Kevin Barris, a Managing Director and leader of the Southwest Region, is an experienced communication and human resources professional with more than 30 years experience helping management teams develop business strategies and communicate them for action. He has spearheaded large, national and global efforts to help organizations understand and refine their business cultures. As part of this, Kevin has conducted more than 1,000 employee and management team focus groups around the world.
Kevin has worked with organizations of varying size – from local startups to large global multi-nationals – providing guidance to implement significant program and organizational changes, or helping define business identity through M&A events. In addition to his extensive experience in the private sector, Kevin also has significant service in the public sector, working with large school systems and state retirement programs.
Kevin’s background is as an award-winning journalist and sportswriter. (He openly admits that the two are not always the same.) Kevin spent several years covering sports at the University of North Carolina (UNC) and has had the pleasure of interviewing/profiling many of the school’s famous athletes, including: Mia Hamm, James Worthy, Davis Love III, and Lawrence Taylor among many others. He traveled with the 1982 UNC national championship basketball team, and although almost daily he saw, spoke with and occasionally played HORSE with then freshman Michael Jordan, to his credit he never asked for an autograph.
Kevin spent seven years helping Bank of America (then NCNB) merge acquisitions in Florida and Texas. He spent 10 years at Towers Watson leading large communication and employee research projects, often with Alan Schnur. The two worked together on several significant business culture engagements. In 2000 Kevin moved to Mercer where he was overall account manager and management team advisor for several of Mercer’s large, multi-national clients. Thanks to his relationships with Schlumberger, Air Liquide and Alstom, Kevin made multiple trips annually to Paris where he acquired a taste for Champagne and Burgundy.
Kevin is a graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, attending on the prestigious Morehead-Cain Scholarship. He lives in Houston with his wife Susan and has two grown children, Melissa and Matthew. Kevin is actively involved with the Houston Golf Association, as well as serving as the Chair of the Houston Carolina Club for local UNC alumni.
Matt Brown is the Leader of the Innovation Solutions Practice with The Schnur Group. He has been leading high-performing teams to develop vibrant business cultures, invent and launch high-impact branded platforms, and turn around underperforming brands and businesses for over 20 years.
Matt started off as an attorney, working in litigation and as a clerk for the Honorable Oliver Seth in the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals. His creative drive compelled him to move into entrepreneurship and growing companies. In 1996 he co-founded a pioneering toy company, Primordial, the maker of the award-winning Zoob®. From there, he has been SVP of Scholastic and President of their Klutz Division; VP of Business Development and Internet Division at LeapFrog; Chief Strategist at Speck Design and Chief Gaming Officer at Conteneo. His work has generated over $500MM in top-line growth for start-ups and Fortune 100 companies including: American Licorice, Disney, Endace, Kraft, Learning Curve, Nickelodeon, NetApp, and ToysRUs.
He is an expert in blending science, academics, technology, user-centered design and creativity to develop fresh solutions that people desire and value. Matt’s passion is harnessing the science of play to make our lives happier, healthier, and more vibrant both in and out work.
Matt graduated from Georgetown and Villanova University Law School. When he is not working, you might find him lecturing at UC Berkeley, writing a creative leadership book, cooking up his soon-to-be-world-famous English toffee, or maybe on the road taking his daughter to all 50 state capitals. Next on the list: Boise and Denver. He is married 22 years and has 3 pooches.
Jason Ford is the Leader of the Capacity for Success practice of The Schnur Group. He is a highly successful sales executive and an accomplished leader of sales teams. Over the last 20 years, Jason has built a long and stellar track record of selling complex technology products to largest fortune 500 companies.
Jason’s career began at Cisco Systems (9 years), Centrylink (3 years Regional Manager in Bay Area) Citrix Systems (6 years Director of Western US), VMware (2 years Sr. Director of Western US Sales) and Pivot3 (VP of sales).
Jason is highly motivated and skilled at creating empowered, aggressive, professional, disciplined and successful sales teams that work collaboratively to dazzle their customers. Over the years, Jason has developed a keen eye for talent, with a strong ability to evaluate the strengths and weaknesses in people with speed and uncanny accuracy. His approach is that of a servant-based leader, a style and philosophy that has helped Jason accelerate the development of core skills and abilities in many around him. Record-breaking sales, devoted customers and a large and loyal staff combine to illustrate Jason’s unusual, highly personal and engaging approach to work. His experience in the field as well as recruiting, building and motivating people lead him to create the ‘Capacity for Success’ model. It’s an unusual yet simple approach to defining success while assessing the personal ability to be successful.
Jason has not taken the ‘normal’ or ‘expected’ route to anything he’s accomplished. A man who is adamant that he is not naturally-gifted at anything, but one who is willing to work hard to compensate for his lack of talent. Someone who has experienced enormous personal and professional challenges yet has takes on the uncomfortable, the unsuccessful and emerged with a passion – and a skill – to help others thrive. An individual with deep humility, possibly as a result of being told that he would never amount to much. This is not the typical profile of a highly successful sales executive or a practice leader in a successful consulting firm. But, then again, as anyone who has met him will attest, Jason Ford is simply not typical.
Jason is married and is the father of two sons. He is an avid sportsman having played competitive volleyball while at Menlo College of California earning a Bachelors Degree in Communications. There, Jason also studied broadcasting and acting. He has worked professionally in television, both in front of and behind the camera. Since college, Jason has expanded his leisure activities to include: surfing, basketball, snowboarding, cycling, kayaking and the guitar, which he claims to play poorly.
Jason currently serves on the local school site council and district budget committee. He has coached the Girls and Boys volleyball teams at his local high school and is active in his church. He coaches his sons’ flag football teams and been Den Leader for his sons’ Cub Scout troop. He has been seen repeatedly to help elders cross the street, but won’t admit it in public.
Jason lives with his family, dog, 3 saltwater fish, and 9 chickens in San Rafael, California.
Neelima is the Leader – Talent Services of KaN Associates and has over 18 years of experience in Organization, Talent and Transformation. Neelima has led large interventions across geographies (US, India) and Industries (Professional Services, Pharma, Financial Services, Manufacturing). She has held leadership positions in Deloitte and helped in setting up one of the largest Talent Shared Services Operations globally. She brings a blend of experience in managing operations of large companies and as well as start-ups. She has supported growth of an animation studio to help scale up its operations to being a 5000+ employee company. She brings expertise in Talent Management, Organization Design, Transition Management, Project Management, Cultural Sensitivity and Change Management. Neelima has a Master’s degree in Business Administration and a degree in Arts.
Shailesh is the Leader – Learning Services of KaN Associates. In his 12+ years at Deloitte, Shailesh has led organizational change management activities on large and complex business transformation projects across Energy, Life Sciences, Manufacturing, and Technology industry clients. He has been designing, developing, and delivering learning solutions for 17 years. His areas of expertise include learning, performance, succession planning, organizational change management, talent analytics, employee engagement, and diversity. Shailesh has a track record of delivering new value for organizations by helping Learning & Development functions in rewiring strategies and tactics, and harnessing current technologies towards implementing a successful corporate digital learning strategy. Shailesh is a Chemical Engineer and has a Master’s degree in Business Administration (Finance).
Suresh is the Leader – Technology of KaN Associates and has 17 years of experience in software development, architecture and system integration. He has working experience with global organizations in the healthcare, technology, and manufacturing sectors across US, Europe, and Asia. Suresh has held senior director role in a global technology company. Suresh has hands-on experience in building and leading development, DevOps and support team. He is well versed with strategies on Product Development, Program/Project Management, Business Analysis, People Management, Delivery Management and Product Support. Suresh is an engineering graduate in computer science.
Julie Naster is the Director of The Schnur Group’s Leader & Team Effectiveness Practice. Julie’s background is wildly diverse and bridges the often too separate practices of engineering and leadership. She has worked extensively in both worlds and is known for her ability to help leaders – especially those with technical training and orientation – develop authentic leadership presence, enabling them to engage their organization, produce better business results, and solve ambiguous business problems.
Julie began her career as a chemical engineer. She worked extensively as a consultant to the Department of Energy (DOE), providing project management, risk and safety analysis, and NEPA documentation for environmental restoration and waste management programs at several DOE sites.
Twenty years ago, Julie began a quest to help individuals and organizations deliver extraordinary results AND bring meaning to work by fully utilizing their true gifts. During this time, she has coached, consulted or trained over 1,000 leaders so each can better address challenges in technical and general business environments. In her work, Julie has observed that as engineers, scientists, financial experts and other leaders advance in their careers they often run into non-technical, interpersonal challenges that impede progress when strategic thinking, influence, facilitation, and leverage become critical. Julie helps them overcome these limitations.
In addition to working with individuals, Julie has helped teams and groups develop more effective ways to get work done and resolve the chronic conflicts among organizational silos. Specific projects include:
Julie is known for bringing heart while challenging her clients to grow and go beyond what they think is possible. She can also be counted on to design a conversational approach that helps groups work through even the most difficult issues.
Julie is a Newfield Certified Coach and Professional Certified Coach (PCC) with the International Coach Federation. She holds a B.A. American Studies and B.S. Chemical Engineering from the University of Colorado, Boulder. Julie is an active and passionate volunteer and board member with Ignite, a Boulder-based non-profit that teaches snow sports to disabled athletes of all levels. She is also an aspiring potter. Julie is the proud mother of two young adults and happily partners with her husband Rob in ever-improving the rammed earth home they built in the mountains west of Boulder, Colorado.
Brad Nelson is a Managing Director of The Schnur Group. He has over 25 years of experience as a Principal and Director in the consulting firms Towers Perrin and Deloitte Consulting LLC, where he specialized in strategic human capital and communication issues. Brad has served as the President of an Inc.500 company and led the team that sold that $10 million business to a publicly-traded entity for $29.5 million. His background also includes delivering outstanding results for his clients in:
Brad holds a B.S. in Journalism from Northwestern University and has been a speaker at Conference Board events in the U.S. and the U.K. He is the proud father of two great kids, a golf and baseball enthusiast and an author published in all media that have been created to date. Although he lives in the San Francisco Bay Area, Brad grew up in New York and enjoys life as a Yankees fan – and is beginning to hope that being a Jets fan can work again in this lifetime.
Jim Purvis is a Managing Director of The Schnur Group. Jim’s areas of expertise include: building strong contemporary HR organizations, corporate strategy development, executive coaching, leadership development, and organizational performance measurement and improvement.
Jim has over 30 years of hands-on organizational design and development experience as a Human Resources executive in some of the country’s leading organizations, including: Apartment Investment and Management Company (AIMCO); SomaLogic and Biodesix, privately-funded biotechnology companies; ALCOA; Eastern Airlines/Texas Air; Starwood/Westin Hotels and Resorts; and TCI/ATT (Tele-Communications, Inc.). He has lived and worked globally in Europe, South America and Asia.
Jim’s experience also includes being the Principal in Align Performance Engineering, a global consultancy focused on corporate performance improvement linked to compensation. and HCM International, a global organizational, human resources and technology consulting company based in London and Seattle. He managed major organizational development engagements with global clients, including: Deutsche Bank/J.P. Morgan Grenfell, Bank of Ireland, Kvaerner, British Telecom, Ardent Software, New Century Energies, Bentall Kennedy, Northwood Investors, Rosemont Realty, The United States Postal Service, The United States Navy and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
Jim resides in Denver, Colorado, and is a frequent speaker on Human Resource Strategy and Effective, Organizational Performance and Measurement. He holds a B.A. in Communications and Modern Languages from the University of Notre Dame.
When not building better organizations he and his wife are remodeling a 1950’s mid-century modern house in Denver and indulging their four grandchildren.
Brad holds a B.S. in Journalism from Northwestern University and has been a speaker at Conference Board events in the U.S. and the U.K. He is the proud father of two great kids, a golf and baseball enthusiast and an author published in all media that have been created to date. Although he lives in the San Francisco Bay Area, Brad grew up in New York and enjoys life as a Yankees fan – and is beginning to hope that being a Jets fan can work again in this lifetime.
Kaushik is a Managing Director of The Schnur Group. He is also the Managing Director of KaN Associates, an India-based process design and technology firm. Kaushik Srinivasan has diverse and deep consulting and industry experience across global organizations in North America, Europe and Asia. He has led large transformations for major corporations, government and growing start-ups in areas of Strategy, Technology, Digital and HR.
With a B.S. in Electronics and an M.B.A., Kaushik has worked with Deloitte and PwC in leadership roles including establishing and growing their consulting practices. Kaushik has helped U.S.- and Europe-based companies set up Global Capability Centres across the world. He also specializes in helping organizations with digital solutions that focus on human experience, simplicity, impact and insights. His approach is a blend of strategic perspectives and implementation-focused outcomes.
Alan Schnur, the founder and Leader of The Schnur Group, is an industrial psychologist who brings a rich background as a management consultant and as a Human Resources executive. He specializes in helping companies improve bottom line performance by, among other things:
Alan has extensive experience in the public sector, retail, technology, energy, consumer business, transportation and media & entertainment industries, having served many of the leading companies in the western United States, including:
Alan has worked on both sides of the table. Prior to The Schnur Group, he was a Director at Deloitte Consulting, where he specialized in leadership development, process improvement and organization transformation. He was also the Market Leader for Watson Wyatt’s Organization Effectiveness practice on the West Coast. Previously, Alan was a Senior Vice President of Human Resources with Visa U.S.A. where he developed and delivered their executive leadership program and led the company’s restructuring, process/systems improvement initiatives and culture change efforts. Prior to Visa, Alan was the Senior Vice President of Human Resources with the Robert Mondavi Corporation and was a member of the company’s Senior Leadership Team. While at Robert Mondavi, Alan directed two comprehensive, company-wide restructuring efforts, revamped the compensation and benefits programs, installed an HR computer system to increase efficiency, created a novel performance feedback and career development process, and created Robert Mondavi University, a bi-lingual, in-house training and education program. Alan was also responsible for the corporation’s winemaking operations in Chile.
Previously, Dr. Schnur was the Director of Towers Perrin’s Global Employee Research Practice and was a partner in the firm. During this time, Dr. Schnur designed and conducted dozens of employee surveys in the private and public sectors for organizations throughout the world. Prior to joining Towers Perrin, Dr. Schnur was a managing partner of Research and Consulting International, where he was responsible for the firm’s employee survey practice. Dr. Schnur spent two years with The Hay Group, where he was a Director in the Research for Management division, conducting employee surveys for multi-national organizations. Earlier, as the Manager of Personnel Research for Bank of America, Alan was responsible for the corporation’s worldwide employee survey program, the development and validation of personnel selection tests, the installment of a comprehensive human resources information system to lower internal costs, and the evaluation of key programs within the bank.
Before his work with Bank of America, Dr. Schnur was on the faculty of the University of California at Berkeley, where he taught introductory psychology, personality theory, research design, statistics and survey methodology in the Department of Psychology and conducted research at the University’s Institute of Personality Assessment & Research and at the Lawrence Hall of Science. There, Dr. Schnur conducted research in over 50 elementary and secondary schools throughout the San Francisco Bay Area in an effort to identify predictors of smoking behavior in adolescents. Later, Dr. Schnur designed and led a comprehensive program to assess the impact of anti-smoking efforts involving 3,500 pre-adolescent students.
Dr. Schnur, who holds a B.A. and a Ph.D. in psychology from the University of California at Berkeley, is a frequent speaker on improving competitiveness by enhancing leadership and linking employee behavior to bottom-line profitability. He specializes in the study of highly successful, market-driven companies as well as coaches and players of outstanding high school, collegiate and professional sports teams. Alan has a long history of serving boards of non-profit organizations, including, most recently, the Institute of American Indian Art in Santa Fe, New Mexico and the California Shakespeare Theater of Orinda, California.