Transitions Faculty

The Transitions Institute is a "virtual organization". The faculty is comprised of a group of experts, almost all of whom are past or present clients of the Institute and have gone through the Transitions Process.

They each bring a unique expertise to the field of personal and professional / organizational transitions.

David lives in Dallas, Texas with his family where, as the Founder and CEO of Transitions Institute, Inc., he specializes in consulting to organizations and coaching individuals, executives, and entrepreneurs on communication, strategy development and maximizing productivity and growth.

TII’s technology is designed to enhance an individual organization’s ability to break with traditional methods and approaches by creating environments in which individuals and groups can safely and powerfully develop organizational skills that inspire and move people to action.

Dr. Zelman received his Masters and Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin, Madison in 1976. Drawing upon 20 years of clinical and consulting experience, David is a dynamic and provocative speaker. He has trained or coached in excess of 20,000 individuals and has worked with hundreds of corporations.

His unique approach to fully expressing one’s humanity has empowered people to step beyond what is predictable and create truly extraordinary lives.

In the last decade, he has begun to explore the concept of "Master Teaching". After completing the Transitions Program with Dr. Zelman, he developed, and received a trade mark, for a new technology, the Commitment Compass™, and together with Dr. Zelman, has created a series of courses based on this tool. Last year, he began Borealis Institute, an innovative education and consulting organization.

Dr. Bell believes that when we act on behalf of our authentic commitments, we can achieve extraordinary results and realize sustainable joy and satisfaction.

Lori Darley began her work in the field of personal and professional coaching over twenty years ago. Her multi-faceted career has taken her into successful leadership roles around the world in the arts, business and higher education. She has spent two decades developing specialized training techniques to assist her clients in reaching their highest levels of physical, interpersonal and creative expression.

Currently serving on the faculty of the Dallas based Transitions Institute, Lori provides a unique specialization in communication skills, leadership training and relationship coaching. Using a caring and individualized process to identify and expand on each person’s unique characteristics, Lori partners with her clients to achieve breakthrough thinking and overcome life’s challenges. She has partnered with individuals from all walks of life: from managers, entrepreneurs and artists to leaders in non-profit organizations, advertising, financial planning, management consulting and commercial real estate.

And her clients have seen concrete results:

• in business: creating organizational vision, creative and strategic planning, development, leadership skills

• in relationships: identifying personal communication styles, removing emotional roadblocks, and eliminating defeating behaviors

Along with her expertise in one-on-one coaching, Lori is experienced in public speaking and group presentations to the hi-tech, investment/finance and non-profit industries, as well as numerous professional associations. She pursued Bachelor of Science studies at Northwestern University in Evanston, IL and completed both undergraduate and graduate degrees at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas. She has also done extensive coursework with Landmark Education and the NLP Center.

Mr. van Merkensteijn is the Managing Director and President of RA Investments LLC a boutique Investment Banking firm. He is also the Managing Director of Highway Internet LLC, a privately held venture capital firm, a founder and Director of I-Behavior, Inc., a direct marketing database firm, and is a principal of Atlantic Capital LLC, an investment firm based in the U.S. Virgin Islands.

Mr. van Merkensteijn has been an investment banker and attorney for over 35 years. He was a founder and partner of Evans & van Merkensteijn and was of Counsel to, and a partner of, Coudert Brothers, (New York) and a founding partner of Gottesman, Evans & van Merkensteijn, (London). He is currently of counsel to Lerner & Miller.

Mr. Miller is CEO of Atlantic Capital, LLC, a private fund management and wealth advisory firm based in St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands. He is also a Director of Crown World Services Ltd. and RA Investments LLC.

For the past 25 years, Mr. Miller has been an investment banker, venture capital investor and advisor to a number of businesses, based in London, Hong Kong and New York. Mr. Miller began his career at Citibank New York and subsequently was instrumental in the establishment of International Marine, the merchant bank of Marine Midland in London, where he was responsible for the bank's international equity investments. He subsequently established private merchant banking and wealth management businesses in London, Hong Kong, and New York for a small group of high net worth families.

Most recently, as Managing Director of Crown Capital Corporation, he was instrumental in the establishment of a new insurance company in Bermuda and its investment program.

June Penick is a private coach for corporations and individual professionals, working for over twenty years throughout Europe and America to help them achieve their personal and professional goals She now maintains a private practice as an Intuitive Consultant in New York City, working with clients in film, banking, medicine, the media, psychology, real estate and corporate sales. She is actively sought as an expert on intuition, healing, and transformation and has been a keynote speaker and lecturer alongside such well-known authors as Dr. Wayne Dyer, Dr. Barbara DeAngelis and Neale Donald Walsh. Most recently she completed a year-long assignment as the Chief Intuitive Officer for a start up company, assisting the Board and CEO on key decisions and coaching them on bringing their own intuitive power to the business. June brings her extraordinary energy and contagious inner joy to everyone with whom she comes in contact. She helps clients achieve a heightened state of awareness that leads them to make decisions based on right thinking to accelerate their personal and professional growth.

June Penick has been a featured guest on a variety of television talk shows including The Today Show, Good Morning America and People Are Talking. She has lectured to thousands at a number of business and wellness conferences throughout America and Europe and has been regularly invited to speak about personal healing and intuitive development at large bookstores including Borders and Barnes & Nobles

TESTIMONIALS
June was like a submarine captain who yells, "Dive. Dive!" One second you're gliding along the surface, the next you're hitting depths you didn't know existed. Thank you, June! I'm a better, deeper writer because of you.
John Peaslee
TV Writer/Producer

In one hour June gave me invaluable advice that set me on the right path with tremendous confidence. She got to the core of my issues and was incredibly perceptive. A fascinating woman, one in a million!
Nicola Price
Executive Coach & President, Nicola Price and Associates

For more information on June Penick and her work, go to: www.4intuition.com

Mr. Lerner is a Managing Director of Crown Capital Group, Inc., a private investment company located in New York City. From 1983 to 1996, he was a senior tax partner at O'Melveny & Myers LLP specializing in domestic and international tax planning. His work with O'Melveny involved foreign and domestic mergers and acquisitions of U.S. and foreign companies, intercompany pricing matters and financing. In addition, he represented several domestic and foreign motion picture companies in connection with the acquisition and financing of entertainment product.

He is a graduate of Claremont McKenna College and Harvard Law School. He is a member of the New York and California Bar Associations. He is a member of the Board of Directors of Imperial Credit Industries, Inc., Franchise Mortgage Acceptance Corporation, and Boss Holdings, Inc.

Larry J. Leon received his MBA from The University of Texas in the Honors Business Program. He started his real estate career in the retail division of Henry S. Miller Companies in 1972. In 1977, he went to work for Atherton Industries, a major apparel division of Lucky Stores, where he first began looking at real estate from a major tenant’s perspective.

After six years in corporate real estate, and armed with the knowledge gained from representing one of the toughest deal-making tenants in the country, he started the first firm in Dallas/Fort Worth specializing in retail tenant representation. The company was immediately successful; representing many national and local firms, and was invited to join Chain Links, the premier network of tenant representative firms throughout the U.S.

In 1991, Mr. Leon merged his firm with United Commercial Realty. During the next four years, he assisted in creating one of the dominant full-service real estate companies in Dallas.

Having started his own firm again, Mr. Leon is President of Leon & Associates, Inc. a full service retail real estate brokerage and development company. Mr. Leon represents select tenants such as Whole Foods Market, Williams Sonoma/Pottery Barn, Sterling Jewelry, Sprint, and Tower Records. "We have had a remarkable track record of picking winners (profitable locations) with great consistency for our clients, while maintaining a reputation for the utmost integrity." In addition Mr. Leon was involved in the leasing and development process for West Village, an upscale, innovative, mixed-use urban retail and multifamily development in Uptown Dallas.

Mr. Leon is also a lover of the visual and performing arts, and a strong believer in the impact of art upon adults and children alike. "My life goal is the enrichment of community and enhanced quality of life for us all. By being responsible custodians of our real estate, natural and artistic resources, we can provide people wonderful places to work, shop, live and play." Mr. Leon participates in various professional and community organizations, including the International Council of Shopping Centers, Social Venture Network, The Dallas Museum of Art, Friends of Contemporary Arts, Business for Social Responsibility, Young Audiences and Renaissance Weekend.

Lewis M. Pincus, D.O. is a board-certified specialist in internal medicine, and is on staff at Medical Center at Lancaster and at Charlton Methodist Hospital. For twenty years, he has been teaching the public and physicians about lifestyle changes and wellness. Dr. Pincus’ traditional medical training in primary care has expanded to include expertise in healthful nutrition, weight loss, and human potential development.

Dr. Pincus’ engaging and humorous speaking style encourages people to "lighten up" and have fun while regaining control of their health and their lives.

His work in the area of weight loss, and his ability to teach and inspire, has resulted in his being the number one physician-speaker nationwide for Abbott Laboratory's successful weight loss medication, Meridia. Dr. Pincus also reports on health and wellness-related topics for CBS Television in the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex. He has been a guest on "Good Morning, Texas!" as well has having been a guest lecturer on several occasions at the Cooper Clinic in Dallas. His articles on health and well-being are widely read and published in the Dallas/Ft. Worth metroplex.

Dr. Pincus travels throughout the country promoting his message of personal wellness through the restoration of mind, body, and spirit. Recently he completed three highly successful presentations on wellness for Exxon Mobile Corporate Offices in Dallas and Houston.

Al Zdenek is president of Zdenek Financial Planning, Inc., a boutique firm that works exclusively with affluent individuals, including senior executives and business owners in the areas of personal financial planning and investment management.