An advisor to business owners, executive coach and public speaker,  Jim Jackson is President and CEO of the Essex Group, a regional business consultancy celebrating its 36th year of service.  He helps clients maximize their potential by sharpening their vision, strategy and goals.  Clients engage Jim and his firm to ease the process of adapting to challenges and change. They build vision, focus, clarity and consensus, achieving new levels of business and personal performance as a result.

Jim's 50+ years of diversified business experience range from a high-tech startup to serving as a Fortune 300 division general manager, giving him a rare insight into the balances that must be struck in a successful enterprise.  His clients cover the economic spectrum including: business & trade associations, not-for-profit, healthcare, retail, banking, transportation, insurance, news & broadcast media, professional and personal services, software development, petroleum & chemicals, agriculture, education, commercial real estate, yacht brokerage, government agencies and manufacturing.

Jim is a regular speaker for businesses and associations on a variety of professional development topics.  He is author or co-author of a number of development programs, including Compete to Win!, Advanced Selling "Secrets", and A Lifetime of Learning.  He co-designed and facilitates the Side Street to Main Street minority business and leadership development program.  This program, sponsored by the Middlesex County Chamber of Commerce, has won multiple awards from the Middlesex County NAACP, the U.S. Small Business Administration and the Connecticut Economic Resource Center over its twenty-two-year history.

In addition, Jim serves on the boards or advisory councils of several business, civic and charitable organizations and founded the Connecticut Skilled Trades Coalition for Vocational Education; a voice for small manufacturers advocating for workforce development programs.  Jim served as a moderator for the Connecticut state and northeast regional meetings of the White House Conference on Small Business.  He lives in Westbrook with his wife, Isabel, who is also an active principal in their consulting practice.  Jim is a graduate of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and the Management Development Program at Rensselaer at Hartford.

Isabel Jackson joined The Essex Group in 1999 and is their Vice President & CFO.  She has worked as a nurse in physician's offices, hospitals, urgent care centers, home health care and long term care facilities as well as an administrative assistant in manufacturing offices and the industrial field.  Isabel brings her knowledge of working with a wide range of people in many different situations to the firm.

Isabel develops programs in customer service, telephone etiquette, business etiquette, developing your brand and setting goals that your customers will value.  She coaches people on how to make work more effective, keep your customers coming back and competing with other businesses.  Isabel enjoys motivating people and making sure work is an enjoyable place every day.

David Bohy is President of Organizational Solutions, Inc. and is of counsel to The Essex Group having previously served as a Senior Associate and Vice President for over 20 years.  He is widely recognized as an expert in organizational development, strategic planning and human resource management.  He has provided consulting services to a variety of organizations, including health care, long term care, human services, manufacturing, business services, and insurance.  Prior to his consulting career, he served as a senior executive in the healthcare and technology industries.

David completed the Executive Development Program at Harvard University.  He has taught in the management programs at Harvard University/Radcliffe College, Clark and Bryant Universities.  He is Certified as a Senior Professional in Human Resources (SPHR) by the Human Resource Accreditation Institute.  He has served on the boards of multiple community and professional organizations, including chairing the board of a long-term care company.

Thomas Abbott, Senior Associate, is an accomplished consultant and speaker with special emphasis in manufacturing, organizational development, leadership, and change management issues.  He has worked with organizations as diverse as manufacturers, software developers, labor unions, and government.

Tom's background includes various operational assignments as construction project management and industrial market research.  He has held extensive experience in managing venture capital relationships, negotiation and structuring of international joint ventures and implementation of financial controls.

His professional experience as a senior financial executive includes controller positions in organizations ranging from small entrepreneurial companies to a major division of a Fortune 250 corporation.  Tom's responsibilities in these positions have included all controllership and treasury functions as well as extensive responsibilities in human resources management and information systems.

Tom is also Managing Director of the Essex Management Center, which for many years has provided leading edge management programs for clients around the world, especially senior executives from businesses in the developing world.

Mr. Abbott served as Program Chair in Business Administration at Post University in Waterbury, CT and still coaches varsity tennis there.  He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in economics from Boston College, a Master of Business Administration degree from the Katz Graduate School of Business at the University of Pittsburgh and an EdD from Creighton University.