It takes tenacious consultants to handle stubborn problems.

Ucko Affiliates is a management consulting firm in the San Francisco Bay Area specializing in executive coaching and leadership team development.  The firm consists of Tom Ucko and a network of senior coaches and consultants who are brought in as needed.  These affiliates offer a variety of coaching and team development services, and represent a range of styles, allowing us to closely match the coach or consultant with the client’s needs.

Thomas J. Ucko, MBA, MA

Tom Ucko is a seasoned executive coach and organizational consultant with a unique blend of tough-minded business sense and psychological savvy.  His work helps leaders and leadership teams resolve the troublesome dilemmas that keep them from meeting their business goals and reaching their potential. 

He brings to his work a passion for working with bright, competent leaders who are committed to their own learning as well as the development of their teams.  His background as a corporate executive, his business and psychological training, and his twenty years as a coach and consultant enable him to deeply understand his client’s challenges and respond in constructive ways.  

He is particularly effective with conflict, and in “messy,” emotionally charged, or ambiguous situations.  His clients describe him as quick to grasp the essence of a situation, clear and forthright in his recommendations, and courageous in dealing with difficult issues.

Tom helps good leaders become excellent leaders, and helps derailed executives get back on track.  He helps good leadership teams become great leadership teams, and helps dysfunctional teams regain their effectiveness.   He does all this with an engaging, comfortable style and outstanding listening skills that allow him to quickly gain trust and get to the heart of the client's matter.

Tom works with a wide range of clients, from startups to global enterprises, in industries including financial services, biotech, healthcare, high tech, and higher education, among others.  His clients have included Chevron, MedImmune, Applied Materials, Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, Gilead Sciences, Hewlett-Packard, Amylin Pharmaceuticals, WesCorp Federal Credit Union, Stanford University, Kaiser Permanente, and Sun Microsystems, among others.

Tom's book, Selecting and Working with Consultants: A Guide for Clients, offers practical tips for getting the best from consultants.  His articles have appeared in a variety of business and professional publications, including the 2005, 2006 and 2007 Pfeiffer Annual: Consulting.

Before establishing Ucko Affiliates in 1986, Tom was Manager, Organizational Consulting with Laventhol and Horwath, an international accounting and consulting firm.  Previously, he held senior positions with Fortune 500 corporations. He holds an MBA in Management from Fordham University, and an MA in Counseling Psychology from Columbia University, where he has completed substantial coursework toward a PhD.   

Our Affiliates :

Claire Cohn, MA, BFA

Claire R. Cohn, organization consultant and master trainer, brings over fifteen years of experience in organization consulting, business communication, and corporate wellness. She facilitates team retreats which result in improved communication and work relationships, and a greater appreciation of different talents people bring to their workgroup. Her team building programs support work-life balance and provide ways to work smarter, not harder. Clients have said that her programs are inspiring, with high impact strategies to help teams renew and unleash their potential.

Claire’s expertise in organization and individual wellness helps rejuvenate workgroups and teams. Her mentoring program for the Kaiser Permanente Medical Group was implemented in 15 Bay Area hospitals, serving over 4,000 physicians. Claire’s work is distinguished by a blend of professional skills development and mind-body disciplines.

As principal of her own company, On Your Feet Consulting and Team Building, she designs and leads experiential team retreats which result in improved morale and productivity. She consults to major private and public sector businesses, health care organizations, and financial institutions to increase professional satisfaction, improve company morale, and build employee retention. Claire has published a new team and meeting resource, the EZ Team ToolZ Cards©—simple-to-implement cards with 52 team learning activities and meeting openers to make the facilitator’s job easier.

Her clients include: Kaiser Permanente, Sutter Solano Health System, Wells Fargo Bank, Aetna Insurance, City of San Francisco, Palm, Fair Isaac, Pacific Bell Directory, Facebook, and others.

Bruce Meyer, EdD

Bruce Meyer has been working with people development, change and organizational effectiveness in a variety of roles for over 30 years.  He has held leadership positions in university, nonprofit and corporate settings, consulted with over 80 organizations, trained over 3600 people, counseled and coached several hundred individuals, and worked in 17 countries in 9 different languages.  Bruce is known for his perceptiveness, integrity and ease of style and is acknowledged internationally as an expert facilitator and trusted consultant.

Bruce has taken his professional skills to a wide range of organizational and geographical settings.  He has been Director of Training at the National Center for the Exploration of Human Potential, founder and director of the International Human Development Project, manager of the Miami Career Center and a dean and faculty member at several colleges and universities.  He has traveled widely, having visited over forty countries, and has worked professionally in Asia, Latin America and Europe. 

Bruce’s professional interests include leadership, team building, coaching, organization development, facilitation, experiential learning, life/career transitions, assessment, global awareness and cross-cultural communication.  In working with organizations and organizational leaders, Bruce uses a variety of interventions to facilitate change, create healthy environments and develop effective leadership.  A primary theme of his consulting, coaching and leadership trainings is helping leaders make the shift from the traditional management posture of accumulating professional acumen to leadership as social artistry.

Bruce holds master’s and doctoral degrees in education from the University of Miami and is an adjunct faculty member at Saint Mary’s College.

Jan Schmuckler, PhD

Jan Schmuckler is an experienced leadership coach and organizational consultant who works with leaders, individuals and boards to achieve the results they want. She is an expert in leadership development and organizational change, and offers unique coaching perspectives that enable organizations, executive teams, and individuals to meet challenges, begin successful change initiatives, do succession planning, and work more effectively with geographically dispersed teams.  Jan has over 25 years of experience with business, education and non-profit organizations. 

For the past nine years, Jan has had a solo practice where collaboration is a fundamental value with both clients and colleagues.  She is a dynamic leader and skilled facilitator, who focuses her energy and experience on driving individual and organizational growth and success in the fields of biotech, health care and high technology.  Some current and former clients include Novartis, E*TRADE, Genentech, Chiron, Hewlett Packard, Agilent Technologies, and Applied Materials.  Prior to beginning her private practice, she worked extensively as an internal consultant in the Silicon Valley at Sun Microsystems, Apple Computer, and Applied Materials.  She worked on important initiatives such as PowerPC, glass ceiling changes, and strategic planning for global management teams.  In addition to her own practice, Jan is the Director of the Coaching Certificate Program at John F. Kennedy University.

Jan is a former member of the Editorial Board of the Bay Area Organizational Development Journal. She has published articles in the Journal, NCHRA Bulletin, HR.com and Pfeiffer 2005, 2006 and 2007 Consultants’ Annuals.

Jan received her PhD in Psychology from The Wright Institute in Berkeley.  She holds an MEd in Educational Psychology and a BA in English Literature from Temple University.

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