Executive Connections mentors

For the last 40 years Ben has worked in many positions in the insurance business. While working to obtain a degree in Insurance from ASU, Ben worked as an insurance broker. Following graduation, and a two-year stint working for a large insurance company, Ben concluded that being an insurance broker was the right path for him. After 10 years of being coached by strong mentors, learning the necessary skills, and building a large “book” of clients, Ben and a fabulous business partner joined with solid financial partners to start an insurance brokerage. Ben is unsure if he ever really slept for the first three years of building the business. The business grew very quickly. It became clear that to build it further, people needed to be hired and trained to sell. Ben’s job evolved into holding old clients and building new salespeople. As Ben mentored the “green” salespeople, their skills rapidly grew and thus, the business flourished. Many of the salespeople Ben trained during those years are now owners of their own brokerage businesses, competitors, and close friends.

In 2014 the business was sold to USI, one of the largest insurance brokerages in the world. Ben became the executive in charge of USI’s Arizona Commercial Property & Casualty Insurance operations – ultimately directly managing 26 salespeople and indirectly managing approximately 50 service people. In the last ten years under Ben’s leadership, USI’s Arizona commercial property and casualty business has grown ten times. The USI Arizona office has gone from one of USI’s smallest to one of its largest and most successful offices in the country. To realize this growth, Ben had to find, hire, and hold highly skilled technical personnel - professionals who at times possessed skills that he either didn’t have, or didn’t have yet. To retain these people, he diligently worked to build strong relationships. In most of these relationships Ben was the mentor; however, some of those hired were so highly skilled that they ultimately mentored Ben. Learning and growing from every professional relationship is a critical endeavor for Ben– always doing so with an attitude to understand, build and grow professionally.

When not spending time with his wife, kids, and friends relaxing, Ben loves golf, hiking, and exercise.

For many years Ben has served on the board of Crossroads, the largest not-for-profit treatment organization in Arizona for those with drug and or alcohol addiction. Ben currently serves as the Vice Chairman and greatly enjoys working to help forward the critical work this organization does in Arizona.

Learning is just a part of Ben’s DNA. He believes virtually everything is interesting if a person gets deep enough into it. Ben diligently works to understand viewpoints and perspectives of others without judgment to gain understanding even when he disagrees with a person’s position.

Briand is a seasoned executive and dynamic leader with extensive global business management experience. Growing up in the US, Europe and Asia, traveling worldwide for 25 years and living in Asia for the past 8 years, Briand deeply understands how to embrace, understand and flourish both personally and professionally cross-culturally. He is a respected speaker and media expert focusing on how US multi-national companies can bridge the east-west gap for long term success through emotionally intelligent leadership with a global mindset and strong cultural competency.

As ASEAN President, Briand established and led Honeywell’s broad portfolio of businesses across Southeast Asia in alignment with global leadership and Honeywell’s strategic imperative to transform into a software industrial fully embracing the Fourth Industrial Revolution.

Honeywell’s four Strategic Business Groups (SBGs) Aerospace & Transportation, Performance Materials & Technologies, Home & Building Technologies, and Safety & Productivity Solutions supply leading-edge technologies, products, software, services, and solutions across a wide range of industries and markets including aviation, airports, automotive, oil and gas, petrochemical, production process controls, refrigerants, building and home safety & security systems, industrial safety, and business mobility and productivity.

Briand previously served as President, Aerospace Asia-Pacific based in Shanghai, China and was responsible for all aspects of the business across the region. He has more than 25 years of experience in the aerospace industry as a senior leader in both the commercial and defense businesses. Before joining Honeywell in 2002, Briand was co-founder and President of Aerospace Hardware Exchange (AHX), the world’s first online trading marketplace for aerospace commodities. Prior to that, he held various leadership positions at Fairchild Fasteners Inc. and UNC Inc.

As an officer in the U.S. Navy, Briand was a Naval Flight Officer with VS-29 aboard the USS Carl Vinson (CVN-70), a Naval Science professor at Duke University, and a Commander in the Naval Reserve.

He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Political Science and International Affairs from the U.S. Naval Academy, Annapolis, and an MBA from Duke University, Fuqua School of Business. His academic experience includes graduate level management studies at Harvard University and the University of Tennessee.

Graham Greytak has 10 years of experience building private companies and scaling them up. He served in high level sales positions as well as being the Founder and CEO of HireRising, an international staffing company. HireRising is a current 3x Inc5000 award winner for the fastest growing companies in America.

Graham is currently on the Advisory Board for several companies and non-profits.

Graham holds a Bachelor’s Degree from the University of Virginia and a Masters Degree from Barry University. He was also a division 1 scholarship collegiate swimmer. Interests include wellness, golf, and music.

As a professional tennis player, Anne Guerrant won an Australian Open women’s double title and ranked No. 11 in the world. She was also a successful real estate entrepreneur, starting a company in 1976 with her husband, Terry. After nearly three decades buying and selling investments in land, apartments, and “fix and flip” houses, they sold all their real estate and retired in 2005.

As president of the Guerrant Foundation Anne takes no salary, and matches donations up to $100,000 per year. The foundation raises money for programs that help the poorest of the world's poor through small loans to start businesses, and 100 percent of donations made to the Guerrant Foundation are passed through to either Opportunity International, BRAC, or Pro Mujer. Careful due diligence has been done to select these efficient organizations. Additionally, Anne manages a board of advisors and plans several fundraising events for the foundation every year. She has taught personal money management classes to all ages from adults to children in first grade.

Anne has been a feminist since age 16. She is one of the founders of the women's pro tennis tour and the Women's Tennis Association, and counts Billie Jean King among her best friends.

As an executive, Ash Gunderia is the Vice President of Supply Chain and Transformation at Cubic Corporation. In this role, he leads supply chain transformation programs which drive operational and financial improvements at Cubic Corporation.

Prior to Cubic, Ash has held leadership roles in supply chain design and optimization, world-class manufacturing operations, and logistics in global fortune 100 companies such as Honeywell, Medtronic, and DaimlerChrysler. In each of these organizations, he led large global teams, provided strategic leadership, and drove transformation initiatives. Earlier in his career, Ash amassed significant product management, finance and business planning, product design, and development experience, holding leadership positions in retail and automotive industry.

He grew up in India, earned a bachelor’s of technology in mechanical engineering from Indian Institute of Technology Mumbai. He also holds a master’s in mechanical engineering from Drexel University in Philadelphia and an MBA from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.

Ash currently resides in Scottsdale with his family. His personal interests include spending time with his family and friends, and teaching math to middle school and high school students. He leads a very active lifestyle which includes training for long distance running and aerobic exercises.

Mila Henn, MBA, has more than 30 years of operations and supply chain experience across multiple industries, including manufacturing, consumer goods, pharmaceuticals, and healthcare. Her leadership has transformed organizations to deliver improved expense control/reduction, implement technology and robotics for process efficiencies, and has restructured departments to deliver high levels of performance. She has been hand-picked to lead international projects at the Cleveland Clinic, and Manitowoc Cranes based on her ability to work across cultures, disciplines, and management styles.

Additional work experience includes New York Presbyterian Health System, Energizer, and Wyeth. She has a passion for developing professionals to achieve their potential and leads her teams to provide opportunities for career growth. Henn has served in non-profit boards and holds LEAN and Six Sigma certifications. She obtained a B.S. in Microbiology from Indiana University in Bloomington, IN, and a M.B.A in Information Systems from Pace University in New York City.

As a corporate executive at Pitney Bowes Inc, with a career that spanned more than 25 years, Chuck managed numerous business segments and locations with total revenue responsibilities in excess of $340 million.

Chuck joined the organization while still in college as a commercial/government sales executive and received numerous promotions into district, regional and divisional field management. After many years of success in various field operations around the United States, Chuck was promoted to into senior management at Pitney Bowes World Headquarters. In this position as a senior corporate VP, he had responsibility for leading a total restructuring of the 3,500-rep field sales organization. In this transition, he was also responsible for training and automating the entire sales organization with laptop computer systems to ensure improved customer satisfaction, increased productivity, and reduce the corporate cost of sales. Chuck was a dynamic, visionary executive that positioned his organizations for accelerated growth and long-term results. A strong and decisive leader, Chuck had a reputation for motivating employees and delivering unprecedented business results, while promoting diversity and inclusion in his management ranks.

Chuck has served on several nonprofit boards and continues to work toward the education and development of those in his community that need assistance. Now, as a Gallup certified coach, he works with smaller organizations and non-profits to have a positive impact on both their employees, and our communities. As an experienced business leader, Chuck understands the importance and impact of “the manager” in today’s business organizations. Employees in today’s markets want and need a leader that is also a coach that can help them accomplish their life goals.

Chuck holds a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration and Master of Business Administration, from the College of Graduate & Business Management, University of Phoenix. Chuck also attended George Mason University and Babson College, School of Business for Leadership Training.

Chuck embraces the philosophy of Gandhi, “Be the change you wish to see in the world”.

Professor of Practice David Jarvis has over 35 years of multi-industry CIO (Chief Information Officer) experience across a wide range of diverse businesses while living in Europe, SE Asia, and North America. Early in his career, David’s concentration was in software development and business relationship management. He migrated to leadership roles as his career progressed, managing technology organizations, developing strategy, and focusing on organizational development.

David has served on the Executive Advisory Board of the Department of Information Systems at the W. P. Carey Graduate School of Business for over 10 years and was on the advisory board for SAP and an angel investor for a software startup. He holds an MBA from the University of Indianapolis and a bachelor’s degree in computer and information systems from The Ohio State University.

David and his wife have been married for 40 years and have two daughters. He enjoys time with his family, good wine, hiking, golf, scuba diving, fast cars and travel.

Board Roles
AZNext Advisory Board
Thematiks Advisory Board - Software Startup

Industry Positions
Chief Information Officer - Honeywell Aerospace
Senior Vice President, Chief Information Officer - CVS/Caremark
Corporate Vice President, Chief Information Officer - Motorola
Chief Information Officer - General Motors North America VSSM
Vice President, Chief Information Officer - Allied Signal/Honeywell
Director Information Systems - Thomson CE SA (Singapore)
Director Information Systems - Thomson CE SA (France)
Manager Information Systems - General Electric / RCA

Executive Education Courses
AACSB - Bridge Program