Eric Downing Email and Phone Number

As the founder and President of Proven Paradigm LLC, Eric works with organizations around the world to help teams and individuals address the real issues that are getting in the way of growth and productivity. Toxic cultures, poor leadership behavior and team dysfunctions can prevent individuals and organizations from realizing their full potential. Whether helping an executive get to the C-suite or a team to smash their targets, Eric’s goal is to help every individual find a real mission in the work they do.

The Center for Strategic Leadership and Planning is a team of highly experienced and diverse professionals that share a common concern about the deficit of strategic focus that is prevalent in many organizations today. We believe that the ever-increasing organizational focus on achieving short-term results has caused many talented leaders to overlook or underestimate the importance of relentlessly focusing on taking the actions today that will empower the organization to achieve its future potential.We are committed to helping leaders overcome this challenging situation. We raise awareness and set expectations about the importance of organizational strategy through our keynote speaking efforts. We draw on a wide background of industry experience and academic achievement to provide comprehensive consulting capabilities in the areas of strategy, disruptive technologies, organizational assessment, and leadership effectiveness. We also have a strong dedication to structuring and delivering learning and development programs that are tailored to your specific organization and designed to deeply engage your organizational stakeholders in an experience that inspires and motivates them to think more strategically and envision innovative solutions for complex problems.

- Managed and lead external and internal sales professionals focused on driving sales - Drove sales in the Independent Financial Advisors and RIA channel- Developed prioritization and tactical implementation of Independent Advisor strategic plan- Co-managed non-channelized team to ensure sales team achieved balanced territory production- Development & implementation of the Indy FA portion of Pioneer’s business development effort- Responsible for the Pioneer Learning & Development program - Increased Independent Financial Channel gross sales by 14% and channel net sales by 19%- Established a channel wide focus increasing Fund sales producing a 31% increase in gross sales- Implemented a bespoke, six sigma, leadership development performance program - Personally, rolled out a bimonthly, customized, coaching & development program for each RVP

- Responsible for all aspects of retail and institutional distribution - Structuring external and internal sales territories and compensation- Recruited sales team experience across the BD, independent, regional and RIA channels- Restructured existing teams channelization and segmentation to maximize field sales- Formulated and guided Nat'l Accounts relationship strategy to gain product selling agreements- Created mobile app solution that allowed External Sales team to record activity in real time- Achieved clearing platform approvals at Schwab, TD Ameritrade, Pershing and Fidelity- Collaborated portfolio management, marketing and legal teams to launch three new 40 funds

- Divisional management, coaching and development of BD, Independent and RIA channels - Represented PIMCO, NFJ, RCM, Oppenheimer and Nicholas Applegate Mutual Funds and SMAs- Managed four different divisions comprised of 39 Investment Consultants - Conveyed the need for formal Organizational Development to Executive Management- Spearheaded individual development strategies for the team with specific goals and actions- Created a comprehensive employee development program that provided individual assessment- Produced $13.2 billion in sales in 2009, the single highest yearly production in firm history- Recognized as Allianz Global Investors “Division Sales Manager of the Year” (07, 08, 10, 11)

- Actively recruited to help double the size of the retail sales force during my tenure- Created Stifel Nicolaus recruiting and on-boarding programs - Grew Investment Services revenue by 173% in a three year period - Management responsibility for Investment Services Departments including