MEET OUR TEAM
MEET OUR TEAM
thomas.linquist@LeadershipLyceum.com
+1 312-929-0218
Tom is the founder and Managing Director of Lyceum Leadership Consulting. He focuses on senior-level search assignments in the industrial sector including chief executive officer and board of director roles within the power, utility, infrastructure, EPC, manufacturing and services sectors. His areas of specialty consulting include board experiential composition and succession planning (especially in the context of complex corporate situations including IPO, shareholder activism, take privates, and bankruptcy emergence) and C-level executive succession planning (including recruitment, assessment, and development of succession candidates across all functional areas of a corporation). Tom has a reputation in the industry for success in bringing diversity upward through the executive ranks and into the boardroom.
Tom is the host of the firm’s podcast Leadership Lyceum: A CEO’s Virtual Mentor® featuring interviews with CEOs and directors of boards and their lessons learned in leading through dynamic and dramatic corporate situations such as M&A, IPO, rebranding, shareholder activism, to name a few.
Tom has thirty-two years of industry and consulting expertise. Prior to forming Lyceum Leadership Consulting, he developed as a leadership and search expert over more than a decade at three of the top five global executive search firms. Before his career in executive search, he was a management consultant in energy and utilities at Accenture and Vice President of Finance & Treasurer at Peoples Energy Corporation, where he led corporate treasury as well as the Project and Structured Finance unit. Earlier in his career, Tom was Vice President, Power & Infrastructure Group at ABN AMRO Bank and District Engineer, Mid-Continent Region for Shell Oil Company.
Tom received a BS in civil engineering from Texas A&M University and an MBA from the University of Chicago’s Graduate School of Business (Booth). He was a Certified Public Accountant in the State of Illinois.
donna.frakes@LeadershipLyceum.com
+1 312-929-0197
Donna is a Director at Lyceum Leadership Consulting. Donna specializes in advising clients in a broad spectrum of industry sectors including utilities, energy, general manufacturing, healthcare, chemicals, building materials, natural resources, and hospitality. Areas of expertise include executive recruitment, leadership assessment, CEO succession planning, and Board effectiveness. Prior to joining Lyceum, Donna was an Engagement Manager at one of the largest global executive search firms. During her five years in the firm’s Global Industrial Practice, she gained expertise in building leadership teams across all functions and worked with clients to build new and existing Boards.
Before her career in executive search, Donna has 20+ years of marketing and consulting expertise, most recently with an information management company. She partnered with Fortune 500 companies, as well as small and medium-sized businesses across industries, to design and implement systems that greatly improved secure and efficient access to mission-critical information.
Donna earned a BSc from the University of Toronto majoring in Psychology and Physiology, and an MBA from York University majoring in Marketing and Finance.
hemali.bhandiwad@LeadershipLyceum.com
Hemali Bhandiwad is a Director with Lyceum Leadership Consulting. Hemali specializes in the execution of executive and board searches for clients across a wide range of industry sectors including financial services, healthcare, utilities, energy, manufacturing, and nonprofits.
Prior to joining Lyceum, Hemali had a 15-year career in banking and management consulting. As a banker, she worked in the payments and commercial cards division of a major US bank. As a management consultant, she served healthcare, industrial, and nonprofit clients with people-centered management solutions, such as talent management strategy, developing change management capability and competency in executive leaders, compensation program design, and leadership assessment and development programs.
Hemali received a bachelor’s degree in finance and marketing from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, an MBA from Indiana’s Kelley School of Business, and a master’s degree in urban education leadership from The Broad Center (now a part of the Yale School of Management). Hemali is also certified in the application and interpretation of the suite of tools in the Hogan Assessments System.
jillian.anderson@LeadershipLyceum.com
+1 312-757-8972
Jillian Anderson is a Director with Lyceum Leadership Consulting. Jillian specializes in aligning leadership and talent strategies to key organizational requirements across a wide range of industry sectors including energy, healthcare, non-profit, and manufacturing.
Prior to joining Lyceum, Jillian spent ten years as a broad-based management consultant providing a variety of solutions including organization design, succession planning, team effectiveness, talent assessment, leadership development, strategic planning, and other advisory support related to critical growth and execution business requirements. Before her consulting career, Jillian drove the day-to-day execution of a large medical research study and provided regulatory and participant-facing support.
Jillian received a Bachelor of Arts in Communication, and a Master of Science in Education, both from the University of Pennsylvania. She is a Certified Facilitator of the Hogan Leadership Assessment suite.
eela.javid@LeadershipLyceum.com
+1 872-282-0383
Eela Javid is an Engagement Manager with Lyceum Leadership Consulting. In this role, Eela manages research and execution efforts across executive search client engagements, marrying an understanding of market trends and client needs to identify and present high-quality executive and board candidates.
Prior to joining Lyceum, Eela had a 15-year career delivering client success across industries such as HR consulting, technology, and customer engagement, where she managed key client accounts, led global teams, and consistently exceeded revenue goals. Eela brings a strategic mindset and collaborative approach to delivering high-quality results in fast-paced environments.
Eela received a bachelor’s degree in psychology from California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo and a master’s degree in counseling psychology from Santa Clara University. Eela has also completed executive education at Northwestern Kellogg, focusing on mastering sales and customer success.
hanna.rehark@LeadershipLyceum.com
Hanna Rehark is the Executive Assistant & Project Manager with Lyceum Leadership Consulting. Hanna organizes, plans, and ensures the efficiency of Lyceum’s projects and the timeliness of project deliverables. She communicates with consultants, clients, and candidates to ensure that all parties are well-informed.
Prior to joining Lyceum, Hanna worked as an Executive Assistant at LGIM America supporting the distribution and client strategy teams. At The Evergreen School in Shoreline, WA, Hanna supported the independent school’s advancement, development, and special programs. Upon her graduation, she was the Assistant Market Manager at the Worthington Farmer’s Market in Columbus, Ohio, where she planned, marketed, and coordinated multiple weekly local farmer’s markets.
Hanna received a BS degree from The Ohio State University majoring in Sustainable Plant Systems with emphasis in horticulture and a minor in Business Administration.
kim.karras@LeadershipLyceum.com
Kim Karras is the Research Associate for Lyceum Leadership Consulting. Kim employs strategic research methods to source and identify potential candidates, manages talent via our applicant tracking system, and compiles candidate profiles and reports to be presented to clients.
Kim has grown with Lyceum since 2017 when she joined the team in a part-time contract administrative role just shortly after the company was established. Her initial responsibilities included scheduling calls and meetings, arranging travel, managing CRM records, and preparing status reports. As her role continued to develop and expand, Kim became an official employee in 2020.
Prior to joining the Lyceum team, Kim had over 20 years of administrative, customer service, and sales experience within higher education, non-profit, hospitality, and tech start-up companies.
Kim received a BA in English from Augustana College and an MS in Administrative Studies with a Human Resource Management concentration from the University of South Dakota.