Caras and Associates, Inc.

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Harvey Caras is President of Caras and Associates, Inc. A native of Malden, Massachusetts, Harvey graduated from Tufts University in 1970. He then completed over 15 years in the Human Resource Management field with General Electric. In 1982 he developed the Peer Review Dispute Resolution system, which Harvard Business School Press has called "the most cloned procedure for resolving complaints in U.S. manufacturing - possibly in all industry."
Harvey's work has been highlighted by HR Magazine, Business Week, Industry Week, The Wall Street Journal, Personnel Administrator, Personnel Journal, and many other national publications.   In May, 1990 Harvey was part of a contingent of US Human Resources professionals which traveled to the Soviet Union to present American management techniques to their Soviet counterparts. Harvey delivered a presentation on the subject of Alternative Dispute Resolution to the Soviet Academy of Arts and Sciences. He currently resides with his wife and three children in Clarksville, Maryland. Introducing Our Partners... Jack W. Hoffman Jack Hoffman has been a Participative Management Consultant with the internationally recognized consulting firm of Caras & Associates since 1988. Jack’s specialty focuses on Dispute Resolution and Organizational Effectiveness processes.  His client base includes many Fortune 500 companies including General Electric, Owens Corning, Stanley Tools, General Mills, Toyota Manufacturing, Johnson Controls, Allied Signal, NBC as well as many other smaller businesses.  Jack’s background includes a 16 year career with GE where he held several management positions within the Supervision ranks, Human Resources and Organizational Development. He has a degree in Business Administration.   Jack currently lives with his wife, Jane in Manatee County Florida. He enjoys playing golf, baseball and is an avid SCUBA diver.
John A. Jenkins A graduate of the University of Maryland John has acquired a vast background in business having managed at all levels in industry.   During his 20 plus years in manufacturing, John has led the way on designing and implementing many PARTICIPATIVE MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS.   While at GE he was part of the team that developed the PEER REVIEW DISPUTE RESOLUTION SYSTEM.   John joined CARAS AND ASSOCIATES 1990 and has established a large client following. He has implemented PEER REVIEW in hundreds of locations, having trained thousands of employees and managers , all across the U S and Canada. Clients include great companies such as: DANA, JOHNSON CONTROLS, G E, UNIVERSAL STUDIOS, TYSON FOODS, GENERAL MILLS, CITY OF COLORADO SPRINGS, GAF, ALCOA, KRAFT, DUPONT, INTERNATIONAL PAPER and MEADE-WESTVACO.   One of John's unique qualities, is the ability to meld with his audiences. His engaging style of delivery is not only informative and enlightening, but very entertaining. His ability to blend the PEER REVIEW text with actual experience and expertise, earns him high praise from participants. On a personal note; John resides in Mt. Airy, Maryland with his wife Gail. His interest include NASCAR, competition TRAP SHOOTING and GOLF.     James H. Carr     James Carr is a partner in the firm of Caras & Associates, Inc., a Columbia, MD based consulting firm which specializes in Alternative Dispute Resolution Systems. Their long list of clients include Allied Signal, Armstrong, BASF, Cigna, DuPont, GE, FTE, Johnson Controls, International Paper, Kraft, Marriott, Motorola, Pillsbury, Rubbermaid, NBC, Toyota, and Westinghouse. Mr. Carr, a native of North Carolina, is a graduate of Capitol College with a degree in electronics engineering. His long and distinguished career has included many years with General Electric and Martin Marietta. He has been instrumental in the development and implementation of many participative management systems such as Process Management Teams, Total Quality Management, Lean Production Techniques, Process Simplification, and Employee Suggestion Systems. General Electric, Jim was part of the management team which first introduced the concept known as Peer Review.     Since joining the Caras & Associates team Jim has installed successful Peer Review systems in dozens of organizations throughout the United States and Canada. He has trained and certified hundreds of Peer Review panelists and facilitators. Jim's hands-on experience as well as his energetic style have made him successful and have built credibility with managers and employees wherever he goes.       Charles R. Gontkovic     Before joining Caras and Associates in 1996, Charlie Gontkovic had 20 years experience in various HR management positions at Seagram Americas in Baltimore. Charlie hired workers and management staff; providing orientation and initial training on procedures and company benefits. Working in a Union environment; he served on the negotiating team, resolving local issues for a multi union site. He represented his employer in disciplinary disputes with the union through the three step process and arbitration. He knew Harvey Caras when Harvey was the HR Manager at GE in Columbia, Md., and discussed the Peer Review system with Mr. Caras as it evolved at GE through the years.     Mr. Gontkovic has a BS from Penn State and an MBA from The George Washington University. In addition to implementing the Peer Review system in many corporations over the years; he has been on the consulting team with the Canadian consulting group, Samson and Loiselle. With them he coaches supervisors in the Advantage Mobilization process, which improves productivity at manufacturing locations. Charlie has been active locally in the Safety Council of Maryland, the Society of Human Resources Managers, and the United Way of Central Maryland.       Jon Tavalin     Jon is a native of New York City where he earned his Bachelors and Masters Degrees in Business Administration from City College of New York. He possesses over 32 years of progressive domestic and international HR experience at Ford Motor Company. During his last assignment at Ford, Jon was responsible for the developing and launching corporation’s Peer Review process using the Caras & Associates methodology. Jon personally installed Peer Review in major Ford organizations covering over 7,000 non-represented employees. He trained panelists at those organizations and while he worked for Ford, he facilitated all of the peer review hearings at those locations. Peer Review exceeded Ford management expectations because no appellant who had their appeal denied pursued the matter with third parties, and no organization that had installed Peer Review was subject to a union drive. As a result, prior to Jon’s retirement, Ford management approved installing Peer Review globally.       Mr. Tavalin has presented his Peer Review experiences before the Equal Employment Advisory Council in Washington, D.C., the American Society of Employers in Southfield, MI, SHRM organizations in Dayton and Findlay, OH and Fayetteville, North Carolina and at the Michigan Dispute Resolution Conference in Ypsilanti, MI where he appeared on the agenda with Jennifer Granholm, (then) the Michigan Attorney General (presently Governor of Michigan) Jon presently lives with his wife Marleni and son Daniel in Cary, North Carolina.

    Jean Ticen

Jean Ticen is a Human Relations and Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) professional.  Prior to becoming a partner with Caras and Associates, Inc, Jean was at Eastman Kodak Company where she served in a variety of Human Resource roles, including Dispute Resolution Specialist.   As an ADR practitioner, Jean is a certified mediator and dispute resolution coach with significant expertise in helping people identify solutions for the peaceful resolution of issues and maintaining positive personal relationships. During her tenure at Kodak, Jean was a key player in the development, implementation and delivery of ADR processes including Kodak's Resolution Support Services (RSS) Process.  RSS is a state-of-the-art employee relations and alternative dispute resolution function that assists employees in the resolution of workplace issues.  In her RSS role, Jean was responsible for managing various formal and informal problem-solving processes to resolve workplace issues presented by employees.  Among them were Consultation, Mediation, Peer/Management Review, Adjudication, and Arbitration.

Jean graduated from Rochester Institute of Technology with a MS in Career and Human Resource Development.   She currently resides in Rochester New York where she is a hospice volunteer and volunteer mediator in court appointed, custody and visitation and person in need of supervision issues.