Team Profile

Michael McKee is Managing Partner of Career Partners International – Houston and CEO of The McKee Group, a division of CPI-Houston. He also serves as a Corporate Board Member of Career Partners International. He leads the overall operations and business development of this Houston based firm. As CEO of The McKee Group, which provides executive coaching and transition services to “C” level executives, he directs the implementation of client programs. He initiated and facilitates a chief human resources networking group in Houston and has developed collaborative relationships with major executive associations and consulting groups in Houston.

Mr. McKee started in the outplacement/career transition consulting business in 1979 in Tulsa, Oklahoma as Michael D. McKee and Associates. In 1986 he moved the company headquarters to Houston, Texas where he continued to grow the business during the period when the energy industry was experiencing significant downsizing and consolidation. McKee and Associates placed significant emphasis on providing superior senior level outplacement and enjoyed excellent growth.

Michael D. McKee and Associates expanded into several locations in the Southwest US and diversified into talent management services resulting in sustained growth. The firm’s reputation and visibility grew significantly as they served a variety of industries. By 1995, Mr. McKee had provided outplacement in 27 states and his firm became the leading provider of outplacement and human resources consulting services in the Southwest. Products included outplacement, change management, succession planning, coaching, retirement planning and leadership development. In 1997 Michael D. McKee and Associates was sold to a major international consulting firm.

Mr. McKee served as Sr. Vice President for the Southwest Region of the acquiring firm, during which time he continued to grow their market share becoming the most profitable region in North America.

Mr. McKee has over 30 years of management experience in the private sector and with non-profit organizations. He has been actively involved with the YMCA of Greater Houston, serving as Chairman of the Board of the Bay Area YMCA and YMCA Camping Services. Mr. McKee holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology and served in the U.S. Air Force.

Sheryl Dawson is widely recognized for her expertise in the areas of talent management consulting and counseling, program design and development, project management, and business planning and development. As Executive Partner of CPI Houston, Ms. Dawson is responsible for partnering with client organizations for the delivery of high quality talent management consulting services and products of this Houston-based talent management consulting and training firm.

With over twenty-five years of professional experience, Ms. Dawson has an extensive background in a wide range of business and management disciplines. In her early career, she worked in educational, service and financial arenas.

CPI Houston services organizations in the areas of talent management consulting and training products and services, including assessing, recruiting developing, and transitioning talent. Ms. Dawson’s vision for facilitating high quality, results-oriented performance improvement and development programs has led CPI Houston into exciting consulting opportunities. They have assisted both for-profit and not-for-profit organizations for a wide range of industries and sizes including Fortune 100 companies.

Ms. Dawson leads the assessment process for all talent management applications and is certified in several behavioral assessments for selection, leadership and career development.

Ms. Dawson co-authored Job Search: The Total System, which presents the elements of successful career and job transition. She also designed and directed production of an Interview Video Series and has introduced a number of web-based innovations and products.

Ms. Dawson earned an MBA from the University of Houston – Clear Lake with honors. As author, speaker, and consultant, she is sought after by professional and community organizations and publications to share her expertise on talent, career and organizational related topics. She co-hosts the popular Total Career Success internet radio show on VoiceAmerica.com. She conveys her passion for influencing the quality of life of those she touches daily in her commitment to all aspects of personal and professional growth including spiritual, emotional, and intellectual.

Leading and Serving

• Talent Management
• Operations & Business Development
• Behavioral Assessment & Leadership Competencies

John Burke is senior vice president and partner for Career Partners International – Houston, responsible for the leadership of the CPI Houston recruiting and search divisions: Kensington International – Houston, which provides retained search and Performance Search Group, which offers both contingency recruiting and contract labor. Mr. Burke’s focus is on building relationships with companies headquartered in Houston, as well as national and global organizations with operations in Houston. Mr. Burke brings over 30 years of experience in sales, marketing and operations leadership to this role.

Prior to joining CPI, Mr. Burke was General Manager of the LHH Houston office. Having started as a Global Account Manager, he established long term seven figure global contracts with companies such as Bayer, Shell, ExxonMobil, and BP. Subsequently as the Director of Global Accounts, he led a staff of seven global account executives to increase sales by 35% in the first year and established the LHH global sales program within the regional structure. As General Manager for the Houston region, Mr. Burke increased annual revenues by over 350% through long term contracts within the energy, oil and gas, logistics, manufacturing and retail industries. Mr. Burke led the growth of the LHH market share in Houston by introducing and promoting Talent Development services and products; their profit margin doubled ranking Houston as one of the top LHH regions in profit growth.

Prior to LHH, Mr. Burke was principal/partner of a staffing firm in the financial arena. Through his dedicated work, he was able to expand the business from two to four offices while doubling sales. Additionally, Mr. Burke has 24 years’ experience in the flexible packaging and chemical products industry where he held positions ranging from account representative to COO. During this time he managed regions for Mobil Chemical to #1 in sales and profit, established an international sales organization for such key accounts as Frito Lay, Nabisco, Philip Morris and Kraft and put in place the National Account Program. Following Mobil Mr. Burke managed a “greenfield” operation for an offshore owner by establishing a sales force and developing business with strategic domestic customers. His most recent operations position was that of Senior Vice President and General Manager for a $250M operation in the Midwest.

Mr. Burke holds a BS from Boston University and completed graduate work at the University of Denver. He is active in charitable organizations for college scholarships, a board member and active at the American Diabetes Association, Galleria Tennis & Athletic Club and the YMCA.

• Executive Search
• Staffing
• Talent Acquisition

Larry Burton is a Vice President with CPI Houston responsible for recruiting, outplacement and career transition, training and counseling. He has 30 years of experience in Human Resource Management industries, having held a variety of assignments in retail, manufacturing, international, engineering and construction and power industries.

Mr. Burton has worked for numerous Fortune 500 companies including Bridgestone/Firestone, Revco Drugstores (acquired by CVS) and National Convenience Stores (acquired by Diamond Shamrock and then Valero) and has consulted with a number of energy and manufacturing companies. He was also previously Vice President of Matrix Associates, a Human Resource Consulting firm.

Mr. Burton has extensive background in recruiting starting early in his career. He performed nationwide college recruiting and has been to most college campuses in the United States. He was responsible for managing the careers for domestic and international undergraduate and graduate hires in major Fortune 500 companies. Later in his career he established his own search firm and performed recruiting assignments for a wide variety of disciplines for rapidly growing Houston based corporations. In 2000, he was responsible for successfully completing over 100 search assignments for one of his clients. He is also familiar with the latest technology in recruiting software and Internet recruiting databases.

Mr. Burton graduated from the University of Missouri in Columbia, MO with a Bachelor of Arts degree. He is the past President of the University of Missouri Houston Alumni Chapter and is currently a member of the University of Missouri National Alumni Board of Directors. In addition, he has served on the Board of Directors for Blue Cross Blue Shield of Oklahoma and the American Red Cross. Professionally he is a member of the Association of Career Professionals (ACP) and Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE). He is active in his local church in several capacities and teaches a Sunday School class weekly.

• Recruiting
• Career Transition
• Human Resources Consulting

Matt Williams is a Career Partners International consultant with expertise in leadership and team development with emphasis in the healthcare sector. He has over 20 years of experience in leadership and organizational development providing direction and insight in the areas of strategic planning, change management and organizational performance. He is an ICF Professional Certified Coach with certifications in a variety of psychometric assessment instruments. As Director, Executive Coaching & Leadership Development, Mr. Williams leads the coaching practice to ensure quality and consistency of delivery.

Mr. Williams’ background includes both corporate and entrepreneurial experiences including sales and leadership roles at Hewlett Packard, turnaround experience in the mid-market and the founding, leading and successful sale of a medical technology firm. He has worked with organizations including Philips, IMD Soft, Hewlett Packard, Front Range, Danaher and others. One of his specialties is helping executives gain clarity around “issues” quickly for the development and execution of strategies that bring about individual and team results. The approach, a blend of solutions-focused and appreciative coaching styles, challenges established leaders, and those in transition, to reach for both near term results and transformational growth.

Mr. Williams has authored numerous articles around communication and leadership. He is active in the creation of leadership and performance related programs as well as speaking and delivering workshops on related topics.

Mr. Williams received his BA in Marketing and Masters Certificate in Executive and Professional Coaching from the University of Texas. He is a member of the International Coaches Federation, Board Member of the Houston Coaches and member of the American College of Healthcare Executives.

• Executive Coaching
• Organizational and individual development
• Leadership & team development

As a business consultant, trainer and coach for over 25 years, Don Schneider is highly experienced in organizational development, leadership and team development, and performance and productivity improvement. He is an expert in personal and organizational productivity enhancement, motivation and continuous improvement, strategic planning and alignment, culture, change and total quality initiatives, communications, as well as, career/retirement planning.

Mr. Schneider coaches top executives of Fortune 500 companies as well as small organizations in personal productivity which positively impacts the organization’s profitability, culture, and strengthens the company’s competitive position. Mr. Schneider has a proven track record of increasing bottom-line profitability by millions of dollars through continuous improvement initiatives and organizational development.

Accomplished at transforming underperforming business units into highly successful profit centers, Mr. Schneider is known for his skills and successes in coaching individuals to function as a high performance work team. He is accomplished at bringing together people of diverse backgrounds to operate strategically aligned and drive exceptional results.

Mr. Schneider’s diverse clients include international organizations such as Bechtel Corp., Baker Hughes, Shell Oil Company and General Motors. He has served as a consultant for many industries including defense contractors, a US Senator’s district office, Federal and city governments, the armed forces, as well as private corporations. Mr. Schneider’s down-to-earth, common sense style of facilitation enables his clients to apply the learning in real life situations on a day-to-day basis. His effectiveness is achieved by applying state-of-the-art facilitation and training techniques.

Mr. Schneider possesses a Bachelor of Science Degree from St. Louis University in Clinical Psychology with emphasis in Organizational and Management Psychology. Mr. Schneider believes that the only way to “grow” an organization is to “grow” its most valuable resource, its human resources. His personal mission is to “Train, develop, and motivate people to reach their full potential to make a stronger workforce and a healthier America.”

• Leadership Development
• Organizational Excellence
• Team Development

Kari Duncan is Director of Career Transition with extensive experience in human resources and sales. She held positions for Texaco and Enron in employee development, training and administration of expatriate programs primarily for China. In addition to her energy experience, she has worked in real estate sales. Ms. Duncan directs all facets of training, coaching and administration of outplacement and career transition programs. In addition to outplacement programs, Ms. Duncan facilitates the delivery of CPI’s mature workforce programs including New Horizons. This comprehensive program is delivered internally within organizations as well as a part of career transition.

As a member of the management team, Ms. Duncan participates in ensuring the quality of delivery for all levels of transition programs from executive to non exempt employees. In this role she works closely with client company human resource management, CPI consultants and administrative personnel to coordinate assignments, facilitate seminars, and oversee the coaching process. She personally manages onsite employee announcements and orientation of new candidates, supervises consultants for delivery of individual and group programs, and directs the administrative functions necessary to support the career transition practice. Interfacing with client company management and CPI partners in over 200 locations globally, she directs the assignment of candidates ensuring seamless communications and delivery of services.

Integral to the administration and delivery of transition services is a best-in-class proprietary technology. Ms. Duncan instructs both consultants and candidates in the utilization of technology for optimal results; she coordinates preparation of progress reports to client companies. Review of candidate milestones on a continuous basis ensures the highest quality of coaching.

Ms. Duncan’s ability to engage candidates encourages participation and facilitates the learning process. Her empathy, energy, enthusiasm, and care for people enables Ms. Duncan to connect with people in a genuine way that engenders their trust and confidence. Her intuitive ability to ascertain needs and concerns facilitates their successful transition and achievement of their personal and career objectives in the shortest time.

Ms. Duncan holds a Bachelor’s Degree from the University of St. Thomas and is a certified CPI Career Transition Coach.

• Project Management
• Facilitation
• Coaching

Laura Celis Black provides Cross Cultural Services and leadership development to organizations involved in global working environments. She has over 20 years of experience in the Cross-Cultural, Outreach and Community Programs, being responsible for the launching of major cross-cultural community projects and programs both for corporations and not-for-profit organizations.

Since relocating in Houston in 2001, Ms Celis has worked with local and international organizations such as the Catholic Arch-Dioceses of Galveston-Houston, Faith in Practice, International Professional Services (IPR), Cultural Awareness International (CAI), St. Agnes Academy, Northwood Academy and Sentech. Ms. Celis Black was the founder and co-director of TriadaVenezuela, based in Caracas with which she launched major cultural and community projects for companies such as Chrysler, Pepsi, Telcel, Schlumberger, Academia Bach de Venezuela, Museo de Bellas Artes de Caracas, Museo de Arte Contemporaneo de Caracas, and Fundacion Schola Cantorum de Caracas. As Business Developer and Senior Consultant for Proyectos Lead she Conducted Training and Consulting Programs for Mack, Honda, Petroleos de Venezuela, Aventis, Merck, BP, Lafarge, and Banco Central de Venezuela. Previously she was Cross-Cultural Coach, Program Director and Outreach Coordinator for the American Embassy in Caracas, where her work was recognized with the Meritorious Honor Award of the United States Information Agency.

Ms. Celis Black is fluently bilingual in Spanish/English and has an extensive background as trainer and consultant in Emotional Intelligence and Cross-Cultural Issues. She is a member of the American Society for Training and Development ASTD, the Interchange Institute in Boston, and Houston Interpreters and Translators Association HITA, and has extensive experience in diverse cultural environments, having personally undergone relocation processes in Venezuela, Colombia, England and France.

Ms. Celis Black is a licensed Architect from “Universidad Central de Venezuela”. She holds a TESL certificate from the University of Cambridge, England; has been trained in leadership and team-building by Dr. Daniel Gil’Adi (IESA, Caracas, Venezuela) and Dr. Bernard Bass (SUNY, New York). She is also an Emotional Intelligence Practitioner trained by Dr. Annabel Jensen (University of California, Founder of Six Seconds) and an Associate Trainer of Six Seconds. Ms. Black is a graduate student at the University of St. Thomas where she is pursuing her MLA in Psychology, and a T’ai Chi Chih teacher-in-training with Sister Carletta LaCour, O.P. in the Justin Stone method. She is the recipient of the 2005 ASTD scholarship, and has been included in the 2005 Anthology of Venezuelan Poetry.

• Relocation Adaptation
• Leadership Development
• Cross Cultural Consulting

An experienced career coach and human resource executive, Mr. Brocklesby brings depth and wisdom to the coaching process. His expertise is focused on providing positive intervention in response to changing environments as they affect the individual’s development and performance.

He brings value to the process through his extensive experiences in executive and executive team coaching, career development and assessments; career transition coaching as well as group facilitation.

During his over twenty years of professional experience in senior human resources management and over ten years as an executive coach, Mr. Brocklesby has served a diverse group of industries including professional firms, attorneys, accounts and physicians; banking; high tech/telecom; manufacturing; service; oil and gas; health care; transportation; defense; government; association; aerospace; and non-profit.

Mr. Brocklesby has provided executive coaching and career development services throughout his human resources and consulting career to hundreds of clients. Former clients include executive, management, technical (engineering, information and communications), professional and selected non-exempt employees.

Mr. Brocklesby holds both Bachelors’ and Masters’ degrees in Psychology/Human Resources from Wichita State University. He is a certified Life Options Retirement coach, and a Senior Professional in Human Resources (SPHR). Larry is an active member in the International Coach Federation and Society of Human Resource Management. Other memberships include the local SHRM chapter, Austin Human Resources Management Association, and the Dallas/Fort Worth chapter of Organizational Development Network.

• Leadership development
• Team facilitation
• Career management

Carmen M. Carter, MS, PHR is a Senior Consultant with Career Partners International with over 20 years professional experience cross industries including energy, financial services, manufacturing, food services, academia, non-profit, and government organizations. She has held executive diversity roles with Fortune 500 companies. Her international reputation for innovation and organizational insight place her among the foremost voices in the diversity and inclusion community.

Ms. Carter is the author of “Do It Yourself Diversity©, and has a distinguished ability to direct full cycles of complex, multi-site human resources and diversity optimization strategies and quality improvements through D&I Centers of Excellence and well-managed initiatives linked to business strategy.

Ms. Carter has served as Chief Diversity Officer for the National Diversity Council, Diversity Director for Reliant Energy, and Diversity Business Solutions Partner for Corpus Optima, Sam Houston State University, Career Builder’s Personified®, Department of Labor (EEOC), Society for Human Resources Management (SHRM), Direct Energy, State Farm, Broadridge Financial Solutions, Toyota, RRI Energy, Constellation Energy, Novations, Coca-Cola Enterprises, Inc., SYSCO Corporation, Marathon Oil, GE Medical Systems, and a host of small businesses, and non profit organizations.

Ms. Carter is the recipient of numerous awards for business achievement and servant leadership: Texas Diversity in Leadership Award from the Texas Diversity Council, Woman of Excellence Award by the Federation of Houston Professional. She has been named “One of Corporate America’s Top Diversity Leaders” by DiversityInc.com. Her work has been featured in publications such as Business Week, Profiles in Diversity Journal, Diversity Business, the Mentoring Institute Journal, and the International Mentoring Association Publication.

Ms. Carter is an honors graduate with a MS in Industrial and Labor Relations from the University of Wisconsin and holds a BS in Accounting with honors from Jackson State University.

• Diversity Best Practices
• Multicultural Training
• Multigenerational Training
• Mentoring & Coaching
• Employee Resource Groups
• DOL / OFCCP Audits

John Eggert, Ph.D., SPHR, is a senior consultant with Career Partners International with expertise in leadership and team coaching and also career development for high potential employees, particularly in technology-related industries. He has over 25 years experience providing consulting in the areas of talent management, workforce planning analytics, organizational development, performance management and assessment. He is an ICF Professional Certified Coach (PCC) and also a Gestalt Certified Professional Coach (GCPC).

Mr. Eggert has worked in a wide variety of industries including oil and gas, high tech, business services, financial services and automotive. He has provided coaching and consulting services to employees from Chevron, Schlumberger, Transocean, General Motors, Accenture, Arthur Andersen, Citicorp, CNA Insurance, The National Science Foundation, Hewlett/Packard, Lockheed Martin, Motorola and McDonald’s Corporation. One of his specialties is improving communications within executive teams.

Mr. Eggert has authored a number of courses in project management, problem solving, consulting and sales of products and services. He has consulted extensively on issues related to talent management and has given numerous presentations on coaching related issues.

Mr. Eggert has run a performance improvement business of his own for over 15 years which he then sold to his partners. For three years, Mr. Eggert was the national board president of a 24,000 member volunteer organization. He served as faculty or adjunct faculty of the graduate school of education at Syracuse University for over ten years.

Mr. Eggert received his Doctorate in the Social Sciences from the University of Chicago with a specialty in measurement, evaluation and statistical analysis. He received a Masters Degree in Educational Psychology and a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the University of Wisconsin. He is a certified Life Options Retirement coach.

• Leadership development and career planning
• Organizational and personal change
• Talent Risk Analysis

Merilyn Fance is a Senior Consultant with Talent Strategies Group, responsible for outplacement and career transition, as well as performance improvement training and consulting. She brings over 20 years experience in organizational development, training, management, and human resources. Her specialty is organizational and personal change especially in a dynamic and collaborative team environment.

Ms. Fance’s experience was gained while implementing team development strategies, performance improvement systems, and team, professional and leadership development for major clients in the transportation and energy services areas where her training and processes achieved breakthrough results. Other areas of experience include team and group facilitation, supervisory and management skill building and consulting, customer and human relations, training needs assessments, and course design and delivery.

Ms. Fance also served as the Field Operations’ Manager of Performance Improvement for a Fortune 500 energy company responsible for technical training, cultural change initiatives, performance improvement, and team and leadership development.

Ms. Fance often facilitates planning and project meetings, as well as retreats for various organizations on visioning, strategic development, and organizational and personal change strategies.

Ms. Fance has a B.A. in Psychology with a minor in Office Technology from the University of Houston. She is an Achieve Global and Human Dynamics certified instructor and has attended numerous training programs such as behavioral interviewing, National Training Lab and American Management Association training. She is a member and former officer of the American Society for Training and Development, member of the National Society for Performance and Instructions, and former Vice-President of the American Business Women’s Association.

• Career Development
• Performance Management
• Leadership Training

Lori Pannell has a passion for helping leaders improve their results, their relationships, their personal effectiveness and their enjoyment of what they do.

Known for quickly establishing trust with clients, Lori collaboratively assesses where they are and where they want to be. Through supportive listening, open and honest feedback, posing challenging questions and identifying possibilities she guides them to apply new approaches to produce differential results. She is encouraging yet holds clients accountable as they behave in new ways. Lori transformed her own behaviors and results through use of a coach. She knows first hand how the partnership of an effective coach and a committed client produces significant change.

Lori held HR Director positions in several operating businesses and an international technology organization while at BP. In her coaching, she draws on her experience as an HR leader and a trusted advisor to executives tackling business challenges including downsizing, strategic restructuring, growth and culture change. These executives describe Lori as “a great listener”, “delivers a continuous flow of honest perspective and valuable ideas”, “direct and open style, willing to have the real conversation”, “solidly supported by broad understanding of business principles and deep coaching expertise”, and “without a doubt my most trusted advisor”.

In a recent coaching engagement Lori impacted the professional development of an executive client. She worked with him to develop an action plan following receipt of 360 feedback. Lori challenged him to consider what would be possible if he shifted his focus from leading to developing others. He reported that this simple challenge to leave a different legacy profoundly affected his thinking and behavior.

Lori holds a Bachelor of Business Administration degree in Marketing and Human Resources Management from the University of Wisconsin, graduating with distinction. She received BP’s distinguished “Helios Award” for leading humanitarian assistance to employees following hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Her professional development includes strategic human resources management, coaching for high performance, advanced facilitative leadership, having difficult conversations, appreciative inquiry, safety leadership, change management, crisis management and 360 feedback.

Areas of Specialty: High potential development, Change management, Employee engagement, Diversity and inclusion.

• High potential development
• Change management
• Diversity and inclusion

Bob Sumner is a senior consultant with CPI Houston and has twenty-five years independent consulting experience in addition to a twenty-six year career with Hewitt Associates, a major, international human resource, compensation and benefit-consulting firm. Mr. Sumner has served over three hundred clients in a broad variety of business sectors including: healthcare, manufacturing, energy, associations, banking, and retail/wholesale.

His guiding principal is to assist clients to determine appropriate objectives that will support the organization’s human resource strategies and business objectives. His consulting approach is to help organizations define human resource and compensation strategies in the context of the value system and business goals of the organization, and then to design and implement programs that best support these goals. Mr. Sumner believes that full participation and interaction of the client are key elements that ensure desired results are achieved in the consulting relationship.

Consulting areas of concentration include: managing career transition designing and implementing base salary and management incentive programs, and broad based employee alternative reward systems; developing executive compensation arrangements; designing team based pay systems and field sales and sales management compensation arrangements. Other areas of expertise include: developing performance management systems; conducting competitive market analyses; establishing general personnel policies; conducting custom compensation surveys; and analyzing and establishing organization and job design effectiveness.

Mr. Sumner holds a B. A. Degree from Illinois Wesleyan University and an MBA from the University of Chicago.