Dwain H. Celistan, has spent over 25 years helping people from all walks of life step into their greatness. His corporate and educational background has made him one of the top speakers and trainers in the U.S. Prior to joining Gundersen Partners as an executive recruiter, Dwain held senior Marketing, Sales and General Management positions for: Procter & Gamble, Nestle, Nabisco, Coors Brewing, Alcoa, Newell Rubbermaid and Sears Holdings.  He is also an adjunct professor.

His experience includes roles as Vice-President of Marketing and Sales with a staff of nearly 100 professionals and budget of ~$100MM, and as a Senior Vice-President of Marketing for a $1B division.   He has led teams that reversed business declines in several categories and countries.  His team has also accelerated business growth as well.

See Dwain In Action

As a retained executive recruiter, Dwain has placed executives in a wide range of industries--national sports organization, private equity, large financial services and consumer packaged goods.  This experience gives him a unique insight into the views and expectations of hiring leaders across a broad landscape.

Dwain has published three books, “5 Simple Steps to Achieving Your Dreams”. This is a guide to help the reader convert their dreams into behaviors. His second book is “College Students 6 Steps to Achieve Your Dreams”. This is focused on the journey from the academic environment to the next chapter(s) of your life. “You’re Hired, Actions to Get and Keep the Job You Love” is designed to help those seeking new positions (actively or passively) and provides actions to maintain those roles.

Dwain’s motto is “make it happen”. Take action to realize life’s potential and not wait for it to happen to you.

All of this is brought together in a variety of topics that are meant to stimulate the audience to action.  The goal is to provide the audience with at least 3 ideas that they can implement, some within 24 hours.  Some of his topics are: 

Diversity of Leadership Works
In many instances, diversity is considered “the right thing to do” or “community service”. This presentation provides a case study of a more diverse leadership team dramatically impacting revenues, profits and stock price of a $2B company.

This presentation shares the pre and post of an actual company.  It strips out the theory and provides facts from an insider’s perspective.

The learning objective for participants is that while a diverse group may be more challenging to lead, the benefits can be enormous.  These are benefits that key stakeholders—stockholders, Board members—are most interested in realizing.

Six proven ideas to build your business…even in a down economy

This is an interactive presentation designed to share several proven ideas that have led to double digit growth.  It stimulates the audience to think about the approaches and how they might be employed in an organization. 

 The ideas span across marketing, sales and human resource initiatives.  Thus it is an interdisciplinary approach to success.

 This presentation shares successes in the marketplace.  Thus, attendees can pose queries and delve into some of the areas of discussion.

Change Happens

 This provides an interactive presentation on change with the audience.  Most important, it speaks to the aspects of change we control.

The goal is to help the audience realize how they can positively impact change.  Grab the power and use it to manage change favorably.

Each audience member leaves with a couple of tools and actions to help them as they work through a changing environment.

Job Search for Executives

Winning to today’s job market requires approaches that vary from as recently as 2 to 3 years ago.  This presentation shares the key strategies and some tactics to win in today’s competitive arena.

Executives and MBA students have all found this to be quite interesting and stimulating.  The topic includes effective networking, importance of a cover letter, contents of a killer resume and more. 

The learning objective is to identify areas to strengthen job search techniques.

Six Ways to Raise Performance and Improve Your Productivity  

This presentation has helped many executives and professionals focus on key areas to improve.  They are able to relate to the examples and can be begin to develop solutions to solve or seek assistance.  It covers a number of critical areas that enable success.

 Learning objectives:  actively participate and learn about key areas of performance.  Use this as a basis to compare with current state and begin to move toward improvement.

 Achieve More Goals…Five Simple Steps

This is a presentation that shares a means to realize your dreams.  The session provides a process to go from ideas to a focused plan.

The presentation takes the 5 steps and defines them in an interactive way with the group.  It can then be linked to academic excellence.

Learning objectives:  how do I translate success in the academic arena to success outside?  This provides a means with examples and interaction of how it can be done regardless of your goals.

Successful Sales Management

This presentation shares a number of approaches that have been effective in leading sales organizations.  In this session, I share multiple aspects of approaches that have worked to increase productivity and performance.

Audiences have typically had some experience in sales roles and can compare and contrast to the examples.  Importantly, it is an opportunity to challenge approaches and better understand the strategies of courses of action.

All presentations will have a learning guide 

A few other topics are:

• You're promoted, now what?
• Turn your dreams into your dream job
• 5 keys to effective networking
• Diversity that worked  
• Brand turnarounds, 7 ways to reverse a declining business

A few quotes from clients and audience members, you can find more on my web site www.reinvent2achieve.com :

You were great and got rave reviews from our candidates. THANK YOU!
Cynthia Ward, Vice President Market Services, Lee Hecht Harrison

“…your insightful interactive presentation had everyone asking for more.” Dave Otto, President of ENG

“This was a memorable conference and we would like to congratulate you on your packed session of over 70 attendees. Additionally, we are pleased to report that the feedback on your session has been extremely positive.” Texas LEAD conference co-chairs for the National Black MBA and National Society of Hispanic MBAs

“I really appreciate your comments and advice on the job search. I thought your points were spot on and refreshingly balanced in perspective...especially coming from a recruiter!” Bill Encherman, President of Constellation Winery

Recent Speaking Engagements:

Executive Groups:
Dell, Inc

Executive Networking Group
Food Networking Group
Lee Hecht Harrison
Drake Beam Morin
National Black MBA Assn
National Society of Hispanic MBAs
ChemPharma Group
Food Networking Group

Educational Institutions:
Clark Atlanta University
Georgetown University
Rice University
University of Houston
Texas Southern University
University of Sheffield (UK)
University of Chicago Graduate School of Business Alumni
Westwood Colleges
Assorted Chicago Public (AUSL) Schools—High School and Middle
Schools

Other:
DuPage County Economic Empowerment Conference
How to Create a Life Worth Living Blueprint Workshop
Assorted radio programs
Teleseminars

Sales and Marketing Networking Group

92.3 Chicago radio station on-air interview

National Urban League National Convention

Upcoming events/engagements:

National Society of Hispanic MBAs National Convention
Harold Washington College
Chicago chapter NBMBAA