Our Team

Dr. Bennett T.C. Siew

Ben is a Managing Director and the founder of Bennett Partners. He works with investors and entrepreneurs to implement customized solutions that resolve immediate issues and drive bottom-line, organizational performance. His areas of expertise include Board facilitation, individual assessment, organizational benchmarking and development, due diligence, performance management, succession planning as well as executive coaching. He has consulted with companies at all stages of development and conducted applied research in numerous industry sectors. The American Academy of Achievement, the Military Order of the World Wars, and the Ohio Board of Education have recognized him for leadership. Ben has been a member of the American Psychological Association, the Colorado Psychological Association, the Society of Consulting Psychology, the Academy of Management, and the National Association of Corporate Directors.

Ben serves as a Board member for privately held companies, as well as non-profit organizations such as the Student Emergency Relief Association, Inc. (SERA)—a non-profit offering financial aid and educational support to students affected by natural disasters. He was a National Merit Scholar and earned a degree in biology and religion from Duke University. Ben holds a Master's and a Doctorate in Psychology from graduate studies at Wake Forest University and the University of Denver. Ben is a proud father of three amazing children—including twins.

Ms. Barbara B. Atkeson, MBA

Barbara is a consultant with Bennett Partners. Her professional track record includes previous positions as a CFO, associate at a private merchant bank, as well as a financial analyst with Morgan Stanley. She has experience fund-raising, evaluating investment opportunities, performing due diligence, negotiating transactions, monitoring portfolio company performance, and assisting with strategy and financings. Barbara leverages her coaching expertise to help senior management teams and individual executives improve operational results.

Barbara earned a degree in English from Yale University and an MBA from Stanford University. She also maintains active involvement as a trustee with charitable organizations such as Summer Scholars a non-profit offering year round literacy to 900 elementary school students in the Denver Public School system.

Mr. Karl W. Kottke, MBA

Karl is a consultant with Bennett Partners. He is a decorated, FA-18 Hornet fighter pilot and former Lieutenant Commander in the US Navy with over a decade of leadership experience. Karl flew over 30 combat missions and was the only instructor pilot in the past decade to hold both premier leadership positions at the elite Navy Fighter Weapons School (TOPGUN). He has received an Air Medal with Bronze Star and Combat Distinguishing Device, the Atlantic Fleet's Michael Hoff Award for tactical excellence and leadership, and the Captain Scott Speicher Leadership Award.

In addition to team and project management, Karl is adept at threat assessment, system analysis, tactical development, mission planning, and instruction. During his tenure at TOPGUN, he provided more than 35 formal lectures to over 200 students, military leaders and industry representatives; consulted with intelligence agencies and engineers; authored numerous professional chapters and articles; and was named the institution's chief instructor pilot. Karl was the Navy's designated expert on several tactical skill sets and weapons systems. He managed a $6M budget and 220 personnel while holding leadership positions in a forward-deployed combat unit. His efforts focused on human capital improvement, resource optimization, and quality assurance processes. As an operational consultant to an executive body of Navy officials, he adapted weapons procurement methodology in order to save the service $100M over the next decade. Karl graduated summa cum laude with a BSE and MS in Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science from Duke University, received his MBA from Harvard Business School, and has varied experience working as a McKinsey consultant. Karl is a proud husband to his wife Tina and father to his two sons.

Dr. John W. McNeill

John is a consultant with Bennett Partners. His 30+ year professional track record includes serving as a behavioral resource to sports teams and athletes at professional, collegiate, and elite club levels, with a focus on performance enhancement as well as personal issues impacting athletes during and after competitive years. He has jointly authored research in the areas of behavior therapy, behavior medicine, and behavior assessment. John has delivered presentations, invited addresses, and conducted workshops on topics in behavior analysis methods and practice, and on performance enhancement and personal issues for professional and amateur athletes. He has also served on Advisory Boards for Quantum Sports Club and the Summit Education Foundation.

John earned a Master's degree from California State College and a Doctorate from the University of Denver where he maintains a tenured faculty appointment with the Graduate School of Professional Psychology. His areas of specialization and interest include, but are not limited to applied sport-performance psychology; behavior analytic practice using mindfulness and acceptance, dialectics, behavioral activation, and exposure-based approaches to intervention; and philosophy of science with special interest in Jamesian process-thinking, and Daoist/Buddhist subfields of Chinese Philosophy. He holds active memberships in the Association for Contextual Behavioral Science and the Chuang Tai Zen Support Group of Denver. John is an avid skier and has enjoyed 30 years as a runner, much of it at 9100+ feet.

Mr. Stirling E. Olson

Stirling is the CIO at Bennett Partners. His experience includes over 15 years of software and database development, including 3 years in Japan with Mitsubishi Electric, and 4 years as a CIO in the global transportation industry. Stirling has designed and developed numerous Internet-based assessment systems as well as managed assessment technology projects in a team environment.

Stirling holds a BSE in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from Duke University. His extensive experience managing database development teams in enterprise and professional-level technologies means that security, reliability, and ease-of-use are woven into every assessment system developed by Bennett Partners.

Dr. Mark Suyeishi

Mark is a consultant with Bennett Partners. His professional track record includes experience providing assessments, facilitation, program planning and development, diversity training and other seminar workshops, and crisis interventions. He has served as a liaison for various organizations, helped build a multi-disciplinary team, and worked with Employee Assistance Programs. Mark serves as a member of various credentialing and quality care committees.

Mark was the recipient of the Jean Peart Sinnock Award from Pacific Lutheran University. He holds a Master's in Social Work and a Doctorate in Psychology from the University of Denver.

Dr. David A. Wright

David is a consultant with Bennett Partners. He specializes in operationalizing data analysis, customized assessments, leadership training, team-building, and organizational development for optimal impact. David's professional track record includes management experience with a national, healthcare organization where he's provided staff supervision, program implementation, and change management. His expertise includes individual assessment and the application of a cognitive-behavioral approach for a myriad of issues.

David has served as Board President for a local, non-profit agency that provides residential and treatment services to adults. He has also worked in an acute medical setting providing emergency psychological services. David is a member of the Mental Health Association of Colorado and works on the Pro Bono Committee that assists underprivileged members of the Denver community. He is a member of the American Psychological Association and the Colorado Psychological Association. David graduated with a Bachelor's degree in Psychology and Zoology from Miami University, and earned a Master's degree in Clinical Psychology from the University of Colorado at Denver. David holds a Doctorate in Psychology from the University of Denver.

Mr. James Zorich

James is a consultant with Bennett Partners and a member of our Assessment Technology Division. His track record of analytical rigor and performance data analyses has included, but is not limited to working at the MIT Sloan School of Management where he organized and analyzed a database of start-up companies to determine characteristics of successful serial entrepreneurs. In Variable Annuities Product Development at John Hancock Financial Services, he performed statistical break-downs of sales figures in order to forecast future sales and analyzed new programs to predict future pricing information. For New York University, he completed a project to copy-edit and verify the mathematical accuracy of the published book Mathematics and Democracy: Designing Better Voting and Fair-Division Procedures.

James was a Teach for America Corps Member and taught mathematics in Washington DC and Denver, CO. He graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) with a major in Mathematics and a minor in Literature. He was President of Phi Sigma Kappa fraternity, Omicron Chapter at MIT and played on the varsity soccer team earning a position on the NEWMAC Men's Soccer Academic All-Conference Team.

Dr. Mark Aoyagi

Mark is an associate with Bennett Partners. His professional track record includes a faculty appointment as the Director of Sport & Performance Psychology for the University of Denver, Graduate School of Professional Psychology. He is also the founder and Director of the Center for Performance Excellence. His areas of expertise include peak performance, team effectiveness, and achieving meaning, satisfaction and fulfillment through sport, work, and life. Mark has worked with several Division I athletic departments as well as professional and Olympic athletes. He is a licensed psychologist in the state of Colorado, a certified consultant with the Association of Applied Sport Psychology (AASP), and is listed in the United States Olympic Committee's (USOC) sport psychology registry. Mark is active in several professional organizations including the International Society for Sport Psychology, American Psychological Association and the Association for Applied Sport Psychology; and has several publications and national conference presentations on the topics of sport psychology, team effectiveness, models of sport psychology practice, and ethics among others.

Mark earned a Doctorate from the University of Missouri including a post doctoral fellowship at the University of Southern California, a Master's degree from Georgia Southern University, and degrees in exercise and sport science and in psychology from the University of Utah. He was the recipient of the student-practitioner award from the Association for the Advancement of Applied Sport Psychology for excellence in applied sport psychology. Mark played rugby, football, baseball, and wrestling competitively, and now enjoys a variety of recreational sports and outdoor activities.

Ms. Marilyn Coming, MBA

Marilyn is an associate with Bennett Partners. Her professional experience has been developed in key strategic areas of business in both manufacturing and sales environments. She has leveraged her skills in product costing and accounting, project management, operations, and sales within a Fortune 500 company for the past 20 years. Her leadership abilities and desire for success and goal attainment have won her several recognition and achievement awards. Marilyn's analytical skills have been used to develop process improvements and produce efficiencies that allow teams to reach targets and increase productivity. She applies a customer driven focus and strives to develop tailored and meaningful results for clients.

Marilyn has a degree in Finance from the University of Northern Colorado and a Master's in Business Administration (MBA) from the University of Denver. She is also active in the community, serving on the Board of Directors of a local financial services firm.

Dr. Artur Poczwardowski

Artur is an associate with Bennett Partners. For 20+ years, Artur has consulted with athletes and teams from numerous sports such as tennis, golf, hockey, judo, squash, baseball, team handball, soccer, track and field, diving, rowing, air pistol shooting, alpine skiing, cross country skiing, figure skating, and speed skating. At the elite level, he worked with the Polish national men's and women's judo teams ('91 & '92 European Championships, '92 World Championships, and '92 Olympic Games), St. Lawrence University Division I women's hockey team ('01 and '04 Frozen Four), and tennis players from Academia Sanchez-Casal (Naples, Florida). He is a certified consultant with the Association for Applied Sport Psychology (AASP) in performance enhancement and is listed in the United States Olympic Committee (USOC) sport psychology registry. Artur has 25+ publications, and has delivered 60+ professional presentations at national and international levels, and 25+ lectures and workshops in the United States, Canada, Greece, Denmark, and Poland. His publications and professional presentations focus on sport psychology practice for performance enhancement and psychological well-being, coach-athlete relationships, and coping strategies in elite performers. For two years ('04–'06) he served as an Associate Editor for The Sport Psychologist. In 2006 he was nominated for the President of the Association of Applied Sport Psychology (AASP), which has membership from approximately 30 countries.

Artur received his Doctorate in exercise and sport science with specialization in psychosocial aspects of sport from the University of Utah, Salt Lake City, a Master's degree in coaching and physical education from University of Physical Education in Gdansk, Poland and a Master's degree in psychology from Gdansk University, Poland. He has worked with Barry University (Miami Shores, Florida), St. Lawrence University (Canton, New York), University of Utah, University of Physical Education in Gdansk (Poland), and he currently holds a faculty appointment with the University of Denver's Graduate School of Professional Psychology. His interests include applied sport psychology, consulting methods and practices, group dynamics in sports, motor learning and control, and training planning and periodization.

Dr. Robert A. Rella

Rob is an associate with Bennett Partners. His diverse background of training and professional experiences includes leadership and management positions within the U.S. military, financial advising, professional services and retail industries. In particular, he served as a U.S. Air Force psychologist for six years prior to shifting to the private sector as a financial consultant and portfolio manager for Salomon Smith Barney. As a former sales and marketing coordinator, he guided work with private equity and venture capital investors as well as a wide array of emerging growth companies. He has operational experience in managing a high volume, high dollar retail business. He is driven by the opportunity to have positive impact in all of his consulting and coaching activities. He has regularly presented on leadership topics to senior leaders in business, military and sports arenas. Rob is an active member of the American Psychological Association and has held leadership positions within this organization, including serving as chair of the Graduate Student Board. Rob earned a degree in psychology and neuroscience from Colgate University. He holds a Master's and Doctorate in Clinical Psychology from Nova University. Rob has two daughters.

Dr. Manuel J. Jayo

Manuel is an Advisory Board Member of Bennett Partners. As a former professor, researcher, patent-holder as well as a NASA finalist for Spacelab Life Sciences-3 Mission, Manuel has held numerous leadership positions and published over 30 journal articles and 40 abstracts. His professional contributions with the National Institutes of Health (NIH) include positions as an NIH-Fellow with Wake Forest School of Medicine as well as serving as a Permanent Member, Reviewer and Site Visitor for the National Center for Research Resources (NCRR)-NIH.

Manuel holds a Doctorate in Veterinary Medicine and a Doctorate in Pathology from Kansas State University. He is a Diplomate of the American College of Veterinary Pathology, a Member of the U.S. Army Medical Research and Materiel Command's (USAMRMC) research programs for breast cancer and osteoporosis, and an associate member of the National Association of Corporate Directors. Manuel is a founding Board member of the Student Emergency Relief Association, Inc. (SERA)—a non-profit that provides financial aid and educational support to students affected by natural disasters. Manuel has served as Senior Pathologist for Pathology Associates (PAI)—a Division of Charles River Laboratories, Inc., and he is currently the Senior Director of Preclinical Development & Translational Medicine for Tengion, Inc.

Dr. Chun Huh

Chun is an Advisory Board Member of Bennett Partners. Dr. Huh serves as a Research Professor in the Department of Petroleum and Geosystems Engineering at The University of Texas (UT) at Austin. Before joining the faculty at UT, he worked as an Engineering Advisor at the ExxonMobil Upstream Research Co., Houston, Texas — a leading research laboratory in the oil and gas industry. He did research mainly in theoretical modeling of basic mechanisms for various enhanced oil recovery processes, and numerical simulation of those processes, covering from the rock pore scale to the oil field scale. At ExxonMobil, as a senior technical advisor, Prof. Huh was actively involved in a wide spectrum of activities for optimized production of oil and gas from fields. During his last 8 years at ExxonMobil, he was engaged in developing, organizing and managing a number of proprietary, high-risk research projects, whose aim was to make a significant impact on oil and gas business with innovative ideas. He served as Editorial Review Chairman for the Society of Petroleum Engineers' "Reservoir Evaluation and Engineering Journal," served as a member of the Technical Program Committee for the 1998, 2000 and 2002 SPE/DOE Improved Oil Recovery Symposiums, and he is an associate member of the National Association of Corporate Directors.

Chun holds a Doctorate in Chemical Engineering from the University of Minnesota and conducted post-doctoral research at McGill University, Montreal, Canada. He also received a degree in Chemical Engineering from Seoul National University. Chun has published numerous articles, holds multiple patents, and developed the "Huh correlation" used in industry for surfactant flood design.

Dr. Edward H. Ip

Eddie is an Advisory Board Member of Bennett Partners. His prior experience includes serving as a research scientist for the Educational Testing Service, Statistics & Psychometric Division, Large-scale Assessment Group as well as being on faculty at the University of Southern California, Marshall School of Business, Information & Operations Management Department. Eddie is currently on faculty at Wake Forest School of Medicine, Department of Public Health Sciences, Biostatistics & Social Sciences & Health Policy.

Eddie holds a Master's degree in Education and a Doctorate in Statistics from Stanford University. He also received a post-graduate certificate in software engineering after graduating from the University of Hong Kong. Eddie has published numerous research articles, authored 2 books, and serves as an editor and management committee member for the "Journal of Educational & Behavioral Statistics." Eddie specializes in psychometrics; data warehousing, business intelligence, and data mining; analysis of dependency; and multivariate ordinal data analysis. His areas of interest include fundamental research on the study of multivariate dependency, and applied research on using psychometric and data mining methods to analyze large business and educational databases.

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