Brian Kinahan heads up Summit’s strategy practice. He has extensive experience in helping clients develop and execute strategy. Brian combines his strategy development expertise with the client’s business knowledge to guide the management team to the best available strategy. Brian then helps clients execute the strategy through a strategic planning process that identifies the strategic priorities for the year ahead and the related operational and budget commitments.

Brian’s experience with Strategy Maps and the entire Balanced Scorecard methodology, in which he is certified by the originators Drs. Kaplan and Norton, gives his clients an advantage in harnessing the power of clearly communicated strategies that are fully integrated into the management system.

Prior to founding Summit Performance Systems in 2003, Brian was a consulting and investment partner with Catalysta Partners (now Hatteras Venture Partners) where he advised early-stage tech companies on product strategy and pursued angel investment and buy-out opportunities.

For most of the 1990s Brian was CEO and chief strategist of ReadyCom Inc., a cellular-based voice paging company which he founded. ReadyCom had patented technology, global strategic relationships and nationwide deployments in Chile and Puerto Rico.

Prior to that, Brian served as COO of 2 separate manufacturing companies; Barco of California, a publicly traded apparel company; and Smith Environmental, an industrial fume incinerator company serving large manufacturers like 3M and Campbell Soup. At both companies, Brian was responsible for improving operational efficiency and translating the strategy into real competitive advantage.

Brian began his business career in the workout department of Security Pacific National Bank where he rose to Vice President and served as special restructuring advisor to the bank’s Mexico City office.

Brian has an MBA from the UCLA Anderson School of Management and a BA in Economics from Vassar College.

Tommy is passionate about helping organizations improve performance through learning. He holds a Master's Degree in Corporate Communication from Seton Hall University and has worked in training and development for the past 18 years. During his career, Tommy has worked with clients such as Amgen, Roche, GlaxoSmithKline, Marriott, BMW, AT&T, Merck, Kingsdown, and Novartis in designing and implementing strategic training programs. He is also on the faculty of the University of Phoenix where he teaches Humanities and Communication courses.

Prior to starting Dialogue Consulting, Tommy served as National Director of Industry and Government Training for Lincoln Technical Institute, Chief Sales Officer for Raleigh-based Tech Resource Group and as Principal Consultant for Performance Impact. Tommy brings a diverse background and base of experience to the development of learning programs that engage and challenge learners at the intellectual and behavioral level.

Mr. Re also provides one-on-one presentation skills coaching for executives. His article, Performance Coaching, recently appeared in Pharmaceutical Representative Magazine. He is a member of The Society for Organizational Learning, the American Society for Training & Development, the Association of Professional Communication Consultants and the Society for Human Resource Management.

Tim Kauffman has been providing business process and technical consulting for over 12 years and has been writing computer programs for over 20 years. He has worked with Fortune 500 companies, as well as small to medium sized businesses. Tim focuses on working with customers to refine business processes that can be further enhanced by the application of technology. A sampling of organizations Tim has helped include Blue Rhino Corporation, Siemens, Ericsson, Bridgestone-Firestone, BB&T, and Sony Music. Tim brings a diversity of experience helping large and small companies create business process efficiencies that provide real world return on investment for his customers.

In addition to working with SUMMIT, Tim is also founder and president of Outlet Systems, Inc., which provides small to medium sized businesses with managed services for IT infrastructure, along with custom programming services. Prior to founding Outlet Systems, Tim served as a Managing Consultant for EMC Corporation and Director of Solution Delivery & Operations for Strategic Technologies (now Consonus).

When Tim isn’t helping companies enhance their business processes, he enjoys golf and cooking, and can often be found playing speed chess online.

As a Sr. Consultant & Facilitator for Summit Performance Systems, Barbara helps clients analyze and develop learning systems which strategically support business strategy and business outcomes. Much of her focus: Management Development skill gaps.

Industries served include: Pharmaceutical/Bio Tech/ Financial Services/ Manufacturing/ Consumer Products and Durable Goods. Recent clients include: Kingsdown Manufacturing, Glaxo, Amgen, The UNC-CH Executive Education Program, Novartis, Organon, Novo Nordisk, The Triangle Leadership Academy, The NC State Leadership Academy, LeadershipForum- UBS Bank, & Morgan Stanley.

Barbara A. Mason received her BA from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. While working at Johnson and Johnson she earned her MBA with a concentration in Management and Economics. Barbara later moved into a Business Instructor role and was selected as a Fulbright Business Studies Exchange Teacher to the UK in 1997. In 1998 she completed an Executive International Business Certificate at Georgetown University, soon after she was asked to lead Sealand’s International Training Project for Cork and Manila. In 1999 Barbara moved into Financial Services. With her Series 7 she was Vice President and Regional Training Manager for Credit Suisse First Boston’s DLJdirect division in Charlotte N.C. - designing the firms first Management Development Certification Program.

Barbara returned to the UK in 2001 when she attained a Global Masters Degree from the London School of Economics. Barbara has resettled in the Triangle. In her spare time Barbara reads, plays golf, bikes and takes classes herself!

Todd’s passion is to help organizations improve their bottom line by aligning employee activities and capabilities with organizational goals and objectives. Focused on talent management and employee engagement, Todd works with organizations to understand their strategy and goals and then implements talent management programs that improve individual and manager performance. Areas of focus include learning and development, career development, executive coaching, performance management, succession planning, assessments, career counseling, management and leadership development, competency development, and the development of high potentials.

Prior to his current role, Todd spent 18 years at KPMG in a variety of roles including Human Resources, Learning and Development and Product Development. During his tenure Todd led a number of innovative programs including the implementation of career management portal that provided comprehensive career resources; the design, development and implementation of a firmwide performance management system; the development of a firmwide competency model; the strategic re-alignment of a training function; the creation of a succession planning process for an IT function; the delivery of 40,000 hours of training annually for the firms high technology industry group; the creation of the firm’s first computer based training program; the implementation of a state of the art distance learning network; large scale organizational development programs that supported the rapid growth of an emerging business unit; and the development of a start-up business service that enabled client engagement teams to streamline the needs assessment phase of their engagements.

Prior to joining KPMG, Todd was a principal with Organizational Enhancement Systems which provided human resources consulting, delivered training and career management services through Right Management Consultants, and was an independent consultant providing coaching, training, project management and performance improvement programs to individuals and teams.

Todd holds two Masters degrees from Montclair St. University, one in Industrial / Organizational Psychology and a second in Counseling. He has a Bachelors degree in Psychology from Lynchburg College. He is certified to deliver the Birkman Work Style Assessment and has completed coach training from Coach U.

Jim Dotson is consistently recognized by customers and colleagues for the passion, energy, and wisdom that characterize his work in the areas of leadership development, coaching, sales training and teamwork. Jim brings practical experience and insight gained from 20 years of management / leadership experience in consumer products, finance, education, and the pharmaceutical industry. The practical experience is complemented by his corporate training experience in which he trained corporate leaders representing various areas of functionality – both nationally and internationally.

Today, Jim’s strong leadership, training and facilitation skills are recognized by both the corporate clients he works with and the non-profit organizations in which he serves. Jim currently serves in leadership roles with non-profit organizations and consults with and serves as a developer/ facilitator/ trainer and consultant for orporations.

Jim has a passion for helping both corporations and non-profit organizations to be effective stewards of their human resources and to increase the efficiency of their operations.

Professional Accomplishments:

As a Regional and District Sales Manager for Pfizer, Jim earned the corporations’ top sales and leadership awards. Jim was consistently recognized for the leadership of high-performing teams characterized by sales success and the development of people for greater responsibility. Jim is known for his ability to create a clear vision and inspire a team to enthusiastically pursue the vision, goals and strategies which lead to organizational results.

Most recently Jim has worked as a consultant and employee with state government agencies, higher education, telecommunications and IT clients, and several of the world’s largest pharmaceutical companies: GSK, Merck, Amgen, Roche and Novo Nordisk. Mr. Dotson has been involved in the development, facilitation, and implementation of various skill-based and leadership training programs to include: marketing training, change management, leadership vs. management, leveraging the strengths of your team, facilitation skills, presentation skills, targeted selection - interviewing skills, coaching, and performance management skills.

Mr. Dotson’s leadership fosters a culture characterized by teamwork, trust, and respect in which individual’s personal and professional goals are achieved, individual talents identified and leveraged, and the organizations thrive.

Jim’s corporate leadership experience is mirrored in his work with non-profit organizations helping them to be effective stewards of their human resources and to increase the efficiency of their operations.

Jim is certified to teach several corporate training programs to include: Situational Leadership II, Fierce Conversations, Coaching Skills and Targeted Selection.

Jim earned a B.S. Degree in Business Administration from the Kenan-Flagler School of Business, UNC-Chapel Hill.

Joseph Diab is an attorney, certified mediator and executive coach working with professionals, business owners and executives to solve complex problems and develop strategies to prevent, manage and resolve disputes. His services include negotiations training, executive coaching, and mediation.

As an executive coach, he provides personal consultation to professionals and senior management to implement strategic change, develop leadership skills, improve personal effectiveness, and create better and more productive working relationships. His clients include executives, managers and professionals from organizations such as GlaxoSmithKline, Verizon, Nortel, Bayer, Syngenta, Amgen Pharmaceuticals, RTI International, and the City of Raleigh.

As a mediator, he designs programs for dispute resolution and works with individuals and teams to resolve conflicts and restore constructive working relationships. He serves as a certified mediator in North Carolina Superior Court, experienced in resolving complex commercial disputes.
Mr. Diab serves as Special Counsel to the law firm of Nexsen Pruet. He is a member of the American Bar Association Section on Dispute Resolution, past Chair of the North Carolina Bar Association Section on International Law and is a visiting lecturer at North Carolina State University's College of Management and Program on Business Coaching. He holds a law degree and a master's degree in International Law from Duke University and is trained as a mediator by the Duke Private Adjudication Center. Mr. Diab interned at the U.S. legal offices of the United Nations and has trained in advanced negotiation skills at the Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School.