Synection and Griffin & Howe Shooting School at Hudson Farm form partnership, July 2005 

Synection and Griffin & Howe’s shooting School, located in Andover, New Jersey have reached agreement to partner for corporate events at the School.  The Hudson Farm Shooting School is recognized as on of the top instructional centers in the world and provides clients with an exceptional sporting clays range, accommodations and the finest in food and service.  Synection will provide leadership and business programs, some which incorporate the use of sporting clays as part of the teaching experience.  The partnership was kicked-off with a Leadership on the Fly™ workshop in mid-July for 12 leaders from a variety of professions.

New Director of Adventure Operations, Austin Hepburn - July 2005 

Austin Hepburn has been named Synection’s Director of Adventure Operations.  This new role within Synection will lead the development of outdoor related activities and venues, particularly for Leadership on the Fly™ workshops and events.   Austin founded Hepburn Construction in 1990 and has been recognized by both Pella and Marvin as an industry leader.  Synection’s Eric Balinski commented that, “Austin has pursued a life long passion for adventure and the outdoors.  He created Uncommon Ventures, specializing in hosted fly fishing adventures in Alaska and the Caribbean.  So he’s a natural perfect fit for leading this growth area in our company.”  Austin’s corporate experience began with Kidder Peabody & Co in 1983.

Leadership on the Fly™ workshops provide a unique charitable approach, June 2005.
Living what a company stands for is an important part of what distinguishes any firm.  In Synection’s case, contributing to making the world a bit better is central to what it stands for.  In 2005, The American Red Cross, The American Heart Association and the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation are several of the important charities Synection has supported by auctioning items related to its Leadership on the Fly™ workshops. 

It also has gained support from a number of its partners and team members who auctioned items to support these charities.  Companies and individuals that supported these charities with Synection are:  Griffin & Howe’s Shooting School at Hudson Farm; West Branch Angler; heart surgeon Dr. Dan Adams, Allan Johnson from Blessing White, and artist Vito DeVito.  “Together, we have helped raise a nice chunk on money to support these wonderful causes”, say Eric Balinski.  He went on the state, “We plan to grow our charitable efforts with several other charities, including the Redbone Organization and The Grand Canyon Trust. We also want to use our innovative talents to help create new and novel charitable events. We have a couple on the planning board for 2006 already.”
 

Jim Edler becomes mentor and Advisor Emeritus, June 2005.                                                                

Jim Edler, a lifelong corporate educator, has agreed to provide a mentoring and advisory role to Synection as Advisor Emeritus.  Eric Balinski, Synection’s President said, “Jim is an incredibly passionate educator who has worked extensively with companies from around the world in most industry sectors.   He has seen and done so much with organizations to help them improve their performance. We are truly blessed to be able to tap into his wisdom and experience.” 

Edler has a Masters in Higher Education and Counseling from Kent State University, and a Doctoral degree from the University of Massachusetts School of Education.  Jim recently retired from the faculty of GE's John F. Welch Leadership Development Center, Crotonville, NY.  There he was world leader of GE's Change Acceleration Process (CAP) and Work-Out™ while consulting and coaching both internally and with strategic customers.
           

Experienced finance leader John Brennan joins Synection as Chief Financial Officer, May 2005
John Brennan, who has lived the professional life of a serial international entrepreneur with a proven track record of accomplishments in finance, sales, marketing, operations and strategic management, joins Synection as its Chief Financial Officer.   Synection’s President, Eric Balinski, says, “John is joining us at critical time in our growth and will play a central role in leading our expansion and relationship with investors. We are extremely fortunate to have someone of his caliber who also has been through a variety of experiences with growing companies.”

Rosemary Dietrich joins Synection as the Chief Learning Officer- April 2005.                           

Rosemary Dietrich is joining the Synection leadership team to head the development of its learning methods and systems and brings over 25 years experience in organization development and change in a wide range of industries.  Synection’s President Eric Balinski noted, “her specialty is delivering sustained implementation of key customer initiatives that impact the bottom line, which is exactly what our clients demand from us.” 

Rosemary was, most recently, Vice President, Organization Effectiveness, for Aventis Pasteur.  Prior to Aventis, Rosemary was an Organization and Research Development Consultant at General Motors' (GM), Rosemary pioneered collaboration with the United Auto Workers (UAW) to jointly lead a Quality of Work-life initiative credited with significantly improving management /union relations.  She was appointed Lead Consultant to the UAW/GM Quality Network (QN), credited with turning around GM's product quality and winning Cadillac's Malcolm Baldrige Award entry.  Rosemary holds both a Ph.D. in Organization Systems (Fielding Graduate University) and an MBA in Management (Pepperdine University).
 

Director Process Improvement named at Synection, April 2005
Gregg Young, the founder of Young Associates, which provides enterprises with Quality Improvement, New Product Development, and the Improvement of Company Cultures, has been named as Synection’s Director of Process Improvement at Synection.   Synection’s President Eric Balinski noted that, “Gregg’s performance improvement approaches cut through the typical process dogma and bureaucracy with simple, fast and mission-critical approaches.  His methods greatly improve the velocity of Six Sigma efforts - faster results at lower cost, with greater employee commitment.  We are fortunate to have Gregg join us, he understands that  business results are the goal, not instituting bureaucratic processes.”

Barry Mirakian joins Synection as the COO, January 2005
Barry recently joined Synection as the Chief Operating Officer to lead the installation of the operational structure and systems necessary to grow.   “Barry is an innovative and experienced business leader. As the founder and president of On A Continuum he provided part time and interim COO and general management services dedicated to helping small business owners and managers to improve business operations, increase productive output from the existing organization, and thus achieve sustainable profit growth. This is exactly what Synection needs at our stage of growth,” say Eric Balinski, President of Synection.

Barry has twenty plus years of senior management and leadership experience in both large and small businesses.   Prior, he was President of SB Electronics, served at Polaroid Corporation in several line management positions in engineering and manufacturing, and ultimately as Director of the Worldwide Service Division.  He has a BS from Northeastern University and has selectively continued leadership and management coursework.