leveraged buyout funds to conduct due diligence on eight transactions totaling over $2B of combined market value. He also served corporate clients in the media, IT hardware, financial services, retail, professional services and semiconductor industries. Prior to Bain, he served as Director of Strategy and Business Development for a high-growth enterprise software company, managing the company's strategic partnerships and leading critical pricing and product development initiatives.
Jordan holds an MBA with honors from the Harvard Business School and BA degrees in Economics and Philosophy from Duke University, where he graduated Summa Cum Laude. He lives in San Francisco, California.
Jason Daumeyer is a Principal at ghSMART. The firm offers quality-guaranteed services in the areas of management assessment and leadership coaching, serving investors, boards, and CEOS. His assessment work drives selection decisions and individual coaching plans, as well as succession planning and team- and organization-level change. He helps companies determine their talent configuration, develop their succession plans, build bench strength, and develop and optimally deploy their human capital. Jason has led projects that range in scope from single-executive pre-hire assessments to 5-member top-team assessments to 60-executive global succession plans. Jason has helped organizations assess executives for promotion into the Vice President, President, CFO, or CEO role.
Prior to joining ghSMART, Jason led the Americas Assessment Practice at Heidrick & Struggles, where he was instrumental in significantly growing the Practice. He has conducted several hundred executive assessments in Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe, North America, and South America across a range of industries, including CPG, mining, resources, materials, defense, energy, real estate, private equity, and manufacturing. Before joining Heidrick & Struggles, Jason led sales organizations for consumer packaged goods companies and held leadership roles in start-up businesses.
Jason holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Yale University and a Master of Business Administration degree from Northwestern University’s Kellogg Graduate School of Management.
Katherine is a Principal with ghSMART where she advises boards, executives, and investors on their most important leadership challenges. Prior to joining ghSMART, Katherine was Director of McKinsey Women for McKinsey & Company. In this role, she had global oversight for the creation and execution of all aspects of the firm’s women’s strategy, which spanned the recruiting, retention, talent development, and advancement of women. She led the design of and facilitated myriad learning programs with the objective of helping women define the leaders they aspire to become and create action plans to build on their strengths to reach their aspirations. Before taking on this global role, Katherine held other office- and regional-level talent leadership positions at McKinsey in recruiting and professional development.
Prior to moving into talent leadership at McKinsey, Katherine was a consultant at McKinsey in the Washington, D.C., and London offices. She served clients across multiple industries with a focus in financial institutions and social sector organizations. Her client engagements covered diverse topics including talent and organizational strategy, service operations optimization, and strategy.
Katherine holds a BA with Honors in Psychology and English from Williams College, where she graduated magna cum laude. She earned an MBA at Harvard Business School where her elective coursework centered on leadership and organizational strategy. Katherine lives in Phoenix with her husband and two children.
Bruce is a Principal at ghSMART. Prior to joining ghSMART, Bruce spent seven years as Chief Development and Planning Officer and Vice President of Development at MedQuest Associates, Inc., a private equity-owned outpatient medical imaging company. At MedQuest, Bruce was responsible for all corporate development activity, including acquisitions, new facility development, capital budgeting, and investment analysis. He also headed up the firm's enterprise-wide performance enhancement initiative, overseeing multiple internal teams focused on improving core operational processes.
Previously, Bruce served as Healthcare Client Director and business strategy consultant for iXL, Inc., a publicly-traded internet consulting firm in Atlanta, Georgia, from 1999–2000. There, he primarily managed client relationships with early-stage healthcare firms, coordinating the delivery of software development and strategy consulting projects for clients.
Prior to joining iXL, Bruce served for three years as Vice President, Development for Nashville-based Meridian Corporate Healthcare, Inc., a venture-financed start-up company providing dedicated healthcare services to large employers. His duties included acquisitions, new service line development, and the development of major healthcare services proposals. He also served as Coordinator of Business Development for Surgical Care Affiliates, Inc., a publicly-traded outpatient surgery center company based in Nashville, Tennessee, from 1993–1996.
Bruce has a BA in Political Science from Vanderbilt University and an MBA from the Owen Graduate School of Management at Vanderbilt University.
Jason Fiftal is a Principal at ghSMART, where he helps boards, executives and investors address their most pressing leadership challenges. Jason serves clients in the areas of management assessment, leadership coaching and executive learning.
Prior to joining ghSMART, Jason was a Principal with Bain & Company in their Atlanta office. In his tenure at Bain, Jason worked in a wide range of industries including consumer products, retail, industrial goods & services, financial services, telecommunications, media, technology, healthcare, higher education and private equity. Jason was a member of Bain's Customer Strategy & Marketing and Results Delivery practice areas, where he specialized in designing and implementing transformational and organizational change. In addition to client work, Jason also led undergraduate recruiting at several schools and was risk management head for the Atlanta office.
Prior to Bain, Jason was an investment advisor to high net worth clients at JPMorgan.
Jason graduated Magna Cum Laude from Wake Forest University with a BA in Psychology and earned his MBA from The Fuqua School of Business at Duke University where he graduated as a Fuqua Scholar. Jason lives in Atlanta, Georgia, with his wife and four children.
Jayne Ford is Recruiting Director of ghSMART. The firm offers quality-guaranteed services in the areas of management assessment and leadership coaching. Clients include leading private equity investors, hedge fund managers, Fortune 500 boards and senior executives.
Prior to joining ghSMART, Jayne was Vice President of Shawnee Milling Company. There she led the strategic planning initiative in addition to overseeing the southeastern US sales group. Before joining Shawnee Milling Company, Jayne was the Chief Administrative Officer for Corbin & Company Capital Management.
Jayne holds an MBA from the Harvard Business School and a BBA in Finance from Texas Christian University where she graduated cum laude. Jayne lives in Denver, Colorado with her children.
Alan is a Principal at ghSMART. He serves private equity investors, Fortune 500 clients and non-profit organizations in the areas of leadership selection, development and organizational transformation.
Prior to joining ghSMART, Alan was a senior manager with Bain & Company in their New York and London offices. Over his twelve years at Bain, Alan worked in more than twenty industries that included financial services, consumer products, technology and private equity. He led teams that assisted clients in turning around operational performance, building high performance cultures, and evaluating major acquisitions. Alan also led projects to reinforce Bain's global culture of coaching and apprenticeship across 42 offices and redesigned their approach to employee engagement. He also enjoys working with a number of leading nonprofit organizations on strategic talent issues.
Alan graduated with honors in Economics from Cambridge University in UK and earned his MBA from INSEAD in France and his Masters in Applied Positive Psychology from the University of Pennsylvania. He lives in Brooklyn, New York with his wife and family.
Eric Gerber is a Principal at ghSMART. He serves leading private equity investors, hedge fund managers and Fortune 500 clients, specializing in C-Suite executive assessment, leadership coaching and senior team effectiveness. Eric builds long-term partnerships with CEOs, Boards, and senior executives to ensure they have the right talent in place to deliver on their strategy.
Prior to joining ghSMART, Eric was a Partner at RHR International, LLP, where he advised senior executives on their leadership impact and maximizing their teams to deliver increased value. Eric managed some of the firm's largest and most complex engagements and served clients in the retail, financial services, insurance, software, private equity, commercial real estate, manufacturing and professional services industries.
Prior to RHR, Eric was responsible for Executive Assessment & Development at The Home Depot. While there, he ran top-rated executive leadership development programs and managed the company's assessment process and coaching program. In addition, Eric served in the company's Talent Management function supporting succession planning and talent mobility during a period of rapid growth. Previously, he was an Organizational Development Consultant for Right Management where he consulted to several Fortune 500 companies.
Eric holds an M.A and Ph.D. in Industrial-Organizational Psychology from the University of Georgia and a bachelor's degree in Psychology with Honors from Wake Forest University. He lives in Atlanta, GA with his wife and family.
Michael is a Partner at ghSMART and leads the firm's SmartCoaching practice area. Michael advises founders, CEOs, alternative-asset investors and non-profit leaders from around the globe on executive talent optimization. Related topics include applying approaches to effectively assess and develop more capable and influential leaders, assisting with leadership succession efforts, and growing long-term value through the proper application of talent and supporting processes. Michael takes a highly interactive, open, personalized and relationship-focused approach to his work as a leadership advisor to leaders of the world, bringing to bear his background of engineering logic, industrial sales and global strategy experiences. He is a frequent speaker at industry events on the topic of talent management and optimization.
Prior to joining ghSMART, Michael was a Manager with The Boston Consulting Group, where he spent over six years advising CEOs and senior managers of Fortune 500 companies and Private Equity firms in the areas of building businesses, driving strategic change and solving complex business problems. While at BCG he focused primarily on the organizational and operational issues (including mergers & acquisitions) of the pharmaceutical, medical equipment and consumer goods industries. Michael also led BCG's global MBA recruiting efforts at the Wharton School for four years and was highly active in pro bono work, including a long-term relationship advising the Wildlife Conservation Society. Prior to BCG, Michael worked at General Electric where he participated in GE's management training program and held a variety of roles in the areas of engineering, marketing and sales.
Michael earned a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from Cornell University and an MBA from the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania, where he graduated with high distinction as a Palmer Scholar (top 5% of graduating class). Michael lives in Philadelphia with his wife and three children.
Beata Hejnar is a Staff Accountant at ghSMART. Her role is to support the team in areas of finance, information technology, and operations. She brings to ghSMART over 13 years of financial analysis and reporting experience. Prior to joining ghSMART, she worked for SCOR Re, an international reinsurance firm based in Paris, France and Pro Financial Services, a specialty professional sports insurance broker based in Schaumburg, Illinois.
Beata graduated from the Academy of Economics in Krakow, Poland with a Masters Degree in Business Management. She also holds an Advance Accounting Certificate. Beata lives in Bloomingdale, Illinois with her husband and two children.
Dionne Hosten is a Principal at ghSMART. She serves private equity and corporate clients in the areas of management assessment, leadership coaching and organizational change initiatives and advises their boards, executives, and investors on their most important leadership challenges.
Prior to joining ghSmart, Dionne spent eight years at the executive search firm Spencer Stuart where she was a key member of the firm's leading Technology, Communications & Media Practice and specialized in CEO and senior management searches in the Cable, Broadcasting, Consumer Internet, Publishing and Music sectors. Dionne was also one of only a handful of consultants selected to join its growing Executive Assessment (EAS) practice. As a member of EAS, Dionne conducted projects that ranged in scope from single executive pre-hire and promotion assessments to top-team assessments and development planning across companies in sectors as diverse as Oil & Gas, Specialty Chemicals, Music and Pharmaceuticals.
Prior to Spencer Stuart, Dionne spent several years in the Technology, Communications & Media industries both as an equity research analyst covering key sectors and as an operator in general management and senior business development roles.
Dionne started her career at McKinsey & Company, where she was part of the firm's Media and Consumer Packaged Goods practices. Her assignments there focused on strategy formulation and organizational and process redesign.
Dionne is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School of Business, where she earned her B Sc. Economics degree, and from its College of Engineering and Applied Science, where she earned a B Sc. Engineering. She received her M.B.A. from Harvard Business School where she focused her elective coursework on leadership and organizational strategy. Dionne currently lives in New York City with her husband and their three children.
James Intagliata is a Partner with ghSMART. He specializes in senior-level executive assessment, individual leadership coaching, and competency-modeling. Over the past 25 years he has provided management consulting services to a diverse group of clients ranging from venture capital backed start-ups, to family owned businesses facing tough succession issues, to a wide variety of Fortune 100 companies dealing with large scale business challenges and opportunities. Since joining ghSMART in 1999 he has been active in serving major hedge fund and private equity clients nationwide and globally including Citadel, TPG, Sterling Partners, TD Capital and others. Representative major corporate clients with whom he has worked include Amoco, Blue Cross/Blue Shield Association, Cargill, Hallmark, IBM, ITW, Kaiser Permanente, Kraft, The Limited, Lincoln Financial Group, McDonald's, the National Center for HealthCare Leadership, Nike, and USG.
He has been a frequent speaker on the topics of leadership competency modeling and managing the acquisition integration process and has published a number of articles, his most recent one focusing on "Leveraging Competencies to Create Leadership Brand" which appeared in Human Resources Planning.
His management consulting experience prior to ghSMART includes serving as the Midwest Regional Director of Human Resources and Development with the Hay/McBer Group and as a Senior Consultant with RHR International. Before shifting his career focus to management consulting in 1985, he held faculty positions at the State University of New York at Buffalo, served as the Director of Research for the Institute of Human Development at the University of Missouri at Kansas City, and consulted widely to state and federal governments on issues of mental health care policy.
James received his B.A. in Psychology as a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of the University of Missouri at Columbia and was awarded his Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from the State University of New York at Buffalo in 1976.
Sheila Kampa is a Principal at ghSMART, which offers quality-guaranteed services in the areas of management assessment, leadership coaching and executive learning. Clients include leading private equity investors, hedge fund managers, Fortune 500 senior executives and billionaire entrepreneurs. Prior to ghSMART, Sheila was at Cerberus Operations and Advisory Company, LLC. While at Cerberus, Sheila focused on leadership assessment across various stages of the investment life cycle. She also helped develop an Employee Engagement survey that helps Cerberus portfolio companies drive business performance.
Prior to Cerberus, Sheila was at RHR International, a consulting firm committed to helping organizations link managerial effectiveness, organizational performance, and business strategy. At RHR, Sheila advised senior business leaders of small privately held companies and Fortune 50 companies on talent management, executive assessment, integration, senior team alignment, and optimization.
Sheila sits on the Board of The American Psychological Association’s Society for Consulting Psychology and holds the rank of Associate Clinical Professor of Psychology at the Gordon F. Derner Institute of Advanced Psychological Studies. She holds a doctorate in Counseling Psychology from Western Michigan University with an emphasis in consultation and organizational development. Sheila has researched, presented and published on the efficacy of executive coaching as a consultation tool in business as well as taught courses on executive coaching to doctoral students. Sheila lives in New York City.
Steve is a Principal at ghSMART and provides consultation on selecting, developing, and utilizing senior leadership capital within the context of positional demands, strategic goals, and organizational culture. Additionally, he consults on links between organizational culture and financial performance, and working through leadership/cultural issues in mergers & acquisitions.
Prior to joining ghSMART, Steve consulted for over 15 years with the senior leaders of Fortune 500 companies, private equity firms, and entrepreneurial start-ups. He has been a Principal in Leadership Consulting with Heidrick & Struggles International, headed the Executive Assessment and Coaching Practice for the Southeast Region of Right Management Consultants, and was a Partner in Leadership Capital Group, a boutique leadership development firm.
Steve earned his undergraduate and doctoral degrees in Clinical Psychology at Michigan State University before completing a post-doctoral fellowship at the University of Michigan. Steve was recently elected President of the Society of Consulting Psychology, a division of the American Psychological Association.
Ellen Krasavage is a Staff Accountant at ghSMART. Her role is to support the team in areas of finance and internal control. She brings to ghSMART over 12 years of public accounting, corporate financial analysis and reporting, and income tax preparation and research experience. Prior to joining ghSMART, she worked for the largest regional accounting firm in upstate New York and Xerox Corporation in Rochester, NY.
Ellen graduated from Rochester Institute of Technology in Rochester, NY with a Bachelor of Science in Accounting. She is a licensed CPA and a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants. Ellen lives in Lake Zurich, Illinois with her husband and four children.
Heidi Kravchuk is an Executive Assistant at ghSMART. She is responsible for providing support to a Partner, as well as managing projects, producing assessment reports, meeting planning and travel.
Prior to joining ghSMART, Heidi worked in the communications field for 19 years at several institutions of higher learning such as College of the Holy Cross, University of Maryland and Providence College.
Heidi lives in Storrs, CT with her husband and two children.
Thor Mann is a Principal with ghSMART, the leader in quality-guaranteed management assessment and leadership coaching. Clients include leading private equity investors, hedge fund managers, CEOs and billionaire entrepreneurs. His assessment work and consultation drive selection decisions and organizational change to maximize enterprise value creation.
Prior to joining ghSMART, Thor was a consultant with RHR International. There he advised senior executives of the firm’s most important financial services and corporate clients globally, including Citadel, Merck, Pfizer, and others on selecting, developing, and retaining their key talent. Beyond management assessment and executive coaching, Thor was often called on to support and educate leadership teams in organizations going through large-scale change such as mergers and downsizing. Thor led RHR’s training efforts to improve and standardize the firm’s management assessment practice for a key hedge fund client.
For the last five years, Thor has served on the staff of the Executive Development Program at the Wharton School. At this program, he taught executives transitioning from functional to general management how to link their leadership judgment and behavior to enterprise success.
Thor has a Psy.D. in Organizational Psychology from Rutgers University, where he was an Excellence Scholar, and a BA in History from Reed College, from which he graduated as a member of Phi Beta Kappa. He lives in New York City with his wife Alice, a management consultant.
Melissa McMahan is an Executive Assistant at ghSMART. She is responsible for providing support to two principals, as well as managing projects, producing assessment reports, invoicing, meeting planning, and travel.
Prior to joining ghSMART, Melissa worked as an Executive Assistant / Project Coordinator for over 19 years, supporting senior leaders in leading companies in organizational consulting, healthcare, and transportation. Her passion is client service, and she thrives on ensuring excellent execution.
Melissa lives in Marietta, GA, with her husband and five children.
Jeanette Messina is an Executive Assistant at ghSMART. She is responsible for providing support to a Partner and a Principal, as well as managing projects, meeting planning and travel.
Prior to joining ghSMART, Jeanette worked with Partners at McKinsey & Company in New York, and worked closely with top-level executives of companies in various industries. At Godiva Chocolatier, Jeanette provided administrative support for the Senior Vice President and Managing Director of Global Retail and Marketing, and helped to create a gold standard of customer service. During her time at ABN AMRO Bank, Jeanette worked with Senior Executives to organize seminars and support client relationships with executives of mid-sized companies.
Jeanette lives in Long Island with her husband, Frank and her sons Nicholas and Jayson. She enjoys reading, kickboxing, dancing and volunteers with Big Brother/Big Sister.
Merry “Beth” Murtaugh is an HR Coordinator at ghSMART. Her role is to support the team in the areas of recruiting, professional development, and meeting planning.
Prior to joining ghSMART, Beth worked as an Executive Assistant for over 20 years supporting top-level executives at such companies as Bally Manufacturing, Tenneco Automotive, Brunswick Corporation, and CDW Corporation. In her capacity as assistant to the Chairman of the Automotive Parts Advisory Committee (APAC), who reported directly to the US Secretary of Commerce, Beth had the opportunity to work closely with high-level White House and government representatives.
Linda Naden is an Executive Assistant to the Chairman and CEO, Geoff Smart. She is responsible for scheduling meetings, event planning, project management, and travel arrangements.
Linda worked as an Executive Assistant for over 20 years, supporting the Chairman and CEO of Outboard Marine Corporation and top-level executives at Snap-on, Inc. In addition, she gained marketing and philanthropy experience from her role at Lake Forest Hospital.
Linda loves photography, travel, and spending time with her family. She resides with her husband, Vern, and two dogs, a Westie and Scottish Terrier. They have two grown children.
Beth Olenski is an Executive Assistant at ghSMART. She is responsible for providing support to Bruce Elder, one of the firm’s principals, as well as managing projects, scheduling assessments, invoicing, meeting planning, and travel.
Prior to joining ghSMART, Beth worked at Smart & Associates as an assistant to Brad Smart, who is co-author of Topgrading with Geoff Smart. She also worked for seven years in HR at Eastman Kodak Company, where she held positions in executive training, talent development, and managed the company-wide employee development planning process.
Beth holds a BA in Organizational Communication and a MS in Instructional Design, from Purdue University. Beth lives in Virginia with her family.
Rodgers is a Principal at ghSMART. The firm offers quality-guaranteed services in the areas of management assessment and leadership coaching. Clients include leading private equity investors, hedge fund managers, Fortune 500 senior executives and billionaire entrepreneurs.
Prior to joining ghSMART, Rodgers was a Practice Expert at the management consulting firm of McKinsey & Company, where he worked for over seven years advising banking, industrial and pharmaceutical clients on strategy issues, organizational culture and change management. Rodgers was a core member of McKinsey's Organization practice and developed many of the ideas and tools used to diagnose and improve corporate and team effectiveness. He also co-led one of the most successful training programs at McKinsey, designed to improve the understanding, skill and comfort of consultants serving clients on organizational and people issues.
Rodgers holds a Ph.D. from Yale University in Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry and an A.B. from Princeton University in Molecular Biology where he graduated Cum Laude and Sigma Xi. Rodgers lives in Arlington, VA with his wife Selene, an attorney, and family.
Reshmi Paul's 20 years of strategy and leadership consulting make her a valued trusted leadership advisor for Boards, CEOs and senior teams. Reshmi uses her expertise in CEO succession and strategic succession management, C-suite executive assessment, onboarding and development, and senior team effectiveness to deliver value to clients through their leaders.
Prior to joining ghSMART, Reshmi was a Partner at RHR International, where she advised Boards, CEOs and senior executives of public and privately held Fortune 500 companies. She served as the Global Practice Leader for RHR's Management Due Diligence serving private equity clients where she was instrumental in growing the practice and securing marquee clients. She co-led the development of RHR's Executive Women Leadership initiative and has been a speaker in several conferences and roundtables on the topic.
Prior to RHR, Reshmi spent nearly a decade at the Monitor Group where she advised senior executives on company strategy and organizational change. She has extensive experience in a number of industries including financial services, private equity, healthcare, pharmaceuticals, professional services, consumer products, retail, media and communications.
Reshmi serves on the Board of Trickle Up, a non-profit organization whose mission is to empower the ultrapoor around the world in building sustainable livelihoods through grants, skill-building and savings groups. Reshmi is an Advisor to Fitzii, a start-up company with an innovative online solution for companies to get the best shortlist from the most diverse pool of candidates.
Reshmi holds an MBA from INSEAD in France, a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from Adelphi University in New York, a Masters of Science in Economics from the London School of Economics and a Bachelors degree with Honors from Queen's University in Canada with majors in Mathematics and Economics. Reshmi lives in New York with her husband and three children. Reshmi has lived and worked in the U.S., Canada, the U.K., France, India and Liberia.
Maureen Paust is an Executive Assistant at ghSMART. She is responsible for providing support to Randy Street, the firm's Managing Partner. Her work encompasses client support, project management, and logistics. In addition, she manages all facets of the ghSMART Executive Learning workshops and provides support as needed in other areas of the organization.
Prior to joining ghSMART, Maureen worked for more than 20 years with senior leaders in the specialty risk, healthcare, transportation and apparel industries.
Maureen lives in a suburb of Atlanta, Georgia, with her husband, Bob, and their Yorkies.
Megan Richards is an Executive Assistant at ghSMART. She is responsible for providing support to two principals, managing projects, scheduling assessments, invoicing, meeting planning, and travel. Prior to joining ghSMART, Megan worked as an Executive Assistant at Merrill Lynch, providing administrative support to the Complex Director and managing various HR processes for the local complex. At LECG, Megan was the Manager of the Professional Development department and was responsible for the execution of the firm's training programs and the development of the firm's performance management processes. Megan has also previously held positions with McKinsey & Company and the Corporate Executive Board.
Megan holds a B.S. degree in Industrial/Organizational Psychology from Pennsylvania State University. She lives in Thorndale, PA with her husband, Matt, and their daughter, Brianna.
Josh is a Principal at ghSMART. He serves private equity investors, Fortune 500 corporations, and non-profit and governmental organizations in the areas of leadership selection, development, and organizational transformation.
Prior to joining ghSMART, Josh was the Assistant Dean and Chief Admissions Officer at Harvard Law School, overseeing the selection and recruitment of all students for the JD program. Before working at Harvard, Josh was a Case Team Leader with Bain & Company in their Boston office, where he advised CEO's and senior leaders of retail, consumer products, technology, and private equity firms. While at Bain, Josh led teams that assisted clients in building strategic plans, improving operational performance, and evaluating major acquisitions, while also serving as a trainer for several Bain programs and helping to re-design workshops for experienced consultants. Josh also enjoys working with human-capital focused non-profit organizations and has served on the Board of Directors for Education Pioneers, the Advisory Board of the Harvard Law School Public Service Venture Fund, and the Truman Scholarship Finalist Selection Committee.
Josh graduated from Washington University in St. Louis and Harvard Law School, both with honors. He lives in Brookline, Massachusetts with his wife and family.
Donna Shelton is an Executive Assistant at ghSMART. She is responsible for providing support to two consultants, as well as managing projects, scheduling assessments, invoicing, meeting planning and travel.
Donna has over twenty years of diverse professional experience including supporting senior level executives, most recently at Sears Holdings Corporation, and as a realtor at Baird & Warner where she led her office in sales as a rookie real estate agent.
Donna enjoys playing volleyball, reading and vacationing with her family. She lives in Fox River Grove, IL with her husband. They have two grown children.
Geoff Smart is a CEO, bestselling author, and social entrepreneur whose mission is to create, communicate, and put into practice useful ideas about leadership.
Geoff serves as Chairman & CEO of ghSMART. ghSMART is a leadership firm for CEOs and investors, which Geoff founded in 1995. The firm was named one of the "world’s top firms" in Broderick’s The Art of Managing Professional Services. It is the subject of two Harvard Business School Cases that are taught to all 900 first-year MBA students, titled "ghSMART & Co.: Pioneering in Professional Services."
Geoff is co-author, with his colleague Randy Street, of the New York Times bestselling book Who: The A Method for Hiring. Who is one of the most-acclaimed books in the world on the topic of hiring leaders, which The Wall Street Journal calls "the most important aspect of business." Shanghai Daily named Who a "Top 5 Business Book in China" and Canada's Globe and Mail named it the "#1 Best Business and Management Book of 2009." Geoff is also author of Leadocracy: Hiring More Great Leaders (Like You) into Government. In the 1990s, he co-created the Topgrading® philosophy of talent management.
As a social entrepreneur, Geoff is the Founding Chairman of two not-for-profit organizations. SMARTKids Leadership Program™ is a 501c3 not-for-profit foundation that provides a customized program of 10 years of leadership tutoring and a $100,000 scholarship to top students with leadership potential from low-income communities. Secondly, The Leaders Initiative™ seeks to elevate humanity by identifying, developing, and deploying society's greatest leaders into government. Geoff and his ghSMART colleagues also provide pro bono leadership advisory services to leaders in the fields of education, healthcare, and government to help them amplify their positive impact on the world.
Geoff earned a B.A. in Economics with Honors from Northwestern University, an M.A., and a Ph.D. in Psychology with emphasis in Leadership from Claremont Graduate University, where he was mentored by Professor Peter F. Drucker. Geoff was elected to Sigma Xi, the honorary society for holders of doctoral degrees, and is a member of Young Presidents’ Organization (YPO).
Heidi Smith is a Principal at ghSMART. She serves leading private equity investors, hedge fund managers and Fortune 500 clients in the areas of management assessment, leadership coaching and organizational change initiatives.
Prior to joining ghSMART, Heidi was the Vice President of Strategy and Business Development at Talbots, a leading women's apparel company, where she worked closely with the CEO and other senior leadership on key strategic, operational, and organizational issues.
Heidi also spent 7 years at Bain and Company in the Boston and New York offices, working across a variety of industries, including retail, CPG, financial services, media, health care, construction, and oil and gas. During her tenure at Bain, Heidi spent several years leading teams and advising clients in Bain's Private Equity Group, providing rigorous diligence for top private equity firms. Heidi also advised corporate clients on turnaround work, full potential analysis, operational improvement, and strategic blueprints. During her time at Bain, Heidi was active in Bain's training efforts and ran a global training program for experienced consultants.
Heidi graduated magna cum laude from Harvard University with a degree in Economics. She earned her MBA from Harvard Business School, where her elective coursework focused on business strategy and organizational strategy. She resides in Boston with her husband and son.
Randy Street is the Managing Partner of ghSMART .
Randy has served as a leadership advisor to boards, CEOs, and executive teams for over 15 years. He is also a popular keynote speaker with a dynamic and energetic style that routinely generates the highest audience satisfaction scores possible.
In collaboration with Geoff Smart, the firm’s CEO, Randy co-authored Who: The A Method for Hiring (Random House, 2008), which is a New York Times, Wall Street Journal, BusinessWeek, USA Today, and Publisher’s Weekly best seller. He has been featured in The Wall Street Journal, BusinessWeek, and other leading publications, and has appeared on leading television programs such as Fox Business News with Neil Cavuto.
Upon release, Who book became the #1 bestseller on Amazon.com out of 24 million titles, and hit every major bestseller list in the United States. Soundview Executive Book Summaries gave Who the "Best 30 Business Books Award," Shanghai Daily named it a "Top 5 Best Business Book in China," and Canada's Globe and Mail named Who the "#1 Best Business and Management Book of 2009."
Prior to joining ghSMART, Randy was the EVP of Sales & Marketing and EVP of Corporate Development & Strategy for a software firm that was named the fastest growing company in Atlanta during his tenure. Before that, Randy was a strategy consultant with Bain & Company where he led projects and advised senior executives of Global 1000 companies in a wide range of industries.
Randy earned his MBA from Harvard Business School and a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Rice University. He lives in Atlanta, Georgia, with his wife and three children.
Lisa Sturm is an Executive Assistant at ghSMART and provides support to a partner and a principal. She coordinates all logistical aspects of our process, serves as a staffing coordinator, and conducts special projects.
Lisa began her professional career with Hewlett-Packard, managing a team of administrative assistants. Later, she developed a five state region, selling and implementing software for an international company serving the hospitality industry. Before joining ghSMART, Lisa was the top ranked sales professional for nine consecutive years at a prominent hospitality firm specializing in high end weddings and corporate events. Her flawless coordination skills consistently resulted in “perfect events” and the endless thanks of many brides.
Lisa lives in Palatine, Illinois, with her husband David and their two rescued Bichon Frisés, Rowdy & Ozzie. Both David and Lisa enjoy traveling globally, hiking, gourmet cooking and gardening.
Chris Trendler is a Principal at ghSMART, where he serves private equity boards, executives and investors in the areas of leadership assessment, talent development, and organizational transformation.
Prior to joining ghSMART, Chris was Vice President of Operations at Tallwave, a leading venture-backed accelerator based in Scottsdale, Arizona. While with Tallwave, Chris assembled and managed teams to develop and commercialize early- and growth-stage companies. He also advised investors on talent assets within portfolio companies.
Before Tallwave, Chris was a consultant with McKinsey and Company where he worked on a variety of strategic projects including international growth, mergers and acquisitions, operations transformations, and strategic procurement. Chris was also a core member of client teams that advised industry leaders in retail, chemicals, mining, professional services, and agriculture on talent and organizational issues. Additionally, he worked with the Itasca Project in Minneapolis to build the economic development strategy for the region. Aside from client work, Chris led several initiatives to recruit consultants in the Midwest with advanced professional degrees. He was also active in teaching and training new hires.
Prior to consulting, Chris worked in Washington, DC in law and public policy.
Chris holds a JD from the University of Chicago Law School and a BA in Political Science from Brigham Young University. He is also a member of the State Bar of Arizona. Chris lives in Phoenix, Arizona with his wife and two children.
Claudio Waller is a Principal at ghSMART. He serves asset management firms and corporate clients in the areas of management assessment, leadership coaching and organizational change initiatives.
Prior to joining ghSMART, Claudio was an Executive Director at Morgan Stanley Investment Management, where he managed corporate credit and event-driven investments for the firm’s fund of hedge fund business. Claudio led an initiative to obtain $25 million in seed capital from the firm to incubate a long/short credit fund, which he co-managed. Additionally, he co-authored a white paper in October 2010 entitled “The Case for Long/Short Credit Hedge Funds”.
Prior to Morgan Stanley, Claudio was an Associate Principal at McKinsey & Company, where for six years he advised CEOs and senior executives on issues related to business strategy, operational effectiveness, and organizational change. Claudio’s clients included global financial services and pharmaceutical companies and leading private equity firms. In addition to client work, Claudio co-led Wharton MBA recruiting for McKinsey’s three Mid-Atlantic offices for several years. McKinsey presented Claudio with a Marvin Bower Award for exemplary commitment to upholding firm values.
Prior to McKinsey, Claudio was a Manager at Deloitte & Touche LLP, where he worked in the Economics Consulting Group and helped multi-national companies to develop transfer pricing policies. After starting in the firm’s New York office, Claudio re-located to London in 1998 to help establish a European practice.
Claudio earned an MBA from the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania with honors and a BA in Economics and in History from Washington University in St. Louis. Claudio has also earned the Chartered Financial Analyst and the Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst designations. He is currently a Board member of the Economy League of Greater Philadelphia.
Claudio currently resides in suburban Philadelphia with his wife and three children.
André is a Principal at ghSMART, which provides quality-guaranteed services in the areas of management assessment and leadership coaching to leading private equity investors, Fortune 500 companies, hedge fund managers, boards and CEOs. André's assessment work and consultation drives selection decisions and individual coaching plans, as well as succession planning and team- and organization-level change. He helps companies determine their optimal talent configuration, develop their succession plans and optimally deploy their human capital to maximize enterprise value.
André earned an MBA from the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business in 2001, a JD from Northwestern University School of Law in 1998, and a BS in Business Administration from the University of Arizona in 1995.
Ron Zoibi is Chief Financial Officer of ghSMART. Ron brings to ghSMART over 25 years of increasing responsibility and diverse accomplishments in public accounting, consulting, information technology development, and tax planning for closely held businesses. Prior to joining ghSMART, Ron was CFO of Pro Financial Services Inc, the largest specialty disability insurance company in North America serving Major League Baseball, the National Football League, and the National Basketball Association.
Ron is a licensed CPA and holds an MBA from the Keller Graduate School of Management and a B.S. in Accounting from the University of Illinois. Ron is an active member of the American Institute of Public Accountants, the Illinois CPA Society, and the National Society of Tax Professionals. Ron lives in Lake Zurich, Illinois with his wife and four children.
