John L. Bennett
John L. Bennett, Ph.D., PCC, BCC

John Bennett and the Lawton Associates Story

Lawton Associates was formed in 1997 by John Bennett following a successful career as CEO of a large regional blood center operated by the American Red Cross. John's middle name is Lawton. It was his maternal grandmother's maiden name thus having personal significance. John is a Professor of Business & Behavioral Science, Director of the Graduate Programs at the McColl School of Business, Queens University of Charlotte. He holds the Wayland H. Cato, Jr. Chair of Leadership. In addition to teaching, he is an executive coach and a frequent speaker and presenter at academic, professional, and client conferences and workshops.

He has nearly 30 years of progressively challenging and successful experience creating, leading, and being a part of change in various industries. John was CEO of an American Red Cross biomedical services division, where he led pharmaceutical manufacturing and distribution operations and the development and delivery of essential human services. John has also led mergers and turnarounds, new product development, marketing, and technology system designs and integrations. He served as Senior Vice President and Talent Solutions Director for Lee Hecht Harrison and was the CEO of the Foundation of Coaching, a project of the Harnisch Family Foundation. He is the principal investigator for a five-year program evaluation and research project: “Ordination Preparation Program Evaluation and Congregational Leader Development Study”, which is funded by The Duke Endowment. 

As an executive coach and consultant, John has helped individuals, teams, and organizations in a variety of industries prepare for and excel through change since 1997. John is the author of numerous articles about building organizational resilience to change, coaching, and leadership as well as three books. His latest book is Coaching for Change (Routledge).

John earned a BS degree from Mars Hill College, an MPA degree from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, and an MA and Ph.D. in human and organizational systems from Fielding Graduate University. He also earned the Professional Certified Coach (PCC) credential through the International Coach Federation (ICF) and Board Certified Coach (BCC) credential through the Center for Credentialing & Education. He is actively involved in several professional organizations including the Academy of Management, American Psychological Association (APA), ICF, and the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology (SIOP). John also serves as a past-president of the NCIOP, and the Graduate School Alliance for Educating Coaches (GSAEC). In 2010, he was named a charter Fellow in The Lewin Center and a Founding Fellow of the Institute of Coaching, which is affiliated with McLean Hospital, Harvard Medical School.

There are a number of individuals and organizations with whom we associate, collaborate, and affiliate. It was designed this way in order to provide clients with access to world-class knowledge and experience from a variety of sources and to reduce operating overhead thus reduce our costs to clients.

Client work has included coaching skill development, executive coaching, facilitation, job profiling, leadership development, organizational change consulting, strategic planning facilitation, and team development.

Select Clients Our Team Has Served:

For-Profit

  • Absci
  • Balfour Beatty
  • Bank of America
  • BASF
  • Biotage
  • Coca-Cola Bottling Consolidated
  • Fairwinds Credit Union
  • Grant Thornton
  • Keystone Strategy
  • Lowe's
  • Midrex
  • Moore & Van Allen
  • Orlando Sentinel
  • Time Warner Cable
  • TIAA
  • Trane
  • Wells Fargo

Public Sector

  • Atrium Health
  • Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools
  • Chatham County Schools
  • City of Charlotte
  • City of Greensboro
  • City of Lowell
  • Gaston County
  • Guilford County
  • Internal Revenue Service
  • Town of Holly Springs

Not-for-profit

  • Alexander Youth Network
  • American Cancer Society
  • American Red Cross
  • Blood Systems, Inc.
  • Charlotte Chamber of Commerce
  • Children's Rights Council
  • Christ Church
  • The Duke Endowment
  • Episcopal Diocese of North Carolina
  • Myers Park Baptist Church
  • National Black MBA Association (Charlotte Chapter)
  • Piedmont Triad Education Consortium
  • Scottsdale Art League
  • United Way Worldwide

Meet a Few of Our Associates

Our team uses proven approaches, with the intent of exceeding client expectations and are dedicated to improving performance and creating results. There are a number of individuals and organizations with whom we associate, collaborate and affiliate. It was designed this way in order to provide clients with access to world-class knowledge and experience from a variety of sources and to reduce operating overhead thus reduce our costs to clients.

Jerry Allen works as a Senior HR Business Partner and Executive Coach with Novozymes, a global leader in bio-innovation.

David Greenberg

Executive Speech and Presentation Coach

David Greenberg founded Simply Speaking in 1988 after being recognized by Toastmasters as the best speech coach in his home state.

Lisa Medley is an ICF and board-certified executive and leadership coach who helps professionals become better, stronger leaders.

.

John Bennett

Ph.D., PCC, BCC

John Bennett has 30 years of progressively challenging and successful experience creating, leading and being a part of change.
Sarah Hyche is an accomplished leadership consultant and credentialed executive coach with over 20 years of broad-based business experience.
Ben Wilhelm brings 25 years of business and executive experience in talent management, operations, strategic planning and marketing.

We'd love to hear from you

Let's talk about how we can help you and your team prepare for, excel through, and improve from change. Contact us for more information.