Alliance Directors bring a wealth of experience to the Alliance. Not only do they lead their Alliance Groups, but they are available upon request, to provide direct assistance to Alliance members in their areas of expertise. If you need assistance, we encourage you to consider retaining one of our Alliance Directors who have deep experience helping CEOs with a wide variety of challenges.
Amelia began her career at Federal Express, where she eventually ran their entire Midwest operations. She later worked with Ernst & Young and Oracle prior to leading Hyperion Solutions' turnaround as Chief Administrative Officer. She currently leads The Thornton Group, a management consulting company specializing in team performance effectiveness and executive coaching.
Anu teaches at San Jose State University and consults on strategic planning, business plans, valuations, board packages, corporate presentations, operations reviews, process re-engineering, and segment profitability analyses. Her earlier career encompassed two decades of broad global experience covering those areas. She was previously CFO at Vision Capital and Metorex International.
Barbara Nelson brings over 25 years experience in executive leadership. Recently she was CEO of a clean-tech LED video/lighting company and prior ran an enterprise storage security start-up. She's led large businesses and grown new ventures at Quantum, Maxtor and Intel. Through her career she's developed strategies and go-to-market models that have driven high growth and market leadership.
Bill was formerly Executive Vice President of Operations for Dreyer’s Grand Ice Cream. During his career, Bill also served in a variety of general management roles with Levi Strauss & Co.
Bob Neher brings a wealth of diversified executive management experience that includes corporate leadership, growth-oriented business development and successful exit strategies. As an entrepreneur, he has founded several well-known consumer product companies.
Dave brings over 30 years of international buisness and leadership experience to the Alliance of Chief Executives. He has run international marketing and distribution businesses in Asia for FORTUNE 500 companies in a variety of vertical markets.
David Brewer has served as a trusted advisor to prominent executives in a wide range of fields. Since 1980, David's work with clients has focused on the pervasive value of exceptional leadership, the primary determinant of sustained enterprise success.
A pioneer in niche market publishing, Dennis created BAM Magazine in 1976. An innovator from the start, he made BAM the first publication to be distributed free at point-of-purchase in retail outlets throughout California. In 1978, Dennis founded the first Bay Area Music Awards, more commonly known as the "Bammies." Dennis is currently the president of the Placemaking Group.
Douglas is the Alliance's Oscar winning Director for the development of Digital Compositing Technology which was used in Jurassic Park, Terminator 2 and The Abyss. He founded George Lucas' Industrial Light & Magic Computer Graphics Department in 1985 and grew it to more than 150 artists and production personnel.
Hank is a Founding Principal with Pragmatic Business Solutions, a senior management consulting firm that works with companies to improve their strategies and business processes in order to meet their revenue and earnings objectives. The firm is comprised of successful senior executives that have been with America's best companies.
Hugh Coppen has worked with senior executives to fully develop their leadership effectiveness and their capacity to achieve measurable performance improvement. He has helped leaders at all levels grow their skills in areas such as vision development and implementation, values-driven leadership, change leadership, team building, process improvement and strategic planning.
Jim is the Founder and Managing Partner of BenchBoard Financial Services, which provides a comprehensive suite of financial and management services. Prior to BenchBoard, Jim built the financial and operational foundations for both Intuit and NetFlix.
John Linehan has over twenty-five years of experience in consumer goods and related industries. Linehan began his career at Procter & Gamble where he moved through their sales management organization selling food products. He then joined the Clorox Company where, for seventeen years, he held positions of increasing responsibility in sales, marketing and general management. As Managing Director of Linehan Consulting, he is actively involved in helping consumer goods companies be more successful
Racanelli Partners Inc., helps leaders drive positive change in their organizations. John and his team provide a range of professional services to meet the needs of CEOs and top executives, with specialties in strategic visioning, executive coaching, change management, leadership team development and expert communication skills training. John comes to Alliance with an extensive leadership portfolio gained over 25 years in leading businesses and non-profits—as a CEO, COO, VP/Marketing and Executive Director. He is a nationally recognized speaker on ocean conservation and stewardship.
Juli Betwee has helped CEOs and their teams develop and execute strategic growth for over 20 years. Currently she consults with emerging growth companies in the Bay Area and runs peer advisory forums for CEOs of high growth companies.
Julia has over 20 years of experience launching successful businesses and helping individuals and organizations change. She works at all levels of an organization to create the thinking, direct communication and systems required to produce results.
Julie Jackle is an executive coach and leadership consultant who helps successful executives become even better by achieving positive lasting change in behavior for themselves and their teams. Julie's corporate experience includes Bain strategy consulting, product management/innovation and completed her MBA at MIT-Sloan. Clients include: Salesforce.com, Cisco, Visa, DaVita, and Numi Tea. Julie is an expert at facilitating strengths-based coaching, enhanced communication skills, and effective team dynamics.
Kathleen Holmgren has over 25 years' experience in the storage, computer systems and management consulting industries. Kathleen is a principal of Sage Advice Partners, a management consulting firm supporting her clients with strategic and operational solutions. Previously, Kathleen was CEO of Mendocino Software and had a successful 21-year career with Sun Microsystems, serving as GM of the Storage Systems Business and holding various leadership positions.
Ken Ansin has a wealth of experience founding, leading or turning-around businesses across sectors including footwear, commercial banking, commercial real estate and even portable restrooms. As president of Ansin Consulting Group, he provides critical assistance to growing businesses, not-for-profits and executives.
Laura is the Founder and Managing Director of VC Privé, an investment bank which represents alternative asset funds such as venture capital, private equity, hedge and distressed debt funds, and connects them with accredited individual and institutional investors.
Maigread Eichten has over twenty years of experience in consumer goods specializing in beverages, food and health and wellness. Currently, Ms. Eichten is a principal at Alitum Partners where she works with investors and entrepreneurs on identifying growth strategies and implementing change platforms.
Marty is a Principal with The Roda Group, an early stage venture capital firm. He leads the firm's efforts to identify extraordinary people and businesses working to solve the issues associated with climate change.
Michael Burns is bicultural, almost bilingual. An Australian by birth, he has been in Silicon Valley since 1988. He started his own consulting company Burns Business Strategies in 1996, after working in organizational change, strategy and executive development roles at National Semiconductor and Raychem.
Michael Kaufman is one of four founders of the innovation consulting firm InnovationLabs. Michael is internationally recognized as a facilitator, consultant, and experiential educator, focusing on strategy formation, complex problem solving, innovative product and service design, and organizational transformation. His approach to facilitation combines 30 years' experience including the best of Accelerated Learning, the Design Process, brain-based learning and a rich background in the practice of innovation and collective creativity.
Mike's broad experience includes executive coaching and management consulting with F500 to mid-size companies in technology, life sciences, manufacturing - and even the music industry, since 2004. Previously, he enjoyed 10 years in international leadership roles with Sun Microsystems' global sales and services organization, and 9 years in retained executive search.
Mitch guides pioneering leaders and organizations through high-stakes transitions and transformations. He is the President of SGRPartners, a consulting firm specializing in accelerated innovation and change. Earlier in his career, Mitch led groundbreaking research and was a popular teacher at the Center for Organizational Learning at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Modie has successfully founded eight different companies in industries ranging from software to Internet development to ranch equipment. He brings more than 25 years of experience in building companies and management teams.
Prior to founding the Alliance of Chief Executives in 1996, Paul had a diverse range of experiences from founding a highly successful executive search firm to senior executive positions with Air Liquide, a $6 billion international manufacturing organization.
As President & CEO of Pacific Rim Partners, Richard is responsible for identifying cross-border opportunities. He has consummated significant international deals with Mitsubishi, NTT Communications and Pioneer Corporation. Richard began his career as an adjunct Professor of Cognitive Field Theories, lecturing widely in the US, England and Japan.
Robert is the author of "Feel of the Deal" and Principal of CEO to CEO, a business consultancy dedicated to the world in which CEOs work. Robert was a Founder and CEO of Bentley Publishing Group, which he ran from 1984 to 2006. He grew Bentley into an industry leading art publishing firm through organic growth and four acquistions.
The leader of our Alliance Team of Directors, Russ has run both public and private companies. Russ was the founding President of AMR International, American Airlines' technology business which he grew to 5,000 employees. Russ was also the first CIO for McKesson and built Bank of America's international banking systems.
Tom Burniece has over 30 years of senior executive and business consulting experience in the data storage and networking markets. He specializes in helping companies achieve their best combination of product, technology, and distribution strategy, along with a profitable business model and a long-term sustainable competitive advantage.
