Daniel K. Lyons

President & CEO

Dan Lyons is the Founder and President of Team Concepts, Inc. As an oarsman, Dan rowed on seven US National Teams. During that period he won two world bronze medals, a world gold medal, and a Pan American gold medal. In 1988, he competed in the Seoul Olympics in the coxed pair. He has won 11 National Championships in various events. Dan has coached since 1983 at the US Naval Academy, St. Joseph's Prep in Philadelphia, Oxford University, Stanford University, Drexel University, Georgetown University, and is now an elite coach at Penn Athletic Club in Philadelphia. His remarkable rowing career was recognized in 1997 with his induction into the US Rowing Hall of Fame in Mystic, CT.

Dan received his BS from the US Naval Academy in 1981, MS from Oxford University, England, in 1987, and MA in history from Villanova University in 1989, and is pursuing his Ph.D. in Military History and Foreign Policy. He has taught history at the US Naval Academy and Rutgers University, Camden.

Dan Lyons is noted for his intelligent seminars on a wide range of topics related to leadership, teams and team building. All of these reflect his unique combination of high achievement in the sport of rowing, his perspective as a coach, and his extensive knowledge of military and ancient history.

Carol Bower

Program Director

Carol Bower is one of only nine American women to have won a gold medal in the sport of rowing at the Olympic Games. Carol competed on five United States National Rowing Teams and one Olympic team on the way to her inspiring gold medal performance in Los Angeles in 1984.

A 1978 graduate of UCLA, Carol has been involved in the sport of rowing for 25 years. After her competitive career concluded, Carol began coaching at the University of Pennsylvania where she led the women's crew not only to national titles but also the pursuit of Title IX equity.

After completing her MA in organizational dynamics from Penn, Carol took over as head crew coach at Bryn Mawr College in Pennsylvania and as program director of Team Concepts in 1998.

Michael Nicholls, Ph.D.

Program Director

As the Director of Leadership Development, Michael brings an attitude of high expectations for everything that he does. He has a served as a college instructor, coach, consultant and business professional. Michael's combination of unique academic and business skills have been tested through his work in the corporate and governmental environments. As an independent consultant he has worked on high profile projects for The World Bank, U.S. Department of Justice, U.S. Department of Energy and American Express. He previously served as the Director of Research for MIG Companies, a nationally ranked pension advisor.

Like many Team Concepts employees, Michael also maintains a history of high performance as an athlete and as a coach. His service and commitment to student life, leadership and the sport of rowing was recognized in 1998 when the University of North Carolina named their boathouse in his honor.
 

Michael received his B.S. in Political Science and Geography from the University of Minnesota. He earned his Master's degree and Ph.D. from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in Economic Geography. He has taught at both the graduate and undergraduate levels.

Ted A. Nash

Program Director

Ted Nash is a modern Renaissance Man. Nine times an Olympian as an athlete and coach, including a 1960 gold medal and a 1964 bronze medal, Ted has expended his prodigious energy in national and international business, in the military, in athletics, and in his own personal artistic pursuits. In all of these fields, his name is synonymous with winning leadership.

Ted was a member of both the US Army and the US Marine Corps. While in the military, he was a test pilot, an aerobatics instructor for the Korean and Indian military advisory group project, an anti-guerilla warfare instructor, an officer candidate school tactical officer for the Army, and a member of the elite airborne and special forces units for the Army.

After his military experiences, Ted was the head crew coach at the University of Pennsylvania before leaving college to pursue business opportunities and Olympic level coaching. He plunged into the business world with his usual energy and vision, spending six years as a bulk commodities trader in the near and far east while being home based simultaneously in Hong Kong, China, and Taiwan. During that time, he also worked in Sri Lanka, Turkey, India, and Singapore. Ted is now Vice President for Marketing for regional and national projects for Tetra Tech, Inc. environmental management's Philadelphia Office. He specializes in private/commercial business, Corps of Engineers projects, and government and state environmental programs.

As a crew coach, Ted has gained international acclaim as one of the best in the world. He is the elite men's and women's coach at Penn Athletic Club along Philadelphia's famous Boathouse Row. Ted has led his elite crews to three world championship gold medals, three Olympic silver medals, and a total of 10 medals in the last 13 years. Under his leadership, Penn Athletic Club has become the most dominant club in the world. Ted himself has been on 31 US National Teams, and has coached and developed over 143 Olympic and Pan American athletes to date.

Ted has given talks and seminars throughout the country on winning and leadership. He has spoken to the American Bar Association, State Bar Associations, the Federation of Corporate Councils, and numerous other corporations searching for the winning edge.

Steve Gladstone

Program Director

Regarded as one of the premier rowing coaches in the United States, Gladstone enters his eighth year in his second stint as head coach of the men's crew. In 2002, his Varsity and JV Eights won Pac-10 championship and Intercollegiate Rowing Association (IRA) national championship titles. Gladstone was recognized as Pac-10 Men's Rowing Coach of the Year for the fifth consecutive season in 2002. In 2003 his Varsity Eight placed second at the Pac-10 Championship, and third at IRA's, while his JV Eight won both the Pac-10 and IRA titles.

During his previous tenure at Cal from 1973-80, Gladstone guided the Bears to three undefeated dual-race seasons, an IRA title, and a Pac-10 championship. With a total of 10 IRA Varsity Challenge Cup titles to his credit, Gladstone currently ranks second in all-time varsity championships behind only Charles "Pop" Courtney, who won 11 titles at Cornell between 1901 and 1915.

Gladstone served as the Director of Rowing Operations at Brown University from 1981-94. At Brown, Gladstone established a program that was regarded as the best in all of collegiate rowing. His crews amassed four Eastern Sprints championships, five IRA championships and two National Collegiate Rowing Championship titles. In both 1993 and '94, the Brown varsity crew completed the "triple crown" with victories in each of these regattas - a feat that had never before been accomplished. In Gladstone's final season at Brown, the men's crew went undefeated as a program at all levels of competition.

Gladstone's name has been synonymous with success ever since he began coaching in 1966. After directing the Princeton freshmen to a pair of IRA silver medals, Gladstone took over as varsity lightweight coach at Harvard. He led the Crimson to four straight undefeated seasons, four Eastern Sprints championships and, in 1972, the Thames Challenge Cup and Wyfold Challenge Cup victories at Henley. During his tenure at Harvard, he was coach of the U.S. National team (1969) and was a selector for the U.S. Olympic team (1972).
 
A graduate of Syracuse University, Gladstone has served on the Board of Directors of the National Association of Amateur Oarsmen and has also been a member of the Men's Olympic Rowing Committee. In 1984, he was selected by ABC to serve as the expert commentator for the rowing events at the Los Angeles Olympics, and he worked in the same capacity for NBC at the Seoul Olympic Games. Immediately prior to his return to Cal, Gladstone served as the president and director of marketing for Resolute Racing Shells.

He earned five varsity letters as a collegiate athlete and later served our country for nearly 24 years as a U.S. Army officer, retiring as a colonel in 2004.  Before starting his own business Dave was the Director of Business Development in a small business and facilitated a 300+% growth over a 2-year period.  From sports fields to battlefields, Dave has honed his leadership and team building skills to bring a wide variety of real life experiences to his clients and their employees. 

Dave is a recipient of the Army’s prestigious MacArthur Leadership Award, presented annually to a select few officers world-wide for demonstrating exceptional leadership qualities and represented the famed 101^st Airborne Division in the grueling Best Ranger Competition. 

He entered the Army as a private and came up through the ranks.  As a career Infantry officer and Airborne-Ranger, Dave excelled in leadership positions across the United States and around Europe. He has many inspiring and humorous stories - of challenges faced and overcome - while serving in the austere conditions of third-world countries as well as the stressful and high-visibility environment found in strategic military headquarters.

Serving in Europe for five years, Dave was assigned separately with US, NATO and UN forces and worked extensively in Balkans and Eastern Europe as part of the Department of State Partnership for Peace initiative. His overseas, NATO and UN experiences provided him an insider’s view to many of the challenges faced by leaders in the international community as well as here at home.  

While in the Presidential Honor Guard, Dave participated in two inaugurations and later was hand-picked to command the Army’s only School where he was responsible for training over 2,000 entry level officers.  He participated in the Pentagon’s Leader Development and Education Task Force, a team which selected the skills and attributes necessary for military leaders in the 21^st Century. Dave concluded his career in the Pentagon as the Chief of the Training and Leader Development Division where he was responsible for policy and oversight of virtually all Army leader development training.

Dave holds a BS in Education from State University where he was the Education Major of the Year and a MS in Strategic Studies from the U.S. Army War College.