Meet The Team

Jack co-founded Accelare to reinvent the theory and practice of management. For over a century, businesses have operated under the inadvertent tyranny of hierarchy and industrial era design principles.

WorkFit and the Strategy-to-Execution process are the heartbeat of Jack's work to unleash the power of inspired, connected, agile teams with engaged, authentic leaders to design new business models and build high-performance organizations.

Jack is a noted author and speaker, contributing to such works as:

• Reengineering the Corporation by Michael Hammer and James Champy, and
• Co-author of The Next Revolution in Productivity

Jack holds numerous patents and is a principal in a number of early-stage companies.

Jack is also a Board Member and Vice-Chairman of Healthcare Delivery of the Tennenbaum Institute at Georgia Tech.

In his spare time, Jack is an avid skier, surfer, runner, and musician.

Mark is a noted consultant and software architect who has served business and IT leaders for the past 20 years. He is passionate about helping clients ensure they are investing in the right initiatives and delivering those initiatives as quickly as practical.

Mark's work has been cited in several business books over the past decade, including:

• X-Engineering the Corporation by James Champy and
• Rethink by Ric Merrifield

Prior to co-founding Accelare, Mark worked at Perot Systems where he designed Harvard Pilgrim Healthcare's groundbreaking approach to simplifying health plan administration through HPHConnect, one of the first online enrollment and billing solutions for health plans

Before that, he founded a software development firm and authored several sales proposal automation software solutions and a law firm contact and conflict management system.

Outside work hours, Mark and his wife Diane enjoy the challenge of raising their two daughters, Riley and Delaney. Mark is also an avid golfer and competes at state and national levels. He enjoys reading US history and biographies of historical figures.

Ahmad, a rising consultant, brings with him experience in business development, healthcare management, and human resource management to the Accelare team. He was first introduced to the world of consulting during his undergrad at Northeastern University, where he witnessed firsthand the value and impact of a timely and thorough strategy. He is a goal-oriented team player with a proven creative, forward-looking and problem-solving mindset.

After graduating, he joined the efforts of a boutique healthcare consulting firm, where he spearheaded two internal pipeline projects to grow the business. Ahmad thrives when it comes to exploring forward driving initiates that impact a client’s triple bottom line.

Ahmad is currently continuing his education, pursuing his MBA at the D’Amore-McKim School of Business at Northeastern University, concentrating in Corporate Innovation & Leading People and Organizations.

Outside of work hours, Ahmad enjoys rollerblading, long boarding, rock climbing, reading, biking, and traveling.

Brendan brings over 20 years working with clients on business strategy, technology adoption, organizational change, and process redesign. He has been at the forefront of multiple technology waves, helping clients to achieve rapid business value from new and emerging technologies.

Brendan’s career has focused on leveraging technology to support strategic change across a variety of industries; including healthcare, high technology, financial services, and government.

Brendan has been an executive in both high technology and consulting companies, where he has always been at the intersection of strategy and technology.

In his spare time, Brendan enjoys golfing, skiing, and cycling.

Chris is an experienced consultant with applied knowledge of project management, application portfolio rationalization, systems implementation, strategic planning and process re-engineering. As a certified Scrum Master, Chris has facilitated and lead team communication, cooperation and coaching. Chris enjoys sharing his knowledge of the Agile/Scrum project management methodology through introductory training sessions for clients.

In his most recent role, Chris has consulted for the Massachusetts Department of Early Education and Care. During this engagement, Chris has led scrum teams in developing a COTS solution for a Learning Management System as well as an agency wide contact center for customer support. His leadership on these projects have driven policy development, system implementation and external and internal stakeholder communications efforts.

Previously, Chris has consulted for the Massachusetts Registry of Motor Vehicles to assist in their core system replacement initiative. During this engagement, he was been a key member of their modernization program including Project Management Office (PMO) oversight, business process redesign and optimization initiatives.

Chris has received his B.A. in Political Science from the University of Massachusetts Amherst

Before her career as a consultant, Hannah spent over a decade working with Dr. Michael Hammer. She has leveraged this experience and has educated leaders of corporations, not-for-profits, and the military on the benefits of the process-centered organization and transformational customer experience.

 With over 25 years experience working with such clients as the U.S. Air Force, Zurich Financial, Harvard Pilgrim Health Care, Citizens Bank, and the Massachusetts Registry of Motor Vehicles, Hannah has become a subject matter expert in marketing, business development, customer experience management (CXM), workforce optimization, and process-redesign.

 Hannah’s strengths lie in looking at the end-to-end customer experience as a multi-faceted journey. She uses market segmentation and "personas" to create a more robust view of the customer experience and incorporates this into illustrative maps of the journey. She has a keen ability to identify and conceptualize the holistic view of the customer experience: culture, people, process, and data.

 Hannah holds a Bachelor of Arts from Harvard University in American History and Economics and a Master of Business Administration from Simmons Graduate School of Management.

Hannah is a Trustee of the Woodward School for Girls and the President of the Harvard Club of Quincy. In her spare time, she enjoys doing stand-up comedy and rowing crew.

Harper is Accelare’s Marketing Manager. She is a bilingual globalist and graduate of Northeastern University. She specialized in Marketing with a focus in Web & Social Analytics at Bocconi University in Milan. With her breadth of experience in marketing strategy and execution, creative design, and marketing intelligence, she is expanding Accelare’s internal digital marketing efforts through inbound and outbound campaigns. She is curating and assisting in content creation to mobilize the thought leadership at Accelare.

In her previous position, she was the head of marketing at a Boston-based hospitality group specializing in website redesign, content creation, and channel optimization. Additionally, she created a customer retention and loyalty program using customer segmentation and analytics.

Outside of her work, Harper reads about best practices of marketing, global trends and marketing and sales departmental synergy. She has an unbridled passion for music and international traveling. Harper has participated in singer songwriter and musical theatre competitions in multiple countries. She has visited upwards of 35 countries and hopes to keep exploring.

Hugh draws on over 20 years of experience leading implementation programs, designing business architectures, and re-engineering processes for clients across a diverse set of industries including Healthcare, Financial Services, Pharmaceuticals, Utilities, Chemicals, and Manufacturing.

While at Perot Systems early in his career, Hugh was looking for a way out of the monthly grind of Finance and was revitalized when he joined the company's fledgling business consulting group where he could dive into solving important client problems. When Perot Systems bought Business Architects, he met Jack Calhoun, Accelareís Co-Founder, and worked with him on the business turnaround of Harvard Pilgrim Healthcare.

When Accelare launched in 2001, Hugh leapt at the chance to join the team. He applies his own pragmatic approach to one that values delivering client results over displaying an encyclopedic knowledge of consulting jargon and acronyms.

Hugh can be found on weekends in Miami taking fitness classes from Pilates to boxing. He claims he does this to clear his mind, but in reality he is in denial of the aging process.

Jennifer has built her career driving change and transformation. Technical aptitude, servant leadership, and building relationships are core to who she is and how she works. She served her teams and customers for over 16 years as a leader in various operational roles with CenturyLink, including Public Safety Services and Global Change Management, where she managed large-scale technology implementations, developed business processes, delivered training programs, and created a culture integration practice. She was honored to serve on the FCC Communications Security, Reliability, and Interoperability Council (CSRIC) III, be appointed to the MN E-Government Advisory Council and receive the CEO Top Talent award.

She transitioned to consulting in 2017 and joined Accelare in 2020. She is laser-focused on delivering outcomes and exceptional customer experience.

Jennifer holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Gustavus Adolphus College in Minnesota and is a proud Gustie. She serves on the National Advisory Board for Gustavus Women in Leadership and is also Co-Chair of Gusties in Business. She is a professional coach and earned her Coach Practitioner certification from the International Coach Federation (ICF). She also serves on the ICF MN board as Communications Co-Chair.

She enjoys reading, music, movies, a good workout, and loves spending time with her family (including two adorable dogs) and friends.

John is a Senior Consultant at Accelare and brings with him years of experience in consulting and healthcare management. Prior to his role with Accelare, John worked in Life Sciences consulting focusing on the commercialization of novel pharmaceuticals, medical devices, and medical diagnostics. His strategic expertise in commercialization, or market access activities, led to the successful launch of many new and emerging technologies. John also worked for a health insurance carrier as a Senior Provider Relations Manager. His focus on developing and maintaining relationships with delivery networks and provider groups helped the growing carrier deliver high-quality care. John’s experience across the healthcare industry gives him a unique perspective on industry stakeholders and strategic activities that drive growth.

Most recently with Accelare, John worked with a health insurance partner to define and outline a digital marketing strategy aimed to enhance customer awareness, improve customer experience, and ultimately increase market share and revenue for the carrier. Through his work, John has extensive experience in the Strategy-to-Execution process, large scale project management, and structured agile/scrum.

John received a bachelor’s degree in Management and Business and a minor in Mathematics from Skidmore College. In his free time, John enjoys spending time with friends and family, traveling, and perfecting his cooking craft.

Jim is a maker, learner and coach with a keen interest in helping individuals, teams and organizations realize their performance aspirations. People let too many things get in the way of actualizing what they know in the heads to be helpful and productive. Often all they lack is someone to ask the right questions, make their aspirations actionable and coach them through realization.

After leaving the Electrical Engineering Lab for Information Technology, Jim found his work/playground. A place where people, process, technology and business can align to produce amazing results but rarely do so without struggle. Jim has led Teaming, Leadership Alignment, Leader Development, Change Management and Strategy Clarification programs.

He is a Co-author of The Capable Company: Building the Capabilities that Make Strategy Work (Wiley) and holds two patents related to disc drive performance enhancement and one for holistic computer resource management.

Jim maintains a healthy balance with frequent travel, flamework – glass art, photography, Internet of Things tinkering, and providing science lesson plans and supplies for the two middle-schools in his neighborhood.

Jorge is an up-and-coming trilingual consultant with a cross-functional background spanning multiple industries. His experience in management, sales, operations, accounting, and customer service bring a big picture mentality to work teams. Prior to joining Accelare, he oversaw the improvement of procurement processes and managed supplier relationships of a historic Boston hotel as its Purchasing Manager, effectively reducing costs and operational redundancies, as well as ensuring high product quality.

Jorge has a focus on improving customer experience (Cx) in healthcare, where he has helped clients define buyer personas and design end-to-end business processes using service blueprints.

He received his Bachelor of Business Administration in International Business & Trade at Florida Atlantic University. He is pursuing an MBA degree at Northeastern University, concentrating his studies in Corporate Finance and International Business.

In his spare time, he enjoys training, baseball, weightlifting and boxing, while also playing the guitar and coaching youth teams. 

Justin manages Accelare software development and is a key contributor to the design, development, and support of WorkFit, Accelare’s tool for implementing Strategy to Execution (S2E).

Justin works with clients and his Accelare colleagues to gather business requirements for new and enhanced features in WorkFit. He then translates those requirements into technology, managing the design, testing, and delivery of those features.

Justin loves solving problems and delivering great user experiences.

Outside of work, Justin enjoys writing music, golfing, and disc golfing.

As a Certified Scrum Master, Kevin is currently working to redesign an enterprise software system of a large government agency while developing and implementing its agency wide training curriculum.

Prior to his work as a consultant, Kevin amassed over 7 years of industry experience with Audi of America as well as Honda and the Massachusetts Audubon Society. This experience includes areas such as sales/marketing, data analysis, business process design, training, and communications.

Kevin enjoys an active lifestyle with as much travel and time spent outside or by the ocean as possible. He has passions for photography, baseball, and running, and can be found checking out live music or a new craft brewery with Maggie and Reuben in his free time.

Landon is a proven change leader and future-maker. Having shaped his career within state government, he gave form to the art of the possible by leading and executing the challenge to implement Customer Service Management (CSM) on the ServiceNow platform in a large state department. This synthesis of automated workflow systems with government programs paved the way for an agency-wide digital revolution, in which he also led their burgeoning customer experience design and process re-engineering. After a decade of public service, he joined Accelare in early 2020. He eagerly continues his pursuit to modernize the public sector’s service delivery models, seeking to solve the urgently growing need for innovation and collaboration within government.

Landon is an accomplished pianist and enthusiastic traveler. When he is not working, flying, or exploring, he can often be found most evenings performing in his sold-out living room, poring over some turn-paging music theory texts, or planning more adventures with his wife. He holds a degree in English and International Relations from the Middle Tennessee State University.

Click here to learn more about Landon: Employee Spotlight - Landon Cook

Mark leads Accelare's Service Design Lifecycle Management (SDLM) and Customer Experience Deployment practices using Accelare's proven methodology that instantiates Service Design and Customer Experience through a multistep stage-gate process; aligning the customer’s Service Level Expectation (SLE) with the enterprise’s capabilities.  

With over 30 years of experience ranging from sales, marketing and global distribution to Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) and open source software development Mark has helped clients such as Citizens Bank, Harvard Pilgrim Health Care, Perot Systems, Workscape, Target, AvMed, NASCO, Neighborhood Health Plans, the Massachusetts Registry of Motor Vehicles, and The Public Consulting Group optimize processes/technology and codify their product/service development. He has broad delivery experience ranging from process (SDLC) and governance design to SOA discovery and Product Lifecycle Management. 

Mark is a TOGAF-9 certified Enterprise Architect, holds a Master’s degree in Business Administration from Northeastern University and a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from the University of New Hampshire. He is also the founder and former benevolent dictator of BostonPHP.org, a very popular open source user group in the Boston area. 

Outside of work, Mark enjoys backcountry skiing, cycling, mountain biking, singing, ice hockey, golf, tennis, economics, woodworking and myriad other general areas of mischief.

Matt is a business development leader at Accelare focusing on our WorkFit Product and bringing more than 20 years’ experience in enterprise software sales and services to his position.

In addition to his diversity in the technology space, Matt is experienced with enterprise solution sales, product sales, and delivery best practices. With his expertise in complex sales strategies, he has a proven track record bringing business value to his customers.

Prior to joining Accelare, Matt enjoyed a 17-year sales career at several companies, including Sun Microsystems, BMC Software, and Unisys, where he held a variety of sales positions servicing both strategic and small/medium-sized accounts. He has been widely recognized for his sales achievement.

Matt holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Oklahoma where he was a proud member of the 1992 College World Series Team.

Matt is a consultant with a strong foundation in project and portfolio management, business architecture, and organizational change management. He is experienced with executive communication and building transparent project management practices across organizations.

Since joining Accelare, Matt has worked with a variety of public sector and non-profit organizations. This experience incorporates a number of agencies around the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, including building and launching a strategic Project Management Office (PMO) at the MBTA, managing the development of online services at the Registry of Motor Vehicles (RMV), and managing the implementation of a hybrid-cloud queuing system at the RMV. Most recently, Matt  has lead the program management oversight at the Department of Early Education and Care (EEC) for the federal Child Care Development Block Grant initiatives, including implementing a new Learning Management System (LMS), redesigning and implementing a modern background record check system, and building an onboarding approach for new types of care at the agency.

Prior to joining Accelare, Matt was a researcher working for the Vermont Legislative Research Service where he provided state legislators nonpartisan research to inform their proposals prior to drafting legislation.

Matt holds a dual Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science and Economics from the University of Vermont. Additionally, he is a certified Scrum Master, product certified in Smartsheet, and is an accredited AWS Business Professional.

Matt enjoys spending as much time as he can outdoors and on the water. In his spare time, you’ll find him golfing, fishing, sailing, and skiing.

Matt has worked over 10 years to analyze, identify and provide solutions to complex business challenges. He received his undergraduate degree from Tufts University and his MBA from Northeastern University.

Since joining Accelare in early 2016, Matt has worked with several clients including the Department of Children of Families, the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority, the Department of Revenue and a private healthcare company.

At the Department of Revenue (DOR), Matt worked as part of a small team to assess the operations of the tax processing group. Once the assessment was complete, Matt and his Accelare colleagues recommended over two dozen projects that could help improve the department’s workflow efficiency. Matt managed a project track focused on developing employee training — highlighting and reinforcing an end-to-end understanding of the department’s operations. In addition to overseeing the training project, Matt assisted in the delivery of two other project tracks.

Matt has the proven ability to manage client needs through clear and communication skills.

Areas of Expertise / Skills:

· Agile Certified

· Team Leadership

· Delivery of Presentations

· Process Assessment

· Continuous improvement

· Strategic Planning

Mikyas Aklu is a hands-on consultant skilled in process improvement, business process optimization and ability to manage cross-functional work teams.

Over the past two years with Accelare, he worked on several projects at different agencies in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. At the Human Resources Department (HRD), Mikyas managed a transformation project that allowed Massachusetts’ HR operations to holistically and deliberately move toward a contemporary talent and performance management services organization, while realizing big efficiencies from a new operating model and platforms.

At the Department of Revenue (DOR), Mikyas managed a run and improve project in the Inbound Operations department. After an initial rapid assessment of DOR’s processing unit, the team identified 26 process improvement opportunities. In subsequent phases, Mikyas managed the implementation of several of these initiatives, ranging from work flow optimization to tax form redesign.

Mikyas received his MBA from Northeastern University and a BS in Biochemistry from Eastern Mennonite University.

Areas of Expertise/skills:             

• Project Management
• Agile Certified
• Team Leadership
• Fingerprint principle
• HubSpot Certified
• Continuous improvement
• System Implementation
• Rally and Application Lifecycle Management
• Vendor Selection

Nancy brings over 20 years’ experience to her role managing a variety of operational areas at Accelare, including accounting, human resources, employee on-boarding, and compensation and benefits administration. 

As our office manager, she helps set a clear path for success for each of our employees.

Nancy’s prior positions with globally-recognized leaders, like PricewaterhouseCoopers, instilled in her a commitment to taking a "Team Effort" approach to developing organization success.

Nancy likes to spend time with her husband, family and friends traveling and exploring new places.

In his everyday work, Nigel is a strong proponent of Accelare’s “Fingerprint Principle” — ensuring our clients are fully vested in the methodology we advocate, our collaborative approach, and the outcomes we achieve together. 

He has domestic and international experience in strategic planning, product lifecycle planning, new product planning, product portfolio management, alliance and partner management, project management, IT systems acquisition, and implementation. He has worked for large, established companies and start-ups. 

Nigel’s industry experience includes Insurance, Healthcare, Hospitality, Consumer Electronics, Energy Generation & Transmission, Mining & Mineral Processing, Semiconductor Development, Life Sciences/Biotech, State Government, Defense, and Professional Services.

When not on the job Nigel enjoys spending time with his family. He coaches his daughter’s soccer team, enjoys skiing, golf, landscaping, keeping fit, and generally being outside.

Rich has been helping Accelare clients find solutions to their problems for many years. He has a great grasp of Consulting and Project Management and holds his Agile certification, maximizing the efforts of the teams he has been assigned to; and always looking to match skill sets to mitigate the project issues. His experiences have been across a wide range of industries and his broad skill set has been appreciated by his clients. Rich has worked with his clients to understand their processes and guided them in their reengineering efforts to more effective and efficient operations. He has always had a consulting style of rolling up his sleeves and lending support to his clients and colleagues throughout his many years of engagement work.

He has been involved in Executive Consulting assignments for almost 25 years. Rich has consulted for Accelare at Harvard Pilgrim Health Care, BCBS of Massachusetts, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, GMAC, Citizen’s Bank, The United States State Department, Neighborhood Health Plan (Allways), MedRisk, United Health, Optum, Beacon Health and most recently Massachusetts Department of Transportation, the MBTA and Registry of Motor Vehicle. Prior to consulting Rich held a series of Executive positions in the Healthcare and Software industries.

Rich has a very high EQ and is fascinated by people and personalities. Having traveled around the world well over eight times and conducted business in over 30 countries, he enjoys meeting different people and learning about their worlds. In his off time, he is an avid sports fan with a passion for football.

Rich has been on the front line of the strategy-to-execution, capability management, and new growth platform movements, leading to the creation of many practical tools and methods to orchestrate sustainable change. As an Accelare mentor, he uses this experience to develop collaborative Accelare/client teams of who take strategy to design and innovative designs to practical execution.

In addition to publishing numerous strategic planning and leadership articles, he is the lead author of:

• The Capable Company: Building the Capabilities that Make Strategy Work,
• Measure Up!: Yardsticks for Continuous Improvement,
• Corporate Renaissance: The Art of Reengineering

Rich is passionate about improving the way leaders take strategy to execution and enjoys collaborating with teams in thinking through new adaptive challenges. Always learning, he continues to write to sharpen business insights.

He is an avid hiker, weekend cook and enjoys traveling to experience different cultures and thinking.

Ryan Castaldi is a Solution Architect at Accelare within the ServiceNow practice. An IT innovator with a proven track record of success managing projects and leading teams to meet business objectives.

At Plat4mation, he helped a global ServiceNow partner establish their U.S. division, working with clients around the world and across many industries to execute their IT and business strategies.

Prior to that, Ryan worked at State Street Corporation for over 13 years in IT Operations and Service Management. Over the years he led various teams that supported all aspects of IT infrastructure and handled the most complex problems within the corporation. From that experience he has a deep technical and process knowledge of the Financial industry and large-scale enterprises.

Outside of work Ryan enjoys spending time with his family, cooking, and being outdoors.

Sarah is a consultant with a multi-faceted background in corporate strategy, business development, project management and marketing. She has demonstrated proven success in drastic organizational transformation, business turnarounds and process improvement initiatives. She is an engaging team leader recognized for strong relationship building and holistic, creative problem solving.

In her previous roles, she has worked on behalf of small businesses as well as massive multi-national corporations, within both private and public sectors, and across a variety of industries including consumer product goods, energy management, medical research organizations and fine arts nonprofits.

Sarah holds an MBA from Northeastern University, concentrating in Entrepreneurship, and a Bachelor of Arts from Alfred University.

Shari joins Accelare with a wealth of experience in developing high-performing teams, maximizing service delivery and customer satisfaction across a diverse business landscape. With over 25 years of experience, she has helped clients realize strategic transformations, improve their internal and external customer experience, and improve their agility to respond.

She has a passion for employee engagement and infuses organizational change practices to raise trust and transparency while also coaching organizations to improve individual and team performance,

Her experience spans manufacturing, retail, hospitality, financial and health care business environments, working with a range of organizations from small not-for-profit companies to global enterprises. She has led global teams and constantly seeks insights that come from multi-cultural teams.

Shari has lead initiatives in several disciplines, including lean practices, business process design, service management, organizational change, strategic assessment, and planning. She also carries certifications in software deployment that can enable foundational business change.

In her spare time, she enjoys gardening, golfing, fishing, reading, and riding horses in the mountains of Wyoming.

Steve has worked with numerous corporations to create effective, compelling visuals that quickly convey a complex message. He has helped many healthcare insurers communicate their business architecture ideas, and the graphics he has created illuminate the new discipline of business capability modeling. (You can find many of these graphics in the top ranks of image searches in this area.) He also worked with Microsoft to build a catalog of images that support its capability mapping methodology. 

Steve has been creating eye-catching graphics since the early days of the Apple Macintosh and keeps current emerging tools and welcomes new ways to communicate and document ideas. 

Steve has a funny bone and uses it to lighten the mood. He really enjoys a good laugh and often meditates using “Seinfeld” TV episodes. He also enjoys hiking and biking in the great outdoors — and hopes to take up kayaking. 

Susan is a current MBA and MSF Candidate at the D’Amore-McKim School of Business at Northeastern University, now conducting her corporate residency with Accelare. Her concentrations are in Corporate Finance and Business Analytics. Prior to attending business school, she received her baccalaureate degree in Mathematical Sciences at Binghamton University, the top state university of New York. After undergrad, she worked as a Media Planner at Horizon Media, a marketing and advertising firm. She has experience in project management and planning, client relations, data analysis, and marketing strategy. There she designed success-driven campaigns, resulting in winning additional budgets and business expansion, for clients such as SeaWorld, Sleep Number, and United Health Group.

Susan has a passion for strategy development and improving business processes for efficiency and efficacy. Through her skills in analyzing and communicating data, she has successfully pinpointed weaknesses in live campaigns and worked on redesigning those media plans to better fit the client’s goals.

In her spare time, she enjoys yoga, skiing, biking, painting, and spending time with her friends.

Moses is a Junior Developer with Accelare and specializes in developing on the ServiceNow platform.  He has been working on the ServiceNow platform for over a year and has years of experience working with customer service and desktop support.

Moses grew up in the Washington D.C. metropolitan area. In his spare time he likes to play soccer, learn new languages, travel, and dance.