Team

President

Patricia Palleschi, Ph.D. 

Pat has the blend of academic and real-world experience that will assure a successful outcome, whether you need a coach, a team builder or an expert to lead you through an organizational transition.     

As SVP, Training, Pat led a group of  250 global learning professionals for Bank of America.  The charge?  To integrate systems, processes and people in every area of the Bank.  She has experience overcoming the odds to enable your merger/acquisition to be integrated seamlessly. 

As VP, HRD she has served as advisor to the President of The Disneyland Theme Park.  The goal?  To strategically identify, attract, develop and retain talent.  She has implemented hiring programs that identified and hired more than 5,000 diverse cast members per year, she led a Nationally-known Corporate University;  and her hallmark was to use data (targeted assessment tools) to integrate hiring and development processes achieving improved guest satisfaction and cast satisfaction within financial constraints.  She revamped the performance systems to include attention to career development.  

As Corporate VP, Management Planning, Pat was entrusted with finding and retaining the top 100 executives for the Walt Disney Company.  The challenge?  To implement TWDC's first succession planning system -- which is used (with modifications) to this day. 

As a consultant, internal, or interim executive, Pat consulted with an Energy Company, a Space Exploration Company, Tech Start Up Ventures, a Medical Food Company, a Toy Company, Banks, Government Agencies, Recruiters, and many others.  She has mastered the art of navigating politics and cultures. 

Pat continues to love teaching at both the undergraduate and graduate levels. She has served as Chair of a University Department. She has career coached USC, UCLA and other mid-career or graduating students on building successful careers.  She has multiple advanced degrees and certifications. 

She is currently advising Universities on how to create effective career development programs to drive a return on student investments.    

She is an accomplished speaker who uses human and interaction to delight groups of all sizes. 

Principals

Irv Margol is a former principal at Eddy Associates, a management consulting firm providing customized advisory services to senior executives. Prior to joining Eddy Associates, Irv was Senior Executive Consultant for Right Management Consultants, Inc. having come to that role from Janotta Bray, an international career consulting firm specializing in executive outplacement. At Janotta Bray, he served as co-managing director. He was COO for a major Bank and CAO for a major entertainment company. Irv is also a former president of the American Cancer Society and the American Red Cross.  He is arguably one of the best coaches and mentors in the Los Angeles Region.  He has coached many of the Senior Leaders that drive their businesses successfully in the LA area.  

Over Larry Wilk's 35+ year career, he has been a consultant and partner to HR & OD organizations.  At Disneyland, he worked with Pat’s team, to reinvent Guest & Cast research, implementing the first Net Promoter Score used there.  At Disney Stores, he worked with Corporate HR to setup the entire HR process and systems, enabling global expansion of Disney Stores while enhancing the brand.  At Disney Studios, he led the PMO to transform the newly combined 400-person Studio Operations team, partnering with HR to develop a change management & communication plan, a new learning & development curriculum, and a new mentoring program for high-potentials. 

Since retiring from Disney in 2013, Larry has enjoyed an active retirement.  He has had two long consulting assignments for Warner Bros. and The Irvine Company, working on business planning, systems and process reinvention.  He is currently an Advisor to the Board of the Orange County Community Foundation, helping operationalize their new strategy.  At UCI’s Beall Center for Innovation & Entrepreneurship, he is partnering with the founding family to revitalize the Center, it’s programs and the Advisory Board.  One key initiative is partnering with the UCI Career Center to provide opportunities for entrepreneurial students.   This Fall, he will be an Adjunct Professor both CSUF’s School of Cinema & TV Arts and Pepperdine University’s MBA program.

 Larry Wilk worked in the Disney Store, Theme Park and Studio businesses.  At Disney Store, he wrote the original business plan and helped grow the business to 550 stores and 15 countries.  While there he led planning & development, distribution & systems, and real estate.  At Disneyland he led Business Design & Development, doing a wide variety of projects tied to process improvement, business development, master planning and distribution. He led projects across the Resort to prepare for the addition of Disney’s California Adventure and Downtown Disney.  At Hong Kong Disneyland, he led the Back of House Operations team of 700 Cast Members. At the Disney Studio, he led Worldwide Operations for Home Entertainment and the above mentioned PMO. 

Prior to Disney, Larry spent 8 years as a Retail Consulting Manager at Arthur Andersen & Co. (now Accenture), including one year working with the internal training division leading development of a new course and teaching methodology. Course became highest rated course offered.

Larry has an MBA from Harvard Business School with concentration in Marketing & Operations and a BBA from Southern Methodist University in Accounting & Computers.

Brenda Broz Eddy is a founder and principal of Eddy Associates Inc., a management consulting firm specializing in executive coaching and leadership team development, as well as having an affiliation with TEA. Ms. Eddy was Senior Vice President and Managing Director of the Senior Executive Consulting Practice for Right Management Company, a large international human resource consulting firm, from 1992 to 1998. She started her consulting career at the strategic consulting firm of Booz Allen and Hamilton in 1969 and from 1970 to 1975 served on the faculty of the Georgetown University School of Business. Ms. Eddy has an MBA from the Harvard Business School and an undergraduate degree from the University of Southern California. She serves on the Business Advisory Councils of Loyola Marymount University’s School of Business and Counterpart International.  Ms. Eddy's name is synonymous with excellence in coaching.  

Jeremy Seligman is President, Insight To Action LLC.  He has served in diverse roles over a three-decade career, including CIO of a Fortune 500 telecom, Director of Global Strategy and Organizational Development (OD) for Ford Motor Company IT, internal OD consultant at the University of Michigan, and C-Level officer of a growing privately held company.  

Jeremy is an experienced coach and mentor, and has the particular gift of seeing every group he works with as unique and capable of breakthrough insight and growth, and helping to design solutions that will be accepted, implemented, and sustained.

Jeremy has presented widely at a number of academic and industry forums and has written about systems thinking and organizational topics.  He is a former Council Chair of the Society of Organizational Learning (Peter Senge, Founder), former board member of Pegasus Communications and currently on the board of its successor organization, STIA.

Marco Cassone, MSOD brings to The Executive Agency a unique ability to inspire insight, action, and growth in human systems. His career as a global talent and performance coach have earned him respect as a Thought Leader in the advancement of change for individuals, teams, and organizations.

In his early career, Marco designed and facilitated experiential learning programs to promote workforce sensitivity, conflict management, and awareness of diversity and inclusion. He later founded and manages the LA-based performing arts education firm, M-pact Music, LLC, which has served educational institutions and organizations of all sizes across the US, Europe, and Southeast Asia.

Marco is working to demonstrate his entrepreneurial and interpersonal acumen through executive coaching, behavior change management, and leadership development. His sweet spot tends to be small-to-medium companies, nonprofits, and startups in media and technology, management consulting, and the entertainment industry.

AFFiliates 

Lyn Cason is a Director at Stanton Chase International in digital media, consumer services, non-profit and university sectors. Her earlier career included work in management for entertainment and broadcast media. She has an Executive MBA in Management from the Peter F. Drucker School, Claremont Graduate University and a BA in Broadcast Communications from California State University San Francisco.

Marci Maniker is a management and organizational development consultant with over 25 years of experience in the professional services industry. Her areas of expertise include managing change, organization effectiveness, work flow analysis, executive coaching, meeting facilitation and team building.  She has built an  on-line organization called Women's Journeys and has a gift for understanding transitions in businesses and in women's lives which makes her an extraordinary coach.  

Gary Matus is a former Executive Vice President for Bank of America.  Gary was an instrumental part of the success of Egon Zehnder in Los Angeles — one of the top world-wide search firms.  He is now working with RSR (another world wide search firm)  specializing in high level executive searches and board placements.  His clients span industries, including financial companies, educational institutions and the entertainment field (among others).

Gary Saenger is the founder and President of the retained search firm Saenger Associates, one of the top 25 search firms in the Los Angeles area.  Saenger Associates specializes in high quality, executive and management recruiting.  The firm works with companies who set demanding requirements when launching a search. To this end, the founder manages each and every search to maintain a level of personal attention that is unprecedented in our industry.
Saenger Associates is a member of IRC Global Executive Search Partners with representation in 6 continents, 35 countries and 75 cites.

Social Branding Expert

Freddy J. Nager is now working as a Digital Strategist in the Los Angeles area.  He is a specialist in  social media and marketing and has taught through UCLA Extension, Antioch University Los Angeles, and the University of Wales online MBA program. He also founded and runs the marketing agency Atomic Tango LLC, which specializes in communications strategy and development. Prior to launching Atomic Tango, Freddy held lead creative positions at MCA Records/Universal Music Group and major ad agency Saatchi & Saatchi, and has 17 years of experience in online marketing for such brands as Toyota, Tom Petty and The National Lampoon.  Freddy received his MBA from the University of Southern California and his BA from Harvard. You can find his LinkedIn profile at FreddyNager.com.