RJ serves as a senior adviser to major colleges and universities to guide them toward strategies and programs that achieve and maintain excellence and strengthen their positioning in times of change. Experienced in both traditional and entrepreneurial settings, for more than 30 years, he has advised university and foundation presidents, corporate CEOS, boards and senior leadership. He also applies his expertise to a select group of businesses and non-profit organizations targeting growth, leadership development and improved partnerships with their boards.
His work for two decades with university presidents and senior leaders who are leading change in today’s evolving and competitive higher education market incorporates best practices and market-driven intelligence bridging for-profit and non-profit sectors to drive custom solutions and innovation. These practices directly engage organizational talent to shape and drive solutions and result in enhanced buy-in and ownership, stronger brand recognition, alignment of internal and external constituencies and innovative and timely solutions. His lectures focus on how rapidly changing models in higher education ultimately will benefit the economy, and society at large.
RJ’s counsel promoted alignment and integration at E*Trade during its unprecedented growth, supported rigor to repeatable management practices at ZANTAZ, Inc., as part of its transformation from start-up to industry leader and helped position the turnaround at AskJeeves during market uncertainty and emerging competition.
Prior to co-founding The Napa Group in 1985, RJ held management and leadership positions in financial services, corporate training, and human resources in Fortune 500 companies. He is certified in Mediation, is Professionally Credentialed in Organizational Learning from the Sloan School of Business at MIT, and is a member of the International Facilitators Association. RJ studied at the University of Texas, Austin, and received his B.S. in Marketing from San Jose State University.