Our Team
Melvin B. Christie has over twenty-five years experience as an international consultant, facilitator, and executive coach. The focus of his work is both personal and organizational transformation. He is passionate about creating results, developing effective leaders, guiding winning teams, and implementing strategies that make a difference.
Mel's career includes being the President of his own leadership development company that managed and trained an extensive network of independent distributors of consumer products in the New York City market area. He spent over seven years as Vice President of an international training company. Mel's corporate responsibilities have ranged from area manager, regional director, and national coordinator, to senior trainer for an international personal development corporation. He has developed corporate clients in a wide range of business sectors including: education, finance, technology, health care, energy, retail, insurance, and telecommunications.
Mel has assisted thousands of individuals throughout the United States, Canada, Europe, Middle East, Australia, and Asia in realizing their greater personal potential, and enhancing their effectiveness at work. Mel has expertise in leadership development, executive team building and coaching.
Mel was awarded a Bachelor of Arts degree from St. John's University, and a Master of Arts degree in Clinical Psychology from John F. Kennedy University.
Dennis Stratton is a dynamic facilitator, consultant, and executive coach with over twenty years' experience in corporate management and consulting. As President of Stratton Consulting Group, LLC, he has built a unique perspective and approach to change management applications in large systems, and more recently, high-growth organizations.
The primary purpose of Dennis' work is to assist individuals and organizations to achieve exceptional business results in an environment of volatile and/or accelerating change. He has developed high-impact methodologies for leaders, teams and organizations struggling with complexity, yet searching for new ways to quickly respond. Dennis' reputation precedes him; getting underneath real problems, he has become a true catalyst for "stuck" organizations. He has learned to interrupt business as usual and challenges ways of thinking, leading and designing an organization for success.
As Director of Information Resources for the Dun and Bradstreet Corporation, Dennis chaired multiple task forces chartered with the fundamental redesign and implementation of quality control systems, information systems, and performance management systems of both business analysts and national account executives.
Since 1989, Dennis has led comprehensive change interventions for organizations in diverse industries including financial services, telecommunications, insurance, manufacturing and public utilities. Dennis' most recent client work includes: JPMorganChase & Co., Deutsche Bank, Investcorp, Siemens Medical Solutions, Bank of America, Bayer HealthCare, Wachovia Securities, ATD Corporation, and Legg Mason.
Dennis received his B.A. in organizational psychology and business from Rutgers University. Lititz, Pennsylvania is home to Dennis, his wife Patricia, and their four children. He enjoys running, basketball, golf and, of course, coaching his children in football and basketball. He currently is President of Manheim Township Lacrosse Association, and presides as a board member of the Manheim Township Football Association.
Lara Ewing was born in Santa Fe, New Mexico, where she first became fascinated by the intersection of people of widely differing ethnic and cultural traditions and the beauty that emerged from their differences.
Lara is President of Ewing and Associates. She helps organizations make the most of differences to articulate vision, define and implement strategy. She consults to senior leaders and multi-national, multi-cultural executive teams, integrating widely differing perspectives and approaches into action plans and implementation. She has assisted organizations in 22 countries to manage projects spread across multiple continents. For more than 25 years, Lara has been at the epicenter of the flattening world, where more leaders collaborate and compete than ever before across all kinds of boundaries: geographical, cultural, philosophical, religious, technological, and tactical.
Clients include American Express, Citicorp, GlaxoSmithKline, HP, Johnson & Johnson, La Agencia de Orci, Merck, Monster Cable, Sun Microsystems and Wells Fargo.
In her book, The Art of Connecting, Lara and co-author Claire Raines unpacked the magic behind masterful connections by studying the behavior of three virtuosi in the craft, including Terry Gross of National Public Radio. They interviewed dozens of individuals from varied industries and backgrounds to discover the principles and pathways to great connections.
A passionate advocate for opening markets and creating opportunity for people doing different kinds of work to trade and collaborate as equals, Lara is on the board of the Explorers Foundation, an organization dedicated to building a world fit for explorers, and Openworld, a nonprofit specializing in strategies and tools for grassroots initiatives and global good causes to become self-funding.
She lives in the foothills of Colorado and in northern Mexico with her husband, Robert. Her daughters, Shannon and Caitlin, have traveled the world with her since infancy. She's a hiker, gourmet cook and dog lover.
Mac Carter is a highly skilled consultant, facilitator, trainer and executive coach with extensive experience in building effective leaders and leadership teams. He is co-founder of Turning Points Inc., an organization development consulting firm specializing in values-based leadership development and large-scale cultural change.
Over the last twenty-five years, Mac has worked with more than 10,000 executives and managers to improve personal, team and organizational effectiveness. He has worked with CEO's, senior executives, and leadership teams in industries such as: advertising, finance, food, health care, manufacturing, publishing, professional services, retail, real estate, recycling, and technology.
A sample list of his clients includes: Apple Computer, AstraZeneca Canada, Bain & Company, Brigham & Women's Hospital, Canadian Tire Corporation, Cedara Software, Charles Schwab & Co., Healthcare International, Impiric (Young & Rubicam), Inverness Medical Ltd., Leiner Health Products, LifeScan (J & J Company), Lotus Development, MasterCard International, North Castle Partners, PC/Computing (Ziff-Davis), Sealand Corporation, Simsmetal America, Tandem Computers, Oracle Corporation, The Voit Companies.
Mac's background includes 15 years in operational management roles in high growth, professional service enterprises. His education includes a B.A. in Business Administration from Gettysburg College and a Master's degree in Business Management and Organization Development from George Washington University. Mac is an active sea kayaker and a long-time student practitioner in the martial arts of Aikido and T'ai Chi Ch'uan.
Mac and Mel Christie have worked together in various leadership development programs in large-scale cultural change initiatives for over 20 years.
LiiChu Low is passionate about personal and leadership development. Her expertise is empowering and inspiring executives to create high performance results, as well as a balance in their personal and professional life. Many of her clients have acknowledged her for her ability to assist them to see their challenges / issues in creative new ways that lead toward results.
LiiChu played a leading role in the development and implementation of the marketing strategy for IT/HR software for MLIT Partners Sdn Bhd. Their breakthrough model effectively addresses several of the sustainability and retention issues facing large organizations. She worked closely with the Business Development Director advising on Business Development initiatives, creating a client relationship culture and overseeing the training of the business development team. She provided support in developing existing business and creating new opportunities through effectively driven integrated marketing programs. She also supported the business development activities, internal client communications, marketing activities including event organization, collateral development, website and database management.
LiiChu has previous experience in management consultancy. She has contributed to the formation of financial, management, tracking, or security system for the following organizations: Proton Parts Service Centre, Kyowa Kanko Kaihatsu, Shin-Nippon Printing and Packaging.
LiiChu’s primary responsibilities with Asia’s leading personal growth and development company were to coach participants. In this capacity, she worked with over 1000 people from all walks of life empowering and inspiring them to reach their goals. Some of her clients include PETRONAS Holdings Bhd, Digi Communications Bhd, Merck Pharmaceutical Sdn Bhd, and DELL Singapore.
LiiChu was born and educated in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. LiiChu speaks five languages including Bahasa, English, and Cantonese. Being an Aikido practitioner, she has travelled worldwide to participate in International Aikido conventions. She loves cooking, swimming, jogging, as well as reading. Among her sporting highlights are skydiving, para-gliding, and white water rafting in New Zealand.
N. José Acevedo is an expert in facilitating the development of management and leadership skills. José works with a broad range of organizations to help them become effective learning teams that function innovatively in pursuit of specific results.
José, President of New World Consulting, has spent the last 20 years helping his clients effectively harness the potential of their people by helping them move beyond their self-imposed limits, unleash creativity and improve their decision-making processes. During this time, he has personally worked with thousands of individuals in group workshops, consulting engagements and one-on-one coaching sessions.
José was one of the lead facilitators of JPMorganChase's Strategies for Personal Leadership program. José has also designed and taught special programs and workshops both in English and Spanish, for a variety of organizations in the United States, Mexico, Europe and Latin America, such as AT&T, American Airlines, Cargill, Lexicon, Revlon, Coca-Cola, IBM, Jewish Funds for Justice, and DKNY.
For three years, Jose was a staff attorney with District Council 37 in New York City and is currently a retired member of the New York State Bar.
Penny Carter's career reflects her passion for creating conditions for individual's success and satisfaction, effective teamwork and organizational effectiveness. As an organization consultant and executive coach, Penny is able to effectively blend her extensive operational experience with her personal values and intention to produce value for her clients.
As a co-founder of Turning Points Inc. she specializes in values-based leadership development and large-scale cultural change. Penny has trained and coached executives and managers for over 13 years to improve personal, team and organizational effectiveness.
Penny's background includes 19 years in a Fortune 500 corporation with executive level positions in manufacturing and product development management. As Plant Manager her team started up a new manufacturing facility for a technologically innovative product. She led a record setting cross divisional product development team, created a collaborative international approach to solving technical issues, developed a strategic business partnership role for human resources and business unit leaders, and was a leader in a corporate-wide cultural change initiative.
A sample of her client organizations includes: Apple Computer, AstraZeneca Canada, Bain & Company, Canadian Tire Corporation, Cedara Software, Impiric (Young & Rubicam), Inverness Medical Ltd., Leiner Health Products, LifeScan (J&J Company), MasterCard International, Marin Academy, North Castle Partners, Oracle Corporation, and Simsmetal America.
Penny's educational background includes a B.S. in Mathematics from Worcester Polytechnic Institute, the Executive Development Program at Penn State University, as well as extensive training in coaching skills and organization development. She lives in the Pacific Northwest with her husband, Mac, where she is able to enjoy her passion of the outdoors, finds peace and joy in ocean kayaking, hiking and camping, and practices yoga.
Penny and Mel Christie have worked together in various leadership development programs for over 12 years.
Cliff Mattson is a highly recognized business consultant and trainer in the areas of corporate change, leadership development, client relations, strategic alignment, conflict resolution, value alignment, team building, and personal responsibility and effectiveness.
Cliff is President of Mattson Consulting. He has spent the last twenty eight years working with select Fortune 500 companies to implement proven methods for involving employees in contributing to both their personal and company's success. Among the companies he has consulted with are Deutsche Bank, Chase Manhattan Bank, Great Lakes Chemical Corporation, Depository Trust Clearing Corporation, Texas Utilities, AMGEN, BellSouth, Pacific Bell, NYNEX, Duke Power Company, General Public Utilities (GPU), AT&T, Fairchild Camera and Instrument Corporation, and AMEX Life Assurance.
Cliff has worked in many other capacities, including client relationship manager, subject matter expert in new business development, project manager, executive, and product manager. He recently lead a comprehensive leadership development project with an international chemical company. He was the client manager during the merger and cultural integration of the top two leaders in one segment of the financial services industry. He has managed organizational rollouts such as a major cultural change initiative throughout one of the largest bank in the United States (65,000 employees). He has also managed the organizational change components of large technological and process re-engineering efforts. Cliff has served as a consultant and trainer in the areas of leadership development, personal executive coaching and for delivering programs with groups ranging in size from five to 250 people.
In addition to his continued successes within corporations, Cliff has also functioned as a leader among his professional colleagues as vice president of service delivery for a leading training and consulting firm. There, he was responsible for managing a cadre of professional consultants and trainers, developing their skills and competencies while overseeing the quality and consistency of the consulting and training practice.
Cliff Mattson was born in Quincy, Massachusetts and was educated at the University of New Hampshire and the University of Massachusetts, earning his degree in education. It was there that he developed his life-long passion for working with people. Cliff currently lives in Greensboro, NC where he tinkers with his classic cars, plays racquetball and enjoys a round of golf whenever possible.
Ewe Hock Ong brings with him years of "Owner Operator's" experience in people leadership development at DuPont, a Fortune 500 company that participates in key industries such as electronic & communications, specialty chemicals, pigments & minerals, agriculture, biotech science and polymer materials. Ewe Hock.s firm belief in PEOPLE as the foundation of business success has seen him working across the diverse business portfolios to bring out the best potential in people, establishing talent pipelines via strategic workforce planning process and enabling sustainable results through coaching and mentoring practices.
Ewe Hock's experience includes careers in sales & marketing, new business development, demand planning, quality management, regulatory advocacy, pricing and sales channel management at both regional and global levels. He joined DuPont in 1992 and was the Managing Director of DuPont Malaysia from 2011-2015. He was actively involved in the UNEP Montreal Protocol process to phase out of CFCs globally, and assisted developing countries to secure appropriate funding from international agencies to support industry and human capital developments. He has worked in the United States, Singapore and Malaysia.
Respecting cultural diversity, understanding the wants and needs of the value chains he served have shaped Ewe Hock's current commitment in championing people leadership development through an "outside-in" approach, supported by a strong C2B methodology. Ewe Hock is a Results Trained Coach by the US based Neuro-Leadership Group. He is a certified Six Sigma Black Belt, certified facilitator of Advanced Negotiation Skills by the Bay Group Consultants, California. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Malaya, and a Post-Graduate Advanced Diploma in Business Management from the University of Wales.
Ewe Hock is a Malaysian. He enjoys the outdoor, travelling and loves Chinese history and classical music.