Christopher James Bentley | Chief Executive Officer
Chris Bentley truly “walks the talk” in bringing alignment to organizations large and small. With 30 years’ experience in building successful enterprises, Chris brings a wealth of practical knowledge and business acumen to clients of The Five Star Institute. He knows the challenges organizations, executives, managers, and teams grapple with every day, because he’s been there himself, constantly fine-tuning his ability to rapidly identify problems, formulate strategic plans, lead change, and implement new processes in challenging and diverse environments. Those experiences became the foundation of The Five Star Process.
Chris was a founding partner of Aspen Pet Products, which he built from the ground up to become the world’s largest designer and manufacturer of pet accessories, providing products to retail giants like Wal-Mart and PetSmart. Later, impelled by a strong desire to help others learn from his experience, Chris became CEO for Best Year Yet, a consulting and training firm focused on organizational alignment.
Dr. Elia Gourgounis Ph.D. | President
Dr. Elia Gourgounis is a nationally-known speaker, author, leadership consultant, and past President of the Summit Leadership Group. He is an executive coach and consultant with more than twenty years of experience, most recently working with the US Air Force. He has helped thousands of individuals, groups, and companies develop a vision for success.
Last summer, Dr. Gourgounis lectured at several Universities, and his talks were attended by over 10,000 people. He has also been the key-note speaker for several Women's Conferences. He is a UCLA graduate and holds a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology. Dr. Gourgounis is fluent in Greek and is a former national swimming champion.
Joost Wouters | President, Five Star Institute Europe
Joost Wouters’ passion is helping people and organizations realize their dreams. He helps them close the gap between where they are and where they want to be. CEOs and team leaders look to Joost because he’s a living example of the programs he represents. He makes things happen. Once they see what’s possible on a personal level, they become excited and motivated about what they can accomplish for their organization.
Armed with a Master’s degree in Mechanical Engineering, Joost started his professional career at Procter & Gamble in Sales and Marketing where he mastered the skills of sales. Five years later he joined the executive team of Pepsi Cola, where he was responsible for the sales of PepsiCo beverages in Belgium, The Netherlands, and Luxemburg.
Later, he launched his own organizational development firm, serving clients such as Unilever, Heineken, Royal Dutch Telecom, LG.Philips, Dutch Railway, Delta Lloyd, Duyvis, Allied Domecq, Campina, Uniekaas, Vodafone, Sara Lee, Yess, P&G, Ohra and Nestlé across Europe, and in South Africa and Russia.
Marya D. Read | Chief Product Development Officer
Marya Read brings a unique blend of experience and expertise to The Five Star Institute. After many years as an award-winning Creative Director and Broadcast Producer for top advertising agencies including Grey Advertising Worldwide, Marya turned her communication skills toward creating innovative media for education.
As Founder and President of Intrepid Films, Marya led her team to create award-winning educational media products that have been adopted by leading universities and privately labeled by McGraw Hill and Citibank.
Marya also served as Vice President of Production and Creative Services for The Diversity Channel leading a staff of multimedia designers, web application developers, content writers, instructional designers, and video producers. Her team created a multi-faceted suite of diversity education products for Fortune 500 Companies including Avon, Merck, Microsoft, Sara Lee, Boeing, Wyeth, The Gallup Organization, Northrup Grumman, and Pearson Media.
Jenner Marcucci | Vice President of Client Solutions
Jenner Marcucci comes to The Five Star Institute with more than 16 years of Fortune 10 experience in sales, sales training, and leadership development.
While working for Pfizer, Inc., Jenner earned several top sales awards for consistently ranking in the top 10% of all sales representatives. He was also recognized with the coveted “Strategic Partner of Choice” leadership award. His infectious enthusiasm, humor, and uncanny ability to connect with an audience from 1 to 1,000+ have made Jenner highly sought after as a public speaker. He has worked with some of the foremost thought leaders in coaching and training and has exceptional breadth and depth of knowledge in the field.
Jenner is certified in several leading leadership models including Emotional Intelligence, Situational Leadership, DiSC, Covey’s 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, The Oz Principle, and Best Year Yet.
Jenner has lived abroad and is completely fluent in Spanish.
Gary Clements | Vice President of Sales and Partner Development
An accomplished leader and entrepreneur, Gary understands what it takes to be successful in the selling and delivery of Software as a Service (SaaS) and performance improvement consulting and training. With 9 years of industry experience with Franklin Covey, including Senior Vice President of Sales, and Senior Vice President of International, Gary truly understands what it takes to be successful in selling and delivering the Five Star solutions.
Most recently, Gary has focused on leading technology based companies, as a business owner and VP of sales for a company that sells enterprise business management software and business intelligence delivered as a service (SaaS).
Gary will bring his strong business savvy, engaging leadership style, and industry experience to add value to our clients and our alliance partners.
Steve Kaverman | Director of Business Development and Client Services
Steve brings more than 20 years of multi-disciplined business management and training experience to The Five Star Institute, including work across all organizational levels with non-profits, education, municipal and county government, and public and private companies of all sizes.
Steves excels at organizing resources and people to achieve goals, communicating a vision for the future, and preparing systematic plans that solve practical issues with innovation and ingenuity.
Hal A. Remington | Director of Technology Services
Hal comes to The Five Star Institute with over 20 years of experience providing insight, guidance, and knowledge to leaders of the telecommunications and computing industries. Previously, as a technical manager, instructor and account manager Hal worked with some of the major companies in the world leading the design, development, implementation, and management of large scale technical training programs.
Hal has literally taught thousands of people around the world and has a knack for taking complex technical issues and explaining them in simple to understand terms. He takes pride in his ability to anticipate technological trends in the industry and provide guidance to companies so they can successfully utilize those technologies.
Lisa Bergeron | Sales Manager
Lisa Bergeron comes to the Five Star Institute with over 18 years in major northeast markets in the broadcast industry in sales management, marketing and training. Lisa’s strong facilitation capabilities, high energy and broad based understanding of business realities makes her programs grounded in reality with practical, results- oriented applications. Lisa has extensive experience with many industry sectors in developing and executing marketing strategies, sales initiatives, project management, leadership development and customer-focused sales training programs.
Lisa has worked closely with Shell Oil, Fed Ex, Stop and Shop, New England Dodge and Dunkin' Donuts. She is a Certified Business Coach, Certified Behavior Analyst, Certified Marketing Consultant and Certified Creativity Coach. Lisa brings a dedication and passion for creative thinking in business that provides the ultimate for of all companies and individuals; growth!
People Productions | Strategic Technology Partner
The software development partner and media production of The Five Star Institute, People Productions provides expertise in web-based application development, web design, video production and multimedia development. Using “intelligently integrated media,” People Productions makes sure every component of every project works flawlessly together from the content, technology, and people points of view.
People Productions has assembled a top-drawer team of experienced, talented, and incredibly knowledgeable folks unrivaled anywhere. Serving clients from household names like Cisco Systems, Qwest, RE/MAX, Texas Instruments, Marriott International, and Nokia to public-sector agencies ranging from The City of Boulder to the U.S. Department of Education, as well as numerous local and national not-for-profits such as The Humane Society of Boulder Valley and The Nature Conservancy, People Productions delivers clients’ messages to diverse audiences nationwide.
