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Board of Advisors
- Maria Van Parys - Executive Advisor
- Kate Sweetman - Board Member, Consulting Partner with The RBL Group
- Nikki Fisher - Board Member, The Fisher Group
- Jackie Quint - Board Member, Quintessential Consulting
- Jean Williams - Board Member, Principal Williams Consulting
Maria Van Parys, Executive Advisor
As Director, Global Leadership & Organization Development for Boston Scientific, an $8 billion medical device company, Maria is heading up a new function to define and execute the company's new leadership development strategy. Maria developed and implemented the company's first global talent management and succession program and also manages the company's performance management and leadership development programs.
From 1995 to 2006, Maria worked at PTC (formerly Parametric Technology Corporation). She joined the company to develop and implement its first management, leadership and employee development programs. In this start-up effort, Maria designed curricula and delivered programs throughout the U.S., Europe, Asia, India and Middle East.
As the Company grew, Maria expanded responsibilities to include management of global staffing, compensation, benefits, and HR systems. She managed employee integration during three company acquisitions including corporate communications, employee selection, compensation, and outplacement. In 2001, Maria became Vice President of PTC's Corporate Human Resources.
Maria's early career in HR and organization development began with Aetna/Traveler's Insurance Company. After 2 years in line management, Maria was asked to lead both the recruiting and training organizations for the insurer's largest satellite office in the U.S. Maria consulted with senior management on the insurer's new business model and "cutting edge" change effort to self-directed teams. She successfully implemented competency-based team interviewing and selection and the Company's first variable pay compensation program.
Maria is passionate about training adults for success in the business world. As an adjunct faculty member at Suffolk University, Maria developed and taught graduate and post graduate level courses in Recruiting & Selection, Organization Development and Change Management.
Maria holds a B.S. in Policy Management & Business Studies from Providence College and an M.S. in Organizational Learning from Suffolk University.
She is certified as a Professional in Human Resources (PHR).
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From 1995 to 2006, Maria worked at PTC (formerly Parametric Technology Corporation). She joined the company to develop and implement its first management, leadership and employee development programs. In this start-up effort, Maria designed curricula and delivered programs throughout the U.S., Europe, Asia, India and Middle East.
As the Company grew, Maria expanded responsibilities to include management of global staffing, compensation, benefits, and HR systems. She managed employee integration during three company acquisitions including corporate communications, employee selection, compensation, and outplacement. In 2001, Maria became Vice President of PTC's Corporate Human Resources.
Maria's early career in HR and organization development began with Aetna/Traveler's Insurance Company. After 2 years in line management, Maria was asked to lead both the recruiting and training organizations for the insurer's largest satellite office in the U.S. Maria consulted with senior management on the insurer's new business model and "cutting edge" change effort to self-directed teams. She successfully implemented competency-based team interviewing and selection and the Company's first variable pay compensation program.
Maria is passionate about training adults for success in the business world. As an adjunct faculty member at Suffolk University, Maria developed and taught graduate and post graduate level courses in Recruiting & Selection, Organization Development and Change Management.
Maria holds a B.S. in Policy Management & Business Studies from Providence College and an M.S. in Organizational Learning from Suffolk University.
She is certified as a Professional in Human Resources (PHR).
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Kate Sweetman, Board Member
Areas of Expertise
Kate is a Consulting Partner with The RBL Group. As a professional facilitator, consultant and writer, she architects, develops, and delivers educational interventions that help executives and senior managers adopt fresh approaches to business, process, and people.
Her specialty is crafting customized cases around issues of leadership, strategy, organizational development, and implementation that help organizations look at themselves, what they do well, and what they need to improve. She has written hundreds of cases, scenarios, vignettes, role plays, scripts and other creative materials designed to open up essential discussions around strategy, leadership, and organizational behaviors.
Over the years, her clients have included Citigroup, Novartis, Verizon, Goldman, Sachs, Lehman Brothers, Johnson & Johnson, Bristol Myers-Squibb, British Petroleum Exploration, International Distillers and Vintners, AstraZeneca.
Background
Kate is a founding partner of Sweetman Consulting, LLC, an education and organizational development firm based in Milton, MA. In addition to her career in executive and management education, she has worked in publishing and academics. While an editor at Harvard Business Review, she acquired and edited articles by top business executives, academics, and consultants in the U.S. and abroad on the topics of creativity, organizational change, organizational design, psychology, teamwork and social enterprise. She was also as Research Associate at Harvard Business School, and later taught the Management Communications course there.
Kate has a BA in English from Yale University and an MBA from Harvard Business School.
Publications & Honors
Honors:
• Kate’s team won the ASTD (American Society of Trainers and Developers) top prize in 2004 for developing a leadership program with practical and measurable impact. This leadership and culture change program for Verizon was calculated to have achieved an ROI of more than 250% within the first six months of implementation.
Publications and Speeches:
• “How Nimble Companies Stay that Way,” Sloan Management Review, Winter 2001
• “Management Mistakes Squelch Employee Innovation,” Sloan Management Review, Summer 2001
• “Don’t Worry, Be Happy,” Sloan Management Review, Fall 2001
• “Employee Loyalty Around the Globe,” Sloan Management Review, Winter 2002
• “The Value of ‘What If…’”, with Shlomo Maital, Global Action Learning Conference, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, May 2003
• “Harnessing Change From Within: Proprietary Cases as Tools for Inducing Diagnosis and Stimulating Action,” with Shlomo Maital, The International Journal of Technology and Innovation Management Education, Spring 2006
• “Results-Based Learning,” with Dave Ulrich and Norm Smallwood, upcoming in CLO Magazine, early 2007
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Kate is a Consulting Partner with The RBL Group. As a professional facilitator, consultant and writer, she architects, develops, and delivers educational interventions that help executives and senior managers adopt fresh approaches to business, process, and people.
Her specialty is crafting customized cases around issues of leadership, strategy, organizational development, and implementation that help organizations look at themselves, what they do well, and what they need to improve. She has written hundreds of cases, scenarios, vignettes, role plays, scripts and other creative materials designed to open up essential discussions around strategy, leadership, and organizational behaviors.
Over the years, her clients have included Citigroup, Novartis, Verizon, Goldman, Sachs, Lehman Brothers, Johnson & Johnson, Bristol Myers-Squibb, British Petroleum Exploration, International Distillers and Vintners, AstraZeneca.
Background
Kate is a founding partner of Sweetman Consulting, LLC, an education and organizational development firm based in Milton, MA. In addition to her career in executive and management education, she has worked in publishing and academics. While an editor at Harvard Business Review, she acquired and edited articles by top business executives, academics, and consultants in the U.S. and abroad on the topics of creativity, organizational change, organizational design, psychology, teamwork and social enterprise. She was also as Research Associate at Harvard Business School, and later taught the Management Communications course there.
Kate has a BA in English from Yale University and an MBA from Harvard Business School.
Publications & Honors
Honors:
• Kate’s team won the ASTD (American Society of Trainers and Developers) top prize in 2004 for developing a leadership program with practical and measurable impact. This leadership and culture change program for Verizon was calculated to have achieved an ROI of more than 250% within the first six months of implementation.
Publications and Speeches:
• “How Nimble Companies Stay that Way,” Sloan Management Review, Winter 2001
• “Management Mistakes Squelch Employee Innovation,” Sloan Management Review, Summer 2001
• “Don’t Worry, Be Happy,” Sloan Management Review, Fall 2001
• “Employee Loyalty Around the Globe,” Sloan Management Review, Winter 2002
• “The Value of ‘What If…’”, with Shlomo Maital, Global Action Learning Conference, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, May 2003
• “Harnessing Change From Within: Proprietary Cases as Tools for Inducing Diagnosis and Stimulating Action,” with Shlomo Maital, The International Journal of Technology and Innovation Management Education, Spring 2006
• “Results-Based Learning,” with Dave Ulrich and Norm Smallwood, upcoming in CLO Magazine, early 2007
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Nikki Fisher, Board Member
After beginning her career as "the company writer" for a 400-person startup called MCI, Nikki Fisher soon began to find her niche -- participating as a member of the leadership teams that jump-start successful companies.
At MCI, for example, she headed up marketing, customer service, procurement, human resources and IT for MCI's newly-acquired paging and cellular subsidiary. Recruited to Sprint's startup cellular operation as a Division Sales Manager, she eventually led all operations support there, including customer service, order entry, billing, IT and reporting. Later, after implementing new processes and systems in sales compensation and database marketing for Sprint's $6 billion business-to-business division, she established and became President of Sprint's first non-branded reseller of long distance services to small businesses.
After Sprint, Nikki joined another 400-person startup: Internet consulting firm, Sapient. There, as the company grew to more than 2500 people--and from $49 million to $276 million in revenue--she established the first marketing, strategic planning and alliance functions. As head of marketing, she was a critical player in the company's highly successful efforts to reposition itself from a systems integrator to an internet consulting firm.
In 2000, Nikki joined The Fisher Group where she specializes in applying her extensive experience in sales, marketing and operations to helping mid-sized companies transition successfully to their next stage of profitable growth.
Nikki graduated summa cum laude with a BA in English from the University of Missouri and has completed executive education courses at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and the Darden School at the University of Virginia.
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At MCI, for example, she headed up marketing, customer service, procurement, human resources and IT for MCI's newly-acquired paging and cellular subsidiary. Recruited to Sprint's startup cellular operation as a Division Sales Manager, she eventually led all operations support there, including customer service, order entry, billing, IT and reporting. Later, after implementing new processes and systems in sales compensation and database marketing for Sprint's $6 billion business-to-business division, she established and became President of Sprint's first non-branded reseller of long distance services to small businesses.
After Sprint, Nikki joined another 400-person startup: Internet consulting firm, Sapient. There, as the company grew to more than 2500 people--and from $49 million to $276 million in revenue--she established the first marketing, strategic planning and alliance functions. As head of marketing, she was a critical player in the company's highly successful efforts to reposition itself from a systems integrator to an internet consulting firm.
In 2000, Nikki joined The Fisher Group where she specializes in applying her extensive experience in sales, marketing and operations to helping mid-sized companies transition successfully to their next stage of profitable growth.
Nikki graduated summa cum laude with a BA in English from the University of Missouri and has completed executive education courses at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and the Darden School at the University of Virginia.
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Jackie Quint, Board Member
Jackie Quint built her career from the ground up. After starting as a software developer and project manager for Design Options, Inc., Jackie soon moved into sales. As a Sales Representative and then a Sales Manager for Keane, Inc., she sold the single largest deal in the company’s 25 year history and was a four-time Pinnacle Club award recipient for consistent achievement of sales quotas. As her responsibilities and goals increased, so did her accomplishments. In 1990, Jackie became Managing Director for the company with profit and loss responsibility for all aspects of consulting operations in New Jersey and New York. During her four years in that role, she grew the business in her sector by 400% and maintained the highest rate-to-salary ratio in the company.
Throughout her time at Keane, Jackie developed deep expertise in organizational strategies, sales process and training that would prove to be highly valuable in a time of unprecedented growth and change for the company. Having spent time in the trenches herself, Jackie understood which tools, processes, and strategies were necessary to transition the company from one that mostly provided supplemental staffing to a major solutions and outsourcing company. As Director of Employee and Organizational Development, she facilitated the creation of an enterprise-wide strategy, redesigned key business processes, and designed innovative sales and leadership training programs.
As VP of Worldwide Sales, Jackie was, for six years, part of the Keane executive team. In this role, she developed new compensation plans, sales management processes, and recruiting and training programs. In addition, she instituted sales force automation tools and new operational reporting structures. As a result, she consistently achieved annual sales goals in excess of $800M and grew the percent of strategic business from 24% to 43%.
In 2001, Jackie founded her own sales and marketing consulting firm, Quintessential Consulting. In 2002, she began collaborating with The Fisher Group to help clients develop and implement a variety of sales and marketing strategies to increase revenue and sales effectiveness. For example, for a mid-sized software and service company, she recently designed and delivered to sales and operations professionals a 4-month field-based development program designed to change the sales culture and promote team selling
Jackie received her BA, Cum Laude, from Wellesley College. She has also attended a variety of executive and sales training programs including Coaching Consultative Selling and Key Account Planning from the Forum Corporation; Solution Selling from Mike Bosworth; Spin Selling and Making Major Sales from Huthwaite; and Large Account Management, Conceptual Selling, and Strategic Selling from Miller Heiman.
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Throughout her time at Keane, Jackie developed deep expertise in organizational strategies, sales process and training that would prove to be highly valuable in a time of unprecedented growth and change for the company. Having spent time in the trenches herself, Jackie understood which tools, processes, and strategies were necessary to transition the company from one that mostly provided supplemental staffing to a major solutions and outsourcing company. As Director of Employee and Organizational Development, she facilitated the creation of an enterprise-wide strategy, redesigned key business processes, and designed innovative sales and leadership training programs.
As VP of Worldwide Sales, Jackie was, for six years, part of the Keane executive team. In this role, she developed new compensation plans, sales management processes, and recruiting and training programs. In addition, she instituted sales force automation tools and new operational reporting structures. As a result, she consistently achieved annual sales goals in excess of $800M and grew the percent of strategic business from 24% to 43%.
In 2001, Jackie founded her own sales and marketing consulting firm, Quintessential Consulting. In 2002, she began collaborating with The Fisher Group to help clients develop and implement a variety of sales and marketing strategies to increase revenue and sales effectiveness. For example, for a mid-sized software and service company, she recently designed and delivered to sales and operations professionals a 4-month field-based development program designed to change the sales culture and promote team selling
Jackie received her BA, Cum Laude, from Wellesley College. She has also attended a variety of executive and sales training programs including Coaching Consultative Selling and Key Account Planning from the Forum Corporation; Solution Selling from Mike Bosworth; Spin Selling and Making Major Sales from Huthwaite; and Large Account Management, Conceptual Selling, and Strategic Selling from Miller Heiman.
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Jean Williams, Board Member
Jean is a consultant with the RBL group. As a professional facilitator, consultant and former business executive, she architects, develops, and delivers educational interventions that help executives and senior managers adopt fresh approaches to business, process, and people.
Her specialty is leadership development and strategic implementation. Her work includes one-on-one coaching of senior leaders, development and delivery of leadership programs, and facilitation of strategy development. She also has expertise designing and implementing effective customer satisfaction and employee engagement programs. Past and current clients are DuPont, AT&T, United Technologies (including Otis Elevator, and Sikorsky Engines), Federated Department Stores, Cisco, Novartis, and John Hopkins Medical Center
Jean is a Principal in Williams Consulting, a firm specializing in Leadership Development and Executive Coaching. She is an executive coach for the MBA students at Northeastern University in Boston, MA. She was in charge of operations for The Partnership for Organ Donation - a non-profit that worked with major trauma hospitals across the country to increase the number of organs available for donation. While at Keane Inc., she led the leadership development function and was instrumental in the design and implementation of a company wide training system. In addition to her work in leadership development, she has worked in the information technology and healthcare industries, and has a background in theatre.
Jean graduated cum laude with BA in History and Theatre from Connecticut College and an MBA from North Western's Kellogg Graduate School of Business, where she was an Austin Scholar.
Certifications and Interests: Jean is certified in the MBTI instrument, a variety of Eagle Flight simulations as well as a number of 360 feedback instruments.
Jean combines her passions for education, history and theatre by volunteering as a costumed historical interpreter at Old Sturbridge Village - a living history museum located in Massachusetts. She is also active on a variety of boards in her local community.
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Her specialty is leadership development and strategic implementation. Her work includes one-on-one coaching of senior leaders, development and delivery of leadership programs, and facilitation of strategy development. She also has expertise designing and implementing effective customer satisfaction and employee engagement programs. Past and current clients are DuPont, AT&T, United Technologies (including Otis Elevator, and Sikorsky Engines), Federated Department Stores, Cisco, Novartis, and John Hopkins Medical Center
Jean is a Principal in Williams Consulting, a firm specializing in Leadership Development and Executive Coaching. She is an executive coach for the MBA students at Northeastern University in Boston, MA. She was in charge of operations for The Partnership for Organ Donation - a non-profit that worked with major trauma hospitals across the country to increase the number of organs available for donation. While at Keane Inc., she led the leadership development function and was instrumental in the design and implementation of a company wide training system. In addition to her work in leadership development, she has worked in the information technology and healthcare industries, and has a background in theatre.
Jean graduated cum laude with BA in History and Theatre from Connecticut College and an MBA from North Western's Kellogg Graduate School of Business, where she was an Austin Scholar.
Certifications and Interests: Jean is certified in the MBTI instrument, a variety of Eagle Flight simulations as well as a number of 360 feedback instruments.
Jean combines her passions for education, history and theatre by volunteering as a costumed historical interpreter at Old Sturbridge Village - a living history museum located in Massachusetts. She is also active on a variety of boards in her local community.
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