Stephen (Steve) Puente is the CEO of Puente HR established to provide executive coaching and high level strategic human resource consulting services to companies with a strong desire to develop their executive teams in order to grow and expand their business. Most recently Steve has been a retained executive coach and senior HR advisor to the CEO, President, and Vice Presidential Staffs at:

• The Walt Disney Company. Retail Division. Coaching
• Mercury Insurance Inc. Public. Revenue $3 B. Led the Coaching initiative for the CEO and the entire Senior Leadership Team coordinating 4 coaches and personally coaching 4 members.
• MFLEX Inc. Public. Revenue $1B. Work with the CEO as a Senior Coach and HR Advisor, coaching staff members and consulting on strategic HR issues.
  
• Young Homes, Private. Revenue $250 MM. Coached and created development and succession plans. Restructured the company to optimize performance.
  
• Ducommun Technologies Inc. Public. Revenue $600MM. Oldest Public Corporation in California. Coached and created development and succession plans for the entire Senior Leadership Team.
  
• Sypris Solutions Inc. Public. Revenue $400MM. Public Corporation. Coached and created development and succession plans. Drove change management initiative and re-structured Technology to achieve profitability. Coached President and Vice Presidents in two divisions.

Steve brings over 30 years of successful corporate and consulting experience serving as a Corporate and Divisional Vice President of Human Resources for leading multinational companies such as Kraft Foods, General Foods, Quaker State Corporation, and Fleetwood Enterprises. In corporate he was trained and served as an internal executive coach, using the Center for Creative Leadership Benchmarks assessment tool and their development training.

Steve consulted as Vice President of Senior Executive Coaching for five years at two national outplacement firms where he assessed and coached C-Level executives in transition on effective leadership to attain positions.

Steve currently works with Corporate Boards of Director’s and their CEO’s staffs providing executive coaching and strategic human resource consulting. He specializes in consulting with CEO’s and their executive leadership teams in order to develop superior personal and organizational performance. He will work on site and in off-site staff development sessions on critical areas such as: Teambuilding, Change Management, Leadership Assessment and 360 degree reviews. He also leads sessions on the development of Mission, Vision, and Operating Principles and performance improvement strategies for the Company. Steve has led HR Executives managing Labor and Employee Relations, Diversity, Organizational Development, Staffing, Compensation, Security and Safety and Health.

Currently, Steve serves on the Advisory Board of Directors for Managease inc. (a human resource consulting firm) and past ABOD member of Cryoport Systems Inc. (a public distribution and manufacturing Firm).

Steve holds an MBA from the University of Memphis and a BS degree in Personnel from Villanova University. He has also served as an Adjunct Professor at Lake Forest Graduate School of Business and Webster University Graduate School where the students selected him as the “Outstanding Graduate Faculty”. He teaches Organizational Development, Organizational Behavior, Career Management and Strategic Human Resource Management.