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We believe that every individual is unique, and it is our promise to offer connections that inspire, motivate and most importantly — generate power to move minds — around the world.
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Group Chairman and Founder
President Essence Technologies
JD’s primary area of expertise is in maximizing human contribution by aligning team and organizational essence to help individuals achieve extraordinary results. His personal motto is to make a difference and he challenges everyone to become all they are meant to be.
He is a global expert on the energy industry and a global thought leader, speaker and writer on evolution and adapting to change. He was appointed to the U.S. Naval Academy by the U.S. Secretary of the Navy and was one of 37 distinguished graduates. He was a nuclear engineer and qualified submarine officer in the United States Navy submarine fleet and served on three submarines during the Cold War. In 1986 he joined Exxon and was promoted ten times in nine years. As a crisis leader JD successfully managing an 850-person team and a fleet of 125 ships and aircraft, cleaning over 1,000 miles of Alaskan shoreline after the Valdez oil spill.
In 1995, JD joined Ernst & Young LLP and became a partner managing global energy, chemical and utilities projects, and rising to become the CEO of E&Y Singapore. Over eight years in professional services, JD lead the shared services, outsourcing, supply chain, merger integration and adaptive enterprises service lines. In 2000, he was appointed CEO of Cap Gemini Ernst & Young for South-East Asia. He served as a key advisor for innovation for the Singapore Prime Ministers Office. He has been featured in the Business Times, New Straits Times, Far East Economic Journal, live on CNBC Asia “Power Chiefs” special, Discovery Channel and Channel News Asia as the “IT Person of the Week”. JD was nominated as the CNBC Asian CEO of the year in 2002 and is the recipient of the Presidents awards from both Royal Dutch Shell and Exxon Mobil. JD has created, produced and hosted his own reality TV show for entrepreneurs, invented leadership games and is also the host of Global Evolution, which airs on CNN radio and is listened to in all 50 states and over 100 countries.
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Chief Operating Officer
Mr. Vaz-Nayak's expertise is in helping businesses develop and implement growth strategies, and the commercialization of technologies. Over the course of his career he has established a successful track record for helping large and small businesses grow by focusing their efforts on what they do best, and minimizing the utilization of resources on growth inhibiting initiatives. As Vice President of Marketing of 4 organizations, he has also led efforts to develop and bring to market several products, including many that have attained wide market penetration.
Most recently Mr. Vaz-Nayak was a management consulting executive with Accenture, LP, where he advised management teams of major US corporations on a broad range of strategic and operational issues. His clients included various Fortune 100 companies across several industries including telecom, retail, agriculture, chemicals and software.
Mr Vaz-Nayak has co-founded two consulting companies - Impresa and Eclipse Networks. While at Impresa, Mr. Vaz-Nayak has been instrumental in helping Commerciant, LP becoming the world's first wireless credit card and check-processing device manufacturer and processor, helped i2Telecom, Inc. become a growing consumer focused VoIP service provider, and repositioned Dynamicsoft, Inc. for acquisition by Cisco Systems. During this time, he was also Director of the IT Sector at the Houston Technology Center (Texas' largest business incubator and accelerator) where he advised and mentored the management teams of over 30 startups. As a co-founder and VP of Strategy & Marketing of Eclipse Networks, Mr. Vaz-Nayak was involved in raising $50 million in private equity funding for the company, and helping it grow to 400 employees and a revenue run rate of $40 million within 12 months of start up.
Prior to Eclipse Networks, Mr. Vaz-Nayak was a Senior Manager in BearingPoint, where he co-led efforts to transform the Information, Telecom and Entertainment practice and grow at over 100% p.a. to $400 million in revenue within 18 months. While at AT&T Wireless Services, Mr. Vaz-Nayak was responsible for identifying, developing, and bringing to market several successful wireless data products and services. In addition, he was a key member of the team that created and launched the highly success Digital One Rate plan - the wireless plans that are the norm in the US today.
Mr. Vaz-Nayak has also held strategy and product marketing positions at Motorola, Inc., and worked on the launch campaign of Pepsi in India. He holds a Bachelor of Technology degree from the Indian Institute of Technology, New Delhi, and an MBA from the Graduate School of Business (Booth School) at the University of Chicago.
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Director Essence Productions
Jamie’s essence is multi-media production from print to broadcast and providing turnkey creative solutions through a large network of experienced professionals.
Jamie founded Artisan Creative (www.artisancreative.com), in 1996. Jamie, who received his MA from Syracuse Universityin International Relations, has been instrumental indiversifying Artisan’s core business by providing turnkeycreative solutions through local outsourcing, staffing and recruiting for all forms of media delivery from print to web to broadcast.Jamie is a two time Men’s Foil 40+ National Champion in Fencing. Ever the entrepreneur, he executive produced a movie and co-founded the independent comic book publisher, Hyperwerks. Jamie is the current 2008/09 Los Angeles Chapter President of the Entrepreneur’s Organization (EO).
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International Marketing and Relations
Founding principal of Avenir Monde, an international marketing and public relations firm, has over 17 years of international marketing experience. Avenir Monde assists start up and mid sized firms with their marketing and pr needs, specializing in access and expansion in global markets. Some of her current clients include the US India Business Council/US Chamber of Commerce (USIBC Washington DC) , US Council for International Business (USCIB-New York) and the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC-Paris). Prior to AM, she was regional director for the National Association of Manufacturers. She also held global marketing roles and business development roles at Seagate Technology and LSI Logic as well a year long appointment with the US Department of Commerce. A graduate of Georgetown University School of Foreign Service and the College of Europe in Brugge, Belgium, Franca is a board member for the Big Sur International Marathon, the San Francisco Public Relations Roundtable, Citizens for a Better San Francisco, and Occhiate Productions.
Her background spans a vast background in corporate international marketing, public relations and public affairs. After an appointment with the first Bush Administration at the US Department of Commerce, she served as the senior regional manager for the National Association of Manufacturers in San Francisco until mid -1999. As head of AvenirMonde, a San Francisco based international public relations and marketing firm, she has represented many clients in the international public affairs and public policy arena including the United States Council for International Business, (USCIB), the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC Paris), and the California Council for International Trade among others. On the corporate side she has established global marketing distribution channels for firms such as Seagate Technology, LSI Logic and Novell among others.
Franca serves on the board of directors of the International Diplomacy Council, The Big Sur International Marathon, San Francisco Public Relations Roundtable, Citizens for a Better San Francisco and Occhiata Productions, a newly formed charitable Foundation dedicated to supporting arts education in the migrant communities of the Salinas Valley. In 2003 she was selected to be a fellow in the Asia Foundations Freeman Fellowship Program which examined the role of moderate Muslim communities throughout Southeast Asia.
She is a graduate of Georgetown University, School of Foreign Service and completed graduate work in European Union Studies at the College of Europe in Brugge, Belgium. She lives in San Francisco with her husband, Thomas J. Quinn.
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Director Essence Productions
Terrence’s primary area of expertise is in organizational transformation through the power of communications. Terrence is regarded as one of the foremost experts in the world on narrative and the role of sense making and sense giving in organizations.
As a learning and communication architect, he has led Fortune 500 companies through large-scale change. Terrence received an HR Leadership Award from the Asia Pacific Human Resources Congress for his research and the development of the breakthrough communication assessment used in our work. He is also the recipient of Inc. Magazine’s Marketing Master Award.
He represented the US in three US Junior World Championships, at the World University Games, and was an alternate for the 1996 Olympic Team. Terrence was also an NCAA Division I All-American fencer. He was recently inducted into Brandeis University’s Athletic Hall of Fame. He was a 1990 Thomas J. Watson Fellow and conducted a year of independent research on peak performance in elite Hungarian fencers.
He is the author of nine books including : The Strategic Use of Stories in Organizational Communication and Learning, On Cloud Nine: Weathering Many Generations in the Workplace (translated into Korean and Spanish), Stories at Work: Using Stories to Improve Communications and Build Relationships, Once Upon a Time: Using Story-based Activities to Develop Breakthrough Communication Skills, In the Land of Difficult People: 24 Timeless Tales Reveal How to Tame Beasts at Work.
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Director of Personal Development Programs
Ken’s passion is in understanding the inner workings of our mind and helping individuals to improve interpersonal relationships through the power of assessments and personal development programs. Ken is the President and Founder of MyHardwired Ltd.
After a successful career managing and consulting in the wood products industry Ken Lathrop switched gears and started focusing on the people side of business. In 1996 Ken began his second career helping organizations understand how the people factor affects productivity and profitability. Ken became widely know for producing results by connecting teambuilding training to real world organizational goals. In 2002 Ken put together a team of professionals to develop and validate a new personal development assessment and software package. The Hardwired assessment and consulting tools hit the market in late 2003. Since that time over 20,000 people have been profiled. Hardwired clients include Bristol Myers Squibb, Proctor & Gamble, Southwest Airlines, Hugo Boss, Cessna, Lockheed Martin and Weyerhaeuser. In February 2007 Auckland based MyHardwired Ltd. was formed and production began on an entirely new technology for teaching using industry first web applications interactive web tools.
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President Essence Productions
Dan’s primary area of expertise is in maximizing human contribution through the power of noble leadership and empowering teams by understanding and applying the spirit of the Olympics. An Olympian and world champion rower, Dan is also the founder of Team Concepts, Inc.
Dan rowed on seven US National Teams, during that period winning two world bronze medals, a world gold medal, and a Pan American gold medal. In 1988, he competed in the Seoul Olympics in the coxed pair. He has won 11 National Championships in various events. Dan has coached since 1983 at the US Naval Academy, St. Josephs Prep in Philadelphia, Oxford University, Stanford University, Drexel University, Georgetown University, and is now an elite coach at Penn Athletic Club in Philadelphia. His remarkable rowing career was recognized in 1997 with his induction into the US Rowing Hall of Fame. Dan is the subject of two books and the movie “True Blue”.
Dan received his BS from the US Naval Academy, MS from Oxford University, and MA in history from Villanova University. He has taught history at the US Naval Academy and Rutgers University, Camden. He is the founder and President of Team Concepts, Inc. (www.TeamConceptsInc.com) providing leadership programs to Fortune 100 clients around the country.
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Jennifer is an executive coach and leadership facilitator, certified in equine experiential learning. In November 2006, she left a thriving corporate career to dedicate herself to helping others develop self-awareness, emotional intelligence, authentic leadership and personal empowerment. Her company, Concentric Solutions, was founded to serve those who would like to explore how to move to the next level in their lives and careers . By identifying self-limiting thoughts, beliefs and behaviors, the door opens to new ways of experiencing life through focusing on how to be while doing whatever is at hand. Calling upon her own relevant experience, extensive study and sense of humor, her aim is to facilitate organizational health, authentic leadership and personal well-being via individual and team coaching, consulting and group facilitation.
Over the span of 14 years, Jennifer gained experience in a wide range of corporate arenas, from mid-sized, privately owned to Fortune 100 companies engaged in a broad array of businesses including wholesale distribution, national retail and global manufacturing. Serving in increasing levels of responsibility in the arenas of inventory, key account and people management, she is also a wife and mother of 4 children.
In addition to her busy family life, Jennifer also enjoys hiking in the mountains surrounding her Bozeman, Montana home, reading, writing, being with her horse and spending quality time discussing the mystery of life with others.
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