ABOUT US.

EVOLVE
RE-IMAGINE

We love what we do here, but that’s not even the half of it. We are taking negotiation training and development forward in bold new ways. Here’s where you can get a peek into our world and meet the people who are leading the charge.”

MEET OUR TEAM

As a professional development trainer for over twenty years, Aimee has worked for companies such as General Motors, Maersk, and Bank of America, and her personal client list is comprised of Fortune 500 companies worldwide. When not working, Aimee loves hiking in the North Carolina mountains with her family and 80-pound Golden-doodle. "

Aimee has done something no one else in the world has done. She invented an award-winning board game, Blunders®, that teaches children manners and social skills in a fun way. Aimee ponders that maybe she’s the only one to have done this because no one else wanted to, but none the less, it’s super cool!

AIMEE SYMINGTON

Alfredo began his career as a Chemist but his love of people drew him into the world of consulting. Armed with a passion for people and desire to create memorable training experiences for his clients, Alfredo is on a mission to act as a catalyst (chemist humor!) in the learning process.

When Alfredo is not making hits in the classroom he is doing so on stage as the lead singer in three different bands that cover everything from Classic Rock to Pop and Brazilian humorous music

ALFREDO LAGO

Andreas started his career in the financial services sector, providing international risk management advice to European blue-chip corporations for about 10 years.  

He then moved on to become a partner at PricewatershouseCoopers, where he was responsible for strategic change management, performance optimization & human resource projects.  

Nowadays he frequently uses his skills as a sparring partner, coaching CEOs and top executives through the process of successful business negotiation and transformation. 

ANDREAS BUERGI

Bartosz Augustyn is a triple threat, being able to deliver training in Polish, English and Russian! An experienced consultant and facilitator (as well as road warrior), he has worked in over 60 countries supporting the training and development needs of procurement and sales teams of clients around the world.

Bartosz’s interest are as varied as his language skills. When he’s not racking up frequent flyer miles, he spends his time studying history, psychology, and the martial arts. He’s also an avid skier so make sure you say “hi” if you happen to run into him on the slopes!

BARTOSZ AUGUSTYN

Brandon was born and raised in Northwest Indiana – just outside Chicago. He’s a lover of math, America, and all things Chicago sports (except the White Sox, but they don’t really count). Prior to joining RED BEAR, he worked as a Special Investigator working alongside the DOJ and FBI. Favorite foods include pizza, chicken wings, and milk.

Four of Brandon’s five kids are born in the month of May. Brandon and his wife no longer speak or look at each other throughout August.

BRANDON WILSON

Bridget joined RED BEAR in our equivalent of the stone age, when we were just two people and got things done by rubbing sticks together. Today, Bridget lives in Fairfield County, CT. Wife of Andy, Mom of Gwenevere and Derek, Pet Mom of Tony, George, and Rocky, she is driven by a desire to develop and help others. She wants to live in a world where there can be a force field around her keyboard that repels cats.

Bridget shares a birthday with such famous people as Musician Bruce Springsteen, Actor Jason Alexander, Italian Footballer, Paolo Rossi, as well as TikTok Star Dsp1994.

Bridget Healey

Catherine began her training career back in the late 90’s, and she has loved doing it ever since. She is passionate about her work, enjoys sports and travel in her free time, and lives by the principle that you should be fully engaged to what you are doing NOW!

Catherine is fascinated by playing Taiji – a sport that contains the theory of meridian and philosophy. She is also the happy mother of two kids – a son and a daughter.

Catherine Zhou

Cecily is passionate about training! For many years she led seminars for top corporations all over the world, and in 2002 she moved behind-the-scenes and now creates the materials that help bring Red Bear’s content to life in the classroom. Cecily loves collaborating with clients to develop dynamic, high-value exercises that drive real results for the team back on the job. This is all accomplished from her quaint office tucked away in a quiet forest in Connecticut, U.S.A.

When she’s not working for Red Bear you can find Cecily out hiking the woods with her dogs and partner Rich, or long distancing biking, skiing or kayaking.

Cecily Baran

Chad is a man of vision with a keen eye towards strategy and an innate ability to find great talent. As our leader in chief, you’re likely to find Chad concocting BIG ideas for our future, passionately discussing his strategy with others and then recruiting the best people, partners and organizations to help us make a huge splash in this world. Chad is an avid outdoorsman and often connects to our video meetings from some body of water (he also plays a mean game of “Texas Hold’em”).

The greatest satisfaction I get is by helping someone in need, not telling anyone about it and expecting nothing in return.

Chad Mulligan

After spending time mastering her selling skills in a wide range of industries from wine to waste management and spending 4 years handling profitability and productivity improvements for a Fortune 500 company, Deborah landed her best job yet as a consultant and facilitator of negotiating skills. She is still going strong after more than 20 years.

When not working, she can usually be found cooking and enjoying a nice glass of wine in Dallas.

Deborah Reynolds

Erhan is an entrepreneur, well-known corporate trainer (and aspiring NBA star). He began his career in training after attending a seminar that overwhelmed him with a new set of skills that he thought could never be attained as an adult, believing that such skills were hereditary. After discovering that he too could develop new skills, he became a corporate trainer and the rest, as they say, is history.

Erhan plays a mean game of hoops. Still keeping up with those half his age, you can often find him on the court at his neighborhood sporting center where he (modestly) says he and his squad occasionally win. When he’s not on the hardwood, you can find Erhan immersed in a book getting ideas for the design of new training programs.

Erhan Imamoglu

Originally from New Zealand, Eric studied law before entering the corporate world. He moved to the U.S. intending to get rich and famous prior to returning to New Zealand. He's been here nearly 20 years now but is still hopeful! He's had a successful career as a Consultant and a Procurement Leader across industries and companies, including telecommunications - Ericsson, healthcare - Vizient, and retail - Staples / Corporate Express. Eric has always had a passion for facilitating, coaching, and negotiation and is delighted to share this knowledge with RED BEAR clients. 

 

Eric loves to stay fit and active. In his spare time he's usually mountain biking, wakeboarding or practicing martial arts.

Eric Imrie

Gary is the “last man standing” from the original company that Red Bear Negotiation Company is the successor to. As such, he’s worked on nearly every product, in every industry, with most of the clients that we’ve had over the past 25+ years. He has helped to develop many of the exercises and cases that are in current use. He is the father of seven or eight children, many of whom are hiding right out in plain sight. His youngest son is hiking the Pacific Crest Trail this summer (2663 miles: Mexican to Canadian borders), and Gary hopes to join him for a few hundred miles of that.

Gary was the original developer of the Red Bear flagship product, Negotiating With Suppliers.

Gary Beal

Gopa is one of RED BEAR’s “not so hidden” gems. Born in India, he’s an ex-Navy man, with a strong passion for his country and love of world travel. Through his travels, he has gained first-hand knowledge and understanding of cross-cultural nuances and translates this understanding into meaningful insights for his clients to help them overcome cultural barriers in their negotiations.

Gopa speaks 6 different languages and is an avid photographer. If that’s not enough, he is an accomplished artist, painting large oil canvasses in his spare time.

Gopa Kumar

Helen Mac has been motivating and training people to create better results since she attended a Rotary Leadership Youth Award (RYLA) event when she was 16. Decades later, she still loves creating that light-bulb learning moment. She is obsessed with all things Orange - clothes, finger-nails, house decorations and of course, the fruit! She's passionate about spreading her message of the power of Optimism - how changing your mind(set) can change your results.

And when she's not teaching negotiation skills, she loves being the "Big Spud" for the Great Trentham Spudfest - a celebration of the humble potato held annually in her hometown in Victoria, Australia!

Helen MacDonald

Jaren Chan is a dynamic and engaging facilitator who enjoys imparting skills and insights to his global participants. From Shanghai to Dubai, Rio to Tokyo, Bogota to Jakarta, London to Boston, he has done it all.

Instead of Netflix, Jaren enjoys watching court proceedings at the local courthouse.

Jaren Chan

After mastering the art of negotiation as a San Francisco litigator, Jason founded an import-export business for sports wear before studying mediation, facilitation, training and executive coaching. Jason is now an expert at helping individuals examine their belief systems, an essential life and business skill. An actor, educator and strategist, Jason brings 25+ years of experience to RED BEAR helping clients overcome their biggest obstacles.

A decade ago, Jason launched his Vipassana meditation practice with ten straight days of silent meditation, a transformative experience for the extreme extrovert.

Jason Mitchell

Jim has done it all! He’s owned franchises in food services and computer training and built businesses from scratch. Jim found his true calling in the training and consulting world where these days, he lends his experience to delivering outstanding sales and negotiation programs for RED BEAR clients.

Jim touts himself as a VERY proud Canadian. He was a four sport “all-star” and loves all Toronto sports teams (go Raptors and Leafs!). When Jims’ not busy cheering on his favorite teams, he is traveling the world (and photographing it) with the woman he says is “the best wife in the world” or teeing it up on the links. Jim also likes to mention that he’s “a proud dad and grand-dad”.

Jim Stewart

Joseph has a diverse background, and his travels have instilled a passion for cultural diversity and the beauty of connecting with people in simple ways. He’s curious about ‘the why’ and ‘the how’ and he’s always ready with a smile and a good dose of optimism.

He’s worked at multinationals and tech startups from San Francisco to Copenhagen via Barcelona across a range of industries related to technology, energy, and human resources. The red thread is a commercial focus that includes 25 years of enterprise sales experience in front line and leadership roles.

He’s passionate about food and fun and helping people and organizations through transformation. When he’s not challenging assumptions or inspiring curiosity with his clients, you can find him dipping in 5 ℃ water, riding his bike, or playing tennis. He’s also likely to be talking to his kids about why and how the sky is blue.

Joseph Brakoiapa

Krisztina is an “Edutainer” which means when you sit in on one of her programs you can count on an upbeat, fun learning experience—one where participants have a great time but most importantly, they make changes in their lives through learning. Kris has been at this for a while, working as a trainer, facilitator and coach for 19 years. She specializes in negotiation and leadership programs and speaks 5 languages—need we say more!

Kris was on the Hungarian Sports Acrobatics team. She still occasionally competes today as a team member on a cross-generational gymnastic team.

KRISZTINA LORINCZI

After graduate school, Matthew spent time in the financing, film, and communications industries and has a deep passion for working with people to overcome limitations that keep them from what they want the most. He’s worked as a volunteer (and still does) with numerous organizations and brings that same passion to his work with RED BEAR where he serves as a trainer, keynote speaker, and consultant to our clients.

Matthew spent 3 years working for George Lucas and had an office at Skywalker Ranch in Marin County, California. Very cool job!

Matthew Mitchell

Mike’s career has been anything but conventional, having worked in more than 10 industries and 3 countries from the Fortune 50 to startups. Through it all, he found his greatest reward in helping people and teams do their best work.

Born and raised on the border in El Paso, Texas, Mike grew up climbing mountains and playing soccer. He lives in Los Angeles with the love of his life and never misses an LAFC home game.

His super powers are eating pistachios and buying old books.

Mike McGahhey

Mike joined RED BEAR in 2020 after a 33-year career in Procurement leadership at three Fortune 100 companies including 14 years in Chief Procurement Officer roles. As a customer of RED BEAR, Mike sponsored deployments of more than 6600 people through the Negotiating With Suppliers™ (NWS) negotiation training process.

If you want to know how to most effectively deploy the best negotiation training to improve business results in Procurement - just ask Mike!

Also, for you Sales professionals, Mike can bring you unique insights into how Procurement operates and how to work with your customers’ Procurement teams to grow revenue and close better deals faster.

And yes, that is a picture of Mike at the periscope! He served 11 years as an officer in the United States Navy and the U.S. Naval Reserve including 3 years on a nuclear submarine.

MIKE SLOMKE

No one cares more about eating healthy than Nori. After his first job out of college as an investment banker in Tokyo and New York failed to give him a chance to care about well-balanced diet (or work-life balance for that matter), he learned the lesson. Having flown more than 2 million miles for the last 20+ years providing consulting services to global clients in his current job, Nori knows how important healthy diet is to his professional success and personal happiness. In fact, he makes sure to eat about 100 grams (about one cup) of broccoli almost everyday. To accomplish this, Nori practices what he preaches by negotiating competitively, collaboratively, and creatively with the hotels he frequents to prepare special broccoli-centric dishes during his stay. It is truly a win-win outcome.

Nori Mizutani

As a member of the marketing team, Peri loves being the first point of contact for prospects.  She uses her listening skills to educate and qualify potential prospects that align with RED BEAR’s philosophy. She has 20+ year’s experience at B2B organizations where she achieved notable growth in lead generation and revenue.

 

Peri loves anything to do with fitness and health-related topics. She works out daily doing cardio or weight training at the gym or outside. She has her Reiki I certification. Peri’s son, Matthew, is a foodie, and she relies on his insight for the most delicious, fattening food to consume. She is a big rock and blues music lover and tries to see a local live performance weekly.

PERI POMPOSELLO

Rob Cox is the Chief Marketing Officer at RED BEAR. He has worked with over 40 enterprise brands on marketing strategy, positioning, messaging, thought leadership, demand generation, and more. Rob brings extensive experience in building and leading B2B marketing teams focused on driving revenue growth, from early-stage startups to multibillion-dollar companies, from the ground up.

If you’re looking to get hitched, Rob is an ordained minister who has officiated 10 wedding ceremonies. He has also played guitar for over 20 years and guarantees he can beat you at movie and music trivia. Rob has a wife, two kids, and a high-maintenance chiweenie.

ROB COX

Shawn started his career as a US Army officer and later taught chemistry at the US Military Academy at West Point. Shawn transitioned to the corporate world where he had a successful career as a Sourcing and Supply Chain leader with 22 years of global sourcing, logistics, and supplier quality experience at GE Appliances and Restaurant Supply Chain Solutions. Now, Shawn shares his sourcing expertise and experiences with clients to improve profitability throughout their supply chain. Don’t worry, he doesn’t make them do push-ups.

Shawn loves to stay fit and cycling is one of his passions. One of his memorable moments is cycling to the top of Victoria Peak in Hong Kong on his birthday.

Shawn Malone

After dedicating 10 years to a career in music Teresa switched from making music to helping people find rhythm in work, life and relationships. As a bi-lingual master trainer, facilitator and a former corporate executive, Teresa’s classical training prepared her to artfully Nudge others to find their own answers. She works internationally with fortune 100 companies and donates time in her private practice to clients in need of transitional support. She lives in Cambria, California with her amazing husband and kitty. She loves sunsets, silence and wine.

Teresa has 4 titanium implants. No bike frames were harmed in the process.

Teresa Garcia Herrier

Tyler creates a positive and engaging learning environment for professionals desiring impactful conversations. He is a natural storyteller, who delivers memorable workshops with valuable content punctuated by poignant and humorous stories.  His positive coaching style helps others realize quick gains – whether they be in his workshops or on one of the many youth sports teams he coaches.

At home, Tyler loves to be with his more than 100,000 pets!  He’s a beekeeper.

Tyler Croft

Vince has been a sales leader in the medical industry for most of his career. He was planning to be a doctor until he realized his bedside manner needed some work. Vince is straight to the point and will always tell the truth, even when it’s the tougher road. 

Vince works tirelessly until problems are solved and solutions are found. Vince’s pride and joy are his two amazing girls, Tatum and Brooke. Both girls are straight A students, funny, and kind. Every free moment for Vince is spent on the water in beautiful Naples, Florida. “Bringing passion to the job is easy when you love what you do!”

VINCE SCHUESSLER

Wojciech loves brains. He always carries a trusted plastic model (in addition to his own!) to the classrooms around the world. His favorite kind of a brain? Your customer’s brain of course! Wojciech makes sure your team can leverage the latest in brain & decision-making science. To make the right kind of impact when they are selling, negotiating or presenting your offer.

When not training, or preparing for training, Wojciech happily concedes in ongoing negotiations with his two little sons. He enjoys good business books and a steady stream of hard rock and heavy metal through his ears, to his soul.

WOJCIECH MENDYKA

Yvonne is a veteran training consultant with over 20 years of practical experience in the field of negotiation training. She was born in Hong Kong and spent more than a decade working in Canada, China, and Singapore where she worked for several multi-national companies before returning to her birth place. If you have the opportunity to sit in on one of her programs, you will see her passion and enthusiasm for helping participants enhance their negotiation strategy and skills. As if that's not enough, Yvonne is also fluent in English, Mandarin, and Cantonese!

When she's not on land helping her participants master the art of negotiating, you can find her under the sea (or some other body of water) pursuing one her favorite hobbies, Scuba diving.

Yvonne Lam