Our Management Team
R. Kubacki
J. Holden
T. Michel
M. Martin
P. Dillon
G. Coleman
C. Holden
G. Variend
Ryan Kubacki, President
Ryan Kubacki was recruited to Holden International in 2006 to aggressively grow the firm and
solidify Holden’s position as the world’s leading sales effectiveness consulting firm. As
President, Mr. Kubacki leads the firm’s strategy, team, and resources. Based in the firm’s
headquarter office outside of Chicago, Mr. Kubacki spends a significant amount of his time
traveling around the world to directly help Holden clients reach their full sales achievement
potential.
Prior to joining Holden, Mr. Kubacki was at Microsoft Corporation where during his tenure
he held sales and marketing leadership roles in both the field and headquarters. As Business &
Marketing Officer for US Central Region, he directed sales operations and field marketing for an
18 state region with a $1.4 billion quota. As part of the Platform Strategy Group, Mr. Kubacki
co-managed global marketing campaigns including brand launches in over 40 countries. Before
Microsoft, Mr. Kubacki was Vice President of Sales & Marketing at Calypso Systems, a Microsoft
Gold Managed Partner. Mr. Kubacki started his career at A.T. Kearney, a global management consulting
company where he specialized in sales and marketing effectiveness.
Mr. Kubacki received an MBA from the Harvard Business School and an undergraduate degree in
Government from Harvard College. He and his wife Jana and their three children live in Naperville, IL.
Mr. Kubacki serves on the Board of Trustees of The Science & Arts Academy, is active on the Harvard Club
of Chicago Schools & Scholarship Committee, is a member of the Corporate Directors Club, and coaches youth
sports for the Naperville Park District.
Return to Top
Jim Holden, Founder, Chief Executive Officer
Jim Holden founded Holden International in 1979, and throughout its almost thirty-year
history, Holden has grown to be a world-renowned leader in the sales process improvement
field.
Mr. Holden's career has been marked by exceptional innovation. In 1990 he established Holden
as the first company to model sales effectiveness. This achievement was recognized
by Ernst & Young, Merrill Lynch, and Inc. magazine with the Regional Entrepreneur
of the Year award for the Service Industry. In addition to his leadership role with
Holden, Jim is a globally recognized business author, with titles including Power
Base Selling, World Class Selling, and The Selling Fox.
Mr. Holden earned a BSEE with High Honors from Northeastern University in Boston and is a member of the
National Engineering Honor Society, Tau Beta Pi, and the National Interdisciplinary Honor Society,
Phi Kappa Phi. He began
his sales career in 1974 with Teradyne, a Boston-based high technology company.
Prior to founding Holden, he was vice president of sales for Aegis, an independent,
third-party distribution company selling computer-based test systems into the manufacturing
environment.
Mr. Holden and his wife Chris reside in the greater Chicago area. He was a founder/director
of the First National Bank of Roselle, and has served as a director of Harris Bank
of Elk Grove, Advantage National Bank, and several early-development-stage companies,
including Hand Technologies, Acoustic Technologies, and Additech.
He is active in the community, having founded the Partnership to End Homelessness
in Chicago, and is a supporter of many other charities including cancer research.
Mr. Holden enjoys racecar driving and mountaineering, and works very closely with the United
States military to develop counter-terrorism tactics and strategies.
Return to Top
Tom Michel, SVP Worldwide Sales
Tom Michel was recruited to Holden International in 2007 to accelerate the
aggressive growth plan and help solidify Holden’s position as the world’s leading
sales effectiveness consulting firm. As Senior Vice President Worldwide Sales,
Mr. Michel joins Holden’s management team and has top-line responsibility for the
firm, including all four components of the Sales Achievement Platform: Consulting
Services, Training, efox Software, and Executive Search. In addition, Mr. Michel
has P&L responsibility for the efox Software product line.
Mr. Michel brings to Holden over twenty-five years of sales and executive leadership
experience. In particular, Mr. Michel has an impressive track record of growing
companies internationally and with a combination of services and software.
Prior to joining Holden, Mr. Michel was Chief Operating Officer at Microsystems,
and prior to that he was Executive Vice President of Worldwide Sales
at InstallShield Software Corporation for seven years. He was recruited to that
position by the Board of Directors and doubled revenue domestically and tripled
revenue internationally. Mr. Michel managed sales and services
professionals at InstallShield, ranging from inside sales to vice presidents.
Mr. Michel has also held key sales and management positions at IBM’s $1 billion
Tivoli Systems division, Microware, Lakeview Technology, and XA Systems. Mr. Michel
started his career as a management consultant at Arthur Andersen & Company and
Touche Ross & Company.
Mr. Michel holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Engineering from Princeton
University. He and his family reside in
Barrington, Illinois, and he enjoys playing basketball and golf.
Return to Top
Matt Martin, VP Consulting Services
Matt Martin serves as VP Consulting Services for Holden International.
Mr. Martin leads Holden’s customized content design process and delivery practice
in an effort to maximize client relevancy, adoption rates and time to value of Holden’s
consulting and training services.
Mr. Martin played an instrumental role in bringing to market the Holden Sales Achievement Platform,
an integrated and holistic approach to driving sales achievement through the use of Holden’s consulting
services, training, efox software, and executive search functions. Mr. Martin also played a vital role
in establishing Holden’s signature Power Base Sales Leadership & Coaching program as the market
standard in enabling sales leaders to establish high-performing teams.
Mr. Martin is an expert in sales effectiveness and has demonstrated leadership in leading successful
strategic consulting engagements, and facilitating hundreds of sales effectiveness workshops throughout
North America, Europe, Asia and the Middle East. Mr. Martin is an accomplished speaker as he has
provided keynote addresses to large audiences on the subject of competencies and personal attributes
that drive sales effectiveness.
Prior to his arrival at Holden, Mr. Martin spent the majority of his professional career with The
Coca-Cola Company where he was recognized as a sales leader at the local, regional and national account
levels, including his role as National Account Executive on Coca-Cola's largest global account,
McDonald's Corporation. In that role, Mr. Martin had regional responsibility for the company's brand
exposure, business penetration, and customer relationship management. Additionally, Mr. Martin provided
consulting services to franchise bottlers across North America on go-to-market strategies and strategic
selling processes, where he helped manage regional sales professionals to achieve sales and market share
gains.
Mr. Martin received a BA in Communications from Michigan State University. He resides in Chicago where he enjoys
playing golf, bicycling, and coaching youth basketball.
Return to Top
Paul Dillon, Senior Vice President Business Development
Paul Dillon joined Holden International in 2007 and serves as the Senior Vice President of Business Development
focused on further developing our training and consulting business while managing our management assessment and
executive search practices. Mr. Dillon's responsibilities all aim to drive sales achievement and key strategic
initiatives for our clients – through implementation and adoptions of world class sales effectiveness strategies
and methodologies and through the identification, screening and recruitment of world class sales and executive leaders.
Prior to joining Holden, Mr. Dillon was a director responsible for a $600 million budget at a Fortune 200 consumer packaged
goods company. His experiences also include management positions at Accenture and Deloitte Consulting. Mr. Dillon's
contributions are detailed and commented on in various publications, including the Journal of Commerce, Purchasing
magazine and Traffic World. In addition, he has been a guest speaker at various seminars and webinars. Mr. Dillon has
worked with senior management teams across leadership areas and industries to measurably grow margins through both top-line
sales growth initiatives and bottom-line efficiency programs.
Mr. Dillon received his MBA from Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University and his BA with
honors from Colgate University. Paul enjoys running and has completed several marathons.
Return to Top
Glenn Coleman, Managing Director
A past Director on the Board of EADS North America Defense, Glenn Coleman has over 35 years of business development and marketing experience
in the Aerospace and Defense industry. Holding positions of leadership responsibility for diverse high technology product and service applications
for land, sea, air and space platforms, and their support systems, he has brought value to and realized successes in closing competitive new business initiatives
both domestically and internationally. His experience also includes civil applications of military technology as well as commercial ventures based on product
applications of systems developed under federal government acquisition processes.
As a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy, Mr. Coleman initially spent 10 years on active duty as a line officer in the submarine service, and as an intelligence
officer on shore assignment. His last active duty assignment was at the National Security Agency. Converting from Line to Intelligence Specialty, he completed 12 years
of Reserve duty and retired as a Captain, USNR in 1986.
Concurrent with leaving active duty, Mr. Coleman earned a MS in Financial Management at George Washington University. His early industry career involved
a variety of assignments on classified programs for General Electric Space Systems Division at Valley Forge, PA, Washington DC, and Sunnyvale, CA. As his career matured,
he held a progressive set of responsibilities in Marketing, Business Development, Research and Advanced Programs for GE, RCA and Litton, leading efforts in
domestic Tactical and Strategic Reconnaissance Programs, and foreigh Airborne Reconnaissance opportunities in Saudi Arabia, UAE and Kuwait.
It was during one of these campaigns that Mr. Coleman became the unwilling guest of Saddam Hussein, and served 4 1/2 months as a "human shield" in Iraq,
immediately prior to the hostilities involved in the first Gulf War.
Following this mid-career adjustment, Mr. Coleman joined Lockheed Martin Information Systems, and continued to lead ventures both domestically and
internationally. He managed a multinational partnership, formed strategic alliances with Spanish, UK, French and Japanese partners in a variety of opportunities and
led capture management campaigns in Argentina, Brazil, South Africa and Taiwan.
Return to Top
Chris Holden, CFO
In 1979, Chris Holden co-founded Holden International and currently serves as the Chief Financial Officer for the firm.
As CFO, she directs company accounting practices by managing the accounting department and preparing budgets, financial
reports, tax and audit functions. She is also instrumental in developing and reviewing legal documents for client user
agreements.
An active member of several social programs, Mrs. Holden co-founded the Partnership to End Homelessness and worked with the
Community Emergency Shelter Organization (CESO) to establish best practice and results measurement. She is also a trustee
of the Brookfield Zoo and an active supporter of multiple melanoma cancer research.
Mrs. Holden graduated with honors from Lasell College, earning a degree in Retail Sales and Marketing. As a
scholarship recipient, she also attended advanced finance curriculum at Roosevelt University.
Return to Top
Ghaffar Variend, Controller
Ghaffar Variend joined Holden International in 1998 as an Assistant Controller. Presently, he heads Holden International's
Financial Department. His responsibilities include accounting, preparation of monthly and annual financial statements,
as well as management reports and policies.
Prior to joining Holden International, Mr. Variend served as a Controller for Plasti-World Products Ltd., in Montreal, QC, a
plastic novelty items manufacturing company. In addition, Mr. Variend has over 15 years of experience in public accounting. He
has provided a wide range of financial audit services to clients in importing, manufacturing, travel leisure, textiles and
wholesale distribution industries. He delivered management consulting and advisory services to small business clients in
the areas of budget preparation and analysis, organizational change and restructuring, financial accounting systems
implementation and training, preparation of monthly and consolidated financial statements, and development of internal
accounting controls. He has also played a key role in conducting research on a number of technical accounting issues.
Mr. Variend received his Bachelors Degree in Accounting from Karachi University in Pakistan. In his free time he enjoys
walking, bicycling, bowling, and maintaining his own website. He is very involved in his community and served as president
for Quebec Memon Association in Montreal and Memon Association of America in Chicago, IL.
Return to Top
|