GLS Worldwide | Our Leadership

Michael Abrashoff

Mike Abrashoff is at the center of one of the most celebrated success stories in turnaround leadership.

At the age of 36, the Navy selected Mike to become Commander of USS Benfold - at the time, the most junior commanding officer in the Pacific Fleet. The immediate challenges that faced him were staggering: Exceptionally low morale with unacceptably high turnover. Few thought that this ship could improve. In many ways, the USS Benfold was actually an extreme example of the same problems facing many organizations today.

The solution was to establish a system of management techniques that Mike calls The Leadership Roadmap. At the core of his leadership approach on Benfold was a process of replacing command and control with commitment and cohesion, and by engaging the hearts, minds, and loyalties of workers - with conviction and humility. "The most important thing that a captain can do is to see the ship through the eyes of the crew." According to Mike, The Leadership Roadmap is a practice that empowers every individual to share the responsibility of achieving excellence. "It's your ship," he was known to say. His former sailors to this day still remind him of it.

By every measure, these principles were able to achieve breakthrough results. Personnel turnover decreased to an unprecedented 1 percent. The rate of military promotions tripled, and the crew slashed operating expenses by 25 percent. Regarded as the finest ship in the Pacific Fleet, Benfold won the prestigious Spokane Trophy for having the highest degree of combat readiness.

Mike recounted the leadership lessons from his turnaround of USS Benfold in It's Your Ship, a New York Times and Wall Street Journal Best Seller, with over 800,000 copies sold to date.

Prior to commanding USS Benfold, Mike served as the Military Assistant to the Secretary of Defense, the Honorable Dr. William J. Perry. He also helped draft the air defense plan for naval forces in the Persian Gulf in 1990, coinciding with Iraq's invasion of Kuwait; and served as the Executive Officer of the Cruiser Shiloh, where he deployed to the Persian Gulf in support of United Nations sanctions against Iraq.

George A. Metanias

George has over 20 years of consulting and coaching experience working with organizations in the areas of leadership and talent strategies.

George specializes in several areas including leadership, management, business development, strategic planning and talent assessments. He is certified to administer and interpret DISC, Motivators and Hartman assessment tools.

Prior to consulting and coaching, in addition to various management roles, George was involved in a number of start-ups and turnarounds with diverse leadership positions ranging from Director of Operations to President. The experienced gained during those years has allowed George to understand the many issues and challenges leaders face within organizations. This understanding coupled with his ability to quickly build trust with his clients has made him a sought after adviser among many organizations. Some of the clients George has worked with include General Mills, Red Robin Restaurants, Apex Systems, TransUnion, The Mosaic Company, Toyota and Dell.

Currently, George is CEO of GLS Worldwide, a leadership and talent consulting firm founded with Mike Abrashoff, author of the book It’s Your Ship, a business best seller. The message of GLS is a simple one - the greatest opportunity for every organization to improve performance is to create a culture and way of doing business where people are engaged and act as owners and empowered contributors. This focus is captured in The Leadership Roadmap, a leadership philosophy that provides 5 key milestones to becoming an effective leader and guides our coaching and consulting client engagements.

George received his undergraduate degree from DePaul University in Chicago, Illinois and his Juris Doctor from the University of Miami – School of Law in Coral Gables, Florida. He is an avid mountain biker and skier. He has two sons, and a daughter and currently lives with his wife and children in Denver, Colorado.

Fernando Caramazana – Boston, MA

Fernando is a consultant, trainer, and executive coach specializing in organizational and individual development.

He has considerable management consulting and group facilitation experience. His areas of expertise include leadership development, customer contact and interpersonal skills, process improvement, sales effectiveness, and team development. He is also experienced in the design and delivery of standard and custom seminars, focus groups, diagnostics, and presentations.

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Fernando has served on the leadership and management development faculties of ExxonMobil, Merck, DuPont, Deloitte, EDS, State Street Bank, Pratt & Whitney, SC Johnson, UPS and The Messer Group.

For the past 25 years he has worked with various clients including The Forum Corporation of North America and Europe, The Crossland Group, The Mind Gym, Change Masters International, The Beacon Consulting Group, Results By Design and Leapfrog Innovations, Genzyme, Biogen Idec, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Sara Lee Industries, Fast Food Merchandisers, Pegasystems, Inroads, and the Boston Public Schools. The World Bank, AT&T, IBM, Pfizer, The Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, GE Capital, Kaiser Permanente, FDIC, Duke Energy, Citibank, Delta Airlines, Fidelity Investments, Occidental Petroleum, Prudential, Delphi Automotive Systems, EMC, Vanguard, and Texas Instruments.

Internationally, Fernando has delivered training and provided consulting services to Serono Laboratories, Starwood Hotels' Europe and Middle East/Africa Divisions, The Messer Group (Germany), Philip Morris Latin America, DuPont Mexico, The National Bank of Mexico, SOCMA of Argentina, Irving Oil Canada, and ICI Paints Asia. He has worked with organizations in such diverse areas of the world as The People's Republic of China, Latin America, India, the Middle East, Europe, Japan, and Southeast Asia.

Fernando's training career began during college when he delivered science lectures at Boston's Museum of Science. He also worked as a liaison with community groups in their production of local cable video programs; and co-produced instructional public affairs programs at WBZ-TV in Boston. He has also worked with the Boston Leadership Academy as a facilitator for the public schools systems, coaching and consulting with parents, teachers and administrators.

Fernando holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Mass Communication and Speech from Emerson College. He is a graduate of The Boston Latin School.

Curt Engelmann – Atlanta, GA

Curt has over 25 years of corporate and consulting human resources management experience, having been both a consulting principal and a Human Resources executive in several large national organizations.

Curt has extensive experience in the use of assessments for the selection and development of employees and is certified in the use of the Behavioral, Motivational and Thinking Style assessment tools, including the Myers Briggs Type Indicator.

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Previously, Curt was a Vice President with Onward Healthcare, where he led the Advisory Services Practice in providing staffing cost management services to healthcare clients specifically dealing with the nursing shortage. Mr. Engelmann is considered an industry expert and has been recognized in publications of the Washington, D.C. based Advisory Board Company as a significant contributor to their leading practice research.

Prior to joining Onward Healthcare, Mr. Engelmann served as a Principal in the Atlanta office of Ernst & Young LLP, where he developed and led the firm's Recruitment and Retention Consulting Practice. During his tenure with E&Y, Curt also served as a local and national leader for the People Advantage Practice. While at Ernst & Young, Curt served as interim Vice President of Human Resources for two healthcare systems, where he managed Human Resources department turnarounds.

Before joining Ernst & Young, Mr. Engelmann was a Principal in the Tampa office of Mercer Human Resources Consulting, where he developed the firm's first Compensation and Performance Management Practice in the Florida marketplace. While at Mercer, Curt served on the National Compensation Practice Group, which was responsible for leading the development of the practice.

Curt's corporate experience includes fifteen years with the General Mills Restaurant Group (currently Darden Restaurants, Inc.), where he was instrumental in developing the Compensation and Benefits functions during a period when the company grew from 3,000 to 42,000 employees. In his last position, Vice President of Compensation and Benefits, Curt was responsible for Compensation, Benefits, HRIS, Payroll, Employee Relocations and Personnel Records.

Mr. Engelmann holds a Masters of Science degree in Management from Rollins College, a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration from the University of Denver, and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics from Lake Forest College.

Steve Garrett – Chicago, IL

Steve brings a broad range of leadership development consulting, Facilitation & executive coaching experience from a variety of organizations and professional service firms for over 25 years.

Previously, Steve served as Recruiting Coordinator for the Amoco Corporation Human Resources Department. He also held positions as Career Counselor with Indiana University's Business Placement Office and as Financial Auditor and Executive Search Consultant with Ernst & Young.

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