More on ESI and Our Consultants

Our main office is located in the Shenandoah Mountains in northwest Virginia.

Our Consultants

Bill Jeffries, President & CEO

Bill’s extended biography is here.

  • Degrees in engineering, and graduate degrees in language, literature, and values. Bill has written scholarly articles and books on topics ranging from Business High Performance, to personality type, to Russian literature, poetry, human ethnology, and professional ethics.
  • Bill presently lives in Lake Frederick, Virginia, and the mountains of Deer Valley, Utah. His passion is skiing and exploring the depths of the unknown.
  • He has published 4 books on Psychological Type, 2 books on Diversity and Team Work, 2 books on Fostering High Performance during difficult times, 2 books on Culture and High Performance, and 4 novels.
  • Bill is a trusted Personal Executive coach for leaders of several multi-national businesses, professional athletes, and political leaders, in the Arabian Gulf, Europe, Brazil, and North America.
  • He is on the business school faculties of numerous graduate schools and departments of Executive Education, including Carnegie Mellon University, Georgia Tech, The University of California, San Diego, and the Naval War College.

Cheryl Crawford, EVP and Senior Associate

  • For the last several years, Cheryl has been ESI’s senior business development consultant, specializing in strategic planning, new business development and innovation technologies.
  • She has been called by Chemical Weekly, the Phil Jackson of the Chemical Industry for her ability to create strong, winning management teams from diverse individuals from different cultures.
  • With degrees in Chemical Engineering, Global Finance, and International Business, she has implemented stage and gate new product development processes and led businesses to outpace the industry standard in several countries.
  • She has also done post graduate work in Strategic Marketing at Columbia University, Negotiating Global Pricing at the University of Chicago, and studied Genetics and Advanced Mathematics at Purdue University.
  • As an executive coach, Cheryl has touched lives from senior executives to aspiring high school students.
  • As Cheryl explained in a recent interview, “I have the personal credibility to question the tenor of an organization at the highest levels, challenge respectfully, and create meaningful change.”
  • She was recognized in 2012 by Women & Hi Tech for “Outstanding Dedication to Mentoring & Growth of Women in Science or Technology.”
  • She developed for the Society of Women Engineers a workshop entitled, Building a Leadership Career—Navigating the Unspoken Rites of Passage.”
  • She routinely volunteers as a mentor and program facilitator for Girls, Inc. reaching elementary school girls to promote STEM initiatives.
  • She was recently highlighted in chapter 6 of Culture and High Performance (ISBN 978-097239616-5) as a leader in creating High Performance cultures.
  • Throughout her career, Cheryl has built and led diverse organizations that out-performed their peers and lead their industry.

Judith Noel, Diversity Associate

  • Degrees are in Education, Counselling Psychology, and Organizational Behavior.
  • Judith brings a rich background in understanding people in numerous industries. She has lived and worked among the Nakota tribe in the oil fields of Canada’s First Nation for up to a year and coaches senior executives in the board rooms of Fortune 100 companies.
  • Her specialties are Leader Development, Individual and Organizational Change, and Diversity. For twenty-five years she led an international group of women in a collaborative research project on women’s leadership. She is also the founder of the Institute for Women’s Leadership (LUNA), and for many years was on the governing board of NTL.
  • Judith lives in California and Chicago. Her passions include traveling to exotic places of the world to immerse herself in cultures different from her own.

Jerry Rankin, Engineering Associate

  • Degrees are in chemical engineering and graduate degrees are in physics and business
  • Jerry is a Senior Scientist, Registered Environmental Manager, and a Certified Hazardous Materials Manager at the Senior Level.
  • Jerry specializes in creating partnering alliances between the military, government organizations, and the private sector. He is widely sought out by government contractors around the world as an expert in chemical and nuclear survivability.
  • He lives in Savannah, GA with his wife, Bina. When not working, they can be found on one of the many golf courses surrounding their island home.