An advisor to management, executive coach and public speaker, Jim Jackson is President and CEO of The Essex Group, a business advisory firm with 12 associates and clients in eleven states.  He specializes in helping clients maximize their potential by sharpening their vision and goals to motivate and accelerate positive change.  Jim’s 30+ years of diversified business experience range from a high-tech startup to serving as a Fortune 500 division general manager, giving him a rare insight into the balances that must be struck in a successful business enterprise.

He is a member of The Institute of Management Consultants, and Sales and Marketing Executives International as well as a member of The Corporate Coaching Center, the International Coach Federation, and a life member of the International Association of Coaches.  Jim is author or co-author of a number of business and personal development programs, including Compete to Win!^SM and Advanced Selling “Secrets”^SM business development programs, co-author of A Lifetime of Learning^©, and is a regular speaker for businesses and associations on a variety of professional development topics.

Jim’s recent clients cover the economic spectrum in both public and private sectors including: manufacturing, not-for-profit, healthcare, retail, banking, insurance, news & broadcast media, professional and personal services, software development, petroleum & chemicals, agriculture, education, commercial real estate, yacht brokerage, government agencies and business & trade associations.

In addition, Jim serves on the boards of several business, civic and charitable organizations and founded the Connecticut Skilled Trades Coalition; a voice for small manufacturers.  He is a faculty member of the Essex Management Center, a leadership forum for senior executives from third-world countries.  Jim served as a moderator for the Connecticut state and northeast regional meetings of the White House Conference on Small Business.  He is a graduate of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.

Isabel Jackson joined The Essex Group in 1999 and is their Vice President, CFO and web master.  Isabel, has worked in industry and manufacturing as well as a nurse for 35 years and brings her expertise of working with people in many different situations to the Group.

Isabel develops programs in customer service, telephone etiquette, business etiquette, and management organization.  She coaches people  on how to make working more effective, how to keep your customers coming back and how to increase your business over the competition.  Isabel presents ways to have a positive attitude in your working day and how to juggle multiple responsibilities and still keep smiling. 

She has worked in manufacturing offices, industrial fields, and the medical field, in physician’s offices,  hospital departments, emergency care centers, home health nursing and in nursing homes.  She has attended college and has a degree in nursing and a life experience of working with all people.

Isabel enjoys getting people interested, happy, smiling, and excited about coming to work. 

Thomas Abbott, Senior Associate, is an accomplished consultant and speaker with special emphasis in manufacturing, organizational development, leadership, and change management issues.  He has worked with organizations as diverse as manufacturers, software developers, labor unions, and government.

Tom's background includes various operational assignments as construction project management and industrial market research.  He has held extensive experience in managing venture capital relationships, negotiation and structuring of international joint ventures and implementation of financial controls. 

Tom's professional experience as a high level financial executive in management includes controller positions in organizations ranging from small entrepreneurial companies to a major division of  Fortune 250 corporations.  His responsibilities in these positions have included all controllership and treasury functions as well as extensive responsibilities in human resources management and information systems.

Tom is Managing Director of the Essex Management Center.  The Essex Management Center provides leading edge management programs for clients around the world.  For more information, go to this web site: (www.EssexMgmtCenter.com).    

Mr. Abbott holds Master of Business Administration degree from the University of Pittsburgh and a Bachelor of Arts degree in economics from Boston College.

David Bohy is Vice President of The Essex Group and President of Organizational Solutions, Inc.  David is Vice President of our Healthcare Leadership Institute division.

David is widely recognized as an expert in organizational development, strategic planning, human resource management, quality and customer service improvement.  He has provided consulting services to a variety of organizations, including health care, long term care, human services, manufacturing, business services, and insurance.  He has also earned national recognition for implementation of quality improvement initiatives.

David has a B.A. from Aurora University and completed the Executive Development Program at Harvard University.  He has taught in the management programs at Clark University, Harvard University/Radcliffe College and Bryant College.  He is Certified as a Senior Professional in Human Resources (SPHR) by the Personnel Accreditation Institute.  He serves on the boards of a number of community and professional organizations, including chairing the board of a non-profit long-term care company.

John Carroll,  joined The Essex Group in 1996, has over 20 years experience as a Vice President and Human Resources Executive for several large global companies.

As a performance management consultant, his clients have included software and systems, telephony, consumer marketing, retail, insurance, health care, architectural services, universities, banking, transportation, and document management services.     Projects for these clients ranged from executive and management compensation, organizational restructuring, staffing and recruiting to training and development, HR alignment, and coaching.  John has also served in interim leadership capacities and advised companies on HR infrastructure.  He is also the founder of John Carroll International, LLC (www.JohnCarrollInternational.com), an alliance partner of The Essex Group.

An accomplished business and public speaker, John has presented, on numerous occasions, at both the Connecticut's Success Seminars and the Secretary of State's Small and minority Business Expositions as well as for regional trade associations. 

John's private and public workshops cover topics such as effective leadership, communication skills, management effectiveness, embracing change, goal setting, achieving peak performance, strategic thinking, interviewing, dealing with stress, time mastery, and other topics. 

John holds a bachelor's degree in Economics from Kalamazoo College and earned his master's degree in Labor and Human Resources at Michigan State University.  He also attended the five-week Consortium for Executive Development program at Babson College.

John is co-author of the book: "Pocket Idiot's Guide to Performance Appraisal Phrases".  This book can be bought through www.amazon.com.

John has co-authored his second book entitled: "Beyond The Resume: Phrases, Tips, & Tactics for Making the Right Impression Through E-mail, Cover Letters, Resumes, and Pre-interviews".  This book can now be purchased through www.amazon.com

Barry Foster is Senior Advisor to The Essex Group, President of Fostering Solutions, Inc., a management, sales and leadership consulting firm, Founder and Principal of ASearch, LLC, an executive selection, development and retention firm, (www.ASearchllc.com) and Founder/Director of The Corporate Coaching Center (www.everyoneneedsacoach.com).

Barry brings over 35 years of industry, sales, effective management and leadership development, executive coaching, recruiting experience, and public speaking to the Group.

Barry is creator of Optimizing Your Potential for Success, and co-author of Successful Selling in the New Game of Business.  He develops customized training solutions that produce long-term results.  He uses a variety of assessment tools to implement systematic analysis of management skills, styles and capacity for teamwork.  Barry identifies the needs for leadership and management development, designs and conducts seminars, facilitates team building and works with individual leaders in coaching them to increase success.

The development of effective sales management and sales professional is an area that has earned Barry National recognition. His clients benefit from his emphasis on a high level of management involvement in planning a well-orchestrated training process that precisely fits each situation. Barry is a Registered Corporate Coach (RCC), Certified Professional Behavioral Analyst (CPBA), and a Senior Advisory Board Member to the Worldwide Association of Business Coaches (WABC).

Charlie Peake is Senior Associate with The Essex Group.  Charlie brings over 30 years experience in marketing and sales, from entrepreneurial organizations to a Fortune Top 10 firm.  He has developed strategic marketing and business plans, and often executed those plans through consultative selling and relationship management with existing customers.  Charlie has led sales forces and been responsible for sales force training, designing and implementing cross-selling initiatives and providing the bridge between technical products and services and the economic buyer.  In addition, Charlie has significant financial structuring experience with both debt and equity.

Charlie has worked in the real estate, independent power, energy exploration and production, as well as financial services industries.  He earned a Bachelor of Arts from Colgate University and a Masters of Business Administration from Columbia University.