Compassion Happens
The Executive Team
Jerry Conti, Founder, CEO and Chairman of the Board
Jerry began his career as an Operational Executive with Conti Corporation, a Family-owned business enterprise, where he learned invaluable personnel and management skills. Seeking more independence and autonomy, Jerry moved into direct sales and now brings over 16 years of experience in executive roles within the direct sales industries to Compassion Happens. He has run several multimillion dollar direct sales businesses, including an international team of thousands of consultants in U.S. and Canada as a National Vice President for Arbonne. Jerry co-founded a Telecomm Network Marketing company called Wealthnet Inc. - now a publicly traded company known as inContact located in Utah, which is a successful a call center and software provider. He also launched several educational companies in the direct sales industry, including Effortless Networker University- a coaching and mentoring company. In 2010 is Co-Founded MasterUAcademy, an elite Joint Venture speaker's platform that generates hundreds of thousands of emails. Jerry serves on the advisory board for The I AM Foundation, a 501c3 non-profit located in San Diego, CA. He was also featured in the popular recent documentary film "The Compass".
Jessica Conti, Founder, President and Board Member
Jessica Conti, Founder, President & Board member, is a successful entrepreneur and businesswoman, with a strong background in sales, marketing, team building, leadership and personal motivation. As a national award winning senior sales executive in the automobile industry, she was recognized for building long-term relationships to meet the needs of her clients. She also headed the sales department for a national Home Automation company, and managed automation projects for new construction and multi-million dollar residential estates. In pursuit of fulfilling a desire to leave a legacy, Jessica and her husband Jerry have successfully partnered in two direct sales companies, most notable for providing outstanding leadership. Jessica’s extensive training and experience in the MLM industry contributes to the implementation of Compassion Happens vision to create a world-wide network of conscious entrepreneurs.
Jessica views her role, as President of Compassion Happens, to be fulfilling her divine plan and is gracefully taking on the important responsibility to create necessary best practices in the company that will inspire/empower each of the stakeholders to always operate from grounded principles of Conscious Capitalism®. Jessica serves on the advisory board for The I AM Foundation, a 501c3 non-profit located in San Diego, CA. She is also featured in the upcoming documentary film "The VOW" (Voices of Women). Jessica resides in San Diego county with her husband, Jerry, and is a proud mother to their four year old son, Jayden.
Rick Arthur, Chief Financial Officer
Rick has more than 35 years of experience as a CFO or controller. Rick brings his unique background to assist entrepreneurial, growth and mid-market companies achieve financial growth and profitability. His experiences as a CPA, controller, CFO, management consultant, entrepreneur and business owner bring a comprehensive perspective to help resolve the challenges faced by his clients. Rick has obtained vast and valuable knowledge of the construction and development industries where he has spent the majority of his career. The complexity of these industries allows him to easily integrate his knowledge to other businesses.
Those that know Rick think of him as a business man who happens to be an accountant and CFO. He is comfortable working not only with owners but all levels of an organization. His experience allows him to be effective in both financial and operational issues. Rick is an excellent problem solver and is comfortable rolling up his sleeves to implement workable solutions. His experience as a CFO and business owner have honed his skills in strategic planning, leadership development, financial reporting and analysis, accounting and cost accounting, financial modeling, cash forecasting and management, budgeting, banking, system & process development and improvement, and human resources. Rick is a good communicator with strong interpersonal skills that help him interface with all members to gain their trust and respect. Rick’s passion is to share his experience and knowledge working with clients to achieve superior results in a positive, supportive work environment.. After graduating from The American University in Washington D.C. with an Accounting major, Rick began his career in public accounting where he became a Certified Public Accountant. As co-owner of a successful homebuilding company for 15 years, Rick functioned primarily as its CFO. Rick moved to Jacksonville in 2005 after spending much of the previous 30 years in Colorado. He has three children, enjoys golf, reading and relaxing at the beach.
Dinny Lansdowne, Chief Operations Officer
Dinny has been a conscious entrepreneur and brand strategist for socially responsible companies for over 20 years. She is an award winning eco-fashion designer, art director and entrepreneur. She has launched several successful retail concepts, built an international clothing company and established a brand strategy consulting business for social entrepreneurs. An expert in business identity development, she offers a unique combination of practical marketing creativity, product development and extensive experience in sustainable business to entrepreneurs committed to building triple bottom line businesses that make a difference. Dinny is now responsible for spearheading key growth initiatives and projects for 2012.
Maribel Jimenez, Chief Marketing Officer
Maribel works with Heart-based Entrepreneurs, Coaches, and Consultants to create powerful strategies and marketing materials. She offers a variety of programs and writing services including copywriting, ghostwriting and marketing consulting. Her passion is to help clients and partners gain maximum profits and growth in their businesses using a clear and powerful message along with strategic marketing. For the past 13 years she has written successful marketing materials in the various positions that she’s held. Her past experience includes working for a non-profit developing training materials, marketing programs and assisting in grant proposal writing. Then her experience took her to a local hospital to assist the Public Relations & Marketing department with direct mail, press releases and in-house publications to market the hospital, foundation and events. Next, came retail where she focused on business development and customer relations. Her experience has helped to provide a variety of writing formats where she is excellent in addressing different audiences and marketing many different services. For the past two years, she has immersed herself in learning and studying new trends and marketing techniques from some of the best experts in the industry along with completing her Bachelor’s Degree in Business Management.
Ed Rholl, Managing Director & in House Legal Advisor
A former practicing attorney, investment banker, entrepreneur and educator, Ed Rholl has worked with early-stage companies in more than fifteen industries to achieve formation, growth, funding and expansion. From his work with hundreds of people for nearly two decades, Ed has learned to identify the barriers entrepreneurs face--internally and externally--and how to overcome those barriers in order to turn a powerful vision into a profitable company. As Executive Director of the Internet Bar Organization, Ed was responsible for forming and structuring programs related to human rights and economic development opportunities for people on several continents. He was also a key founding strategist for the I AM Magic Foundation and Intelliversity. Driven by a strong passion for education and coaching, Ed was Director of Business Development for INET Legal Network and founder of Transformative Law. In these positions, Ed developed some of the first live Internet-based continuing education programs for the legal profession. Ed is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin (B.A.), Marquette Law School (J.D.) and Georgetown University Law School (LL.M. International Law).
Joseph N. Casas, General Counsel
A business owner himself, Joseph is "the entrepreneur's lawyer." He regularly advises business owners on a wide variety of topics including corporate structuring and organization, corporate transactions, strategic alliances, and protection of business ownership. His wide-ranging trial experience includes the defense and prosecution of complex matters including business and commercial torts, personal injury, contractual disputes, fraud, and securities claims. Prior to starting Casas Law Group, Joseph was a litigation attorney for the national firm of McKenna, Long & Aldridge LLP where he defended various Fortune 500 companies in complex matters including wage and hour class action employment litigation and securities litigation. Joseph has also taught courses on Evidence and Trial Advocacy as an Adjunct Professor at Thomas Jefferson School of Law. Casas was recently selected as one of San Diego Metropolitan's eighth annual "40 Under 40" exceptional young business and civic leaders.
Advisors
Michael Assum:
Michael Assum, Senior Consultant, is a successful entrepreneur and businessman with a strong background in startups, mergers and acquisitions, organizational development, continuous improvement, rapid sustained growth, and improved competitive effectiveness. Mike's background includes management positions with Procter & Gamble, Raychem, and as an officer in the US Navy Nuclear Power Submarine Program. Mike has served on the Board of Directors of five different companies, and taught graduate courses in Management of Productive Operations. He holds an undergraduate degree focus in Math and Physics, with additional graduate education in nuclear engineering, organization development, and business.
Burke Franklin:
Burke has a very strong background in sales, marketing and business development with both technology and consumer products. He worked for companies like Texas Instruments, CPT and a number of start-ups. He was also the electronics buyer for The Sharper Image catalog.Burke was elected delegate to the White House Conference on Small Business held in Washington, D.C., in June, 1995, where he met with entrepreneurs from across the U.S. to discuss issues every small business owner faces. (With appreciation for the support of the National Association of Women Business Owners.) In April, 1996, Burke was nominated for Ernst & Young's Entrepreneur of the Year Award. In May 1996, and again in 1997, the Brazilian software council flew Burke to Belo Horizonte to teach business planning to Brazilian entrepreneurs; in 1999, he addressed the Silicon Valley Entrepreneurs group; and since 2000, Burke has presented an ongoing series called The Thinking Behind Your Business Plan for Income Builders International (IBI) and other organizations. A second-degree black belt in TaeKwonDo, Burke authored Business Black Belt, a book rapidly gaining popularity because it draws parallels from the martial arts to teach about building and running a business. Burke is also an instrument-rated pilot.
Scott Duffy:
Scott Duffy is a high energy, serial entrepreneur, and executive. Most recently, Scott created and launched Smart Charter, an online booking tool for private aviation. While at Smart Charter, Scott partnered with and then sold the company to Richard Branson and the Virgin Group. The company was rebranded as “Virgin Charter” and named “One of 15 Companies That Will Change The World” by CNN Money. Prior to Virgin Charter, Scott was a key member of several high profile media and technology companies including FOXSports.com, NBC Internet, and CBS Sportsline, where he led teams through their start up phase, fundraising, mergers and acquisitions, and initial public offerings. Scott has been featured in television, print, and radio outlets including CNBC, FOX News, Wall Street Journal, and Business Week. Scott is a Board Member of the Entrepreneurs Organization.
Simon Mainwaring:
Simon Mainwaring is an award-winning branding consultant, bestselling author, influential blogger and international speaker. He is the founder of We First, a social branding consultancy committed to helping brands build communities, profit and positive impact. He is a member of the General Mills Digital Advisory Board, the Sustainable Brands Advisory Board, the AdAge Power150, and the Advisory Board of the Center for Public Diplomacy at the USC Annenberg School. He is an Expert Blogger for Fast Company as well as contributing to Forbes, Huffington Post, Mashable, and GOOD Magazine. Simon’s first book, We First: How brands and consumers use social media to build a better world (June 2011, Palgrave Macmillan) is a New York Times, Wall Street Journal, USA Today, Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Publisher’s Weekly bestseller. He has been featured in Advertising Age, Adweek, Huffington Post, Inc Magazine, Fast Company, GOOD Magazine, Mashable, Contagious, Public Diplomacy, Corporate Responsibility and CSRwire as well as appearing on the Business News Network, CBS, CBC, BNet and Harpo Radio. Simon is a sought after international speaker with engagements including the Cannes International Advertising Festival, Royal Society of Arts, SXSW, TEDxSF, the National Speakers Association, and brands such as General Motors, MUJI, Gucci, and Patagonia. Prior to starting We First, Simon was a Nike creative writer at Wieden& Kennedy and worldwide creative director for Motorola at Ogilvy as well as consulting on dozens of Fortune 500 brands and for leading advertising, production, digital and social media firms. He has received over sixty international creative awards at the Cannes Advertising Festival, the One Show (U.S.), the Kelly Awards (U.S) and the British Design & Art Direction Awards, among others.
Dr. Rita Lustgarten Ph.D.:
Rita Lustgarten, Ph.D., is a psychologist, organizational consultant, seminar leader, facilitator, and executive leadership coach. She has worked in the field of personal growth and human and organizational development for thirty-seven years, with an emphasis on the humanistic and transpersonal dimensions of experience. Her expertise is in visionary leadership, women’s leadership development and the application of transformational technologies to individuals, businesses and organizations. She currently maintains a thriving practice in business and executive coaching and owns her own consulting, training, and executive coaching firm —Women on The Leading Edge— in San Francisco, CA. Rita has worked successfully through the years with Fortune 500, 300, and 100 companies, along with a number of non-profits; her partial client list includes Exxon, General Electric, Motorola, The Gap, Citibank, Smith Barney, Google, Williams-Sonoma, Chicago Tribune, and Lucent Technology.
