Jan Semba is founder and president of Leadership Strategies,
a human performance development company specializing in strategic thinking and
management development with measurable results. He has worked with clients in
over seventy different industries, in both the for profit and non profit
sectors, and has accumulated a broad range of experience. Jan's thinking
style assists individuals and organizations to recognize and break through their existing
paradigms in order to solve stubborn problems and generate non-traditional
approaches for working through difficult situations.
He is a successful entrepreneur; and has over 20 years experience including
executive and senior management positions in the Fortune 500 and in small and
family owned companies. Jan's down-to-earth approach has developed through
operational seasoning with companies in manufacturing, high technology,
finance, and commercial real estate serving the industrial, government, and
consumer markets.
Jan's breadth covers the dynamics of start-up, expansion, and retrenchment in
both entrepreneurial and established businesses. The core of his work
reflects the complexities of business process and he has helped companies
double revenue, increase profit margins, reduce employee turnover, increase
throughput, and focus on critical productivity issues.
Direct responsibilities have included all aspects of business development and
business management including the successful introduction of new products and
technologies, the turnaround of unprofitable businesses, leading and
motivating sales organizations, as well as the successful implementation of
strategies on a regional and national level. Jan has worked extensively with
small and family owned businesses, non profit institutions, state and local
government, publicly traded companies and multi-national organizations.
For the past 25 years Jan has played and coached soccer competitively both in
the United States and abroad. He holds an Advanced National Diploma from the
National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA) and has
worked with men's and women's teams at the youth, Olympic
Development, collegiate, and adult club level. Jan has run marathons,
competed in triathlons, and is an expert skier.
Jan is a student of human consciousness and is particularly interested in the integration
of analytical psychology with Buddhist, Taoist, and Judeo-Christian thought. A graduate of
Hamilton College and Columbia University, his work with
Leadership Strategies embodies
his passion for developing potential.
Blake Mills
Blake has nineteen years of experience as a leading trainer in the management and
organizational field; designing and delivering high quality training programs worldwide.
She specializes in building trust and efficiency in multicultural work groups. Her work
spans the public and private sectors including Fortune 500 and 100 companies, colleges
and universities, and government agencies.
For the past eight years, Blake has worked in fifteen countries and across the
United States teaching leadership, management and communications. She specializes in
how to align and leverage cross-functional and multicultural work teams and training trainers.
She was the first non-IBM woman repeatedly invited to teach leadership skills at IBM in
Asia-Pacific countries to software and hardware developers. She has trained over 3,000
project managers in leadership skills with an average of "excellent" on evaluations.
Using processes like "Open Space Technology", her customized strategic problem solving
sessions have improved workflow and work relationships resulting in reduced interpersonal
conflicts and cost overruns. Nationwide, she has taught employees and managers about
the benefits of EAP program. Being a Peace Corps Volunteer in the Asia-Pacific
area has taught her the importance of understanding how culture affects productivity. Since
then, she has been very successful teaching how to build cooperation in multicultural workplaces.
Blake facilitates workshops and partners cross-culturally in Asia-Pacific Rim countries,
Australia/New Zealand, South America and Europe.
