Career Consultants
Meet Our Career Consultants:
This team of experts work with you to determine your specific career and employment needs and how Stewart, Cooper & Coon may apply our considerable resources to meet these needs. Their other function is to present your candidacy to our coaching, recruiting, administrative, and candidate marketing teams who will be working on your candidacy.
Chuck McConnell, Executive Career Consultant
cmcconnell@stewartcoopercoon.com
Charles "Chuck" McConnell has been a leading voice in career management for many years. He defined and developed First Career Corporation and FindCareer.com and serves as the "Career Expert" for New York American Marketing Association. He has published numerous articles on the subject of career management and search preparation and has organized national and international conferences that have assisted thousands in getting their career searches on track.
Prior to his work in career services, Chuck was the Senior Consulting Partner at The Watson Group, a strategic communications agency based in NYC. His background includes corporate management positions with multinational marketers in the packaged goods, snack, confection, toy and apparel industries. Chuck was President of The Apparel Group Limited, building worldwide acceptance of men's apparel. He also has held global management positions at top advertising agencies such as WPP, Bozell and DMB&B and major marketers including Hanes, International Playtex and General Foods. Chuck earned his MBA from Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management and a BA in economics from DePauw University and Exeter University in England.
Judy Reeves, Executive Career Consultant
Judy Reeves has spent a considerable portion of her career in the legal field, working with trial lawyers and judges. Following her legal career, she was tapped by the Trampoline and Power Tumbling Program of USA Gymnastics to assist them in having that sport recognized by the U.S. Olympic Committee. She secured the sport's first television exposure when she served in the U.S. Director's office.
Her primary responsibility was guiding the national governing board, foreign delegations and members of the International Federation of Trampoline and Power Tumbling. She also assisted in managing The Pan Pacific Games, a weeklong competition between teams from Australia, South Africa, Japan, Mexico, Canada and the U.S.
As an entrepreneur, Judy built a residential and commercial design firm whose primary focus was residential and commercial projects ranging from 14,000 - 100,000 square feet that generated over $1M in first year revenue.
Judy spends her spare time working in fundraising for non-profit organizations. Her focus and passion is raising money for needed pediatric equipment for the American Heart Association. What Judy understands is people and how to move the barriers that stand in the way of their achieving their personal goals.
Jeff Resnick, Executive Career Consultant
jresnick@stewartcoopercoon.com
Jeff Resnick has spent the past 25+ years developing advertising and sales promotional programs for Fortune 500 companies. Companies such as National City Bank, American Express, Sherwin-Williams, Levi Strauss, and American Greetings have profited from Jeff's unique incremental profit-based incentive programs that tie in all levels of employees.
Jeff has developed bottom-line oriented sales training programs as well as all levels of executive/management training. In addition, Jeff has had extensive experience in designing Career Paths within both large corporate organizations and smaller startup companies. For his highly creative strategies, Jeff has won multiple awards. He has also successfully built national sales teams and managed national product distribution channels. Jeff has an Organizational Communication degree with a BA and MA from Ohio State University.
Jerry Strohman, Executive Career Consultant
jstrohman@stewartcoopercoon.com
Jerry has the experience for setting and making difficult management decisions and achieving results based upon them. He is known as a hand's on manager credited for increasing business while eliminating unnecessary costs.
Jerry comes to us from one of America's best known brewing companies, Miller Brands. As General Manager, he was responsible for all profit and loss decisions and managed sales, marketing, brand management, national accounts, finance, inventory and distribution. He was also responsible for labor relations.
Jerry's distinguished career is not without national recognition: Presidents Club-Outstanding Achievement award for Seven Up; Salesman of the Month 22 Times and Salesman of the Year twice. At Olympia Brewing, he won the treasured Golden Horseshoe Award for being the number 15 out of 325 Distributors nationwide. While at Miller Brewing Company, he was named a Miller Master by being their number 20 distributor, out of 437 possible contenders.
Arthur Lane, Executive Career Consultant
Arthur Lane has more than 30 years of experience in the areas of sales, consulting, and financial management. Arthur began his career in the financial world, where he held a number of positions over a 15-year span: the first being in a public accounting firm, and the last being the Chief Financial Officer for a mid market manufacturer of custom high volume food processing equipment.
Next, his career transitioned to consulting, business process improvement and organizational optimization with Origin Technology. Arthur then joined Oracle Corporation in a consulting role before progressing to sales and business development within the company. Upon leaving Oracle, he joined RCG Information Technology and led their Enterprise Solutions Group for several years, specializing in organizational effectiveness and business process reengineering.
Prior to joining SC&C, Arthur worked for a national career consulting organization, in a role that advised companies on how to effectively plan and monitor their organizational needs. Arthur currently resides in Chicago.
Glenn Appleyard, Executive Career Consultant
gappleyard@stewartcoopercoon.com
Prior to joining Stewart, Cooper & Coon, Glenn Appleyard worked as a senior marketing consultant successfully developing brand- and business-building marketing programs for top Fortune 500 companies and their ‘flagship’ brands. Working across a broad spectrum of the marketing mix, he leveraged his strong communications, marketing and creative skills to develop high market recognition and sales for both consumer and business-to-business clients.
Previously, Glenn worked as both an executive placement consultant and an outplacement consultant, bringing to this work, a broad and diversified career that included vice president level positions with Citibank, Manufacturers Hanover Trust and Bankers Trust, Managing Director for The Ryan Partnership and New Business Development for Howard Bedford Nolan, a promotion marketing agency. Glenn received his MBA from Seton Hall University with a double major in Quantitative Analysis and Marketing. He received his BA degree in Zoology from the University of New Hampshire. He is a published writer over most of his career and helped author a book on Bank Operations Management.
Michael Rossillo, Executive Career Consultant
mrossillo@stewartcoopercoon.com
Michael's senior level experience includes positions in the executive placement field as a Senior Marketing Consultant and Medical Executive Recruiting. Prior to joining Stewart, Cooper & Coon, Michael created brand identities and marketing programs for industry leaders including Miller Brewing, Pepsi, Nabisco, Pizza Hut, M&M Mars, Citibank and Johnson & Johnson. With experience across the entire marketing mix, Michael has worked as a Executive Consultant and Creative Director in sales promotion agencies and successfully founded several Marketing firms. Michael's diverse experience and valuable corporate contributions have been based upon on his ability to identify opportunities, solve problems and get results. Michael is a graduate of Central Connecticut State University, earning a BA in Graphic Design Management and his BS in Marketing.
Oliver P. Cornell , Executive Career Consultant
ocornell@stewartcoopercoon.com
Oliver is one of the early adopters of the use of modern marketing techniques to effect the transition of highly successful executives and professionals from one position to another. He is one of the pioneers in the development of individual and corporate outplacement consulting practices that saw career transition as a marketing problem, a problem of positioning, packaging, promoting and pricing.
He began his career as a college teacher and became involved in publishing, eventually running a small publishing house in Chicago, Printer's Row Press, publishing a weekly newspaper, pamphlets, journals and books, primarily in the political arena.
In early 1980 he began a new career in corporate and executive outplacement built upon the principles of modern marketing. Rising to the position of Executive Vice President he was one of the key associates to grow the company nationwide, personally working a long the way helping to place hundreds of senior level managers and executives in new and exciting growth opportunities. In 1986 he formed his own executive placement and corporate outplacement firm and built the company to cover twenty one major market areas in the West, successfully working with thousands of clients. He retired from the career industry in 2001.
In that same year, he turned his passion in to a business and began managing investments. He also helped found a company to raise money for schools. This company eventually incorporated the latest in Internet technology and became the popular site www.schoolpop.com.
Realizing the absolute necessity of using the internet and its enormous access to information to run a successful executive search he joined Stewart, Cooper & Coon coming back to the business of helping serious minded executives find rewarding new jobs and careers.
George Stecyk, Executive Career Consultant
George Stecyk brings the Stewart Cooper & Coon team more than 20 years experience working in the Consulting, IT Applications, Engineering, Aviation, and Human Resources fields for companies that include Planning Decisions Group, Dun & Bradstreet, Automatic Data Processing (ADP) and Patrick Engineering. This, along with five years as President of a Career Consulting, Outplacement and Recruiting firm gives him the ability to understand the challenges facing Executive job seekers as they prepare to change companies or, as is often the case, to change industries or careers.
George’s industry knowledge includes assisting client companies in consumer products such as Miller Brewing, RJ Reynolds and Western Publishing, investor owned utility and holding companies such as Texas Utilities, Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) and NICOR, and insurance companies such as State Farm Mutual Insurance, Farmers Insurance Group and Nationwide Insurance. Other client assignments added companies like BP (Amoco), DeKalb AgResearch and Modine Manufacturing to his experience base.
While president of his career consultancy, George assisted hundreds of managers and executives to achieve satisfying job and career changes, often by creatively exploring opportunities “outside the box.” He was a contributor to the Chicago Tribune “Jobs” column, appeared on television to offer his expertise in creating an effective job search campaign and was invited as a frequent presenter on the subject of jobs and careers. George earned his BA in Business from North Central College, where he would later advise seniors in honing their job search skills.
Carolyn Sartor
Executive Career Consultant
csartor@stewartcoopercoon.com
Prior to joining Stewart, Cooper & Coon Carolyn served Blackwell Consulting Services in Chicago as Vice President of Marketing, where she lead the positioning and marketing of the firm’s IT solutions and architected new branding initiatives. Just prior, Carolyn held the role of Senior Associate at Booz Allen Hamilton in McLean Virginia. She has been featured several times in Crain’s Chicago Business as a Top 50 Successful Minority Entrepreneur.
She is the recipient of the prestigious Emmy Award for broadcast television production and the Telly Award for excellence in production of corporate training and marketing programs. Carolyn was a writer and producer at KCBS Television and later as a program executive at CBS Network Television in Los Angeles, California. She later established and ran a successful boutique visual marketing business, specializing in the development and production of award winning broadcast and corporate television programs and websites; and the creation of marketing and identity campaigns for Fortune 500 clients.
Carolyn brings more than 25 years of leadership experience in management and IT consulting; marketing and communications; and media and entertainment to our company. Throughout her career, she has held senior roles focused on individual and team resource development and revenue generation. She has also served as Regional Practice Director and Director of Business Development for the information design services and emerging technology groups at Spherion Technology, where she developed and sold a new business model for knowledge and content management services.
Her approach is customer-centric and she is known as a gifted “out-of-the-box” thinker who listens, analyzes and implements at the highest level. Her key strength is her vision and passion for organizational alignment with core processes and business-case strategies. Carolyn’s diverse background gives her a comprehensive view of, and sensitivity to, the challenges facing today’s executive job seekers as they prepare to transition to new companies, industries or careers.
Carolyn is a graduate of the California State University at Los Angeles with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Sociology and earned her Master of Arts degree in Broadcast Communications from Columbia College of Hollywood.
Mikel Ann McLeod
Executive Career Consultant
mmcleod@stewartcoopercoon.com
Prior to joining Stewart, Cooper & Coon, Mikel Ann professionally served clients as an Executive Career Consultant and Coach, where she not only assisted her clients in finding their next “career”, but she also provided behavioral coaching to her respective clients which helped them secure positions offering higher income packages. Mikel Ann enjoyed a referral rate of over 40% .
Mikel Ann has a keen understanding of, and sensitivity to the challenges facing today’s executive career seekers in preparation for their transitions to new industries, careers, and endeavors. Prior to becoming a certified coach, she owned and managed a Florida based Design corporation specializing in both high-end personality clients and with small, medium and large sized corporations.
Mikel Ann has more than 25 years experience in Health Care and Information Technology, Sales and Marketing, Client Consulting, and Executive Management. She has applied her skill sets to problem solving for companies like Starbucks, PetSmart and Cendant, to name a few. She has received numerous awards and recognitions for her diversity, sales accomplishments, marketplace insights and personal candor.
Her approach to both her clients and business in general is customer-centric. She is known for quickly building rapport with her clients, gaining a solid understanding of their issues, and her reputation is know to all as being a great listener. One of her strengths is her passion and vision, and applying both of those to build relationships and partnerships.
Mikel Ann was awarded a Bachelor of Science degree in Clinical Psychology from Portland State University. She also has two other degrees in Health Sciences - Radiology Technology, with specialties in both the Cardiac and CT field.
Ramón P. Morales, Executive Career Consultant
rmorales@stewartcoopercoon.com
Prior to joining Stewart, Cooper & Coon, Ramón served as a strategic business and product consultant to several leading technology companies in Silicon Valley in the area of wireless consumer electronics device space. Through his efforts, the first portable media players designed with integrated broadband wireless capability were demonstrated at the Consumer Electronics Shows in 2007 and 2008. Ramón has been working with the next wave in emerging technologies including iPhone apps and Google Wave.
For the last 25 years, Ramón has been a pioneer in the development of the Internet, leading and taking public Protocom Devices, an early protocol device manufacturer that he founded with a group of engineers in New York City. As Chief Operating Officer, Ramón led the company in the building of the first inter state banking and state governmental networks based on the emerging Internet type networks as a contractor to Boeing, Siemens and AT&T. These early protocol integration efforts led directly to the successful implementation of advanced networking technology to build adoption to the Internet standard within the enterprise space.
Ramón was awarded Business Man of the Year by the New York Chamber of Commerce in 1986 and recognized by several Governors and Mayors for spurring economic development in New York’s South Bronx where Protocom had its 42,000 square ft manufacturing facility. The company established training for local residents in various positions including field engineering, customer support and manufacturing technicians. These were subsequently placed in the company to serve Protocom’s customers throughout the US, Europe, Latin America and Asia.
Ramón was also recognized for his efforts to found a school for inner city gifted and talented children for New York’s urban poor, De La Salle Academy. The school was featured in various major pieces written in the New York Times, Newsweek and other major media as a leading educational pioneer since 1984. Ramón served as an officer on the Board of Directors and was its Chairman until 1996.
He is also an executive coach and motivational trainer receiving his certification in 2004. He has given seminars and worked with business leaders in identifying their strengths and breaking through limiting beliefs. He is an avid practitioner of servant leadership principles as developed by Robert Greenleaf and James Hunter.
Ramón brings to Stewart, Cooper & Coon a unique perspective into placing executives to meet the challenges of 21st Century leadership requirements for business, government and non profit institutions. He is passionate about assisting people who recognize that change is the order of the day and need to harness new internet technologies to open a path for personal growth. Ramón is a graduate of Harvard College.
