Dan Lyons
Dan Lyons is the Founder and President of Team Concepts, Inc. As an oarsman, Dan rowed on seven US National Teams, during which he competed in the World Championships in England (1986) in the straight four, and the Seoul Olympics (1988) in the coxed pair. He has won 11 National Championships in various events. His coaching career includes coaching at the US Naval Academy, 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.
Dan‘s leadership is also a product of his training in military history. He received his BS from the US Naval Academy, MS from Oxford University and from Villanova University in 1989. The genesis of Team Concepts leadership model, The Eight Secrets of Inspirational Leadership, is based upon Dan‘s 20 years of high–performance athletic achievements, academic training, and military experience. Through these endeavors, Dan has had the opportunity to work with several high–performance teams. Based on careful research and execution, Dan‘s expertise has demonstrated the powerful impact the eight secrets has had on dozens of Fortune 500 companies.
Dan is noted for his intelligent, witty and thought–provoking seminars on a wide range of topics related to teams and leadership.
Michael Nicholls, Ph.D
As the Director of Leadership Development and Curriculum Design, 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.
Jason Caldwell
Jason attended Sonoma State University where he obtained a B.S. in Business with a concentration in marketing in 2005. Jason played baseball and was on the crew team for Sonoma, where he was awarded the inspirational and dedication awards in 2005 in Crew and was a scholar athlete all four years. Upon graduation Jason was invited to Vesper Boat Club, an elite level training team for rowing, located in Philadelphia’s historic Boathouse Row where he rowed for three years winning various races to include a National Gold medal in the Men’s Eight in 2007 and Silver in the men’s four that same year.
It was during his interim at Vesper that Jason began working for Team Concepts, where he served as program manager and facilitator eventually working to his current title of Executive Officer. Jason enjoys opportunities to travel, which have taken him such places as Japan and Singapore, as well as Switzerland, Italy, Germany, and other parts of western Europe. He also takes Arabic lessons where he is currently at an intermediate level for reading and writing, and a conversational level for spoken. Jason currently splits his time between Philadelphia and the San Francisco Bay Area.
Stephen Lyons
Stephen Lyons serves as Director of Business Development for Team Concepts. Stephen brings a Performing Arts background to the Team as a Professional Actor, Singer and Composer. After earning his degree in Theatre from DeSales University he toured extensively performing the Classics to Musical Theatre with companies such as The Orlando Shakespeare Theatre, The Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival, Delaware Theatre Company, Cape May Stage and many others. Stephen’s voice has drawn comparisons to Jeff Buckley, Morten Harket, Bono, Freddie Mercury, James Taylor, and Simon & Garfunkel, his versatility as a singer has featured him on National Radio and the Internet.
Stephen can be heard as the 2010 Voice of the Glenn Beck Radio Theme song, ‘We Will Be The Key’, heard by 8 million listeners and The Onion News. In 2008 he released his first solo album, ‘Fall’ produced by Grammy nominated Philadelphia producer Anthony Newett & Jeff Barrett. The title track went to number 1 on Indyreview and was recognized by New York SongCircle, which has launched the careers of many notable performers such as: Norah Jones, Marc Cohn, Gavin DeGraw, Chris Barron and many others.
Leo Hionis
Leo Hionis graduated with a B.A. degree from Temple University in 1979 where he majored in Greek History as well as Liturature. After graduation Leo managed Rigas, a restaurant in Philadelphia, and continued there until the restaurant was sold in 1994 while simultaneously doing some post graduate work in Engineering. Later that year Leo accepted a sales position from Mutual of New York Insurance Company and was there until 1995, where he made a lateral switch to Massachusetts Mutual Insurance Company.
In 1998 Leo made one last change to Kinext where he lead their sales team and continues to do so. Kinext has now partnered with Team Concepts where Leo develops and manages corporate accounts within the two companies.
Outside of his career Leo enjoys traveling to Greece, where his family is from. He’s also an avid reader and drinker of copious amounts of coffee. Leo currently resides in Havertown, PA.
Chris Paliani, PhD Kinext, LLC
Chris Paliani helps companies answer the question:
How do we produce measurable ROI on our investment in Leadership Development and High-Performance Team Building?
Dr. Paliani helps organizations apply what they have learned to solve real world problems and to take advantage of real world opportunities that affect the bottom line of the business.
Best of all, because he carefully selects each client and designs a program around the particular client’s objectives, Chris is able to guarantee results–clients pay based on the results. The methodology often saves clients hundreds of thousands or millions of dollars in very short periods of time.
The methodology is spectacular at rapidly reducing costs in a company, while improving employee engagement and improving quality. It also works very well to help companies take advantage of new opportunities to improve profitability.
Dr. Paliani earned his Doctorate in Engineering at PennState University and has extensive experience in applied behavioral psychology. This combination makes him uniquely qualified to both help teams quickly deconstruct complicated issues and not just find solutions that could work, but to find the solution uniquely suited to each team. It is the solution, regardless of any obstacles they encounter, that the team will be energized about and committed to implementing.
