About The Center for Team Excellence

Team Clock® transforms teams, impacting company culture and morale. By identifying and addressing the obstacles interfering with performance, teams can spend more time focusing on their work and less time on the politics of their workplace. Team Clock gives teams the tools they need to adapt to change and repair themselves for the lifespan of the entity.

Our Vision
To be the recognized leader in building world-class teams and organizations.

Our Mission
To make the world a better place, one team at a time.

Our Values

  • Investment: We provide a simple path to healthy, thriving teams and organizations.
  • Trust: We anchor all interactions in collaboration and accountability.
  • Innovation: We leverage a battle-tested, data-driven methodology and framework for building and sustaining healthy teams.
  • Adaptability: We empower healthy, effective management of change at every stage of a team’s evolution.
Photo of Steve Ritter, the co-founder of The Center for Team Excellence

Founder and CEO

Steve Ritter

Steve's unique blend of training and experience in the worlds of human resources, organizational development, and clinical psychology inspired the creation of the Team Clock® methodology, an approach that merges the professional and clinical fields to empower growth of teams in a spectrum of industries from business to sports to education.

Steve Ritter is an internationally recognized expert on team dynamics whose clients include Fortune 500 companies, professional sports teams, and many educational organizations. He is on the faculty of the Center for Professional Excellence at Elmhurst University where he earned the President's Award for Excellence in Teaching. Steve is the former Senior Vice President, Director of Human Resources at Leaders Bank, named the #1 Best Place to Work in Illinois in 2006 and winner of the American Psychological Association's Psychologically Healthy Workplace Award in 2010. Steve provides ongoing workplace culture consultation to many thriving companies including Kraft Foods, Advocate Health Care, Kellogg's, the Chicago White Sox, AthletiCo, and Northwestern Mutual Financial Network.

Earning a Bachelor's degree in Psychology from DePauw University and a Master's degree in Clinical Social Work from Loyola University of Chicago, Steve has researched the principles behind The Team Clock Institute for over three decades and is the acclaimed author of Team Clock: A Guide to Breakthrough Teams.

Photo of Cara Milianti

Director of Communication

Cara Milianti

As the Director of Communication, Cara coordinates assessment, speaking, coaching, and consultation engagements for the Team Clock Institute. Cara is the central point of contact for existing and prospective clients, managing all aspects of fact-finding, proposals, negotiations, scheduling, resource networking, event logistics, and collateral communications. As a Certified Team Clock Consultant, Cara provides assessment, training, and coaching to teams seeking to leverage strengths, diagnose vulnerabilities, and elevate team effectiveness.

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Certified Team Clock Consultant

Wes Becton

As a seasoned professional with over twenty-five years of executive level leadership and management experience in complex organizations, Wes is known as a results driven leader with a proven track record of business effectiveness. As a coach, advisor, consultant, and mentor, Wes engages in strengths-based partnerships with his clients to empower professional success anchored in purpose, mission, and values.

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Certified Team Clock Consultant

Michelle Sherbun

In addition to her role as a Certified Team Clock Consultant, Michelle is President of Michelle Sherbun, LLC and its service lines – MerlinSolutions and The Leadership Design Alliance. She brings nearly 40 years of experience in nonprofit management and coaching and is committed to strengthening socially conscious leadership across sectors. A seasoned consultant and accredited executive coach, Michelle has helped nonprofit leaders surpass fundraising goals and overcome organizational challenges.

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Dan Herron headshot

Certified Team Clock Consultant

Daniel Herron

Dan’s calling is to empower growth in others through inspiring change and structuring next steps. He has a 25-year history of rallying individuals into communities of vision and purpose— from leading disaster relief teams, to forming service-oriented non-profits, to starting churches, to starting new businesses. Through his decades of leadership, Dan has learned to embrace significant hardships as opportunities for growth. He has pursued the practice of overcoming challenges by taking achievable and consistent steps while also keeping an eye on strategic vision. He founded Strive Performance as a platform to help individuals, teams, and organizations embrace this same sort of growth mindset for themselves.

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Certified Team Clock Consultant

Monica Kerber

As a Certified Team Clock Consultant, Monica is known for her relentless spirit for growth and impact. Prior to starting her own consulting practice, Kerber Consulting LLC in 2011, Kerber achieved unprecedented results and accelerated growth as a Chief Recruiting Officer. Monica is a gifted connecter, believes the strongest teams are always growing, are selective in hiring their talent and have the most self-aware leaders. In each engagement Monica is focused on meeting talent and clients where they are and supporting them in their career journey.

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Kerry Galarza headshot

Director of Assessment Services

Kerry Galarza

Kerry is the Director of Assessment Services at the Team Clock Institute. She oversees the online assessment program and provides data analysis and interpretation of team effectiveness metrics. Kerry specializes in identifying team strengths, weaknesses, pervasiveness themes and improvement opportunities.

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Jeremy Schreifels Photo

Certified Team Clock Consultant

Jeremy Schreifels

In addition to his role as a Certified Team Clock Consultant, Jeremy is an interdisciplinary producer, songwriter, drummer, percussionist, speaker, and educator, Jeremy has been bringing music to broad audiences for more than two decades. His focus across all of these art forms is emotional connection, bridging lyric, rhythm, and melody to best serve the vision of both his own creations, and those of the artists he works with.

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Maribeth Rex headshot

Certified Team Clock Consultant

Maribeth Rex

In addition to her role as a Certified Team Clock consultant, Maribeth is a Licensed Clinical Professional Counselor with a Master’s Degrees in Clinical Psychology and a Master’s Degree in Industrial-Organization Psychology.  Maribeth has over 13 years of experience in the healthcare field, including direct clinical work and management of a clinical department within a large hospital system.

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Certified Team Clock Consultant

Andy Corbus

As Director of Professional Development at Olivet Nazarene University, Andy works with companies to help grow their teams. Andy’s approachable style, natural inquisitiveness, and workshop presentation style brings people to meaningful conversations quickly. Andy leads workshops and assessments in the areas of teams and the people that comprise them, customer service, authenticity, engagement and workplace personality.

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Certified Team Clock Consultant

Maryanne Adams

As a certified Team Clock consultant, Maryanne has the intuition and experience to work with teams to improve greater effectiveness and productivity. Maryanne is able to ask the right questions to identify the critical and complete information needed to define how team success can be best achieved for an organization. Maryanne not only has the ability to create the vision for an organization but she has the determination and interpersonal skills to make that vision come to life.

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Certified Team Clock Consultant

Ron Watkins

Currently Ron Watkins is the Senior Assistant Dean at the University of Illinois, College of Business. He is also a lecturer faculty member in the Business Management Department teaching management consulting and sales management courses. Outside of the university Ron works as an independent consultant for many firms ranging from Fortune 50 to $10M in revenue. His focus is on helping organizations get the most out of their in the high potential, high performing individuals.

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Certified Team Clock Consultant

Lisa Rexroad

As a Certified Team Clock Consultant and Owner of LiL-Roc HR Consulting, Lisa works with clients to help them better understand the current and future state of their people, processes and tools. With over 15 years of organizational development experience, she leverages a combination of strategic thinking, analytical leadership, passion and energy to drive business solutions forward. She has a collaborative, genuine approach with her clients and challenges conventional thought by offering a unique perspective. Lisa currently consults with a large healthcare system and conducts their onboarding sessions as well as developed/facilitated performance management training workshops.

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Lori Tompos headshot 2022

Certified Team Clock Consultant

Lori Tompos

Lori’s purpose is to inspire, motivate, and empower leaders. Best known for thinking strategically, Lori sees fresh perspectives and potential when helping to drive high performance for leaders and teams. In addition to her consultant role at the Team Clock Institute, Lori is the Founder of Avail Consulting, an Academy Leadership Affiliate, and an Adjunct Professor at Elmhurst University. Lori has experience with and passion for developing impactful leaders of character and collaborative teams by focusing on positive strengths, strategic insights, and innovative solutions.

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Certified Team Clock Consultant

Nancy Alonzo

In addition to her role as a Certified Team Clock Consultant Nancy is a human resources professional who specialized in change management initiatives to bring alignment between an organization’s human capital and their strategic direction. In her executive roles, she has provided leadership in the areas of team building, executive coaching, talent management, and process improvement. Nancy has led corporate HR functions supporting diverse workforces for over 15 years.

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Certified Team Clock Consultant

Dr. Beth Plachetka

Dr. Beth Plachetka, EdD, LCSW, MSW, MAEL brings 40 years of experience addressing and resolving psychological, social, and interpersonal issues. In addition to her role in the Team Clock Institute, Beth is a licensed clinical social worker, therapist, speaker, adjunct professor in the School of Social Work at Aurora University, and president of Safe Harbor Counseling in Sugar Grove, Illinois.

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Certified Team Clock Consultant

Dana Drew Shaw

In addition to her role as a Certified Team Clock Consultant, Dana focuses her law practice in the sports and entertainment practice group of Shumaker, Loop & Kendrick, LLP. Bringing a positive perspective and energetic ideas, Dana helps businesses manage and expand their operations. Through creative problem solving and innovative strategies, she serves as a catalyst for clients to successfully move forward with their businesses and/or personal careers.

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Certified Team Clock Consultant

Bhavna Sharma-Lewis

As a certified Team Clock consultant, Bhavna is a future-focused leader of world-class schools and districts. She is an enthusiastic advocate for building professional teams that prepare students as global citizens and world-ready learners. Bhavna has built a reputation as an innovative leader and collaborative partner who elevates performance expectations and empowers others to optimize results through continuous improvement and high expectations. Her passion for learning and teaching, natural ability to inspire others and focus on relationships has energized Bhavna’s career path for the past 20+ years.

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Certified Team Clock Consultant

Aline Defiglia

As a Certified Team Clock Consultant and small business owner, Aline is a seasoned and passionate healthcare professional, serving as a leader, clinician, coach, and consultant in the development and implementation of integrated health care systems. With over 12 years of bilingual (English/Spanish), community-based experience, Aline has partnered with a wide range of diverse clients to enhance operations, hire and train personnel, plan strategically for the future, and maximize results in both public and private arenas. Aline currently works with clients in Chicago and Elmhurst and also serves as a Behavioral Health Consultant on an integrated medical team at a Federally Qualified Health Center in Berwyn, Illinois.

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Advisory Board

Pete Mockaitis

Pete is a speaker and author who has touched thousands with his insights on accountability. Pete's work has enriched Fortune 100 corporations, high-growth start-ups, and major nonprofits. Pete holds degrees magna cum laude in organizational administration and finance from the University of Illinois. He started his career at acclaimed consulting firms The Bridgespan Group and Bain & Company.

Photo of Abby Marshall

Project Coordinator

Abby Marshall

As a project coordinator, Abby analyzes site content and constructs teaser material for gated website access. Her experience with data collection for grant purposes enhances blog tracking and website analytics to support target marketing. Abby’s experience working with an array of populations in both clinical and administrative roles has fine tuned her project coordination skills in team settings.

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Project Coordinator

Rachel Shuty

As a Project Coordinator, Rachel employs a blend of assessment, training and coaching tools to anchor team values, enable conflict resolution, strengthen team trust, empower innovation and guide change management. Rachel is working towards her Bachelor of Science degree in Human Resource Management at Elmhurst College to elevate her strengths in organization, communication and problem solving to enhance workplace wellness and organizational culture.

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Intern

Amy Schryver

As an Intern at the Team Clock Institute, Amy carries out Human Resource tasks to support workplace culture assessment and training to help organizations improve team effectiveness. Her internship includes informational interviews with clients and consultants, administration of online workplace culture assessments, partnering in the interpretation/analysis/debrief of assessment metrics, and collaborating in team effectiveness training workshop design and delivery.

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