Mark J. Friedman has over 25 years of experience in Management and Organizational Development. His experience includes: Executive Coaching, Strategic Alignment, Team Building, Change Management, Career Development, Individual and Organizational Assessment, Leadership Development, and Meeting Facilitation. He serves as a trusted advisor to senior management helping them to execute and successfully produce critical organizational results.

Mark has broad industry experience having worked in oil and gas, engineering and construction, petrochemicals, electric utilities, big pharma and healthcare, federal and municipal government, as well as banking and manufacturing. He has a unique ability to develop rapport with clients and help them build new and more successful approaches to working with others and executing on projects. He has a passion for helping people manage their careers and has worked with over 3000 people in career transition.

Dr. Friedman has worked internationally in Mexico, Canada, the UK and China. Over the last eight years he has served as an Executive Coach in the Rice University Executive MBA program and coached over 55 executive participants.

Mark holds a Ph.D. in I/O Psychology from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville and resides in Houston Texas with his wife Alice. He is an ex Oficio member of the Houston Association for I/O Psychology Board.

Patrick Jankowski is a regional economist and senior vice president of research at the Greater Houston Partnership.

His observations and analysis on the local, regional and U.S. economic trends have appeared in over 200 newspapers, magazines, radio and television broadcasts, including The Atlantic, Bloomberg Business, CNNMoney, Financial Times, Forbes, The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times.

He has worked for the Greater Houston Partnership, and its predecessor, the Houston Chamber of Commerce, for 37 years. He has been married to Olga Jankowski for 38 years. Both have been wonderful experiences.

David Deaton has been an experienced energy industry professional and proven leader for over 35 years. He successfully worked in the Upstream, Midstream, & Downstream components of the business as a manufacturer and distributor of piping products sourced and consumed both domestically and internationally.

As a senior executive David was fortunate to do business with most of the major operating companies in the world. He helped to establish long- term agreements with Shell, BP, ExxonMobil, Valero, ConocoPhillips, Chevron, Dow, Koch, Sabic and Huntsman, to name a few. He was also involved in large project work with the major EPC’s like McDermott, Bechtel, Parsons, KBR, Fluor, Jacobs, Wood and others.

For the last 10 years, David brought his breadth of experience, leadership skills, business acumen, and knowledge of the energy industry to establishing and growing the global energy practice of one of the top 40 Retained Executive Search Firms in the US, headquartered in Houston, Texas.

He has successfully completed many search engagements for executive positions in businesses ranging in size from $100 million to $6 billion in annual revenue. These businesses include firms that are both privately and publicly owned as well as start-ups and those owned by private equity firms.

David and his wife and daughters moved 5 times in the first 11 years of his early career. He also travelled, extensively, on international assignments. Currently he and his wife reside in Houston, Texas where they are involved in many industry organizations and functions.