VGS INFRASTRUCTURE SERVICES, INC.
GREENVILLE, SC

has over 25 years of experience with diverse clientele, from corporate executives to self-employed entrepreneurs. She transforms organizations, improving their talent management through coaching, family business planning, leadership development, and strategic planning. Across her career, Karen has created innovative new training delivery systems that improved quality and customer satisfaction while reducing turnover. Karen has earned a Certificate in Family Business Advising, is a frequent speaker for Renaissance Executive Forums, and is a member of the Society for Human Resource Management. She holds a graduate degree in counseling and human services and a degree in education. Karen is certified in Profiles International’s assessment tools and Target Training International’s assessment tools and organizational Stages of Growth programs. transforms leaders and organizations with employee performance management, coaching, leadership development, strategic planning, and recruiting and selection solutions. He holds a BA in Business Administration from Indiana Wesleyan University. His background includes over 30 years in business management, technology and accounting with progressive responsibility managing departments and budgets totaling $4M. Chuck was previously VP of IT and CIO of Coachmen Industries, Inc. "Through coaching from Chuck Bower I have reached a new level of leadership and management and have grown exponentially. This is very important given I was a new manager, and over the course of our coaching, my eyes were opened to a whole new way of leading and managing. Both my company and myself, professional and personally, have benefited from this learning experience." "I worked with Chuck Bower over the course of 2015 and most of 2016 as I was transitioning from work to home and self-directed activities. Chuck provided excellent coaching on the proper approach to take with regard to separation from a long-time employer and the transition went very well as a result. Further, Chuck provided good ideas and personal contacts with regard to my new endeavor that have been very helpful. He was always available by email and phone outside of our regular in-person meetings, and has continued to stay in touch. I appreciate Chuck and think he and Karen are a great team." "I asked Chuck to meet with a key manager of mine who struggled with time management and delegating responsibilities amongst a few other things. We were in an expansion mode and his weaknesses were really becoming exposed. Chuck met with my manager and during their meetings he was able to establish a level of trust and confidence with my employee and was able to get him to open up and understand his shortcomings in these areas. I have seen a significant improvement in these areas and my employee now recognizes when he falls back into some of his old habits and can correct it on his own. Chuck was very helpful in developing my manager's communication skills, ability to delegate responsibilities and hold people more accountable as well as making him more self-aware of his behaviors. I would recommend Chuck to anyone who is looking for a professional coach to help develop leadership skills within your work force." "Our experience working with Hawthorne has been excellent. We find that using their candidate analysis service, in combination with our own interviewing process, helps us make more quicker and more effective hiring decisions. Their testing metrics provide information specific to the job we are filling. Both Karen and Chuck deliver any interpretations or clarifications we may seek in a clear, pragmatic, and timely manner, and we plan to continue involving them in future hiring situations." "Our company engaged Hawthorne Services to facilitate a critical family business discussion amongst the multiple owners. This was a very delicate situation that required innate knowledge of the individual personalities and styles. Effective facilitation of this discussion made the process proceed very smoothly and efficiently. Without such help, this discussion could have taken much longer than needed without a detailed plan of action or results." "Karen & Chuck, I wanted to reach out to you and thank you for the great experience Wiers has had working with you on the following projects with the Wiers Senior Leadership Team and Departmental Leaders: Employee development through individual coaching, assessments of style and behavior, and supervisory training; Hiring support utilizing best practices and hiring assessments; Turnover and retention analysis resulting in cultural and systems changes; and Succession planning and development of family business concepts with 3rd generation family members. Thank you so much for your advice and help." "I have used Karen's services extensively and in a myriad of ways. From my perspective, her talents are essential when hiring new people. By engaging Karen, I am able to cover all the bases with respect to a candidate's qualifications, both in aptitude and attitude. Karen is also quite effective in interpersonal-related firm dynamics she is able to get at the root of various problems that relate to people. Karen is responsive, adaptive to a firm's culture and has that innate ability to listen effectively. She is a valued member of my team!" "Our company has been working with Karen and Hawthorne Services for several years to assist us with many different projects. Most recently I have used Karen to help us in our hiring process. Through Karen and her services we have been much more successful in hiring higher quality individuals. Karen is very gifted at being able to identify strengths and weaknesses in individuals and finding the right person to fit in with the culture of our company. She has also been extremely helpful to me in my personal development not only from a professional perspective but my personal life as well. I consider Karen a wonderful business partner and more importantly to me, I consider her a friend."