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CEO Stress Project

"How do very successful, highly visible business leaders manage the enormous pressures of their jobs AND sustain an enjoyable personal life and good health?"

That question has become my mission and the inspiration for the CEO Stress Project - a national study conducted by MHK Coaching.

How do successful business people address the pressures they feel every day? Simply put, they are the superstars of managing stress - the experts on how to deal with competing pressures. As noted in a Wall Street Journal article that featured my stress management coaching, high level managers are the white collar athletes of the corporate world.

Whether you aspire to be a company executive or to build a successful small business, or you've already achieved these milestones, there's always something to be learned from successful leaders. They're models and mentors for anyone aspiring to improve their capacity to manage stress.

The CEO Stress Project: Sharing Strategies That Work

The purpose of the CEO Stress Project has been to identify and share the most effective strategies used by these masters of stress management. For the past few years I've been interviewing CEOs and other high level executives in a range of businesses and organizations.

Prospective participants were identified through self-referral or by the recommendation of someone who knew them. Each executive was interviewed by telephone for 45-minutes. The interviews consisted of specific questions but allowed for open-ended replies. The questions addressed the issues that are most in keeping with the mission of MHK Coaching. The interviews were tape recorded and transcibed.

The interviewing phase is complete with a total of 62 participants. Though I am no longer seeking participants, I am open to interviewing more people as the opportunity arises.

Participants in the CEO Stress Project

The following is a partial list of participants consisting of those who have explicitly given their permission to make their participation public. Company information listed first is what it was for each person at the time of the interview. Current information, when available, is at the end of the listing.

The total number of participants was 62.

Tom Beerntsen, President & CEO, Heritage YMCA Group.

George Bodenheimer, President, ESPN, Inc. and ABC Sports; Co-chairman, Disney Media Networks.

Marilou Bova, President, BOVA International Inc.

Robert Castle, M.S., SPHR, Senior Director of Human Resources, Woodbourne Center, Inc.

Chris Coile, Founder & Chairman of the Board, Champion Realty, Inc.

Jon Coile, President & CEO, Champion Realty, Inc.

Gabriel Goncalves, President & CEO, PeopleAnswers, Inc.; Co-founder of HomeTracker software; founded, built, and sold Erapmus, Inc.; served on the international board of the Entrepreneurs Organization.

Howard Cruse, Superintendent of Schools, Indian Prairie CUSD 204, Naperville, Illinois.

Tom Darrow, Principal, Talent Connections, LLC.

Jon Davis, Director of Texas Operations, MATRIX Resources, Inc.

Brad DeVries, President & CEO, HomeServices of Kentucky (dba Semonin Realtors & Rector-Hayden Realtors).

Carolyn B. Elman, CEO, American Business Women's Association; Speaker & facilitator for groups discussing issues affecting women; partnered with an Executive Exchange think tank to identify issues affecting women-owned businesses

Jon Feld, CEO, Navigator Systems, Inc. Named to Inc. 500 list 5 successive years; member of the Inc. 500 Hall of Fame; rated as one of the 25 best Small Companies to Work for in America by SHRM and GPTW .

F. Carter Heim, CPA, President, HeimLantz, Professional Corporation. Past President of the Maryland Association of CPAs.

Bill Hickman, President, The Gyst Group; Keynote Speaker; Trainer.

Tom Hood, CPA, Executive Director & CEO MACPA; Previous positions include: Past President of MACPA; Treasurer and CFO of Bryn Awel Corporation, Accounting Systems Manager at RTKL Associates, Inc.

Jim Huling, President & CEO, MATRIX Resources, Inc., rated as one of the 25 best Small Companies to Work for in America by SHRM and GPTW; awarded the Turknett Leadership Character Award; Keynote Speaker.

Gary Jobson, President & CEO, Josbson Sailing, Inc. World class sailor, television commentator, lecturer, author, winner of the America's Cup with Ted Turner.

Ed Kelley, CPA, CFE, CFO, Boys and Girls Clubs of Annapolis.

Ann Kottcamp, CEO, Pharmaceutical Research Plus. Currently, she is the founder and owner of Argonauta Communications, Inc.

Clarke Langrall, Jr. President, Forecast Strategic Advisors.

Alan E Leis, Ed.D., Superintendent of Schools, Naperville CUSD 203, Naperville IL.

Patricia Lynch, Founder & CEO, Women's Online Media and Education Network and Editor-in-Chief of WomensRadio and WomensCalendar. She was the first woman to begin an advertising agency single-handedly in the South; listed in the World's Who's Who of Women,the International Who's Who, and Strathmore's Who's Who. Speaker.

Barry Melancon, CPA, M.B.A., President & CEO, American Institute of CPAs.

Philip Merril, Publisher of the Capital-Gazette newspapers and Washingtonian Magazine; philanthropist; formerly Assistant Secretary-General of NATO in Brussels; Special Assistant to the Deputy Secretary of State; member of the Department of Defense Policy Board; President of the Export-Import Bank of the United States.

Hala Moddelmog, President & CEO, Susan G. Komen for the Cure Foundation; former Fortune 500 executive; founder & CEO of Catalytic Ventures; first woman in corporate America to lead an international QSR brand in 1995 when she was named president of Church's Chicken.

Thomas B. Modly, M.B.A., Deputy Under Secretary of Defense (Financial Management).

Emory Mulling, Founder & Chairman, The Mulling Corporation. Fellow of the Inter-national Board for Career Management; past president of the Society for Human Resource Management-Atlanta Chapter, recipient of its "Lifetime Achievement Award."

David Nour, M.B.A. Founder & Managing Partner, The Nour Group, Inc. Named to Georgia Trend's 40 Under 40, Atlanta Business Chronicle's Up and Coming and Who's Who in Atlanta Technology Awards.

Lynn Osborne, M.B.A., Founder & President, AD Management Insights, LLC. Awards from: APEX, Clarion, Communicators, MarCom, and AWC Excellence.

Aadil B. Palkhivala, is the founder of Purna Yoga™, Founder-Director of Yoga Centers™ in Bellevue, Washington, and The College of Purna Yoga. He is the President and Founder of Eastern Essence™organic Indian food company and President and CEO of The Innerworks Company™. He is the author of Fire of Love: Teaching the Essence of Yoga, a federally-certified Naturopath, a certified Ayurvedic Health Practitioner, and holds degrees in law, physics and mathematics. Aadil is a world renowned speaker, writer and teacher on yoga, yoga philosophy and alternative health care.

Mike Pappas, President, The Keyes Company, Real Estate-Mortgage-Title; Incoming YPO International Chairman 2007-2008;recognized as Real Estate "Up and Comer of the Year" by Price Waterhouse and South Florida magazine.

Ron Peltier, CEO, Home Services of America, Inc.; CEO, Edina Realty; Chief real estate strategist for Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway team; Honored with RIS Media’s first annual Homeownership Person of the Year Award; ranked number one on REALTOR® Magazine’s list of the real estate industry’s top 25 most influential people; named by a REAL Trends survey as one of the top five most admired individuals in the real estate industry.

Pamela Pine, Ph.D., MPH, Founder & CEO, Stop The Silence: Stop Child Sexual Abuse. International public health and health communication specialist and current Project Director for a positive development and coca prevention communication and education program in Ecuador with Constella Futures, the international health unit of Constella Group. Dr. Pine has been working for 30 years globally addressing some of the most challenging health and communication issues in the world today.

J. Clarke Price, CAE, President & CEO, Ohio Society of CPAs. Recognized by Accounting Today magazine as one of the 100 most influential people in the accounting profession in the United States and by Accounting Technology magazine as one of nine technology superstars in the CPA profession; first non-CPA to chair an AICPA committee; past President of the Ohio Society of Association Executives.

Mary Lou Quinlan, CEO, Just Ask a Woman, Author, "Time Off for Good Behavior, How Hardworking Women Can Take a Break and Change Their Lives. Awarded "Woman of the Year" from Advertising Women of New York, "Matrix Award" from New York Women in Communications;" Speaker.

E. Clarke Ross, D.P.A., CEO, CHADD. Over 30 years as an executive, including: Deputy Executive Director for Public Policy at the National Alliance on Mental Health; Executive Director at the American Managed Behavioral Healthcare Association; Assistant Executive Director for Federal Relations; Deputy Executive Director at the National Association of State Mental Health Program Directors; Director of Governmental Activities at the United Cerebral Palsy Associations.

Charles W. Sawyer, Jr., Managing partner, Meridian Financial Resources, Certified Estate Planner.

Linda Schuett, Esq. County Attorney for Anne Arundel County, Maryland.

Chip Schuneman, President, Kaplan IT Learning, Inc.

Paul Silber,Ph.D., President, CEO & Founder, In Vitro Technologies, Inc., Winner of Maryland's International Business Leadership Award and Entrepreneur of the Year Award for High Technology; Baltimore Business Journal's "40 under 40 top business people and "Who's Who in Technology;" Washington Techway's "Top 10 Bosses;" Greater Baltimore Committee's Leadership in Bioscience Award; the University of Baltimore Distinguished Entrepreneurship Award.

Mike Skarr, President & CEO, Naperville Area Chamber of Commerce.

Martha A. Smith, Ph.D. President, Anne Arundel Community College; one of The Daily Record's “2003 Power Elite” and Maryland’s Top 100 Women.

Philip L. Soucy, Co-President & CEO, Modern Technology Solutions, Inc.

Dawn M. Sweeney, President & CEO, AARP Services, Inc.

Susan Torroella, President & CEO, Columbia MedCom Group. Awarded “2004 Best Boss” by FORTUNE Small Business Magazine and Winning Workplaces; Named a Finalist for the Ernst and Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award.

Donald E. Treinen, Co-President of Alliance Plus, Inc.; past Co-Executive Director of the Alliance for Employee Growth & Development, Inc.; Published author in four books on training, education, and partnerships. Certified skilled facilitator through the international Association of Facilitators.

Patricia H. Troy, CAE, Founder & President, FacetsWoman, Inc. Honors: Baltimore's Top 100 Women, ABWA Top 10 Women in Business.

Al Verrechia, CEO, Hasboro, Inc.

Clinton Wingrove, CEO & Principal Consultant, Pilat HR Solutions.

Jeffrey Winter, Commander, United States Navy, Commanding Officer, VFA 113 Stingers, FA-18C squadron.

Ronald D. Wynne, PhD., ABPP, President, Washington Assessment & Therapy Services, Inc.

Publications Reporting The Findings of The CEO Stress Project

My upcoming book based on the project is tentatively titled, Staying Cool In The Executive Hot Seat: Strategies From The CEO Stress Project. It will provide a report with anecdotes capturing how the participants manage their pressures, and guidelines for the reader to develop the necessary skills so they can optimize their performance at work. It is expected to be published in 2010.