StrategyDriven Personal Business Advisors

Nathan Ives MBA, PMP, SRO
Principal

Nathan Ives is a highly successful executive with over twenty years of Energy Industry and consulting experience. As an experienced management consultant, he serves as a trusted advisor to executives and senior managers at dozens of Fortune 500, government, and large regional utilities; helping them define organizational needs and develop and manage the complex, mission critical projects needed to improve operational effectiveness and lower costs. In this role, he leads teams of experienced utility professionals in the design and implementation of integrated fleet asset management processes including strategic asset and resource planning, online and outage work management, engineering change and configuration management, document and records management, and corrective action programs. Nathan’s insights have been quoted by news journalists, published in several well respected periodicals, presented at national conferences, and broadcast internationally via webcast.

Consulting Topics

Experience

Strategy and Planning

Not-for-profit Membership Organization Strategic Planning Lead – managed development and execution of the long-range and annual business plans, $87 million annual budget, and project management programs. Lead executives, managers, and staff in the value-based identification of activities and allocation of personnel and financial resources.

Performance Improvement and Monitoring

Domestic and International Nuclear Plant Operations Assessments Lead – led teams of highly experienced utility personnel in the performance evaluation of over two dozen domestic and international nuclear plants in the areas of normal and emergency plant operations, risk management, managerial decision-making, and organizational alignment. Partnered with utility executives and senior plant managers to devise and implement performance improvement plans.
Power Generation Utility Operational Metrics and Reports Development Lead – advised a team of client utility managers and professionals in the development of a metrics and reports implementation strategy to meet their operational needs and regulatory. Strategy development included identification of needed metrics and reports as well as development of a technology roadmap for their implementation. The metrics and reports strategy supported all nuclear generation business unit functional areas including: online and outage work management, maintenance, design and systems engineering, operations, chemistry, radiation protection, corrective action program, finance, supply chain, human resources, and training.

Operations Management

Management and Leadership

U.S. Nuclear Industry Operations Performance Standards Development – led the U.S. nuclear industry’s effort to redefine performance standards in the areas of organizational alignment, managerial decision-making, plant operations, and risk management; significantly contributing to several publications against which nuclear power plant performance is evaluated including: INPO’s Performance Objectives and Criteria, Principles for Effective Operational Decision-Making, and Guidelines for the Conduct of Operations at Nuclear Power Stations.

Talent Management

Not-for-profit Membership Organization Strategic Personnel Resource Planning Lead – managed development and execution of the long-range personnel resource program. Lead executives, managers, and staff in the identification of company-wide staffing needs and the annual rebalancing of personnel resources.

Publications

Presentations

Risk Assurance Mapping – Charting the Course for Effective Risk Oversight, Ci7 Conference, February 2015
Developing a Risk Assurance Map, Nuclear Oversight Conference, June 2014
Assurance Mapping – Charting the Course for Effective Risk Oversight, The Institute of Internal Auditors, 2013 Governance, Risk, and Control Conference, August 2013
Assurance Mapping – Charting the Course for Effective Risk Oversight, The Institute of Internal Auditors, Audit Executive Center, August 2012
Uncovering unconventional resources, Nuclear Energy Insider, 3rd Annual Nuclear Supply Chain Conference, April 2012
Responding to a Black Swan, Infocast, Post Fukushima Nuclear Safety Conference, December 5, 2011
Improving the Supply Chain – Work Management Interface, Nuclear Energy Insider, 2nd Annual Nuclear Supply Chain Conference, June 2011
Nuclear Renaissance: Making the Business Case for New Nuclear Plants, Deloitte Consulting LLP, November 2009

Education

Qualifications

U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Senior Reactor Operator (SRO) License
U.S. Navy, Chief Nuclear Engineer Officer Qualification
U.S. Navy, Engineering Officer of the Watch Qualification
Institute of Nuclear Power Operations, Senior Operational Focus and Plant Operations Evaluator
Project Management Institute, Project Management Professional (PMP) Certification (2005 – present)
National Academy for Nuclear Training, Event Investigator Certification
University of Houston’s International Institute of Diversity & Cross-Cultural Management Business School, Diversity Management Certificate (2007)
Institute of Management Consultants, Certified Management Consultant (CMC) (2004 – 2007)

Community

Pan-American College Fund Treasurer and Financial Board Member – serves as Treasurer and Financial Board Member of the Pan-American College Fund, offering qualified Americans (people from North, Central, or South America) a fully funded four-year education with minimal requirements for follow-up service. Students from outside the United States are offered an education at participating Colleges and Universities inside the United States. U.S. Citizens can choose from participating Universities throughout Central and South America.
U.S. Nuclear Industry New Nuclear Plant Construction Board Member – served as a member of the Nuclear Energy Institute’s New Nuclear Plant Executive Taskforce and Nuclear Industry Infrastructure Committee in 2005. Worked with industry leaders to develop and implement programs supporting new plant construction.
Kennesaw State University Graduate Student Advisory Board – 2004 member of a committee of university chairs, professors, and past and present graduate students providing program and policy recommendations to the Coles College dean.

Nancy Booth MBA
Director

Nancy Booth is a StrategyDriven Advisory Services Director with over 25 years of Commercial Real Estate and Retail Industry experience. Her experience includes 13 years of internal advisory work within the Commercial Real Estate Industry specializing in finance, accounting, budgeting, cash management, contracts, leases, contractor management, property management, and asset management. Nancy advised the Chief Financial Officer and several senior managers at one of the largest property management firms in the United States in the financial oversight of over one hundred commercial properties. She authored the organization’s pre-audit operational review program, ensuring compliance with financial regulatory requirements and internal standards.

Nancy also has 8 years of entrepreneurial experience owning and managing operations of a bricks and mortar retail store. In this role, she oversaw strategic planning, budgeting, cash management, contracts, inventory management, marketing, customer relationship management, and talent management programs.

Consulting Topics

Strategy and Planning
Performance Improvement and Monitoring
Operations Management

Experience

Strategy and Planning

Assistant Controller – Responsible for the $1 billion commercial property portfolio of a one of the largest property management firms in the United States. Oversaw all financial programs including joint venture accounting, leases, accounts receivables, cash flow management, capital projects, and construction for over one hundred commercial properties. This diverse property portfolio included office towers, malls, hotels, and office buildings.

Performance Improvement and Monitoring

Operational Review Program Leader – Authored a pre-audit operational review program for onsite business financial operations ensuring compliance with regulatory requirements and internal standards. Realized a significant reduction in both internal and external findings.

Operations Management

Lease Management Database Development Lead – Conceived, designed, and led the development of a commercial property lease management database for one of the world’s largest financial institutions. Worked with senior organization leaders throughout the United States to abstract the highly sensitive information from over 1,500 commercial property leases into the information management system providing key executives with the information needed to more effectively manage the entire commercial property portfolio.
Entrepreneurial Business Launch Lead – led the launch of several commercial businesses; including organizational development, legal and financial structuring, and vendor and property management. Collectively, these businesses realized a revenue stream of several million dollars.

Education

Amy Hutchens JD
Executive Corporate Compliance & Ethics Advisor

Amy Hutchens is a StrategyDriven Advisory Services Executive Corporate Compliance & Ethics Advisor with over 15 years of experience practicing law and consulting. Amy assists domestic and international organizations with development of the compliance and ethics infrastructure required by the Federal Sentencing Guidelines, Federal Acquisition Regulations, and other ethics and compliance statutory frameworks. She has developed, implemented, overseen, and managed all aspects of compliance and ethics programs including assessing risk, surveying culture, drafting policies, training employees, developing organizational values, and establishing, monitoring, and investigative protocols to maximize value and effectiveness in how organizations foster ethics and compliance as central to their missions. Amy is admitted to practice before the United States Supreme Court, the United States Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces, and the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, the Commonwealth of Virginia, the state of Tennessee, and the District of Columbia. She previously served as General Counsel and Vice President of Compliance and Ethics Services for Watermark Risk Management International, LLC. Amy also served as a Special Assistant United States Attorney and as an Air Force Judge Advocate.

Consulting Topics

Strategy and Planning
Performance Improvement and Monitoring
Management and Leadership
Talent Management

Experience

Strategy and Planning

Compliance Program Development Lead – established a FAR-required compliance program from its inception, including risk assessment, code of conduct, policies, audit and monitoring protocols, and managing reporting mechanisms for a national engineering and construction firm. Amy shepherded all compliance-related training efforts, directing training resources to high risk compliance topics. Through increased awareness and proactive on-site training, her efforts prevented compliance violations at one location from happening on 26 other job locations

Performance Improvement and Monitoring

Compliance and Ethics Assessment Leader – led the assessment of the compliance and ethics program at a large healthcare organization with three divisions after the new CEO lost confidence in the former Chief Ethics and Compliance Officer. Amy evaluated the health of the program and delivered a report to the Board mapping opportunities for maturation and performance gap closure as well as areas that were functioning at or above best practices. With this report in hand, the Board was able to assign resources to the program in a manner that ensured balanced growth and effectiveness
Compliance Program Consultant – serves as the independent consultant approved by the Department of Homeland Security to assess and provide continuous reporting on the development and progress of the compliance program of a major supplier of security equipment to the Transportation Security Administration

Management and Leadership

Compliance Risk Analysis and Strategic Planning Leader – advised the General Counsel at a publicly traded educational software company, who also served as the Chief Compliance Officer, through a three phase process to identify compliance program gaps, identify and prioritize legal risks, and develop a strategic plan to align resources according to risk thereby maximizing risk mitigation and management

Talent Management

Anti-bribery and Corruption Evaluation Lead – oversaw the assessment of a publicly traded telecommunications company’s anti-bribery and anti-corruption program, including due diligence. Amy evaluated the compliance and ethics program with focus on anti-corruption risks; recommending development and implementation of various controls to mitigate the risks of corruption in global business dealings. Her assistance enabled the client in creating a risk-based approach to due diligence thereby spending less money on background checks and comprehensive due diligence reports on their tens of thousands of third parties around the world

Publications

Compliance Risk Assessment: Getting It Right, Compliance & Ethics Professional, July 2013
Herding Cats: Managing Conflicts of Interest in Federal Contracting, Contract Management Magazine, National Contract Management Association, November 2012
Navigating the Choppy Waters of Corporate Compliance, ABA Business Law, Corporate Counsel Newsletter, March 2012
Wearing Two Hats: The Dual Roles of In-House Counsel and Compliance Officer, Contract Management, National Contract Management Association, February 2012
Pay Now or Pay Later: Wage-and-hour enforcement outlook for 2011, Compliance & Ethics Professional, Society of Corporate Compliance & Ethics, February 2011

Presentations

Education

Community

John Fornicola
Senior Advisor

John Fornicola is a StrategyDriven Advisory Services Senior Advisor with over 40 years of Energy industry and consulting experience. He possess extensive nuclear and power generation experience in the areas of Nuclear Oversight, Quality Assurance, Nuclear Safety Assessment, Business Operations, Change Management, and Nuclear and Environmental Licensing and Regulatory Affairs; having held senior leadership positions in Nuclear Safety Assessment, Nuclear Oversight and Quality Assurance.

Consulting Topics

Strategy and Planning
Performance Improvement and Monitoring
Operations Management
Talent Management
Professional Development

Experience

Strategy and Planning

GPU Vision Facilitator, Team Leader, and Team Coach leading teams of facilitators in the rollout of the company’s Mission and Vision process in preparation for deregulation of its Northeast business.
Led development and company-wide implementation of a new strategic planning process at GPU Nuclear; resulting in significant cost savings at the Three Mile Island and Oyster Creek nuclear plants.

Performance Improvement and Monitoring

General Manager, Nuclear Oversight – Member of the TVA senior executive team, leading a staff of full-time and contract Quality Assurance (QA), Licensing, and Employee Concerns personnel at three nuclear stations and the Corporate Office in the performance of audits and assessments of operational, recovery, and construction related activities
Directed Browns Ferry Unit 1 Re-Start operational performance oversight in preparation for the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s (NRC) Operational Readiness Assessment Team (ORAT) evaluation. Earned an ORAT performance assessment finding indicating that TVA Nuclear’s “performance was consistent with that of current operating reactors, and activities observed demonstrated that adequate controls were used to successfully exhibit readiness for the facility and staff to safely startup and conduct power operations of the Unit 1 facility.”

Operations Management

Developed and implemented a TVA Nuclear Quality Assurance Improvement Plan recognized by a 2006 NIEP Evaluation as strengthening the Nuclear Assurance management team’s capabilities and credibility, creating visible senior leadership commitment, and significantly improving alignment between the oversight staff and TVA Nuclear’s leadership team
Managed the Quality Assurance oversight of the TMI Unit 2 Recovery effort ensuring safe, efficient, and effective defueling, cleanup, and radioactive waste shipment

Management and Leadership

Managed a TVA Corporate group responsible for process improvement, procedure governance, and oversight; document control and records management process ownership and implementation; change management; and implementation and maintenance of the Nuclear Power Group’s Enterprises and Business Application Management process. Vastly improved the TVA Change Management process by developing site leadership and implementation roles and establishing a website including change management tools.

Talent Management

Directed implementation of the GPU Nuclear Safety Culture Survey
Consulting lead for design, development, instructor training, and rollout of a one-day interpersonal skills workshop for the Point Lepreau Nuclear Generating Station management and staff

Presentations

Learning Map Seminars – Our Bridge to the Future and Our Performance Improvement Journey, Tennessee Valley Authority
STAR 7 (Leadership, Team Building & Culture Change) Seminars, Tennessee Valley Authority
Career Transition Workshops, A.J. O’Connor Associates; Manchester, Inc. and Right Management consultants
Stress Management Workshops, A.J. O’Connor Associates
Teamwork & Leadership Program, Waterbury Co. Inc.
Teamwork & Leadership Seminars, GPU Nuclear

Education

Qualifications

Topics

Centers

Resources

Podcasts