The Thornton Group: Our Team

The Thornton Group's seasoned industry professionals include:

Amelia Tess Thornton, Founder and President (click here for bio)

Chris Melching, Principal (click here for bio)

Philip Pirie, Principal (click here for bio)

John C. Racanelli, Principal (click here for bio)

Dawn Robertson, Principal (click here for bio)

Sandy Simpson, Principal (click here for bio)

Amelia Tess Thornton, Founder and President

For over 25 years, Amelia Tess Thornton has held senior leadership positions in both the old and new economies. She is currently President of The Thornton Group, Inc., a management consulting company specializing in all aspects of organizational health, including leadership effectiveness, team development, executive coaching and strategy execution. She works primarily with senior teams, helping them to become more cohesive, aligned, and focused on the core business challenges that are critical to their organization's success. Amelia is also a Director of The Alliance of Chief Executives, and a Business Consulting Partner with both The Table Group (a Patrick Lencioni company) and Korn/Ferry International.

Prior to founding the Thornton Group, Amelia was the Chief Administrative Officer for Hyperion Solutions, where she led a two year turn-around of the company. She was a Partner at Ernst & Young LLP, and also held executive positions with Oracle, MG Taylor, and Right Management Consulting. Amelia began her career with Federal Express, where she was Managing Director of Ground Operations and responsible for all facets of pickup and delivery operations in Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota and western Wisconsin.

Amelia has been quoted in Business Week and USA Today in articles about corporate ethics and employee hiring, and is profiled in the book, The Transparency Edge, How Credibility Can Make or Break You in Business, by Barbara and Elizabeth Pagano (selected as 'Book of the Month' by Fast Company Magazine). In addition, she has given over 50 speeches and workshops in North America and Europe, including keynote speeches on topics such as Building Trust, Strategy Execution and Leadership Effectiveness.

Amelia is a member of the International Coaching Federation (ICF), Women in Technology International (WITI), and the Forum for Entrepreneurs & Executives. She is currently on the Board for the Danville d'Elegance, dedicated to the support of Parkinson's research. Previously she served on the boards of MentorNet, MG Taylor Corporation and the Minneapolis Aquatennial Association. She received coaching training from New Ventures West, and has degrees from the University of Wisconsin and the Boston University Executive Management Leadership Institute.

Amelia lives in the East Bay of San Francisco, and in her spare time can be found on the golf course, skiing, or at a baseball game.

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Chris Melching, Principal

Chris Melching is the founder of The Center Stage Group and a Principal with the Thornton Group. Since 1998, Chris has been an executive development and communications coach to senior executives within global enterprises, startups, venture capital firms and the public sector. Her passion is helping people gain the skills to tell compelling stories, expand their networks, and grow as authentic leaders. From years of working with powerful leaders, Chris has developed a methodology for helping people shift behaviors to make significant personal and professional transformations.

In 2002 she founded Power Camp, leadership development retreats that enable business professionals to discover their potential and focus energy to exceed career goals.

Chris enjoys speaking to large audiences and delivers keynote speeches at conferences and training seminars across the globe. Previously she worked for Xerox, Computer Associates, Oracle and Entex. In the early 90s she took a sabbatical from business and taught high school, where she was yearbook advisor and led student communication groups.

Most recently Chris was CEO of the Forum for Women Entrepreneurs and Executives, a premier leadership organization in the San Francisco Bay Area, dedicated to accelerating the success of women in business.

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Philip Pirie, Principal

Philip Pirie is the founder of Philip Pirie Limited and a Principal with the Thornton Group. Philip has over 20 years international management experience, and is passionately interested in what drives good individual and team performance. He is practical, goal-driven and focuses on measurable improvements in organizational behaviour. His main areas of interest are in working with managers and their teams to articulate clearly what they are seeking to achieve, to remove organizational and human obstacles, and to adopt behaviours most appropriate to the desired goals.

Philip has worked with clients in the energy, financial services, telecommunications and professional services sectors around the world, including:

Previously, he held client-facing roles for Chase Manhattan Bank, Westpac and Commerzbank in London and the Far East, and has been exposed to a wide range of cultural and professional, including trading room, environments.

Philip has an MSc in Organizational Psychology from Birkbeck College, London, specializing in Career Management and Counseling: his research project was into the way companies evaluate their executive coaches. He is an accredited member of the Association for Professional Executive Coaching & Supervision (UK), a member of the Association for Coaching (UK); a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England & Wales; and has a BA in Philosophy from the University of Sussex, England. He is level A/B certified by the British Psychological Society and is qualified to use various psychometric instruments including Myers Briggs Type Indicators (MBTI).

Philip is based in London.

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John C. Racanelli, Principal

John Racanelli is the founder and President of Racanelli Partners, Inc. and a Principal with the Thornton Group. John's specialties include strategic planning, leadership team development and organizational assessment, serving an international clientele comprised of early stage entrepreneurial businesses, conservation-based not-for-profit organizations, and many of the nation's leading aquariums and museums.

John has gained significant C-level experience in 30 years leading both businesses and non-profits, and has launched a number of organizations from the ground up. Previously, he served as CEO of the Florida Aquarium, Vice President of Marketing for the Monterey Bay Aquarium, and COO of Academy Studios, a California firm that designs and builds exhibitions for visitor facilities worldwide. John has experience in start-ups, turnarounds and change leadership, and brought the Florida Aquarium from blueprints to one of Tampa Bay's top cultural attractions, creating the vision, mission and team to successfully manage this $100 million project dedicated to celebrating Florida's natural wonders. Arriving a year before the Monterey Bay Aquarium's grand opening, he led the creation and execution of all marketing, communications and fund-raising for one of the world's leading aquariums. In his diverse career, John has also worked as a commercial diver, tall ship navigator, adventure travel leader and King Crab fisherman in the Bering Sea.

John studied marine sciences and environmental planning at the University of California before earning a Bachelor of Science degree in Strategic Leadership from Dominican University of California. He has spent the majority of his professional life in pursuit of conservation and advocacy for the natural environment, with an emphasis on the world's oceans. John has spoken on these topics at international symposia and writes frequently about our role as stewards for the environment that sustains us. A sailor, diver, ocean swimmer and surfer, he also serves on the boards of several non-profits.

John and his family live in Marin County, California.

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Dawn Robertson, Principal

Dawn Robertson is the co-founder of Strategic Change Resources and a Principal with the Thornton Group, Inc. Dawn has over twenty years experience helping organizations, and the people in them, deal with changes – large and small. She helps clients focus on performance, collaboration and results.

As a consultant, Dawn works closely with clients to build the techniques and skills that they need to solve their current business issues. Her areas of interest are working with senior teams to develop strategy and focus, and creating an environment that communicates expectations effectively, then rewards accordingly.

With a background in operations management, training and education and internal consulting in financial services, publishing, transportation and retail, Dawn brings a pragmatic approach and multi-faced experience to her position, including:

• Coaching individual executives and executive teams on strengths and opportunities for improvement.
• Transferring collaborative skills by training groups in leadership, teamwork, facilitation, and change management.
• Designing and facilitating meeting that achieve results in alignment-building, problem solving, strategic and operational planning.
• Helping organizations build high performance teams and environments that promote employee commitment and collaboration.

Dawn earned her BS in Education from Central Connecticut State University, with graduate work in design from the University of Michigan. She resides in Connecticut.

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Sandy Simpson, Principal

Sandy Simpson is founder of the Simpson Partnership and a Principal with the Thornton Group, Inc. He has 30 years of international business experience in diverse industries at senior strategic leadership levels, as well as leading a strategic human resources consulting firm.

Sandy's expertise is in integrating human capital strategies with business strategies, with international mergers and acquisitions a significant area of focus. He was the head of worldwide compensation and benefits at HBSC and the Human Resources executive responsible for integrating acquisitions worldwide at HSBC in London and New York. Additionally, he was the HR head leading human capital initiatives during Diageo's acquisition of Pillsbury.

Sandy has extensive experience in developing and coaching senior leaders in Global 1000 organizations, and has particular strengths and interest in organization strategy, organization effectiveness and development, and talent management.

He holds advanced degrees in Sociology and Economics from the University of Stirling in Scotland and is certified by both the Hudson Institute and the Center for Creative Leadership in coaching, and is a member of the Society for Human Resource Management, the Human Resource Planning Society, the American Society for Training and Development and World at Work (formerly the American Compensation Association).

Currently based in Colorado, Sandy, a Scot, is of course a golf 'fanatic' as well as an exercise addict. He maintains close ties with both business and family in the UK.

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