Money never starts an idea; it is the idea that starts the money. William J. Cameron

Not only does Idea Champions produce results, but people have fun in the process. Scott Playfair, CSR America  MORE

Mitchell Lewis Ditkoff is the co-founder and President of Idea Champions. He specializes in leading highly engaging creative thinking and teambuilding sessions that enable individuals, teams and entire organizations to develop new products, services, and breakthrough ways of doing business. Educated at Lafayette College and Brown University, Mr. Ditkoff has worked with a wide variety of Fortune 500 and mid-sized companies who have realized the need to do something different in order to succeed in today's rapidly changing marketplace. These clients include: GE, Merck, Allianz, Lucent Technologies, NBC Universal, AT&T, Goodyear, Pfizer, A&E Television Networks, General Mills, MTV Networks, Duke Corporate Education, and PricewaterhouseCoopers.

At the heart of his work lies the fundamental belief that a company's most important capital asset is the collective brain power, creativity and commitment of its work force and that this asset can be significantly leveraged when people are provided with the appropriate setting, systems, tools and techniques to think (and act) out of the box.

Prior to his work with Idea Champions, Mr. Ditkoff was a principal in Ki Learning Systems and a Senior Consultant with the Inner Game Corporation — both organizational development firms dedicated to catalyzing superior performance in the workplace.

In addition to his consulting work, Mr. Ditkoff is also an accomplished public speaker and writer. Author of Banking on Innovation, Free the Genie and the forthcoming Awake at the Wheel, Mr. Ditkoff has appeared on numerous radio and television talk shows. Additionally, he is the founder of Face the Music, the world's only interactive business blues band. He lives in Woodstock, New York, with his wife, Evelyne, and their two children, Jesse (13) and Emilia (11).

Prentiss S. Uchida is Idea Champions' Chief a lot to Learn Officer (CLO) - a perfect role for someone who has made the long journey from head to heart. During the past 30 years, as a serial entrepreneur, Prentiss has held key management positions in both private and public companies, including founder and CEO of Vector General (a pioneer in graphics workstations), CEO of the Inner Game (a corporate training and development company), CEO of Secom General (a NASDAQ mini-conglomerate of automotive component manufacturers), and CEO of Kahootz (an enterprise software company). Additionally, Prentiss was a founder and director of Instar Infomatiqué (a French medical software company) and managing director of VanderBolt GmbH (a German technology transfer company).

He was the architect of the first peripheral graphics terminal that generated real-time, dynamic three-dimensional images used in the original Star Wars movie and the design of the Boeing 757 and 767. He has also produced infomercials for direct response TV, developed a nutritional supplement for cardiovascular health, and has served on the Board of Directors of the United Way.

Helping organizations create a sustainable "culture of innovation" (i.e. work for fun and profit) is Prentiss' most recent fascination, having learned that people are happiest when they are creating, growing, helping, collaborating, and feeling gratitude for their lives. Towards that end, Prentiss is engaged these days in the entrepreneuring of Ingenuity Bank, Idea Champions' next generation idea management software.

Prentiss has BA in mathematics, a black belt in karate, an aircraft pilot's license, and has crashed and burned as a commodity trader. He was a skier, is a golfer, and for his 2nd act, is an aspiring singer/songwriter. He lives in Agoura, California with his wife of 25 years, Patricia, and has 3 grown children.

Val Vadeboncoeur is Idea Champions' Director of Training with 20 years experience in the field. Val believes that the most essential qualities an individual needs to exhibit in order to master the Protean landscape of our rapidly-changing business world are courage, the ability to innovate, and curiosity ... which dovetails with becoming a lifelong learner on the job AND in life.

Through the years, Val has worked closely with a wide range of forward-thinking American companies, focusing on innovation and teambuilding. These clients have included: AT&T, GE & GE Capital, Morgan Stanley, Scotia Capital, Ernst & Young, TIAA-CREF, Champion International, Olin Corporation, Price Waterhouse, and Atlanticare as well as a number of non-profit organizations. He has also worked previously with Unison Business Development on organizational development and visioning projects for Zurich Insurance and Life Care Centers of America, a leading provider of nursing home care. He also works as a performer/consultant with Face The Music, an interactive business blues band (his "blues" name is "Professor Voodoo").

Val is, most recently, involved in developing our updated brainstorm training, Conducting Genius, which includes creating the Conducting Genius Toolkit; the training in a deck of cards.

Mr. Vadeboncoeur, who is part MicMac Indian, was born and raised in Rhode Island, and educated at Boston University. His checkered past includes being a radio disc jockey, writer, playwright, theater director, actor and producer of art exhibits. He's also striven mightily after an elusive competency on various musical instruments. His last name is French for "go of a good heart," and his nickname is "Moose." He currently resides in Malden-On-Hudson, NY.

Lynnea Brinkerhoff
Idea Champions is thrilled to finally have Lynnea Brinkerhoff on board. We've been trying for years to find a way and, finally, it has happened! With a Masters in Organizational Development from Pepperdine University's prestigious MSOD program and a B.A. in International Business from Simmons College, Lynnea is quickly becoming our "go to" person for anything having to do with organizational change. Among her many accomplishments, Lynnea has: 1) Helped revitalize aging multinational organizations such as Ace Hardware, Spalding, Coca Cola, and American Express; 2) Conducted long-term executive coaching interventions; 3) Mediated conflict resolution sessions between individuals and entire departments; 4) Helped organizations make the shift from command and control to a team-based environment and; 5) Implemented organizational effectiveness interventions for organizations as different from each other as the Native American Tribal Council is from Wall Street. Lynnea has also been "on the inside," having held management positions at Southwestern Bell and the Marriott Corporation. The throughline in all her work? Turning breakdowns into breakthroughs - in a way that engages and empowers.

In addition to her work with Idea Champions, Lynnea is also the Co-Founder of Acacia Tree, an international consulting firm that takes corporate leadership teams to places of real need around the world in an effort to help companies develop - real-time - their individual and organizational potential. Lynnea lives in Milford, CT with her soulmate, Michael, and her wonder-child, Jamie, 7.

Michael Pergola MA, MBA, JD, is a management consultant, lawyer, and ordained interfaith minister. As a long time student of culture change, individual development, behavioral science, organizational dynamics, and the world.s wisdom traditions, Michael has pursued personal mastery and an understanding of consciousness, culture and creativity for over 30 years. He served six years as Chief Knowledge Officer for Risk at one of the five largest banks in the United States, practiced law at Wilmer, Cutler and Pickering in Washington D.C. for nine years, and has founded a variety of businesses and non profit organizations. An honors graduate of the University of Pennsylvania, Michael also has a Masters degree in Social Structure and Interpersonal Dynamics from Penn, and a law degree and MBA from Cornell. He is trained in systems thinking, scenario planning, social network analysis, creativity, visioning, facilitation, conflict resolution, business process analysis, risk management, intellectual property, technology assessment, emotional intelligence, and biofeedback.

As an external consultant, Michael has worked with leadership teams and operating groups in small, mid-market, and Fortune 500 companies. He excels at identifying the human and organizational dynamics that block breakthrough success, and designing integral approaches to create cultures of innovation that optimize long term value. Michael has a capacity to synthesize large bodies of information in order to develop comprehensive approaches that empower individuals, teams and organizations to create new ways of doing business, respond creatively to changing environments, and take full advantage of emerging market opportunities

Michael's clients have included First Union, Wachovia, Cigna, Aetna, Prudential Securities, Tompson International, The West Group, Dow, Lohnes and Albertson, FERC, Fannie Mae, Honda, Ford, Chrysler, Li & Fung, Liz Claiborne, The State University of New York and One Spirit Learning Alliance.

Scott Cronin Before starting his work in management coaching and development, Scott Cronin spent 15 years on the other side of the fence – as a manager. He has successfully faced a wide variety of business challenges, from being an internal management consultant and trouble-shooter for a fast-growing chain of record stores, to coordinating multinational construction projects.

Scott has incorporated his practical understanding of business in his work with client companies like Viacom, PepsiCo, Taco Bell, Regeneration Technologies, Inc., Nickelodeon, and AT&T. Combining his knowledge of interpersonal skills and team dynamics with his awareness of the day-to-day realities of corporate life, he offers needed understanding and skill development, drawing on real-life business examples that acknowledge the complexities and difficulties of the manager's job.

Over the past few years, Scott has focused specifically on helping managers cope with the increased demands being placed on them: he has worked as a coach and teacher to help executives develop their employees, lead teams, and create a clear vision for their own professional future. Some of his coaching and teaching clients include Cablevision Systems Corp., Coors Brewing Company, Comedy Central, Cole-Haan, and Simon & Schuster.

Clients and participants have praised his energy, humor, and creativity, his insight into their organization, and his ability to help them see and overcome their own blocks to learning. In the words of one client, "Scott teaches without pontificating; he tells the truth. He helps you over the rough spots with humor and honesty."

Paul Roth has been an executive advisor and business coach for more than 20 years. He founded The Coaching Exchange, Inc. in 1988 and is the creator of the RothMethods, a practical system for maximizing people's performance in the workplace. Paul's primary focus is empowering individuals to bring out their best and then bring out the best in others. People who enter into a coaching relationship with him learn how to better navigate their organization, maximize their performance, and generate team alignment. "Strong people build strong teams," explains Paul. "And strong teams make up great organizations… and great organizations make a better world."

Paul graduated from the California Institute of the Arts in 1974, but left the arts soon after co-developing and managing the optical effects department for the original Star Wars in 1977. Choosing to pursue his passion for working with people, he first became a department manager, event producer, and seminar leader for various educational organizations and consulting groups. After starting his own company, he proceeded to translate his decade of arts experience into a wide variety of creative business applications. Bottom line, Paul's unique methods help people develop skills in four domains; strategic design, conversations with clients, communication with a market, and collaboration with a team. Paul's clients have included Amgen, Schwartzkopf-Dep Corporation, Caltrans, Kyocera America, Merrill Lynch, the Irvine Company, Fannie Mae and hundreds of smaller companies.

Ondine Norman brings more than 20 years of teambuilding and communications training experience to Idea Champions. A licensed psychotherapist and former actor/dancer, Ondine helps her clients develop effective communication skills by becoming better observers of themselves in both their professional and personal lives.

Ondine believes that coaching is a collaborative effort. With Ondine's approach, her clients first identify and describe their own personal interactive style. Ondine then works closely with the client to develop a congruency of language, physical presence and emotional intelligence. In addition to her coaching expertise, Ondine is also quite skillful at facilitating visioning and strategy sessions for executives. Her clients have included NASA, Sprint PCS, Booz-Allen Hamilton, UC Berkeley and many others.

Known for her warmth and inviting nature, Ondine excels at establishing a trusting atmosphere where people feel comfortable taking risks while learning and practicing new skills. Ondine also helps her clients gain insight into their own core values, helping them align those values with the vision of their company. She is particularly gifted at teaching people how to engage in difficult conversations in the workplace, a skill many clients go on to apply in their personal lives as well.

Ondine is a certified mentor coach for the Newfield Network, a highly acclaimed coaching school accredited by the International Coach Federation.

Tim Moore a renaissance man extraordinaire, juggles three balls at Idea Champions. He is our chief strategic communication consultant, a skilled brainstorm facilitator, and one of our Bandwidth Leaders for BrainTrust. A life-long learner, Tim keeps his skills up to date in a wide array of fields, including information architecture, social psychology, emotional intelligence, contemporary art and design, and social media. He combines many of his interests in a process he calls Sales Proptimizing^TM. Explains Tim, "Simply put, Sales Proptimizing^TM is a process for creating word of mouth. It helps individuals, teams and organizations identify their authentic hooks and memes - their unique, irreducible sales propositions, then teases out simple phrases and images that can communicate their core offerings effortlessly."

Tim's knack for the sticky is evidenced by a string of international song hits. A highly successful recording artist and songwriter, Tim has released five hook-laden albums on David Geffen's Asylum record label and toured throughout the globe. Tim brings to Idea Champions clients the verbal brevity and timing of a master song lyricist, coupled with an uncanny sense of what will stick in the popular memory. "Hit songs are memes," Tim says. "They grab people on multiple levels, and do it with incredible economy and simplicity." Hence Tim's passion and skill for drilling down to the essence of things and transforming that simplicity into actionable ideas that foment trends, create buzz, and make good things unforgettable. Tim holds a BFA from Temple University where he majored in painting and contemporary sculpture. He's a long time resident of Woodstock, NY,

Steven McHugh is the co-founder and Chief Enlightenment Officer of Idea Champions.

For over 17 years, Steven has worked closely with top leadership, middle management and project teams to dramatically improve their business results. His multi-dimensional approach to meeting the needs of his varied clients is a skillful mix of business assessment, visioning, creative thinking, strategic planning, process redesign and Balanced Scorecard deployment.

Steven's clients include businesses in high tech, insurance, manufacturing, healthcare and telecommunications, including AT&T, Met Life, Sun Microsystems, Hewlett-Packard, Life Care Centers of America, Olin Corporation, Zurich US Insurance and numerous small and mid-sized companies.

As a business coach, Steven draws upon his diverse background as a gestalt psychotherapist and consultant to the corporate training, management, and construction industries. He is co-author of Get Out Of The Box, a creativity-based strategic planning workbook. He is also co-author of Scoreboard Pro™, a web-based business performance software service.

Steven resides in Boulder, Colorado and is an active volunteer and a long-standing advisory board member for the Humane Society of Boulder Valley. He enjoys white water rafting, kayaking, hiking, scuba diving, outdoor photography, fine wine, and really good sushi.

Bennett Neiman, PhD joined Idea Champions in 1995. He is a specialist in human motivation and communication. Early in his career at Idea Champions, he took his extensive background in strategic planning and visioning and combined it with Idea Champions' breakthrough creative thinking work and created "Visionary Team Planning," an inspirational and highly effective process that has helped teams all over the world move to a new level of collaboration and effectiveness. Bennett's highly acclaimed book, "Slay the Dragons - Free the Genie: Moving past negativity and resistance to get great results," is a major bi-product of this work. In addition to his M.A. in Communication and his PhD in Educational Psychology, Bennett is certified as a Gestalt therapist. His other specialty is in conflict resolution/team workout. Bennett has worked with individuals and teams all over America and Europe, helping people to set aside old hurts and frustrations and establish a new level of trust with each other. Prior to Idea Champions, Bennett was the CEO/Founder of a successful advertising agency in St. Louis for 11 years and a strategic planning/marketing consultant for seven. All of his work has been about motivating people to reach for more than they have and more than they think they are capable of achieving.

Ron Rubio
With over 20 years of martial arts experience, Ron Rubio is Idea Champions' chief leadership warrior. Ron uses body-centered techniques to bring leaders and teams to the true source of their power: total mind-body engagement.

Everyone wants to be able to think on their feet in business. But most of us try to get there by ignoring everything between our head and feet. Ron is here to remind us that mind-body integration is crucial to alert performance. His unique Pathfinder and BodyKi work draws attention and power downward, taps into the body's deeper intelligence, and helps forward-thinking business leaders develop renewed focus, spontaneity, energy, power and confidence.

Although he holds a 4th degree black belt in Aikido today, Ron started out as an asthmatic and stutterer in childhood. He left home at 14 and worked his way through high school while playing football and excelling as a sprinter and hurdler. After moving to New York to pursue a dance career, Ron's nimble athleticism secured him a scholarship with the prestigious Alvin Ailey School of American dance. For the next 25 years he was a dance teacher, performer, choreographer.

Besides Aikido, Ron is equally versed in capoeira and close combat skills. This year he will partner with media sales legend, Farrell Reynolds, to teach warrior skills to sales teams, helping them "walk confidently into the dragons mouth" with even their toughest accounts and prospects.

Today, whether practicing aikido sword and staff, drumming, painting or teaching martial arts, Ron brings unstoppable energy to everything he does. And he knows how to impart that same fearlessness, enthusiasm and presence to anyone willing to seek the warrior within. His forthcoming book, "Mind/Body Techniques for Asperger's Syndrome: The Way of the Pathfinder" is the newest example of his positive, life-improving work. Ron lives in the Catskills Mountains of New York, with his wife Irene, three daughters, two dogs, two cats and a collection of samurai swords.

Bill Ross has worked with Idea Champions for many years, as a writer, editor, technology consultant, and trainer. Most recently, he has driven the development and launch of our new blog, "The Heart of Innovation," and now manages and writes for it.

Bill has over 20 years experience helping people understand how to improve their communications via the right use of technology. He has an extraordinary ability to make the complicated simple. He is a nationally recognized technical writer and was the editor and written voice of the original AltaVista's e-commerce site. Bill has worked for IBM, DEC, Knight-Ridder Newspapers, Southeast Bank, and other organizations.

In 2006, Bill started "Rosswriting," his own technology and media blog, which has been cited periodically by the Boston Globe and WGBH (Boston's PBS affiliate).

In addition to Bill's technology efforts, he is also the chief writer for "The Champies," Idea Champions' newly launched, conference awards ceremony service.

Sam Carter is the Senior Communications Coach for Idea Champions. His primary focus is helping business leaders become powerful presenters and public speakers. Sam has been a professional speaking coach for 13 years and has worked closely with executives and managers from a wide range of forward-thinking organizations, including Time Inc., Conde Nast Publications, The Bank of Tokyo, Morgan Stanley, and American Express. Sam is well known as an intuitive and high energy coach skillful at creating lasting results in the lives of the people he coaches. He was most recently a contributing writer to the book "Power Speaking: The Art of the Exceptional Public Speaker" published in 2005 by Allworth Press.

Sam is also a faculty member of the Actors Institute in New York City where he teaches acting and voice. He holds degrees in theater and communications from New York University and the ETW Conservatoire in Paris where he studied with Philippe Petit, as well as members of the famed Theatre du Soleil Company. He was a principal actor with the theater company "Boufons Theatre" for their national tours of France (1988-90) and a founding member of the Widemouth Theater Company in New York City.

In addition to his executive coaching work, Sam is also quite an accomplished playwright. His latest piece, China Black, was nominated for the 2004 Pinter Award for Drama.

Shawn Dempewolff-Barrett is a producer/writer/actor who, after receiving his B.A. in theater & sociology from Hampshire College, served as the Executive Director of Adventure Game Theater, a non-profit group delivering engaging workshops and summer camps for teens throughout the Northeast.

Later, Shawn served as the director of development for Mythix HMQ, an independent film & television production company based in New York. Over the past year, he has developed a feature-length screenplay currently being shopped by Nick Wechsler, (producer of the film "North Country") and was very involved with an internet-based television show that FOX is currently considering. Shawn also produced an internet-based documentary series focused on the lives of extraordinary young women.

Shawn facilitates Idea Champions' "Whose Job Is It, Anyway?" improv offering which is about as much fun as you can possibly have in a teambuilding session, except when "WJIIA?" is teamed up with our "Drumming Up Teamwork" offering and you get to play improv AND hand drums in the same session. Oh, baby!

Shawn currently lives in Brookyln, NY where he strives to be as hip as possible.

Evan Eisenberg Bandwidth Leader of BrainTrust, is a consultant, speaker, and widely published author known for combining cutting-edge ideas with dazzling style and delightful humor. A prolific generator of models, metaphors, and scenarios, he is adept at finding (and helping others find) the hidden patterns that join seemingly unrelated things — the matrix of true innovation.

As a consultant, Mr. Eisenberg has worked with Fortune 500 clients to develop new products, concepts, and marketing campaigns. His work with nonprofits has included advising the Doris Duke Foundation on the transformation of the Duke estate into a major center for research and education in landscape, ecology, and the arts. By drawing on the far-flung network of pioneering thinkers he has come to know in the course of his research, he provides BrainTrust with unmatched intellectual firepower.

His articles, essays, satire, and fiction have appeared in The New Yorker, The Atlantic, The New Republic, the New York Times, and numerous other periodicals. He is the author of two critically acclaimed books, The Ecology of Eden (Knopf, Vintage) and The Recording Angel, which will be reissued next year, in an expanded edition, by Yale.

Educated at Harvard and Princeton, Mr. Eisenberg has lectured and taught seminars at Harvard, Berkeley, and many other institutions. He has keynoted at major national conferences and has been featured on radio and television programs both in the U.S. and abroad.

A native New Yorker, Mr. Eisenberg has been a music columnist for The Nation, a synagogue cantor, and a gardener for the New York City parks department. He lives in Manhattan with his wife, an urban planner, and their daughter.

Nathan Brenowitz is a recent addition to the Idea Champions' core team of consultants in his role as Master Trainer of Idea Champions' new teambuilding offering, Drumming Up Teamwork. This novel approach to teambuilding utilizes the primal drumming circle as a way to help groups and teams (from 10 — 100 people) connect and communicate on a deeper level.

Nathan has been studying music since his mother enrolled him in the Julliard School of Music as a six year-old piano prodigy. He later utilized his piano background to become a blues and jazz trumpeter. A burning desire to travel took him to various exotic countries where his interest in world rhythms began to develop. Nathan has since studied drumming first hand (pun intended) from master drummers in Africa, Brazil, and most recently, Cuba. In addition to his musical studies, Nathan holds a Master's Degree in counseling from St. John's University in NY.

Eight years ago, marrying his musical and communication skills together, Nathan created his own breakthrough workshop, Rhythm Circle, which uses hand drumming to help participants get more deeply connected and "in tune" with each other. Since then, Nathan has worked with businesses both large and small throughout the United States. His gentle, positive, and non-threatening approach has been highly successful in bringing co-workers together to become more sensitive to each others' needs, strengths,and communication styles.

Born in Brooklyn, NY, and a life-long baseball fanatic, Mr. Brenowitz still plays fast pitch baseball in over-40 leagues. He has two grown sons, Lukas and Matthew (both excellent conga drummers) and resides in Woodstock, NY.

Nancy Seroka oversees all aspects of Idea Champions' varied and multi-dimensional business, as Director of Operations. She has a diverse background which includes a wealth of experience in corporate environments and educational institutions.

Nancy is responsible for financial accounting, contracts, client relations, session logistics, marketing, and product sales. Her goal is to provide Idea Champions customers with the highest level of service possible.

Prior to Idea Champions, Ms. Seroka worked with major corporations in the NY Metro area as a principal in a marketing services agency. She has also coordinated Public Relations and Fund Raising departments for educational organizations, and has been involved in the successful production of hundreds of conferences on cutting edge topics.

Nancy has a Bachelor of Science in Communications from the State University of New York, and is an avid student of personal growth and the arts. She is a member of the American Society of Training and Development.

Nancy currently resides in Woodstock, NY.

Jesse Pouget Ditkoff: "What do you want to be when you grow up?" we asked Jesse when he was two years old. "Everything," he replied. Now, just four years later, Jesse has created an entirely new role for himself as Idea Champions' Director of Playfulness. You just never know when he'll return home from kindergarten, walk into the office and start playing with juggling balls... or start drawing colorful pictures WAY OUTSIDE the lines at "his desk." One time, when our esteemed "President" was about to go on a long road trip doing his usual last minute scurrying to pack, Jesse approached with a small plastic bottle in his hands. "Dada, do you have time to catch my bubbles before you go?" (Jesse also plays 3 dimensional chess, knows every Pokemon character, speaks French, loves swords, dragons, and computer games... and recently ate a double dip ice cream cone (raspberry and chocolate). Throws left, bats right.
Emilia Pouget Ditkoff: Ms. Ditkoff is in charge of just about everything at Idea Champions (and the world). Educated at Debbie's Play School and the outrageous byways of her imagination, Mimi is basically having a great time just about ALL the time. A master at making up games, hugging and doing unannounced pirouettes in the middle of the kitchen, Mimi is considering going on for her Ph. D, in instructional design (or maybe she'll just get a few more dollies.) An international consultant to people needing more laughter in their lives, Ms. Ditkoff has travelled to France, Mexico and Puerto Rico in the past three years (which is how long she has been on Planet Earth). Mimi also likes pasta, Rugrats, ice cream and her friend, Gracie.