PRIORITY THINKING® - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Coach
- Executive
- President and CEO of Futures Funding Corporation
Alan is President and CEO of Futures Funding Corporation and has been involved in the sales and service of employee benefit plans for over 30 years. He is also the founder and President of the Rochester Area Business Ethics Foundation (RABEF). RABEF sponsors the annual ETHIE award to businesses that exhibit high ethical cultures, as well as a variety of other educational programs and seminars. In their 11 year history, they have grown to be one of the most important business programs in the Rochester community. In recognition of that work, he was recently one of 4 national recipients of the "Being a Difference" award, given by the Center for Public Trust. He is a Board member and currently Chair of the Board of Trustees of Keuka College.
Alan is an alumnus of Dartmouth College. He holds the Master of Science in Financial Services designation from the American College and the professional designations of Certified Employee Benefits Specialist (CEBS), Chartered Life Underwriter (CLU), Chartered Financial Consultant (ChFC) and Registered Employee Benefits Consultant (REBC). He is a past National President of the Society of Financial Service Professionals.
Passionate about delivering a holistic transformational experience for leaders and organizations.
Helping leaders be effective and ethical by using the Good Will Leader™ model and leveraging 20+ years of experience in progressive leadership roles in complex global enterprises and family-owned businesses spanning domestic and international markets.
Expertise and documented success in operations, supply chain, quality, product development, people management, and financial performance. In-depth, hands-on knowledge of business and manufacturing operations of multiple highly-regulated industries, including automotive, medical device, life science, food, and beverage.
Job Titles:
- Coach
- Executive
- Is Director, Business Development & Strategic Planning, Mission Systems Division, Industrial Sector for Eaton, a Power Management Company
Named to this role in August 2022, Caltha has overall responsibility for strategic planning and business development of products in the Actuation & Environmental Systems, with significant focus in the areas of M&A activities, profit planning, external relationships, and portfolio management. She is currently based in Cleveland, OH.
Originally from Canada, Caltha is in her sixth year working for Eaton and is a 2018 graduate of Eaton's Global Leadership Development Program. She's held positions managing new product development, enterprise-wide global inclusion & diversity initiatives, and a role as a cross-functional project leader for Eaton's $2.5B commercial vehicle product line. In addition, Caltha was the first National Channel Manager for the Industrial Controls Division where she was responsible for $262M of distribution channel partner sales, strategic marketing initiatives, and programs to cultivate sales growth and increase profitability.
Prior to joining Eaton, Caltha leveraged her leadership skills in operations and consulting positions for institutions of higher education and professional sports, including the National Football League & the United States Military Academy-West Point.
Caltha graduated from Tulane University with an MBA in International Business & Finance with experiences in Asia, Europe, and Latin America. She is a former elite Track & Field athlete, classically trained pianist, with French as a second language, and currently serves on the Athlife Foundation Board of Directors. Caltha is also an advisory board member for The Salvation Army Western Territory, The Influence Lab & The Command Presence Foundation.
Job Titles:
- Coach
- Executive
- Founder of Leath Group
Dr. Blake Leath is the founder of Leath Group, LLC-a dynamic curriculum development and intellectual property greenhouse that grows leaders and shapes cultures. He is the author of more than 90 copyrighted organizational science solutions implemented for clients around the world.
Blake has worked with clients as diverse as Adidas, Alcon, AT&T, Bausch + Lomb, BBN Technologies, BHP, BNSF Railway, Boeing, Capital One, Citigroup, Clemson University, The Coca-Cola Company, Corelle Brands, Daimler, Ericsson, Fidelity Investments, Freeport-McMoRan, GE, Kodak, Libbey, Lockheed Martin, Los Alamos National Laboratory, McDonald's Corporation, Momentous Institute, Naval Air Warfare Center, Northwestern Mutual, Peabody Energy, Pfizer, Raytheon, Sabre, Sandia National Laboratories, Tesoro Corporation, Toledo Zoo, United States Coast Guard, Universal Instruments, University of Texas, and the U.S. Departments of Agriculture, Defense, and Interior. Blake and Leath Group colleagues provide consulting & communication services and tools that transform leaders, cultures, and processes to achieve dramatic breakthroughs in strategy and performance. Since 1992, he has worked with practitioners in over 300 companies and numerous federal, state, and local agencies/departments/bureaus, as well as with individual researchers from leading universities to understand and maximize employee involvement, success, longevity, and passion.
In 26 years as an organizational sociologist and strategist, Blake has instructed in excess of 14,000 participants across 41 states, and his content has been used by leaders in 27 countries. Leath Group has worked with more than 200,000 individuals, and well over 2,000,000 imprints have been made of the Group's combined intellectual property. Blake's primary interests include strategy, culture, leadership, change, communication, effects of a multi-generation workforce, systems thinking, M&A integration, trust & influence, and the process of acculturation.
In 2007, Blake published his first mainstream book, Cultivating the Strategic Mind. The modest and very personal text consistently receives high praise from professional strategists embracing its approach to reinforce more systemic strategic thinking, and is increasingly regarded as a classic within its domain. A commemorative 10th anniversary Second Edition paperback featuring nearly 800 updates was released for Christmas 2017.
Meanwhile, Blake and his colleagues research, write, design, deliver, facilitate, train, present, and film extensively, and most often in conjunction with long-term internal/external communication efforts designed to define and shape client cultures.
Gleanings from the Group's contributions to knowledge and best practices (plus hobbyhorses Blake's Blog, Language Hound, and Movie Reviews) can be found at www.leathgroup.com. Lifelong learners are encouraged to visit the site to experience Leath Group's work, download freebies, and to participate in and contribute to an organic community of dialogue. Follow @blakeleath on Twitter, Leath Group, LLC on Facebook and LinkedIn, or leathgroup on Instagram to engage in current corporate comings and goings and lighthearted musings, riffs, personal photos, and puff-piece observations.
Blake earned his bachelor's degree in Management & Marketing, his master's degree in Organizational Management, and his doctorate of philosophy in Organizational Sociology. Postdoctoral studies exploring the integration of strategy, leadership and corporate communication in postmodern management have proven the inspiration behind 2019's intended Cultivating the Managerial Mind, the second in a burgeoning series. Blake remains an Adjunct Faculty member at the Tandy Center for Executive Leadership in TCU's Neeley School of Business.
Blake, his beloved wife, Dawn, and their precious daughter, Lauren (along with their microscopic Cavalier King Charles Spaniel, Daisy) make their home in the very gently rolling hills of North Texas. For play, the Leaths enjoy traveling/exploring, reading, moviegoing, attending concerts, plays, and musicals-and embarking on fun design projects of virtually any nature that get their creative juices flowing.
Job Titles:
- Coach
- Executive
- Executive Coach, Instructor
Dr. William J. (Billy) Mea is an executive coach, instructor, and content developer at Priority Thinking. He brings with him a practical approach to business advisory services and decision-making honed by three decades of experience in manufacturing, finance, leadership, and teaching.
Dr. Mea is a licensed psychologist and holds Project Management Professional (PMP) certification. He is cleared for Top Secret (TS) Information and granted access to Sensitive Compartmentalized Information (SCI).
Joe Heskett is a man of faith, a dedicated family man, and father of three incredible children. In just a matter of days Joe went from one of the top wrestlers in the world to fighting for his life. Just 5 days after competing in the wrestling World Championships in Baku Azerbaijain, Joe unexpectedly went into sudden cardiac arrest and truly outlasted the toughest opponent he had ever faced, death.
The doctors relayed to Joe that he had been born with a rare and often fatal heart condition. They also reiterated how fortunate he was to be alive telling him that he had less than a 2% chance to live. Contrary to the statistics, Joe was blessed with a second chance at life, a chance to embrace each breath granted to him, and a chance to follow his passion to teach, coach, consult, and develop others. Highly competitive, introspective, and inspirational Joe founded h Leadership.
Raised by his grandmother, Joe never knew his father and at 10 years of age he witnessed his mothers life succumb to the ugly realities of drugs and alcohol. His grandmother, Evelyn, got Joe into sports at the age of 6, but she emphasized that if his academics were not right, then sport would not happen. Through the love, support, and guidance of his grandmother and other positive mentors, coaches, and influencers, Joe embraced being the best athlete, academic, and person possible. He is the first to note that his journey is not about perfection, perfection is not possible nor is a goal, but more about understanding ones self, goal identification, and the conviction to challenge ourselves daily to become better.
Joe is a rare combination of world class athletic talent, elite coach and teacher, scholar, and owns an unmatched passion for leadership and the personal development of others. What separates him from many others is his understanding of team and his sense of gratitude for the opportunity to wake up each morning and positively impact and change lives to become the ideal version of ourselves.
Joe holds a B.A. in Communications from Iowa State University and a M.S. in Educational Leadership from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo.
Joe LeBoeuf, Ph.D. is a Professor at Duke University's Fuqua School of Business (M.B.A. programs) and Visiting Professor, Sanford School of Public Policy (Hart Leadership Program); he oversees the overall leadership development program in the business school. Joe teaches in Duke's Advanced Management Program. He also serves as a scholar in the Coach K Center of Leadership and Ethics (COLE) as a senior mentor and faculty advisor to COLE Leadership Fellows program.
Joe is an education consultant with Duke Corporate Education and the Praevius Group in partnership with the Army's Center on the Profession and Ethic. He is a former Professor at the United States Military Academy at West Point, Deputy Head of the Behavioral Sciences and Leadership Department, Director of Organizational Studies and Director of the Academy's Eisenhower Program graduate school (partnership with Columbia University). Joe has held numerous U.S. Army command and staff assignments; serving on the Army Training and Leader Developmental Panel (ATLDP) Executive Committee.
Joe has extensive experience in leadership education, leader development, and organizational culture and change. He is involved in building USMA and Army leadership/leader development programs; and is an advisor to Army Chief of Staff on reshaping Army training and leader development culture/facilitating Army Transformation. Joe is a contributing author on several books and publications for the United States Military Academy and the U.S. Army; and a contributing author to the Army's leadership doctrine. His research and writing have also appeared in Leader to Leader, Military Review, The Teaching of Sociology, and the Journal of Consulting Psychology.
Joe holds a BS in engineering from the United States Military Academy. He earned his MS in engineering psychology and PhD in industrial/organizational psychology from the Georgia Institute of Technology. A graduate of West Point, he earned Executive Leadership diplomas from the Army's Command and General Staff College and the U.S. Army War College.
Job Titles:
- Director of Research
- Director of Research & Legal Affairs
- Executive Support
John Lyle serves as Director of Research and Legal Affairs for Priority Thinking® and EthicsPoll™.
After joining the team as a researcher and consultant in 2005, John helped to develop many of our proprietary tools, and worked extensively with key clients in our corporate and university-level practices. At the same time, John also helped to found a private elementary and middle school, where he served as Headmaster for two years and still serves on the Board of Governors. While continuing with Priority Thinking part-time, John enrolled in law school in 2009 and thereafter clerked with the Twelfth Appellate District of the State of Ohio.
John's experience as a researcher and consultant, headmaster and attorney - combined with his study of ancient and modern political philosophy - make him well suited to direct the research activities and legal affairs of our business while helping our clients to see the essential link between Priority Thinking and the flourishing of human relationships in all types of organizations.
John resides in Rochester, New York with his wife and five children. He holds a BA in Political Science (minor in Economics) from Ohio University, an MA in Political Science from Marquette University and a JD from University of Dayton School of Law. John is admitted to the practice of law in Ohio and New York.
Job Titles:
- Coach
- Executive
- Coach and Clinical Psychologist With
- Leadership Coach
Marc Swogger, Ph.D. is a Coach and Clinical Psychologist with Priority Thinking. He provides coaching support during the Discovery phase, with subsequent coaching support as needed. Marc is a licensed psychologist with 18 years of experience as a clinician and Assistant Professor at the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry.
Marc's research, currently funded by the National Institute for Drug Abuse, focuses on the efficacy of psychological intervention for drug use. Marc has authored over 20 peer-reviewed publications examining personality traits associated with violence and other key public health outcomes. In 2005, he received the Christine Louro Award for excellence in both the science and practice of psychology.
Marc has a B.A. in psychology from Penn State University; M.A. in clinical psychology from Edinboro University of Pennsylvania; M.S. and Ph.D. in clinical psychology from Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine & Science. Marc's post-doctoral training and residency was completed as a research fellow at the University of Rochester Medical Center.
Mark McKearn is a combat tested leader with proven team building skills. Mark has experience building and leading organizations in tough, demanding and challenging environments which makes him uniquely equipped to help leaders build strong and resilient organizations that can perform at exceptional levels even in the midst of difficult periods.
Mark is a retired U.S. Army Colonel with 30 years of active service and extensive leadership experience leading soldiers in combat in Iraq and Afghanistan. He commanded an aviation brigade in Afghanistan that consisted of 3,000 personnel and 100 helicopters. He also led peacekeeping operations in Kosovo and spearheaded U.S. humanitarian relief operations in Austria and Pakistan following natural disasters.
As a professor of Joint Military Operations at the U.S. Naval War College (2002-2004), Mark facilitated lectures, curriculum development, seminars, and other exercises for military officers of all services, international officers and senior government officials who were pursuing graduate education. Later, Mark became Dean of Student Activities for the 4,700 member Army West Point Corps of Cadets. He was charged with blending the military, physical, social, spiritual and moral-ethical development of the Corps of Cadets so they graduated as leaders of character who were committed to the ideals of duty, honor, country and a lifetime of service to the nation.
Job Titles:
- Coach
- Executive
- Leader Assessment Expert
As an executive coach and counselor, Mary is an expert in the cognitive and personality assessment tools used in our executive coaching and leadership development processes. She compiles the assessment reports and conducts feedback sessions with our clients. Mary holds a B.B.A. in Business from Texas A&M and an M.A. in Industrial and Organizational Psychology from Saint Mary's University.
Job Titles:
- Coach
- Executive
- Founder
- President
Peter C. DeMarco is the founder and President of Priority Thinking®, where he supports his clients as an executive coach, organizational consultant, ethics facilitator and strategy advisor, helping leaders and their teams achieve significant performance improvements while reducing risks and embedding ethical power into decision making at all levels. Peter also facilitates leadership and ethics education programs for organizations and business schools around the country. He was designated a "Top Thought Leader" in 2014 and 2015 by Trust Across America - Trust Around the World.
Prior to founding Priority Thinking® in 2003, Peter gained extensive leadership experience over a career of thirty-plus (30+) years including general management and senior level executive assignments as a CEO, COO and division president in the U.S. and Mexico. During that time, Peter led two ground-up designs/builds and three lean transformations. Now, Peter's work through the Institute 4 Priority Thinking helps leaders and their teams to achieve significant performance improvements while reducing risks and embedding ethical power into decision making at every level.
Peter's career of thirty-plus (30+) years includes extensive leadership experience in general management, and senior level executive assignments in the U.S. and Mexico with Xerox, Bausch & Lomb and Latex Foam International. During these assignments, Peter served as chief operating officer, division president, managing director, general manager, plant manager, manager of information technology, and quality engineer. He has designed, built and led two large-scale production facilities-one in Mexico-from the ground up and led three lean transformations that yielded significant sales, throughput and gross margin improvements. Peter has also conducted turn-around assignments as a President & CEO. Periodically, Peter enjoys teaching as an adjunct professor of business ethics at St. John Fisher College, and for nine years he was a visiting educator on ethical leadership and crisis leadership at Duke University's Fuqua School of Business.
Prior to his business career, Peter DeMarco served in the United States Army. He enlisted after high school and later served as an infantry officer in airborne and mechanized infantry assignments, including seven years as citizen soldier and company commander in the NY National Guard.
Peter holds a B.S. from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point; an M.S. from the University of Southern California; an M.S. from the College of Engineering at the Rochester (NY) Institute of Technology; and an M.B.A. from the Simon School of Business at the University of Rochester. He is certified as a Lean-Six Sigma Master Black Belt (MBB) through Villanova University. When he is not busy serving his clients, Peter can be found pursuing his life-long passion for philosophy through part-time graduate studies at Holy Apostles College.
Job Titles:
- Director of Information Technology
- Executive Support
Tim Kendrick is the Director of Information Technology at Priority Thinking©. He has a unique background in C# application development, business intelligence software, and database architecture and administration. Tim runs an internship program in cooperation with his alma mater, Rochester Institute of Technology. With his team of software developers, Tim works on projects relating to the creation and analysis of survey data. In addition to developing software products, he maintains the network and systems at our Pittsford headquarters.