The Executive Team of Park Avenue Consultants

As partners, Phil LaRiviere and Kate O'Connor LaRiviere bring distinctly different backgrounds and talents to Park Avenue's consulting assignments. They frequently collaborate on and co-facilitate strategic development and training assignments. Both are grounded in 30+ years of successful business and academic teaching experience.

Phil and Kate lead the Park Avenue team with their unique values and perspectives while helping clients discover solutions that achieve measurable results. Their highly pragmatic business approach is a blend of empathy, humor and "street sense," bringing a balanced perspective to clients' competitive and organizational challenges.

Philip A. LaRiviere - Chairman

Phil LaRiviere is Chairman of Park Avenue Consultants, Inc. The organization provides training and consulting solutions to help people work together most effectively and productively in today’s team-oriented environment. A highly decorated Vietnam War veteran, Phil has 30 years experience as a senior executive in the financial services, manufacturing and consulting fields. His career encompasses senior level assignments in the areas of corporate finance, investment banking, manufacturing operations, sales and marketing, and strategic corporate development.

In the role of CEO or COO of several major publicly-held corporations, and as a member of the Boards of Directors of those firms, he successfully guided executive teams in effectuating turnarounds, finalized Initial Public Offerings as well as over 100 significant acquisitions, financings and strategic alliances during his tenure in those roles.

Phil shares his theoretical and practical background with executives at all levels during Park Avenue workshops and consulting engagements. Examples of recent major strategic assessment and tactical implementation projects include initiatives at ABN AMRO (LaSalle National Bank), William M. Mercer, Incorporated/Marsh Inc., OWP&P Architects, Aon Corporation, WW Grainger, Wisconsin Energy Corporation, among others. Phil is currently advisor to boards of both publicly and privately held corporations.

His strengths are in communication and clarification of complex issues and concepts. Phil possesses a unique ability to recognize the intellectual and personal strengths of groups and facilitate those executive teams and boards toward solid, practical, workable solutions.

Phil has earned BS and BA degrees from Marquette University in Economics and French. His Masters graduate work was accomplished at The University of Chicago Graduate School of Business, where he specialized in Finance and Marketing. At DePaul University he completed his post-graduate work in Taxation. Phil has been a General Securities Principal and Licensed Registered Representative with the NASD over the years.

He also served for five years as an adjunct professor/lecturer in corporate finance at the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business. He has conducted seminars in merger and acquisition and asset-based financing, and profit center development/re-engineering within University of Chicago, Northwestern, Michigan State, and Notre Dame University Graduate School of Business Executive Programs.

Kate O'Connor LaRiviere - President

Kate offers clients more than twenty years of sales management experience with several Fortune 500 corporations in the manufacturing, consumer products and service industries. She has served as a senior executive with two highly recognized executive training and consulting companies. But Kate's most valuable trait is her ability to understand and communicate effectively with people at all levels in an organization--a trait she developed early in her career as a teacher in secondary and adult education, and as an actress in Community Theater, TV commercials and corporate films.

Kate's unique combination of communication skills and business expertise has allowed her to help hundreds of executives improve their interpersonal communication and presentation skills. She has also used her talents to lead team-building efforts for newly developed and in-transition work groups, working with Phil to implement re-engineering and strategic change imperatives.

Kate earned her BS in English and Education from Loyola University of Chicago and her MA in Human Resource Development from Webster University in St. Louis.

Kate has continued her community involvement as a volunteer coach for middle school students in the use of improvisation and theatre games to enhance their ability to communicate effectively. Her professional affiliations include the American Society for Training and Development and the Human Resource Management Association of Chicago.