Lui Damasceno is the Global Managing Partner of Brooks International. He has held that title since 1999. Mr. Damasceno began his career with the firm in 1984, and was both hired and mentored by Robert Lull, an ex-GE executive, who founded the firm in 1960. Mr. Damasceno started as an apprentice consultant, and over the span of his career, he has demonstrated uncommon and superior success at all key functions of the firm. Today’s primary areas of client oversight include engagement architecture and results delivery, business-wide analytics and new account development. In the 1990s, Brooks International was acquired and owned by Navigant Consulting, a $250 million publicly traded consultancy, during which time Mr. Damasceno was immediately promoted to run Navigant’s Value Delivery Practice. In 1999, Mr. Damasceno led a successful effort to once again privatize the Brooks organization. In the running of today’s practice, he personally oversees each and every commitment made to the firm’s clients.

Beyond his more than 30 years of management consulting and business leadership experience, Mr. Damasceno’s specific consulting areas of expertise include supply chain, inventory management and logistics, sales force effectiveness, greenfield launch and overall asset utilization and profitability performance. He is highly skilled in both the analytical and implementation aspects of the consulting field. He possesses a long-standing track record of success with clients in both North America and Europe. Throughout his career, Mr. Damasceno has led engagements that have generated dramatic improvements across many industries, including pharmaceutical, chemical, transportation, energy, heavy and light manufacturing, aerospace, financial services and insurance, healthcare and distribution, to name a few. Mr. Damasceno has designed and implemented numerous engagements that have required advanced change-management expertise coupled with deep tactical knowledge of the clients’ operations. Many of the more complex initiatives were characterized as post-merger/acquisition efforts and every case required significant enhancement in business performance. All engagements have included major behavioral shifts culminating in greatly enhanced client cultures, as well as dramatic improvements in bottom-line profit performance.

Mr. Damasceno resides in beautiful South Florida with his wife and six children. He enjoys spending time with his family and his hobbies are boating, golfing and reading.

Kevin Belovsky is a Senior Managing Partner Delivery at Brooks International and has been with the firm since 2005. Prior to his current role, he held positions as a Principle and Managing Analyst at Brooks International. Mr. Belovsky started his business career in the automotive industry, growing up in a family that owned and operated a large metropolitan Chevrolet automobile dealership.

In the late 1980s, Mr. Belovsky started in the professional services industry with the firm A.T. Hudson and Company, as a consultant. Over his several years with the firm, he held positions as Project Manager, Director of Operations and Vice President of Analysis and Operations.

In over 35 years, Mr. Belovsky has managed and led global engagements and assessments in multiple industries and countries. His experience and expertise have successfully delivered significant financial and operational performance improvements in highly complex environments. His experience includes large-scale program management, asset management and utilization optimization, green field and brown field analysis and development, analysis of strategic logistics, supply chain and vertical integration, sales/revenue enhancement, customer service and quality improvement, M&A integration, performance improvement, business process design, organizational change management and executive/leadership development. His experience also includes working with organizations in manufacturing, transportation, financial services, health care, insurance, consumer goods, information technology, aerospace, energy/utilities, oil/gas, non-profit, telecommunications, retailing field services and many others.

As a Senior Managing Partner Delivery, Mr. Belovsky serves a key role by working closely with Managing Partners to ensure consistency of Assessment and Engagement delivery to the Brooks International standards and thereby providing superior client satisfaction and success.

Mr. Belovsky lives in the Chicago area with his wife of over 30 years. He has a daughter that is a Doctor of Physical Therapy and a son currently completing his PhD at Vanderbilt University. When not working closely with his clients, Mr. Belovsky enjoys spending time with his family, cooking, sports, and music.

Paul Caruso is an Advisor at Brooks International. Mr. Caruso is an innovative and strategy-oriented executive with deep experience on four continents, including P&L, M&A execution and integration, and business performance improvement responsibilities. He is a proven change agent, successful in building customer-focused teams and implementing rapid transitions that positively impact the bottom line and corporate culture. Mr. Caruso is a dynamic business builder who navigates cultural boundaries and builds winning teams. He brings over 30 years of experience in industrial and consumer product companies across the public and private spectrum.

Mr. Caruso has expertise in P&L management, business strategy, M&A execution, acquisition integration, operations, ecommerce, marketing, startups, and joint ventures. His industry experience includes automotive OE, automotive aftermarket, industrial markets, manufacturing, and distribution. He is experienced in B2B and B2C go-to-market, change management, navigating cultural boundaries, product development, and brand strategies. Mr. Caruso has a passion for entrepreneurship, business building, and empowering winning teams.

In his over 30 years of experience, Mr. Caruso has made significant achievements. Notably, he developed and implemented a turnaround strategy for a $250 million business in the commercial vehicle industry. Additional accomplishments include acquiring the top two aftermarket trailer hitch companies in Brazil and implementing a successful new brand strategy, including brand positioning, rationalization of product offerings, and the launching of a new value brand to support premium brands, while improving competitive strategies.

Mr. Caruso holds an Executive MBA and Bachelor’s Degree in Mechanical Engineering from Michigan State University.

Andrew Conquest has 5 years of experience in the boardroom of companies of all sizes, from family-owned enterprises to Fortune 500s, with businesses in all stages of the organizational lifecycle, and in institutions with varying levels of maturity. Mr. Conquest has strong experience in private equity, having spent much of his career working with sponsors and portfolio companies.

Mr. Conquest’s experience spans several competencies, including strategy development & execution, mergers & acquisitions, turnarounds & restructurings, crisis management, and portfolio operations/value creation. Through these experiences, he has used market & portfolio assessments, SIOP (sales, inventory, and operations planning), deal sourcing & execution, fundraising, investor relations, competitive intelligence, and other means to grow, improve, and stabilize the finances & operations of many businesses.

Mr. Conquest has worked in various industries including Oil and Gas, Chemicals, Agriculture, Advanced Materials & Manufacturing, Industrial Services, Consumer Products & Retail, E-commerce, Professional Services,  and SaaS. Mr. Conquest’s regional experience includes the United States, Mexico, Brazil, Puerto Rico, Costa Rica, United Kingdom/Britain, Ireland, Netherlands, Norway, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates (UAE), and Qatar.

Mr. Conquest has a M.S. in Finance and a B.S. in Economics and Finance, both from the University of Alabama. In his spare time, Mr. Conquest enjoys being outdoors and adventurous. His favorite activities include snow skiing, water skiing, boating, sailing, whitewater rafting, hiking, camping, cycling, and golf.

Peter Harker is a seasoned international executive with extensive achievements across multiple industries and continents. With a strong operational background, he has successfully led complex transformational change programs designed to establish sustainable high-performance cultures, driving operational and financial results in industries such as mining, power generation, aerospace, manufacturing, financial services, and construction.

Mr. Harker is a strategic leader with a client-focused approach, renowned for his ability to manage intricate change programs while engaging with diverse stakeholders. His leadership is grounded in his natural talent for team building and coaching, enabling him to unite cross-functional teams around a shared purpose to achieve ambitious goals. Mr. Harker has delivered impactful engagements across the globe, including in the United Kingdom, Europe, the Middle East, China, North and South America, South Africa, and Australia.

Throughout his career, Mr. Harker has forged strategic partnerships with global corporate leaders, helping organizations adapt to tight schedules for new design launches, meet market demands, and improve customer satisfaction. His capacity to align vision with operational execution has consistently delivered measurable results.

Mr. Harker holds a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from European University in Lisbon, Portugal, and a diploma from Durham University in the U.K. He is a certified Lean Six Sigma Black Belt and is fluent in English, Portuguese, and Spanish.

Susan Schran Houghton is the Director of Organizational Development at Brooks International. She joined Brooks International in 2015 and has more than 30 years of international experience in organizational development, performance management, curriculum development, training, and adult education.

Throughout her career, Ms. Houghton’s focus has been on organizational and human dynamics and the effect they have on organizational performance and achievement of enterprise objectives. She has managed and supported the assessment of organizational needs, as well as the design, implementation and evaluation of programs that deliver organizational excellence through professional development and the application of continuous learning and performance improvement processes.

Ms. Houghton values the insights gained through operational analyses, which include both organizational and individual assessments, critical factors in the development of tailored curricula that address the transformative requirements of an organization and the professional development of its executive leadership team and emerging leaders. These provide the input that is critical to shaping individualized coaching and mentoring to ensure application of learned concepts to the realities of the organizational environment.

Ms. Houghton has designed organizational development strategies and processes, and implemented transformative organizational changes that have contributed to significant improvements in operational performance across a wide variety of industrial, commercial and service enterprises, which include manufacturing, automotive, aerospace, food processing, food service, agricultural production, chemical production, refining, forest products, mining, logistics, supermarkets, healthcare, hospitality, banking, financial services and insurance. She has developed relationships with key stakeholders to ensure sponsorship of and participation in engagements that align the enterprise mission and goals with the strategy, structure and culture required to address operational and organizational performance effectively.

Ms. Houghton holds an MBA in Management and Organizations from the Fox School of Business at Temple University. Originally from the Philadelphia area, Ms. Houghton resides in Southwest Florida with her husband, and enjoys travel, cooking, and reading.

Michael Kirstein is a seasoned executive with over 20 years of experience driving value creation for global European clients across a diverse array of industries, including manufacturing, automotive, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, industrial equipment, electronics, and services. He has a proven track record of identifying and implementing operational improvements across the value chain, delivering impactful business results.

With nearly a decade of experience in investment banking, Mr. Kirstein provided M&A support services across EMEA for a leading New York-based investment bank. He has generated and overseen value creation initiatives for private equity firms within portfolio companies and industrial M&A departments, contributing to the creation of over €650 million in value in the past three years.

As a recognized thought leader, Mr. Kirstein has served as a key speaker at European manufacturing industry events, where he chaired the Operational Excellence and Hoshin Kanri leadership workstreams. His expertise extends to several advisory board roles, where he continues to support productivity and sales growth initiatives, as well as enhancing the robustness of supply chains in highly competitive markets.

Mr. Kirstein holds a B.Sc. in Biophysics from Ludwig-Maximilians-University in Munich and a B.B.A. from the State University of New York.

Paul Kreis is an Organizational Development Executive at Brooks International, a role in which he works closely with every aspect of a client’s experience with Brooks International. Since 2019, he has developed and delivered executive teams and individual leaders through transformational change experiences to align with the requirements of a client’s desired outcome.

Prior to joining Brooks International, Mr. Kreis served in the U.S. Army for over 30 years. During this tenure, he proved himself to be an experienced executive leader with a record of achieving large scale consensus and transformational change outcomes, working in challenging, ambiguous, and high-risk/reward environments. He built innovative, cross-functional teams and developed successful transformation outcomes for large organizations with multiple stakeholders. For this reason, he was the natural selection to lead dramatic change under challenging conditions.

As the Senior Advisor to the Afghan Minister of Defense, he worked with senior U.S., NATO and Afghan military and political leaders, as well as deftly managed relationships with 250+ advisors from 41 nations to secure the necessary consensus to develop the strategy and policies to accomplish a common desired outcome that had long eluded previous efforts – long-term sustainability of the Ministry of Defense.

While assigned to the Pentagon, he created greatest sustained improvement not experienced in over a decade of equipping units to meet mission requirements. He established common purpose, improved communication among multiple stakeholders (military, Congress, defense industry, and multiple local communities), and coordinated all activities to monitor maintenance expenditures and workload across multiple depots to reduce $490 million in costs within a $1.9 billion budget.

Mr. Kreis has invaluable experience directly leading organizations to improve performance, successfully leading and implementing change to gain efficiencies and achieve desired outputs. His experience also includes training, coaching, mentoring, and relationship-building with executives, senior leaders, peer leaders, staff and subordinate leaders. He has decades of experience developing relationships with stakeholders to secure the consensus required to implement sustainable change in strategic environments. He has worked in both the public and private sectors, including the defense industry, manufacturing, healthcare, transportation and pharmaceuticals.

Mr. Kreis has a Bachelor of Science from the United States Military Academy in West Point, New York and a Master of Arts with a focus in National Security and Strategic Studies from the United States Naval War College in Newport, Rhode Island. Mr. Kreis and his wife raised two sons and now reside in the mountains of East Tennessee. He enjoys outdoor activities, rugby, and writing.

Dr. Richard F. LeBlanc is a Managing Partner at Brooks International. He is an internationally renowned business executive, behavioral scientist, professor of management & leadership, and operations analyst. He has worked as an international performance enhancement executive for more than 40 years. With a focus on the design and strategic delivery of structures, systems, and methods to improve performance outcomes, Dr. LeBlanc has worked with the leadership of public, private, not-for-profit, and governmental entities in creating opportunities for successful attainment of vision, mission and bottom-line value creation. Dr. LeBlanc has designed and implemented performance enhancement initiatives for over 500 Global 2000/Fortune 500 clients. He has worked in over 60 countries, covering the spectrum of socio-political, industrial, and cultural boundaries. Dr. LeBlanc is renowned for his excellence in creating motivational environments, precision in decision making and for his brilliance in timely, systematic problem solving.

Dr. LeBlanc is a prophetic diagnostician and renowned “systems thinker” who, as a situational leader and professional manager, has guided value-driven organizations across the socio-economic, industrial, and cultural spectrum in conditioning practitioners in the optimization of supply chain (SIOP, Operations, Procurement and Logistics) delivery systems; building, growing, and maintaining a sustainable workforce and capturing insights from innovative, predictive data analytics. Dr. LeBlanc is a human capital industry leader, providing tools and methods designed to decrease talent attrition resulting from a lack of cultural fit.

Dr. LeBlanc holds a Doctorate in Behavioral Science from the University of Southern California, a Master’s in Education from California State University at Los Angeles and Bachelor’s Degrees in English and Political Science from the University of Southern California.

Nelson Miller is a Managing Partner at Brooks International. Mr. Miller has been with Brooks International for over a decade and holds 35 years of experience in professional services serving CEOs across the globe. He is highly experienced in performance diagnostics and benchmarking, solution design, and implementing improvement programs that generate sustainable results for clients. He has worked extensively in manufacturing, transportation, mining, and banking / insurance. Mr. Miller possesses significant international experience, with demonstrated success in a variety of cultural settings.

Mr. Miller earned his Bachelors Degree in Political Science in Washington D.C. from the American University and is a Six Sigma Black Belt.

Stephan Orth is an experienced executive with 30 years of international work and management experience spanning across EMEA, Asia and North America. Mr. Orth is primarily focused within the European market, serving as a trusted advisor to CEO clients across a breadth of industries and business landscapes. Mr. Orth has primarily worked within Management Consulting and Senior Management positions, holding a strong track record in turnarounds and corporate growth. He has vast experience within IT, Healthcare, Industrials, Automotive, Banking, and Oil & Gas, and has also held several board and advisory positions.

Mr. Orth holds a diploma in Marketing and Management from Webster University and has completed the Executive Management Programme at INSEAD. Mr. Orth fluently speaks German, English, French and Swedish. In his free time, he enjoys sailing, golf, tennis, and surfing with his two sons.

Chad Rolstad is a Managing Partner at Brooks International.  Mr. Rolstad has 25 years of executive leadership experience across several industries including construction, manufacturing, and transportation. He has served in construction management, front line maintenance operations, strategic sourcing & supply chain management, and human resources functions, where he has led operational and transformational teams to produce impactful business results in the area of safety and operational improvement, cost reduction, asset utilization, and organizational development.

Prior to joining Brooks International, Mr. Rolstad served as Chief Culture Officer & VP Human Resources at Canadian Pacific Railway (now CPKC) where he drove a culture of performance and accountability while playing a key role in the successful merger between Canadian Pacific and Kansas City Southern Railways. Prior to that, Mr. Rolstad held various leadership positions at BNSF Railway Company, where he oversaw strategic sourcing, supply chain management, and marketing business unit operations. His innovative strategies and partnerships resulted in significant cost savings and operational improvements. Mr. Rolstad began his career at Weyerhaeuser Company, where he managed engineering and maintenance teams and supported major capital expansion projects across North America.

Mr. Rolstad holds an MBA with honors from Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business and a BSc in Mechanical Engineering from Colorado School of Mines.

Rick Sapp is the Director of Delivery Quality at Brooks International. He has more than 30 years of experience in professional services and has generated value for major organizations around the world in a variety of industries including finance, insurance, transportation and manufacturing. His areas of expertise include strategic alignment, linking operational performance with financial performance requirements, organizational design and governance, business process design and improvement, and program/project management and leadership.

Mr. Sapp began his career in banking and insurance, where he led three different branch banking optimization and improvement initiatives. Mr. Sapp then joined Accenture and became deeply embedded in the Global M&A practice during the late 1990s and early 2000s, where he led both pre-deal and post-merger integration efforts. Since joining Brooks International, Mr. Sapp has had responsibility for delivering significant performance improvement and optimization efforts for railroad, natural chemical and manufacturing companies, among many others.

Mr. Sapp has lived and worked in Europe and Asia, working with management teams to deliver sustained performance improvement, ensure consensus on strategy and direction, and develop and translate goals to deliver bottom-line benefits. Mr. Sapp served in the U.S. Navy and holds a Bachelor’s in Business Administration from Eastern Washington University.

Bill Thallemer is an accomplished Organizational Development Executive at Brooks International, with over 20 years of experience in change management and executive team development. He has a robust leadership background, guiding organizations through complex transitions and implementing effective change management strategies. Dr. Thallemer excels in crafting and executing comprehensive business strategies that align with client goals, leveraging his strong analytical skills to interpret market data and provide actionable insights. His experience spans multiple industries worldwide, including healthcare, IT, retail, banking and finance, energy, education, and manufacturing.

Dr. Thallemer holds a PhD in Leadership and a Master’s in Educational Leadership from the University of Mississippi, as well as a Bachelor of Business Administration in Management from the University of Notre Dame. He is currently pursuing an AI/ML Strategic Implementation certification from MIT and holds numerous professional certifications, including being a Certified PROSCI Change Practitioner, a Lean Six Sigma Master Certificate from Villanova University, an Advanced Facilitator ranking from the Leadership Strategies Institute, and a Certified DISC Practitioner.

In addition to his professional accomplishments, Dr. Thallemer served two tours in the United States Coast Guard as a Reservist, earning a Medal of Commendation and the Commandant’s Award during Operation Iraqi Enduring Freedom. His personal interests include fitness, community service, and youth mentoring.

Mark Zeffiro is a Managing Partner at Brooks International. Mr. Zeffiro has more than 30 years in global business operations and finance in varied end markets including transportation, heavy industrial, white goods, healthcare, branded and packaged goods, automotive and financial capital businesses. Mr. Zeffiro’s most recent role took Horizon Global Corporate to the public markets as CEO building the entire governance, operating and business culture for a $1B company. Prior to that Mr. Zeffiro was EVP and CFO for TriMas Corporation – a diversified industrial business in which he led all financial operations, capital structuring and all M&A activities.  Mr. Zeffiro began his career at General Electric Company, spending 15 years across the corporate structure, Appliances, and Medical systems businesses, culminating in the position of Chief Financial Officer of a $3B business of GE Medical Systems Group. Mr. Zeffiro developed his leadership style and skills while an executive at General Electric and Black & Decker.

Mr. Zeffiro has deep board membership experience guiding businesses to their strategic requirements and currently is engaged with Atkore among several other private companies. Included in his career, he has had private equity partnership experience bringing companies to market and delivering business performance optimization. Mr. Zeffiro is a fact-based, process-oriented decision maker, willing to take on and deliver the biggest challenges. Mr. Zeffiro has been recognized for his passionate, pragmatic approach to enterprise development through culture and people transformation.

Mr. Zeffiro has an Associate of Science in Management and a Bachelor of Science in Quantitative Analysis from Bentley University in Waltham, MA. He serves as a Board and Executive Committee Member and Audit Committee Chair at Atkore, a Board Member and served as Finance Committee Chair at the Detroit Institute of the Arts and a Board Member and Academic Committee Member at Walsh College.

Morgan Baker is the Vice President of Operations at Brooks International. Mr. Baker joined Brooks International in 2014 and has over 10 years’ experience in business management in the areas of performance improvement and change management within large and medium-sized multinational companies.

Mr. Baker has conducted business assessments across several industries, locations and cultures to identify operational and financial potential and design transformation roadmaps. His experience covers all business functions such as supply chain, production and maintenance, as well as support functions including human resources and finance. He has worked in a variety of industries including automotive, manufacturing, railroad transportation, steel and aerospace.

Mr. Baker holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Management from Palm Beach Atlantic University and resides in West Palm Beach, Florida.