Richard S. Hawkes, Founder, Senior Strategist
Richard is a consultant, coach, and strategic specialist in “navigating business evolution.” What sets Richard’s work apart is his focus on creating a mind set and system-of-roles that make business growth inevitable. He has worked domestically and internationally with global Fortune 100, mid-sized and start-up growth companies, leading large-scale strategic alignment engagements with companies such as: BabyAge, Corning, Ethos Partners, Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia, GENEWIZ, Gentex, Hallmark International, Instinet, Johnson & Johnson, Merck, Pearson Education, Pfizer, Pharmanet, Prentice Hall, Sun Microsystems and WLR Foods.
Richard began his career developing margins trading systems at Morgan Stanley. He subsequently, became a senior member of the strategy practice with Kepner-Tregoe International, leaving to become a partner with the Strategy Partners Group LLC. In 2002, he joined Guttman Development Strategies as a Chief Strategist, while simultaneously founding Growth River LLC, which he leads today. Richard received a B.A. in Computer Science and German Literature from Hamilton College and an M.B.A. in Marketing and Organizational Development from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Tom Lombardi, Senior Consultant, Principal
Tom Lombardi has more than 25 years experience using his unique coaching approach: identifying and resolving constraints in mindset, relationships, roles, and execution. He has supported CEOs, Senior Managers, and their teams in the for-profit and non-profit sectors. His clients include: BNY Mellon, PNC Bank, Quest Diagnostics, Merck, Points of Light Foundation, Philadelphia Youth Network, and Atlanta Public Schools. Tom designs and delivers customized engagements that range from Assimilation and Transition to Leadership Effectiveness and Execution Coaching. He deploys an extraordinary team of coaches to support Growth River clients worldwide.
Tom received his coach training at Georgetown University and certification through the International Coach Federation. Prior to that, he attended Boston College and University of Massachusetts Boston, earning a degree in History. Tom's greatest joy is connecting people with their purpose, and developing presence and possibility in leaders. His wife of twenty-three years and his four children share his love for family, faith, food, and good health.
Tim Murphy, Senior Consultant, Principal
Drawing on fourteen years of consulting, training and executive management experience, Tim leads Growth River teams in addressing diverse strategic, business development, leadership and organizational issues. His expertise and focus is on the synthesis between strategic management science and cutting-edge developmental processes that enhance and accelerate the evolutionary capacities within leaders and organizations. He has strategic, executive leadership and technological consulting experience in a variety of environments including: banking, insurance, legal, pharmaceutical, healthcare, manufacturing, telecommunications, high-tech and non-profit organizations.
Prior to joining Growth River, Tim served as Vice President of Worldwide Strategy for Global Knowledge, the world’s largest independent training company and Cisco training partner. Tim is a graduate of SUNY Maritime College, where he trained as a merchant officer while earning a Bachelors of Engineering degree. He also holds numerous advanced certifications in Cisco Systems technologies.
Amy Flynn-Speir, Senior Consultant, Principal
Amy has worked in the Pharmaceutical and Medical Device and Diagnostic industries for over 20 years across a variety of functional areas including operations, marketing and business development. She has led and supported major change initiatives from both the client and consulting side, including mergers, acquisitions and partnerships, strategy formulation and implementation, and process improvement projects.
Her clients include international corporations, start-up companies and non-profits such as: Johnson & Johnson, Pfizer, Whatman; Guildford Pharmaceuticals, Hemasure, and The American Red Cross. She combines a strong process orientation with an interest in internally driven motivation to effectively shift organizational thinking and action toward a long term vision.
Amy received her coaching training and certification from the Leadership Institute of Seattle (LIOS). She holds a M.Ed. in Counseling Psychology from Temple University, an MBA from Rutgers Graduate School of Management, and a B.S. in Engineering from Rutgers College of Engineering.
Hans Phillips, Senior Consultant
Hans Phillips has been coaching individuals and businesses throughout the U.S. and Europe nearly twenty years. With an emphasis on producing results, his coaching has created 40-60% increases in performance in target areas. His proprietary coaching materials have been successfully introduced in France, Italy, Israel, Australia, Canada, and the U.S.
An entrepreneur committed to people winning in life, Hans previously founded three successful businesses during the past twenty-five years, and co-founded Accomplishment Coaching, an ontological coaches training program. After attending Cabrillo College, Colorado College, and San Jose State University, Hans became a professional coach, training at Johnston Consulting and Porsche/Neiderer Inc. He achieved extraordinary results in his first year and quickly began developing coaching tools and distinctions of his own. Within two years, he began training coaches and has trained hundreds of ontological coaches to date.
Blaine LeRoy, Senior Consultant
Blaine has worked on strategic marketing, positioning and communication initiatives and led strategic sessions for leading companies and associations including: UtiliCorp United, USTA, Society of Critical Care Medicine, Ford Motor Company, Dow Chemical, Chevron, Clorox, California Medical Association, TimeWarner/AOL/Netscape and AAA. She has a passion for executive coaching, specializing in helping individuals become managers and managers become leaders.
She’s successfully coached executives to change their mindset and behaviors, resulting in both personal and corporate growth at companies including Great-West Healthcare, Chubb Insurance Group, and Bala Consulting Engineers. Blaine’s leadership training mission is to ensure that each classroom participant has at least one aha moment that transforms them as a leader. Blaine has an M.B.A. in Leading Organizations and Teams from Santa Clara University and Executive Coaching Credentials from the Hudson Institute in Santa Barbara, California. She serves on the board of the Philadelphia Human Resources Planning Society, and resides in her home town near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Ted Warren, Senior Consultant
Ted brings twenty-seven years of leadership in human resources, management and education to Growth River. As Manager of Professional Development for McKinsey & Company in Oslo, Norway he advised directors and partners on leadership, staffing and reviewing the performance of the sixty consultants he managed. For Opera Software AS, Ted established the HR processes, managed salary negotiations and recruited developers and managers from ten countries using his web-based system. After downsizing the organization twice, he improved decision-making, communication and leadership.
Ted consults and conducts seminars on broad issues of leadership and personality development. He is also known for his book, The Teenage Edge, Guiding our Teens to their Unique Strengths, AWSNA Publications, 2005. Beginning his academic career at Harvard College, Ted studied German and History at Marburg University and Waldorf Education in Basel, Switzerland before graduating with a degree in English Literature from the University of Oslo. He is fluent in German and Norwegian.