Meet the New Options Team

Paul Sniffin

Founder and President

Paul has more than 25 years of consulting experience in guiding and developing executives’ careers. He is one of the most experienced executive coaches in the Mid-Atlantic region and serves as the founder and managing partner of CPI/New Options Group, the Baltimore/Washington offices of Career Partners International. Throughout his consulting career Paul has been in the forefront of change to help develop credentialing in the executive coaching and career management practices. He has served in a variety of leadership roles with two global consulting companies, including chairman of a global HR consulting organization, growing it to more than 200 offices. Paul’s initial leadership experience emerged when he served as an officer in the U.S. Marine Corps and combat helicopter pilot in Vietnam; he further developed his skills by building entrepreneurial organizations, sales organizations and leadership teams. These endeavors led him to the field of career and performance consulting, where he has spent 25+ years at the forefront. He is certified in multiple diagnostic assessments, including 360° multi-rater leadership tools in assessing and developing executive teams. He oversees the strategic direction of his organization, including the executive development and leadership coaching practice. He has authored numerous articles and lectured extensively on leadership and career topics. He is frequently called upon to work closely with organizations in building the commitment and performance of high-potential leaders, as well as coaching and advising senior executives.

Charles Hicks, Ph.D.

Senior Executive Coach and Organizational Consultant

Charles draws on 35 years of experience and preparation in human resources development within the business, nonprofit, governmental, academic and community sectors. His business career assignments have included industrial social psychologist and senior human resources development specialist with two major corporations. He has also served as a senior consultant and psychologist for an international consulting services firm. As an executive coach he provides support to executives, leaders, team/project managers and individual contributors who seek to fulfill their career aspirations, professional development goals and the business challenges of their organization. He has provided consultation services throughout the Mid-Atlantic region, enabling organizations to align their purpose, values, goals and business objectives with their strategic direction. His credentials include: a Ph.D. in counselor education and social psychology, a master’s in counseling and guidance from Ohio State University; and a B.S. in industrial education from Central State University. He has been an adjunct faculty member at Duquesne University, Johns Hopkins University and the University of Maryland Eastern Shore.

Mike Paradis

Senior Consultant / Career Management Coach / Executive Coach

Mike has over 30 years of corporate experience in financial services and investment banking. He rose to the rank of chief information officer or a global financial services company (DB Alex Brown/Deutsche Banc) with global responsibility for numerous projects, including the company’s three-year Y2K project. Mike spent much of his career recruiting critical technology-skilled employees and building them into a cohesive and effective team. He quickly learned the critical strategies needed to provide career growth for hard-to-find technology professionals and achieved incredibly high levels of retention and performance. As a result, he was recognized as having developed one of the company’s best technology teams. Mike is adept at solving the toughest operational problems and working with multicultural workforces. He has worked effectively as a consultant in a wide range of organizations, from large, global corporations to smaller entrepreneurial companies. His expertise lies in quickly grasping and getting at the critical problems affecting executive or team performance. As a seasoned executive and consultant, Mike provides an environment that helps guide and coach executives confidently through the difficult task of moving into new roles, as well as helping to resolve difficult team issues.

Joseph Ognibene

Senior Executive Coach and Organizational Consultant

Joseph Ognibene is an executive consultant with over 30 years experience specializing in leadership development, human resource consulting, organization development and education.

As a regional executive for Personnel Decisions International (PDI), Joseph led the business development in the East and Latin America regions for leadership development products.  For key Fortune 100 clients, Joseph has developed competency models, led certification workshops, facilitated assessment feedback, coached individuals at all levels, led teambuilding, and worked with leaders to design and develop effective development experiences.  He also managed PDI’s 360° assessment certification programs for clients and value-added resellers.

Prior to joining PDI, he consulted independently in the areas of HR and OD for a variety of companies notably Lightspan, an online education organization. Joseph led the recruitment of over 100 individuals across functional areas to meet the company’s aggressive growth goals.

During his 10 years at Boeing, Joseph held several positions including program director for the staffing and development of Boeing’s 800-member HR manager and executive roster. When Boeing sought performance improvement in its 40,000 employees, Joseph led the design and implementation of a competency based 360° assessment program, an integral part of the company’s cultural change initiative. He planned and implemented all aspects of this multimillion-dollar project.

As an internal OD consultant at Boeing, Joseph worked with internal and external customers and suppliers across functional areas on a variety of challenging assignments including leading multi-company teambuilding sessions to kick-off military fighter design and production, assisting  Boeing’s IT ‘think tank’ team in the development of their vision, supporting the Finance department to design a development experience for high potential leaders, and facilitating annual budget planning meetings for a multi-billion dollar military aircraft program.

Earlier in his career, as manager of training and development for Edison Brothers Stores, Joseph was responsible for operations and sales training for over 2500 retail store managers. He taught French and Italian for several years at the secondary level early in his career. Joseph has been a presenter at national professional conferences, and has delivered lectures and seminars on employee development, management, team building, and interpersonal dynamics in various venues.

Marilyn Blocker

Organizational Effectiveness Consultant and Senior Executive Coach

Marilyn has 20+ years of organizational development and human resources management experience in the life sciences, healthcare, financial services, high tech, telecommunications, and manufacturing industries.  Her background includes senior leadership and internal consulting roles at The Coca-Cola Company, GTE Corporation (now Verizon Communications), John Hancock Financial Services, Providence Health System, and Philips Electronics. 

While serving on senior leadership teams at these organizations, Marilyn developed and refined strategic and operations planning skills and built a strong foundation for consulting services that include planning facilitation, performance management, and talent management services such as leadership and team development, diversity management, coaching and mentoring, career management, and succession planning.  Additionally, she assists organizations dealing with change due to rapid growth, culture transformation, mergers and acquisitions, consolidation, restructuring, redesign, downsizing, and divestiture.  

Marilyn holds an MBA and a Master of Science in Management with an HR/OD focus, from the University of Maryland.  She has published for BusinessWeek and the University of Wisconsin and has presented at monthly meetings and conferences of the Society for Human Resources Management (SHRM), the American Society for Training and Development (ASTD), and the Organizational Development (OD) Network.
 

Bruce Timmcke

Senior Executive Coach and Organizational Consultant

Bruce Timmcke is an executive coach and organizational consultant with over two decades experience with Fortune 500 companies.  He has held senior Human Resources and Organization Development roles at: Armstrong World Industries, AlliedSignal/Honeywell, Rockwell International, RJR-Nabisco, Continental Can.

His experience includes plant start-ups, leading a major company-union design team through a major redesign initiative for an aircraft manufacturing company generating over $1M in cost savings the first year.  He has been an advisor and coach to senior executives in multiple industries to include Division Presidents, EVP’s, manufacturing executives and other “C-level” leaders to improve executive team performance, leadership coaching and organizational effectiveness strategies.

In his most recent position, Bruce served as Global Director – Learning, Development, and Performance Management for a Fortune 500 manufacturer.  He was instrumental in the development of their global Learning Management Systems and designed and implemented an integrated corporate-wide “On-boarding and Assimilation” coaching process for newly hired and  recently promoted leaders.

Bruce holds a masters degree in Educational Psychology, in the area of human learning.  He also earned a masters degree in Industrial Engineering, completing a program specializing in innovative work design, change processes, and team-based systems.  He completed both programs at the University of Wisconsin.

He is trained in Six-Sigma and Work Out™ as well as experienced in process improvement, employee engagements, 5S manufacturing and high-performance work systems.

Jim Lewis

Senior Consultant and Career Management Coach

A recognized leader in human resources and an experienced career management consultant, Jim has more than 25 years of experience, including senior HR roles with four Fortune 500 companies. He is recognized for his judgment, decision-making, creativity and problem-solving abilities. The breadth of his experience in the corporate world, combined with his knowledge and understanding of how high-potential leaders work and what motivates them, has made him especially adept at working with senior leaders in their career transition. He combines broad business knowledge and expertise with counseling and coaching skills to help individuals and the organization plan and achieve objectives. He has consulted with major career management firms and addressed professional groups on career transition and management, individual development, employee relations issues and downsizing. He has held vice president roles with ATS, Oberthur Card Systems, Media General Communications and Pulse Technologies. Jim graduated from Campbell University with a B.S. in business administration and completed postgraduate work in labor relations at Virginia Commonwealth University. He earned an M.B.A. from Southwest University and holds the Senior Professional in Human Resources (SPHR) certification.

Jean O’Brien

Senior Consultant / Executive Coach

Before becoming a consultant, Jean spent 20 years in leadership roles in HR with extensive international human resources experience. Her areas of expertise include leadership coaching and executive team development, as well as developing strategies for improving retention, training initiatives and employee relations. Jean has proven most effective in working with high-powered female executives to strengthen their leadership performance to corporate goals and career advancement strategies, as well as building improved executive team performance. Her international experience has been most helpful with executives transitioning to the States. She integrates her work on coaching and advising leaders to improve their executive presence and communications skills. Jean has developed and implemented several start-up human resource departments for large corporations and specializes in business etiquette, executive communications and presence coaching. Jean holds a bachelor of science degree from Pennsylvania State University, certification for Professional in Human Resources from American University and certification as an etiquette consultant for corporate cultures and social situations.

Chester Slaughter

Senior Consultant and Career Management Coach

Chester delivers career management coaching services including seminars, group workshops and individual career transition coaching. He has experience working with a wide range of people, including executive-level management, in resolving a variety of career transition issues. Prior to consulting, Chester had a successful career for more than 30 years as a human resources executive with experience in government, hospitality and manufacturing. He has significant knowledge and experience in unit openings/closings, employee relations and problem resolution, management/leadership development, human resources policy and practice, and succession planning. The combination of hands-on operational and corporate staff assignments led to his ability to make keen observations and accurate assessments of both organizational needs and long-term solutions. Chester has a B.S. in psychology and business administration from the University of Pittsburgh.

Cynthia Philbrick

Senior Consultant / Executive Coach

Cyndi brings significant corporate, leadership and consulting experience to CPI/New Options Group and in her work with senior-level executives, teams and organizational effectiveness projects. Her expertise in quickly grasping the developmental strategies needed to make organizational change work keeps her actively involved with senior teams, providing clear strategies and programs to affect change, growth and leadership within an organization. Cyndi has more than 20 years of experience in manufacturing, insurance and consulting services in major cities across the U.S. Her career has focused on employee retention, executive coaching, the design of competency-based learning-process frameworks for executives, assessment of management skills and succession planning, as well as the design and implementation of organizational and individual development plans and the design and delivery of mentoring programs. Cyndi has a B.A. in psychology from Lake Forest College, an M.B.A. in human resources from the University of Connecticut and an advanced certification in human resource management from UCLA. She is an associate professor at Johns Hopkins University and has completed coursework in sales, management, team building, strategic planning and problem-solving skills.

Mark Peterson

Senior Executive Coach and Organizational Consultant

Mark Peterson leads people and organizations toward improved effectiveness through group training and facilitation, as well as individual coaching. He is an experienced coach who has worked with mid- to senior-level executive leaders in the areas of performance improvement, career management and transition and personal development. Mark is also an expert trainer and facilitator in organization effectiveness, leadership development and career management. He has worked with senior leaders and organizations from both the public and private sectors, including General Motors, the Department of Defense (Air Force), General Mills and the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation. 

Mark earned a B.A. in management and organizational development. He holds dual master’s degrees from Vanderbilt University in human resource development and theological studies with a focus on ethics and economics. Mark is certified to use several personality and behavioral assessments, such as the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, the Apter Motivational Style Indicator and the Birkman First Look assessment tool. Mark has also taken executive-level education courses in business strategy, finance and marketing at Tuck Business School at Dartmouth University. He serves on the board of directors of the DC Metro Chapter of the American Society for Training and Development (ASTD).