POSITIVE MANAGEMENT LEADERSHIP - Key Persons
Before launching his consulting practice and joining Positive Management Leadership, Inc., Adrian had a successful 10 year career with Wal-Mart Canada as a Senior Human Resources leader. While with Wal-Mart Canada, Adrian led the field labor relations team and developed and implemented labor relations strategies that effectively reduced labor risk and exposure. Other key accomplishments during his tenure include heading the development of innovative engagement and culture strategies that significantly increased engagement scores as well as establishing the change management and associate communications functions.
Previous to Wal-Mart Canada, Adrian served as the Manager of Human Resources for Sobeys Ontario Division, where he oversaw a team of Human Resource Generalists supporting more than 10,000 employees.
Adrian also worked as a human resources business partner for Cadbury Adams, supporting general human resource activities for a variety of functions. Adrian also served as the Manager of Professional Development for Playdium Corporation, where he directed the organizations programs to recruit, train and lead new employees for new locations.
Adrian earned his Honors Degree in Political Science from the University of Western Ontario.
Bart Rovins is a Leadership Consultant of Positive Management Leadership, Inc.
Before joining Positive Management Leadership, Inc., Bart worked as the Human Resources Director for Moen Inc. While at Moen, Bart led the successful development and implementation of their positive employee relations program for four U.S. manufacturing and distribution centers that included proactively preparing leaders for the potential sweeping legal changes in employee relations driven by the Employee Free Choice Act, RESPECT Act and other legislation.
Bart also served as the HR Manager for Moen's largest 1,200-employee facility, where he had a variety of human resources responsibilities including the HR strategy, consolidation and standardization of HR policies, affirmative-action planning, plant safety, staffing programs as well as mentoring programs.
Prior to Moen, Bart spent 12 years with the Honda of America Manufacturing supply-base, where he served in a rapid succession of roles for one of Honda's key Tier-1 suppliers, leading the plant and its associates through a plant start-up and consecutive expansions.
As a licensed employment law attorney, Bart has led his clients through numerous union organizing attempts helping them to defeat over 92% of the organizing attempts.
Bart is a retired Army Military Police Colonel with various Company, Battalion, Brigade, and Headquarters Department of the Army level command and staff assignments.
Bart is a graduate of Lafayette College with a Bachelor of Administration in Government & Law. He holds a JD from the Brandeis School of Law at the University of Louisville with a concentration in Employment and Labor Law.
Connie Caverno is a Leadership Consultant for Positive Management Leadership, Inc.
Prior to joining Positive Management Leadership, Inc., Connie was a Senior Human Resources Manager at Elliott Group, a global manufacturer of compressors and steam turbines. During her 14 years at Elliot Group, Connie held a variety of leadership roles within the human resources function including responsibility for affirmative action planning, talent acquisition, employee relations, succession planning, performance management, labor relations, dispute resolution and training and negotiations with the United Steelworkers. While at Elliott Group, she also served as Process Innovation Manager, and Manager of Organizational Development and Training.
Before joining Elliott Group, Connie spent 5 years with Pennsylvania State University and Duke University, where she successfully marketed management development and leadership programs. Prior to that, Connie was the Assistant Director of Sales at the Pittsburgh Hilton and Towers.
Connie is a graduate of Pennsylvania State University with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Journalism and earned her Masters of Business Administration from Seton Hill University.
Connie has two children and lives on Hilton Head Island with her husband, John.
Dave Ramsey is a Leadership Consultant for Positive Management Leadership, Inc. and has been in this role since 2007.
Prior to joining Positive Management Leadership, Inc., Dave served thirty-two years as an employee relations leader for Eastman Kodak, where he was responsible for leadership development, coaching, change management and employee/labor relations. He began supporting PML workshops in 1997 while he held the position of Labor Relations Manager for the company.
Dave's international experience includes the facilitation of first level supervisory development workshops in South Korea and China as a member of the Kodak Education and Development Center. While at Kodak, Dave was certified in "Mastering Human Resources Assessment Skills and Techniques," which qualified him for coordinating and conducting employee satisfaction audits.
As an independent consultant, he founded Leadership Discovery: The Self-Awareness Connection, whose mission is to inspire leaders to be their best through heightened self-awareness, introspection and the power of choice.
Dave earned a Bachelor of Science Degree from Rochester Institute of Technology and a Master of Science in Counselor Education from State University of New York at Brockport. Additionally, he holds a certification from Myers-Briggs Type Indicator® (MBTI®).
Job Titles:
- Director of Music Ministries for the Episcopal Church
- Leadership Consultant
Donna Brooks is on the Senior Staff of Positive Management Leadership, Inc. as a Leadership Consultant. An engaging speaker, facilitator and consultant, Donna started with the company in 1997.
Since joining Positive Management Leadership, Inc., Donna has trained over six thousand leaders from various Fortune 1000 companies in the United States and Canada. Donna's extensive experience includes training leaders, partnering with her clients to help them maintain a union-free environment by focusing on positive employee relations.
An accomplished musician, Donna has served as the Director of Music Ministries for the Episcopal Church of the Resurrection for over 30 years. Donna has taught music privately and in the classroom setting.
Donna earned her Bachelor of Arts Degree in History from Lander University.
Gerald Brooks is a Leadership Consultant for Positive Management Leadership, Inc.
With over a successful 44-year career in law enforcement, he also serves as a Regional Director for Law Enforcement Relations with LensLock, Inc., a turn-key provider of technology solutions specifically designed for law enforcement.
Gerald's career began as a Deputy Sheriff with the Greenwood County, SC Sheriff's Office, where he was appointed to Captain with the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division, serving as Special Agent-in-Charge of the Arson Team and Bomb Squad and ultimately promoted to Chief of Police for the City of Greenwood, SC. Under his leadership, Gerald's department was awarded the Advanced, Meritorious, Gold Standard Accreditation, with Excellence.
Awarded by the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies, Gerald earned the Egon Bittner Award for "Excellence in Leadership" and was named a Life Member of The Citadel Alumni Association, the SC Police Chiefs Association, the International Association of Chiefs of Police and the FBI National Academy Associates. Upon his law enforcement retirement, Gerald was presented the Order of the Palmetto by the Governor of South Carolina for "extraordinary lifetime service and achievements of national or statewide significance."
Gerald served on the Board of Directors for the Greenwood Literacy Council, the Greenwood Shelter for Abused Women, the Bowers-Rodgers Children's Home, the Northwest Fire & Rescue Department, the Governor's Task Force on Domestic Violence and as President of the SC Police Chiefs Association.
He is graduate of The Citadel, the Military College of South Carolina: the Southern Police Institute at the University of Louisville, Kentucky; and the Federal Bureau of Investigation's National Academy at Quantico, Virginia.
Jim Johnson is a Leadership Consultant for Positive Management Leadership, Inc. Jim has been in his role since 2007.
Jim has more than 30 years of experience in pharmaceutical sales, brewery operations management, high volume retail distribution management, human resources management, labor relations, union avoidance, and team building.
Prior to joining Positive Management Leadership, Inc., Jim was the Vice President of Employee Relations for Lowe's, where he built the human resources and implemented an assessment system to identify at- risk facilities, an aggressive national training program to foster positive employee relations, and a response protocol to react to overt union organizing activity.
Jim's also worked at Anheuser-Busch with responsibilities ranging from packaging manager, special projects manager, and industrial relations manager responsible for Teamster contract compliance to dispute resolution and arbitration.
Previously, Jim served as a member of the Wal-Mart Stores corporate team and a charter member of the Labor Response Team. In his role, Jim was responsible for the rapid expansion of Wal-Mart's food distribution network as well as site selection, staffing and management training teams for up to twenty new distribution centers.
Jim earned his Bachelor of Science degree at Christopher Newport College of the College of William and Mary.
Jim Mertes is a Leadership Consultant for Positive Management Leadership, Inc.
Prior to joining Positive Management Leadership, Inc., Jim served as the Vice President of Labor Relations at Domtar, where he oversaw and directed all negotiations in the United States and Canada for all of the manufacturing and distribution facilities.
Previous to Domtar, Jim was the Manager of Industrial Relations at Dresser Industries, LeRoi Compressor Division. Jim also worked as the Regional Human Resources Director for Weyerhaeuser and Willamette, where he was responsible for overseeing all human resources function in multiple manufacturing operations throughout the United States. He also served as a Personnel Manager for Owens-Illinois, Forest Products Division.
Over a successful 39 year career, Jim was the company advocate in over 150 arbitration cases, helping them to win approximately 86% of those cases as well as the chief company spokesperson in approximately 100 negotiations. Jim also served as the point person for 10 successful certification campaigns and several successful decertification campaigns.
Jim once served on the Board of Directors for his local Red Cross, the Sidney/Shelby County Chamber of Commerce and Pulp and Papers Manufacturing Association in Wisconsin. He was also the Chairman for the industrial relations committee of the American Forest and Paper Association.
Jim graduated from Toledo University with a Bachelor of Business Administration and earned his Masters of Business Administration from Ohio University. Jim is a Certified Development Dimensions International (DDI) Instructor, who trained over 1000 supervisors and managers throughout his career.
Jack Reilly is a Leadership Consultant for Positive Management Leadership, Inc.
Prior to joining Positive Management Leadership, Inc., Jack spent 30 years in the public and private sector in a variety of senior-level human resources positions. Most recently, Jack was responsible for all employee and labor relations at NSTAR, one of America's largest and most successful publicly traded utility companies, now operating as Northeast Utilities.
Previous to NSTAR, his human resources leadership roles were in numerous corporations in several sectors, including a hospital and healthcare system, school bus and transit operations, and a privately held Fidelity Company in the worldwide travel and hospitality industry. While at Laidlaw, he oversaw 20,000 employees in 245 locations, with 80 separate union contracts.
Once a former union counsel, Jack has a 30-year career as an attorney specializing in preventive labor and employment law. Nationally, he worked in the public and private sector as well as the hotel industry, advocating for positive employee relations by providing counsel in union prevention, supervisor evaluation,
John Caverno is a Leadership Consultant for Positive Management Leadership.
Prior to joining PML, John was Vice President of global human resources for Pittsburgh Corning Corporation. While at Pittsburgh Corning, John held a variety of human resources responsibilities in the United States, China and Europe including HR strategy, consolidation and standardization of HR policies, affirmative-action planning, plant safety, staffing programs as well as mentoring programs. John also successfully provided HR support for a Greenfield Plant start up in Yantai China. He also led the employee and community relations activities related to the Pittsburgh Corning's emergence from Chapter 11 Bankruptcy.
Previously, John served 6 years as Senior Vice President of Human Resources for Excela Health, a three hospital health system outside of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. In his role, he supported major human resources strategies and led the organization's Patient Safety and Continuous Improvement (LEAN) activities.
Before his role at Excela Health, John held progressively more responsible positions within the human resources function, recruitment, labor and employee relations, and employee development functions for
Kennametal Inc., Invensys Metering Systems, SGL Carbon, and USAirways. John has two children and lives on Hilton Head Island with his wife, Connie.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Core Leadership Team
- Vice President
- Vice President / Positive Management Leadership, Inc.
Michelle Dunn is Vice President of Positive Management Leadership, Inc. Since joining PML, she is responsible for marketing, communications, business development, program facilitation, speaking engagements and leadership consulting. In addition, Michelle has trained hundreds of leaders from PML's numerous Fortune 1,000 clients, partnering with them to help maintain a union-free environment by focusing on positive employee relations.
Michelle's corporate career extends over 20 years, beginning in the financial services industry, where she earned her SEC license allowing her to advise clients on security products for several Fortune 500 corporations including The Hartford, Cigna, Aetna, General Electric and Genworth. She quickly advanced her career and became an executive leader within these companies, where she oversaw communications, marketing and crisis management.
Prior to joining Positive Management Leadership, Inc., Michelle's most recent role was a marketing and communications leader with Windstream Communications, one of the nation's largest network communications providers.
Job Titles:
- Founder of Mayer Madison Group
- Leadership Consultant
Mike Mayer is a Leadership Consultant for Positive Management Leadership, Inc.
As the founder of Mayer Madison Group, Mike brings over 30 years of experience, accomplished in the fields of executive recruitment, leadership development and talent management.
Over his career, Mike held leadership positions in human resources for General Electric, Honeywell (formerly Allied Signal) and the Aramark Corporation. In those roles, Mike led and contributed to significant organization initiatives that entailed large scale change, including major talent acquisition and integration efforts, mergers, acquisitions, divestitures and helping to strengthen the firms' infrastructure through substantive talent management efforts.
An active supporter of St. James School, a school dedicated to serving an economically disadvantaged neighborhood in Philadelphia, Mike serves on the Tax Credit Committee and as a student tutor. As a prominent ally in his church, he served on the board for two separate terms including as the leader of the board as well as on Diocesan committees for Property and Finance.
Mike earned his Bachelor of Science and Master of Science Degree in Management from Carnegie Mellon University. For over ten years, he also served as a lecturer at Villanova University where he taught graduate courses in Human Resources in the Business School.
Job Titles:
- Leadership Consultant With
Pat Burke is a Leadership Consultant with Positive Management Leadership, Inc. She is also the Principal of Malabar Consulting, LLC, a human resources and labor relations consulting firm.
Prior to joining Positive Management Leadership, Inc., Pat had a successful 34-year career in the employee and labor relations field as well as serving as an attorney specializing in labor and employment law both in private practice and in house. Her corporate career began with Diversified Energies, Inc./Minnegasco (now a part of CenterPoint Energy), where she served as the Company's attorney, specializing in regulatory matters at the state and federal level, as well as management of all claims and insurance matters.
As a licensed employment law attorney with the Littler Mendelson Law Firm and Rider Bennett, LLP, she led her clients through over 50 union campaigns, successfully negotiated labor contracts in a variety of industries and led the efforts to resolve labor disputes or stalled contract negotiations.
Most recently, Pat was the Vice President of Associate Relations at ServiceMaster, where she was responsible for all enterprise-wide Human Resources compliance functions, wage and hour matters, high level Human Resources investigations across all the ServiceMaster brands while maintaining union free status enterprise-wide.
Pat is a graduate of University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota with a Bachelors of Arts Degree in Economics/Philosophy. She holds a JD from William Mitchell College of Law, St. Paul, Minnesota.
Phil McMann is a Leadership Consultant for Positive Management Leadership, Inc.
As an accomplished employee and labor relations professional, Phil founded Peak Employee & Labor Relations, LLC (Peak ELR), a consulting firm based in Utah, where he helps senior executives drive efficiency and increase productivity, all while staying connected to the strategic goals and objectives of their organization.
Phil's experience extends over twenty-five years in operations and human resources. During his career he led and executed employee and labor strategies coupled with providing strategic workplace solutions for the companies where he worked. In addition, Phil provided in-depth first chair experience negotiating contracts, managing day-to-day operations, executing labor strategies and leading company campaigns in organizing drives.
Most recently, Phil was the Director of Employee Relations for International Paper Corporation, where he was responsible for leading and executing employee relations strategies in both union and non-union environments. Previously, Phil was the Director of Industrial Relations & Human Resource for several businesses and functions at United Technologies Corporation.
Phil earned his Bachelor of Arts in Organizational Leadership from the University of Hartford and attended the Executive Leadership Program at the University of Virginia, Darden School of Business.
Ray Meyers is a Leadership Consultant for Positive Management Leadership, Inc.
Prior to joining Positive Management Leadership, Inc., Ray served as the Corporate Human Resources Manager for Draexlmaier Automotive of America, LLC. While at Draexlmaier, Ray was responsible for Employee Relations, Benefits and Compensation for all of North America. During his nine years with Draexlmaier, Ray's developed and implemented various Human Resources strategies, along with succession planning, management and organizational development, compensation design and administration and project management.
Previous to Draexlmaier, Ray successfully led Meyers Consulting Group for over 20 years, designed to assist clients with a wide range of consulting services in the areas of Human Resources, Benefits and Compensation, Change Management, Organizational Development, Outplacement and Executive Search.
Ray started his career with Milliken and Company, where he held a variety of roles including Industrial Engineering, Logistics, and Product Market Manager in New York before moving into HR as the Personnel Director for 11 manufacturing plants, including production, marketing, development and staff positions.
Ray is a graduate of Augusta State University and recently served as the Chairman of the HR division of South Carolina Manufacturers Alliance (SCMA).
Bob Moran is a Leadership Consultant for Positive Management Leadership, Inc.
Bob spent thirty-three years at General Electric, with his most position as a Global Employee Relations Consultant in GE Healthcare & GE Capital. He also served as the Vice President of Global Employee Relations for GE Capital. At GE, he provided leadership in Positive Employee Relations and Union Avoidance in manufacturing, financial services and corporate headquarters. Bob's additional responsibilities included union relations, communications, organization and staffing and compensation.
Prior to joining GE, Bob held human resources leadership roles for Raytheon Company's Missile Systems
Steve Combs is a Leadership Consultant for Positive Management Leadership, Inc.
Prior to joining Positive Management Leadership, Inc., Steve had a successful 34 year career as an attorney specializing in labor and employment law both in private practice and in house. Most recently, Steve served as the Managing Attorney at NextEra Energy, leading the efforts of the Company's labor, employment and benefits attorneys. While at NextEra, he provided leadership across the full range of workplace labor and employment law issues including HR and labor relations strategy, communications, policy training and union avoidance.
Previous to NextEra, Steve worked for nearly 19 years at the General Electric Company along with United Technologies Corp. as their Assistant Counsel and Senior Counsel for Labor & Employment. In these roles, Steve was responsible for supporting the human resources and labor relations teams on a wide variety of workplace issues ranging from HR strategy and affirmative action to labor relations and union avoidance. In addition, Steve provided leadership and legal support in numerous organizing campaigns as well as litigation support before the National Labor Relations Board on behalf of his clients.
Steve earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in Business Administration from Michigan State University and his law degree from Washington University. Steve also holds a Master of Laws degree from Temple University.
Steve is a former JAG officer with the U.S. Navy.
Steve is President of SP Consulting, LLC., a leadership consultant working for long-term sustainable economic growth in the tri-county region: Berkeley, Charleston and Dorchester counties.
Steve's experience consists of over thirty-two years with the Boeing Company and McDonnell Aircraft Company. Steve retired from Boeing as the director of manufacturing engineering where he played an instrumental role in merging and growing the Boeing Charleston, SC Production Facility.
During his Boeing tenure, he developed world class training programs for production engineering, established a committee for employee innovation, integrated a global production system and promoted synergistic engineering. Steve's core strengths include strategic positioning, developing positive employee relations programs such as the four pillar of employee growth. This program is comprised of: Performance Optimization, Education and Training, Career Development and Employee Engagement with secondary support to union avoidance while building productive teams in both engineering and technical areas.
Steve earned his Doctorate of Management in organizational leadership from the University of Phoenix, his Master of Aeronautical Science with specialties in Management, Safety and Human Factors from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, and a Bachelor of Science Degree in Professional Aeronautics from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Core Leadership Team
- President
- Senior Partner
Terry Dunn is President of Positive Management Leadership, Inc., an internationally recognized innovator of live simulations and experiential learning sessions to help build stronger, more positive and effective leaders.
Terry started his career in the retail industry then transitioned into the daily newspaper business, becoming America's youngest publisher and general manager for a chain on New England-based daily newspapers. Terry was also a television news journalist and cable news anchor for a New England-based cable news channel.
Terry's corporate career extends over three decades as an executive leader with extensive experience working within and outside the U.S, most recently for General Electric. Working in multiple business units, Terry had responsibilities in government relations, crisis management, human resources and general management.
Terry was also a business leader for Martin Marietta, Asea Brown Boveri (ABB), Kraft (US Foods) where he was responsible for corporate communications, press relations, crisis management and labor relations.
During his corporate career, Terry led change management processes and crisis management teams for maintaining union-free operations. Throughout his service, he was also directly involved in 33 organizing campaigns, including de-certifications in the U.S. and Canada.
Terry currently serves on the CUE (Council for Union-free Environments) Consultant Advisory Council, a non-profit, member-run organization in the U.S. and Canada dedicated to assisting companies in the creation and maintenance of positive working environments. Terry also serves as a sponsor for the LaborVision Forum, an informal, small group of labor and employee relations thought leaders in North America who meet twice yearly.
Wayne Thompson is a Leadership Consultant for Positive Management Leadership, Inc.
Prior to joining Positive Management Leadership, Inc., Wayne was a Senior Human Resources Professional for Active Minerals International, managing all aspects of the human resources function for seven manufacturing locations in the southeast.
Previous to Active Minerals, Inc., Wayne served 12 years for Kennametal Inc. as a Senior Human Resources leader responsible for the HR over site of 34 manufacturing locations of over 4,000 employees throughout the United States and Latin America. While at Kennametal Inc., he negotiated with the United Electrical Workers and the Steelworkers. In addition, Wayne led the introduction of union avoidance/positive employee relations processes, the integration of standardized employee rewards and recognition/peer review/communications plans, and the implementation of hourly associates merit based pay programs.