INTROSPECTIVE
LEADERSHIP
ASSOCIATES
BARBARA BENJAMIN
DIRECTOR
A consultant, educator, executive mentor, life trauma counselor, international retreat leader, and author, Barbara Benjamin is currently the Director of Introspective Leadership Associates. Previously, from 1990 until 2010, she was the Director of Intuitive Discovery. In that capacity, she designed and facilitated programs in leadership, human resources, innovation, and creative and spiritual development for Fortune 500 companies, nonprofit organizations, and universities.
Ms. Benjamin has also designed, directed, and instructed graduate distance learning programs in leadership for the School of Business at Mercy College. In 2005, she won the annual, national Sloan-C award for most effective practice in building an online learning community. Prior to that, she codeveloped, coproduced, and copresented a 16-hour live video program on leadership for the National Technological University (NTU). The program was broadcast to international corporations and to U.S. executive departments and government agencies on the NTU Satellite Network.
In 1998, Ms. Benjamin codirected The Third Millennium Leadership Assembly in Campobello, New Brunswick, Canada.
From 1979 to 1987, Ms. Benjamin was the founder and president of Alba Eyewear Distributors, Inc., an optical frames importing and distributing business. In this capacity, she built inventory and developed markets and a national sales force.
Earlier in her career, Ms. Benjamin served as the Director of Pupil Personnel Services and Assistant Superintendent of Schools in Connecticut and was an active member of local, state, and federal committees for education and mental health reform.
Ms. Benjamin’s publications include Christ Conscious Leadership, Leadership in the Interactive Age: A Skills Development Workbook and the accompanying CDs, The Leadership Lecture Series, The Joshua Priest: A Biography of Faith, and A Prayer Guide to St. Teresa of Avila’s “Interior Castle.” Her most recent volume of poetry, Face to Face, was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize.
Ms. Benjamin holds a Master of Arts degree in English and Education and an Ed.D (ABD) in Education and Psychology from New York University. In addition, she holds counseling certificates in The McKenzie Method of Psychotherapy and Programmed Dreams.
HOLLACE BRISTOL
ASSOCIATE
Hollace L. Bristol is currently a senior evaluation specialist for Professional Evaluation and Assessment Consultants in Flagstaff, Arizona, serving as external evaluator on federally-funded education grants. Dr. Bristol holds a doctoral degree in Curriculum and Instruction with a research focus on education for sustainability. Her doctoral work has contributed to a critical restructuring of the beliefs and assumptions that form the foundation of the Western public educational system so that teachers in training and eventually their students will develop a deep consciousness of and responsibility for a sustainable planet.
Her previous positions include Associate Superintendent of Schools for Coconino County, Arizona, professor of mathematics at the community college level, and an adjunct faculty member at the university level teaching education, experiential education, and organizational leadership. She has designed and facilitated numerous adventure-based leadership workshops and programs for educational, community, recreational, and social agencies using the experiential model to foster community, build trust and communication, and enhance personal and group awareness and intent.
Dr. Bristol also holds an undergraduate degree in sociology and a master’s degree in education from Tufts University.
SUSAN FREEDLAND
ASSOCIATE
Susan Freedland is a licensed psychologist who has been in practice for more than thirty years in New York and Connecticut. In addition, Dr. Freedland has extensive experience in executive coaching, leadership development, and organizational consulting, nationally and internationally, in a wide variety of industries, including finance, pharmaceuticals, health care, professional services, telecommunications, technology, media, and consumer and luxury goods.
For the past ten years, Dr. Freedland has studied Qigong, Medical Qigong, Traditional Chinese Medicine, and Taoism with Master Nan Lu in the United States and with Grandmaster Xi Hua Xu from Yunan province in China. She has also been to Sri Narayani Peedam and Sri Puram in Thiramalaikodi, Tamil Nadu, India, to learn from Sri Shakti Narayani Amma. She has integrated the principles, theories, teachings, experiences, and wisdom from these Eastern traditions along with Western approaches into her psychotherapy and executive coaching work. Some of her work with individuals and organizations focuses on mindfulness and awareness, insight and intuition, energy and energy movements, oneness, service, and the relationship and balance of body, mind, and spirit.
Dr. Freedland is sought after as a guest lecturer on a variety of topics for community groups and professional organizations, as well as a consultant to the media. Some of the areas she addresses include stress management and transformation, creative problem solving, communication and listening, handling emotions during change, anxiety, depression, learning disabilities and ADD, and prejudice. She has presented programs based on Traditional Chinese Medicine, Qigong, and Medical Qigong for groups and organizations in the areas of weight loss, stress management, menopause, breast health, team building, and relationships.
Dr. Freedland holds a Bachelor of Arts from Pennsylvania State University and a Master of Science and PhD from Yeshiva University in psychology. She is also certified as a Medical Qigong and Life Force Practitioner. In addition, she has received training in executive coaching and assessment, and she has served on the board of the Penn State Executive and Professional Women’s Network. In conjunction with the Connecticut and American Psychological Associations, she worked on the Psychologically Healthy Workplace Award to help organizations create a better work environment for their employees. She is currently a member of the New York Human Resources People and Strategy organization and is an active member of the Medical Staff of Greenwich Hospital in Greenwich, Connecticut.
FRED LAWLOR
ASSOCIATE
Fred Lawlor is currently President of Sliced Apple Hospitality Group, a hotel advisory group, located in Canada. Sliced Apple is a North American Hotel Consulting Company. A seasoned hotel industry professional, Fred has over thirty years of experience in progressive leadership roles in the hospitality industry, as well active in active academic and community board memberships.
Fred has held senior portfolios with Fairmont Raffles Hotels and Resorts, which have included managing hotels from as small as 185 rooms to the largest hotel (1430 rooms) in Canada, Director of Acquisitions and Development, and Corporate Director of Training. In his career with Fairmont, he was seconded to Avendra as VP and GM, to manage and develop operations in Canada. Avendra is the largest hotel purchasing company in North America. The company was founded jointly by Marriott Hotels and Resorts, Hyatt Hotels and Resorts, Intercontinental Hotels and Club Corp. Under Fred’s management, a number of hotel/contract food service operations were added to Avendra Canada’s structure including HMS Host, Accor Hotels, Four Seasons, Centennial Hotels, and Silver Seas Cruise Lines.
Fred was promoted by Fairmont Raffles Hotels International to Vice President of Procurement worldwide. He set up a procurement/purchasing structure for Fairmont, Raffles and Swissotel in Europe, Asia, Middle East and North America.
In the past, Fred has also been an Instructor of the Revenue Management Program and Hotel Facility Management and Design Program at Ryerson University, Toronto, Canada, and was Global Director of Training for Canadian Pacific Hotels, now Fairmont Raffles Swissotels Inc.
Fred received the Hotel Industry Award from Ryerson University in 2013.
A board member and past executive on the board of the Ontario Restaurant Hotel and Motel Association, Canada’s largest provincial industry association, Fred currently sits on the advisory committee for Ryerson University Hospitality and Tourism Program. He is also a past member of the innovation committee for George Brown College’s hospitality management Chef’s school.
In addition, Fred presently holds board memberships on Spiritual Heritage Education Network, Compass Outreach Centre, and Rotary Honouring Indigenous People, and he is a member of the Christian Life Community.
A graduate of Ryerson University, Toronto, Canada, with a B.Comm and BAA in Hospitality and Tourism Management, Fred has undertaken specialized skills development throughout his career at Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, and an Advanced Management Program at the University of Guelph, Ontario, Canada, and he was the first corporate management trainee in a two-year program for Canadian Pacific Hotels, now Hotels, Fairmont Hotels and Resorts.
CLANCY D. McKENZIE
ASSOCIATE - EMERITUS
Dr. Clancy McKenzie is a widely acclaimed authority on the understanding of origins, mechanisms, and treatment of schizophrenia, and since 1966, he has dedicated himself to the evaluation, analysis, and treatment of trauma and its immediate and long-range effects on behavior and mental health.
Professor and Department Chair Emeritus of Integrative Psychiatry at Capital University of Integrative Medicine in Washington, DC, with a teaching focus on developmental aspects of neurobiological disorders, and the integration of psychological and biological factors as they pertain to serious mental and emotional disorders, Dr. McKenzie has identified unsuspected separation traumas in the first two years of life, which correlate with the later development of schizophrenia, and has discovered that the identical traumas in the next year of life correlate with the later development of non-psychotic major depression. He has confirmed his findings through statistical analysis of hard data on 6,000 patients in a Finnish database and 2,700 in a Danish cohort on schizophrenia, plus hundreds more in smaller surveys.
Based on his findings, Dr. McKenzie has developed the Unification Theory of Mental Illness, identifying the mechanism by which emotional trauma produces change in brain chemistry and structure. The Unification Theory brings together all disciplines and demonstrates how each participates in the cause of serious disorders. His articles regarding Unification Theory were published in two peer-reviewed journals in 1998: “Delayed Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Model for Schizophrenia and Depression,” which appeared in the Summer issue of Trauma Response; and “The Unification Theory of Mental Illness,” which appeared in the Fall issue of Frontier Perspectives.
Dr. McKenzie has also reviewed all neurobiological schizophrenia research studies presented at the San Diego American Psychiatric Association Meetings, plus the 1998 Davos Schizophrenia Conference, and he has published explanations of why each biological change more likely was the result and not the cause of the disease process. He has also identified prevention of mental illness at three levels: 1) prevention of origin, very early in life; 2) prevention of a first breakdown later in life; and 3) prevention of a recurrence, based on new understanding of origin and mechanism.
Subsequently, Dr. McKenzie has also developed breakthrough approaches to treatment, including a Programmed Dream technique for arriving at enlightened answers during sleep. His published works on his new approaches include a set of audio-cassette tapes, Schizophrenia and the McKenzie Method, which describes his radically different understanding and treatment methods. In 1981, he also published a set of audio recordings, Programmed Dreams: A Breakthrough in Medical and Psychiatric Diagnosis and Treatment, followed in 2001 by a DVD recording, Programmed Dreams. In 1999, he published Self-Help Master Therapy Sessions for Schizophrenia, Depression and other serious disorders.
In addition to his breakthrough work on the diagnosis and treatment of emotional disorders, Dr. McKenzie has held positions as Medical Director at the Biofeedback Resource Center in Philadephia, Pennsylvania, Psychiatric Consultant to the Silva Method International, and Chief Neuropsychiatrist for the Pennsylvania Dental Society’s Impaired Dentist Program. Since 1990, he has been a Level IV Psychiatric Consultant to the Veterans Administration for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder, and since 1992, he has also been a consultant to Speiser, Krauss & Madole, to conduct medical, psychiatric, and neuropsychiatric evaluations of airline disaster victims in Europe, North America, South America, and Central America.
In 1986, Bob Rodale of Prevention Magazine nominated Dr. McKenzie for the Dana Award for Pioneering Achievements in Health, and in 1996, Dr. McKenzie’s textbook, Delayed Posttraumatic Stress Disorders From Infancy: The Two Trauma Mechanism, co-authored with Dr. Lance Wright, was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize by Gordon and Breach Publishers. His other published works include the 2010 edition of Babies Need Mothers – How Mothers Can Prevent Mental Illness In Their Children.
Dr. McKenzie’s deep commitment to serving people was recognized when he was awarded Temple University’s Nelson and Winnie Mandela’s Humanitarian Award for his outstanding devotion to patients suffering from the effects of schizophrenia. He also received a City of Philadelphia Citation from the City Council for his “groundbreaking work in treatments for schizophrenia and depression,” and his work is noted in both the US Senatorial and US Congressional Records.
Dr. McKenzie graduated from the University of Michigan School of Medicine in 1962. For the next several years, he focused his attention on studies of the human mind and the complex realm of mental illness, including five years of training in adult psychoanalysis and two years in child psychoanalysis at the Menninger School of Psychiatry and the Philadelphia Psychoanalytic Institute. His dedication to study and scholarship in psychiatry and neurology, and special training in trauma desensitization, led to his receiving the AMA Physician's Recognition Award with Special Commendation for Self-directed Training.
Dr. McKenzie is Board Certifed in Traumatic Stress, Bereavement Trauma, Emergency Crisis Response, Forensic Traumatology, and School Crisis Response. He is a member of the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology, the American Board of Forensic Examiners, the American Board of Forensic Medical Examiners, the American Psychotherapy Association, and the American Academy of Experts in Traumatic Stress.
TOM MILTON
ASSOCIATE
In his professional life, Tom Milton has three passions: teaching, writing, and serving the community. As a teacher for twenty-nine years at Mercy College, he promotes interaction not only between himself and his students but also among his students. He mentors students individually to help them develop professional goals, and he has helped a large number of students start their own businesses. He applies his twenty years of experience as an international banker to connect the subject matter of his courses to the real world. With colleagues, he created the first master’s program in organizational leadership. He also pioneered flipping the classroom at the college level, which essentially means having students do activities in the classroom that can only be done in that environment (face-to-face interaction) and activities online that enable students to learn and apply knowledge at their own pace (videos, slideshows, and practice quizzes). He has won awards for excellence in classroom teaching and for online teaching, and he is currently pursuing a Quality Matters certification.
As a writer, Dr. Milton has published nine novels that address issues of peace and justice, including the civil rights conflict in the early 1960s, the antiwar movement in the late 1960s, the war of terror in Argentina in the mid-1970s, the struggle for independence in Poland in the early 1980s, the right-to-life issue in the mid-1990s, the war on terror in the early 2000s, the plight of undocumented immigrants, the victims of human trafficking and sex slavery, and the invisible wounds of veterans from the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. His novels have won a variety of awards, and they reach a global audience through online bookstores and the e-book format. The nine published novels are No Way to Peace, The Admiral’s Daughter, All the Flowers, Infamy, A Shower of Roses, Sara’s Laughter, The Golden Door, Outside the Gate, and Leave of Absence. His next novel, Invisible Wounds, will published in October 2014.
Dr. Milton serves the community as an active member of Pax Christi Metro New York, which promotes peace in the world. He is also a member of Network for Peace through Dialogue, which is committed to end human trafficking. He served as treasurer of Riverarts, which sponsors education for children in music and the graphic arts in the river villages of Westchester County, NewYork, and he serves as a board member of the Friends of Philipse Manor, which promotes education for children in the history of Yonkers. He is a frequent speaker at events that address the issues he writes about as well as on subjects of local history. Among other things, he wrote and presented a two-part play about the conflict between Adriaen van der Donck (the founder of Yonkers) and Peter Stuyvesant over their different visions for New Netherland, a liberal democracy versus a corporate autocracy.
Dr. Milton holds a Ph.D. in Management from Walden University, an M.A. in English from Iowa University (Writers Workshop), and a B.A. in English from Princeton University.