Our Team
Our Academic Grounding
Peter Finkelstein completed his residency in psychiatry and a post-doctoral fellowship at the Stanford University Medical Center. His pivot from private practice to consulting two decades ago was most informed by the Leading Change and Organizational Renewal executive training program at Stanford and Harvard, for which Peter is a faculty member. The Upstart Logic team has extensive graduate training in business, psychology, education, and several other fields.
Our Sources
Our work is based on the most up-to-date thinking by authorities in the business world. Regarding effective teams, we look to William Dyer (BYU), Richard Hackman (HBS), and Amy Edmondson (HBS). The work of Michael Tushman (HBS), and Charles O’Reilly (GSB, Stanford) inform our work with alignment, innovation, leadership, and culture. For organizational development approaches, we look to Edgar Schein (MIT).
Consultants
Jen Grace Baron, MAAP
Jen Grace Baron is the co-CEO and Chief Growth Officer of InspireCorps, a strategic partner to Upstart Logic. Prior to founding InspireCorps, Jen had the opportunity to grow teams and help lead large-scale initiatives in companies such as eBay, Hewlett Packard and Johnson & Johnson. Jen is passionate about breaking through to the next level of performance and fulfillment with client partners.
Jennifer Pietrzak Carlson, MBA
Jennifer Pietrzak Carlson specializes in the people side of business—human resources and organizational development.In a career spanning more than 30 years, she’s developed a unique blend of leadership experience in organizations of varying sizes and from diverse industries. She’s known for her deep understanding of how people processes and organizational strategy intersect.
Kathryn Ford, MD
Doctor Ford’s work with teams and organizations features her Aperture approach to achieving dialogue for thinking and learning collaboratively. Questions and challenges are valued catalysts to moving toward success. Diversity and differences are opportunities for creativity. She received her M.D. from Brown University Medical School and did her psychiatry residency at The Stanford School of Medicine.
Matthew Haradon, MA
For the past 30 years Matt Haradon has worked in HR leadership positions in media and tech, both in the US and abroad. Matt served as CHRO at the Wargaming Group, an award-winning developer and publisher of military strategy games based in Cyprus. He was also Vice President of HR at The New York Times. His primary interest is increasing congruence between company strategy, the executive decision-making process, and HR. He has coached CEO’s and leadership teams in planning for and navigating disruptive market change. Matt has an MA in Organization Leadership from Teachers College at Columbia University.
Charla Hayden, MA
For decades Charla Hayden’s work life has been characterized by serving in a variety of internal leadership, teaching, and external organizational consulting roles. Her particular interests focus on health care delivery, education, and public service systems. Her approach uses a whole systems perspective, meaning that no organization exists in isolation and that understanding mutual influences matters.
Marilynne Kanter, PhD
Drawing on forty years of experience as a psychoanalyst, teacher, and behavioral consultant, Marilynne Kanter, PhD, steers leaders past barriers and unproductive patterns of engagement that impede their work with teams and organizations. Her particular expertise is in helping leaders understand that the same drives and attributes that propelled them into leadership positions can later hamper their ability to trust and delegate. Marilynne will help guide leaders to an emerging awareness of the dual nature of these attributes, and this will enable leaders to respond to problems and opportunities by reflecting and then communicating with their teams.
Donna Lesch
Donna Lesch has over 25 years of experience in human resources and consulting. Serving as a strategic change agent, she partners with CEO’s, executive teams, and board members to identify roadblocks, simplify overly complex processes and design healthy cultures that are resilient to change, with the flexibility to grow and thrive amidst uncertainty.
Kevin McCarthy, PhD
Kevin McCarthy’s work is focused on helping leaders and teams build their capacity for change. After a 20 year career in higher education, his passion focuses on how diverse teams generate insight and aligned commitment to change. He coaches leaders and teams to learn through insight into self, team, and system dynamics.
Peter Ways, M.Ed.
Peter Ways has worked as a liaison between philanthropists and schools, as an organizational development coach with both schools and businesses, and as a political campaign manager. From classroom teaching to managing a billion-dollar capital improvement project, Peter has served at every level of K-12 education. Peter’s consulting work is two step: problem clarification and solution building.
Upstart Logic, Inc.
15 Tambourine Lane, Little Compton, Rhode Island 02837
650.400.8108 • peter@upstartlogic.com