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About Robert Cenek.......

Robert Cenek, the firm's founder, has been building strong leaders and organizations since 1979.

He has worked in such premier Fortune 500 companies as General Mills, where he was a member of team that led the nationally recognized development of high performance work systems (self-directed work teams) throughout the company's manufacturing facilities. While employed at General Mills, Robert collaborated with Douglas "Tim" Hall of Boston University to help design one of the first "talent pool" approaches to executive development and succession, and also pioneered the development of the General Mills/PFOD Institute, an in-house university designed to prepare transformational change leaders.

At Bristol-Myers, he created the management development function for the corporate staff, and was a member of a corporate "SWAT" team that assessed the level of organization fitness in the firm's domestic divisions, and assisted them in solving tough human resources, morale and operating problems. His Bristol-Myers career began at its Urbana, Ohio manufacturing facility, where he was a member of a team that designed a comprehensive set of human resource policies and systems, including a participative management process, that were considered for many years to be the functional best for manufacturing facilities within the firm.

In addition, he has held organization effectiveness positions at the Puget Sound-based high technology companies INTERMEC, a pioneer of the bar code industry, and John Fluke Manufacturing, a leader in the production of electronic multimeters.

From 1996 to 2000, he redesigned and led the human resources department for Montana Power Company, a $1.4B utility and diversified energy firm with 2,800 employees that was preparing itself for industry deregulation and increased competition. He led the development of an organization change strategy that supported the firm in being one of the highest performing public utilities (TSR) in the U.S. between 1996 and 2000.

In 2000, he was named by the Montana Power Company Board of Directors to vice-president, human resources of Touch America Holdings, the successor company to Montana Power Company, and a broadband transport firm with a 26,000 mile fiber optic network.

He holds an M.A. in industrial relations from the University of Cincinnati, where he was awarded a research assistantship. In addition, he has completed the Public Utility Executive Program at the University of Idaho, a four-week residency program covering general management skills.

He is a graduate of the Levinson Institute's On Leadership Program, USC's Center for Effective Organization's HR Executive Seminar, Philip Crosby's Quality College, Blake and Mouton's Managerial Grid Instructor Certification Seminar, and an advanced organization development techniques seminar taught by Irving Borwick, Luigi Boscolo of the Milan School of Family Systems Therapy and Ed Schein of MIT. Robert has also been certified by Dr. Alan Drexler (NTL) to use his Team Performance Model.

Robert has been certified by the Organization Development Institute as a Registered Organization Development Professional (RODP).

Robert is a regular contributor to Energy Central, an online knowledge portal for the global energy industry.