Investment: $3,000

Accelerate your executive development by learning from executives in the Manager Tools community. Ten leaders have agreed to share their thoughts on leadership, managing, and the future. Seven C-Suite execs, 3 VPs, from diverse industries: banking, software, hardware, aerospace, consulting, markets, finance, HR, and more.

Build your skills, grow your network. The right topics, the right people, for the right reasons.

Limited to 50 attendees.


Meet The Speakers

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Anandha Ponnampalam - Vice President, Delivery & Digital Transformation Lead, Publicis Sapient

Anandha is a seasoned and respected leader with a wealth of experience in managing large, senior teams across multiple fast-paced projects in the investment banking, retail banking and commodities sector.  With expertise in transforming businesses digitally, his fields of experience include Machine Learning, Artificial Intelligence, Agile at Scale and Lean software engineering.

Anandha enjoys driving complex, globally distributed programmes in the face of tight budgets and time constraints. Constantly mindful of the necessity for change across all business arenas, he prioritizes increasing productivity and revenue by building engaged delivery teams, comprising people who are focused on the performance of their team, their own individual growth and their impact on clients.

Lauren Dreyer - Human Resources leader - Tech Industry

Lauren Dreyer has over a decade of experience in the tech industry during which she has served in a wide variety of business functions. With an engineering degree and MBA, she brings a unique perspective to her current role in human resources.

Karen Adams - President & CEO, Fundserv Inc.

Karen is a CEO with international and multi-industry experience. She was recognized in 2017 as one of Canada’s Top 100 Most Powerful Women by the Women’s Executive Network and was voted by her peers as “CEO of the Year” by Wealth Professional in 2019. Karen is currently CEO of Fundserv, her 4th career CEO role, the technology platform and settlement engine that the Canadian Investment industry has relied on for over 25 years. 

Born and raised in Toronto, Karen spent most of her career outside Canada. She has worked in Mumbai, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Beijing, Seoul, Dubai, London and Amman. Karen did a double major in Mathematics and Economics at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario then an MBA in International Finance at University of British Columbia in Vancouver. She has been a self-described Manager Tools groupie since she stumbled across the podcast in 2008. 

Eugene (Gene) Hill - Chairman and Managing Partner, SV Health Investors

Gene joined SV with a focus on health care services and HCIT services investments. He holds a board seat on Aligned Telehealth, Remita Health, Spectrum Professional Services, Sun Behavioral Health, and U.S. Renal Care. Previously, Gene was a Partner at Accel Partners where he was responsible for 12 investments in early-stage healthcare service and healthcare information technology companies. Prior to joining Accel, Gene held several senior management positions, including President of Behavioral Health at United HealthCare Corporation, CEO and President of US Behavioral Health and President and Chairman of Sierra Health and Life Insurance Company. He was awarded the Health Care Private Equity Lifetime Achievement Award in 2018.

Gene is a Board Member of the Massachusetts Eye & Ear Infirmary, The Community Hospital of the Monterey Peninsula, and Aspire Health Plan. He is a recipient of the Distinguished Alumni Award from Boston University School of Management and a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Health Care Private Equity Association.

Eldon Schaffer - President, Aptar Beauty + Home

Eldon Schaffer was named President, Aptar Beauty + Home in January 2016. Eldon’s career spans over 25 years with Aptar and prior to his current role, Eldon was president of Aptar Food + Beverage and formerly President of North America Aptar Beauty + Home. Eldon has also held international assignments in Europe, including the UK, Germany and France. Eldon’s leadership positions with Aptar also include: President, North America for Seaquist Closures, Vice President, Food + Beverage Markets Worldwide, and Director of Sales & Marketing Europe.

Charlie Cheng - CEO, TC Lab, Inc. Los Altos, CA

Charlie is a technology business turnaround executive, specializing in the semiconductor industry.  His 35-year career includes developing the “Intel Inside” advertising campaign in 1991, founding CEO of a microprocessor start-up in 1997, taking a publicly held Taiwanese company to global markets in early 2000s, and executing the sale of a semiconductor memory company in 2018. He has navigated through two patent litigations and three turnarounds as an in-house executive. In 2018, he established a consulting business tackling difficult turnaround projects as an acting executive. Charlie thrives in innovation, and is the primary inventor of two patents and co-inventor of over 20 patents. Charlie received his B.S. degree in engineering from Cornell University in 1985.

John Hoffman - CEO, Pivotal Systems (PVS)

John Hoffman has over 30 years experience in the semiconductor and information technology markets. John is currently the Chairman and CEO of PVS, an ASX listed company, which has won 3 global awards for innovation and was the INC 500 fastest growing US based Engineering company in 2015.

Prior to PVS, John was a Senior VP with Spencer Trask Ventures, a New York based venture capital firm. John also served as Chief Executive Officer of RagingWire Enterprise Solutions (ultimately sold to NTT Docomo), an INC 500 fastest growing private company in 2009, where he reorganized the company to enable record growth in revenue and profitability. Prior to that John served in many roles at Applied Materials; as President of the Etch Product Business Group, VP and GM of the Process Control and Diagnostic Business Group in Israel, VP and GM of the Intel Account Team and GM of the Customer Service Division. There John established offices in Taiwan, Singapore and China. John served for 7 years in the United States Army and has a B.S. from West Point and an Executive MBA from Stanford University. 

Marc Grainger - Global Head of Talent, Debevoise & Plimpton

Marc is the Global Head of Talent for Debevoise & Plimpton, law firm based in New York. Marc joined Debevoise in June 2018 from Credit Suisse, where he held multiple senior Human Resources positions over a ten year period, most recently Chief Learning Officer and Global Head of Diversity & Inclusion. Prior to Credit Suisse, Marc was a Learning and Leadership Development Executive at Bank of America. He started his career as a management consultant at Accenture, where he played a leading role in several significant learning outsourcing transactions within the financial services industry.

Marc has been a Manager Tools devotee for over ten years, and has worked extensively with Mark and Mike to incorporate MT concepts into internal leadership development programs. He holds a degree in Banking and Finance from Loughborough University in the United Kingdom. He lives in sunny New Jersey with his wife Amanda and their two children and two dogs.

Gerhard Gross - Managing Director for Mercedes Benz Financial Services Turkey. On August 1, 2019 Gerhard will assume the position as Vice President, Operations Americas - Daimler Financial Services Americas

In his new role, Gerhard Gross will be responsible for all operational functions in DFS Americas, leading approximately 700 people in Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Mexico and the U.S. He will also become a member of the DFS Americas executive leadership team. His international experience and his ability to build strong relationships with his brand partners, dealers, customers and his teams will serve him well in the new role. Gerhard Gross joined the organization in 1990 as Director of Business Development for Mercedes-Benz Credit, Spain and has worked in several leadership positions in Europe and North America.

Daniel (Dan) McGuire - Managing Partner, Arcturus Advisory Services, LLC

Dan's led technology divisions across 3 continents, executing on transformations at financial services firms including Morgan Stanley, Smith Barney, Thomson Reuters and TD Waterhouse. From the largest merger in Wall Street history to enterprise-wide digital strategies, he's been repeatedly called on to lead organizational change. With results on the line, Dan has turned to the resources of Manager Tools to equip his team with the means to perform effectively.

In 2017, Dan became a trusted partner for executives facing complexity and change. With the launch of Arcturus he serves as a certified executive coach and advisory consultant, guiding leaders, teams and organizations. Dan is an active volunteer, as a member of ACP mentoring veterans re-entering the civilian world and running a career management ministry in his parish. Dan served as Board Chairman at the York Street Project for disadvantaged women and their families. A former Merchant Marine and US Navy officer, Dan was a graduate of NY Maritime College and holds a Masters in Management from Stevens Institute of Technology.


Wednesday, October 9th

7:30 Breakfast and Sign In
9:00 Welcome
9:30 Karen Adams: What Got You Here WILL Get You There
10:30 Break
10:40 Gene Hill: Investing for Professionals, Find the Wave
11:40 Break
11:50 Marc Grainger: Staying Organized – The Struggle is Real...
12:50 Lunch
2:00 Charlie Cheng: Assessing China as a Technology Trading Partner, from Head to Toes
3:00 Break
3:15 Lauren Dreyer: Embrace the Tension
4:15 Break
4:30 Dan McGuire: Managing in a Hot LZ
6:00 Cocktail Hour
6:45 Dinner and Discussion

Thursday, October 10th

7:30 Breakfast and Sign In
8:55 Welcome Back
9:00 John Hoffman: It's Not About Effort
10:00 Break
10:15 Gerhard Gross: How Autonomous Driving is Changing the Automotive Industry
11:15 Break
11:30 Eldon Schaffer: Self Development for Corporate Value
12:30 Lunch
1:30 Anandha Ponnampalam: Exponential Thinking
2:30 Break
2:45 Manager Tools: The Future of Management
3:45 Close/End

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The training was very practical and used great tools and models. I appreciate the objectivity of some of the models, very helpful.

      Read more...Jessica Charbonneau

This was an excellent training. I was worried about attending as a younger manager but felt very comfortable. Sarah did an excellent job staying on task, answering all questions and explaining everything very clearly.

      Read more...Jessica Charbonneau

I believe the material is delivered in an interesting and engaging way and the tools are very useful in my role.

      Read more...Louis Indelicato