About the Estenson Group

Since its formation in 1979, the Estenson Group has been a senior executive support consultancy. To provide assistance it has provided senior executives access to some of the best thinkers and consultants in leadership development field.  The firm initially concentrated on assisting executives with Labor Relations and Strategy Formation/ Implementation.  In 1995 the Group shifted its focus to creating next generation senior leaders.  This is done by partnering with an organization’s executive team to create and deliver bespoke senior leadership programs.  In addition to providing these custom programs the Group now provides highly personalized senior executive coaching.

The Group’s hierarchy is a very lean with a Managing Director and Two Associates.  This structure can be expanded to include some of the most talented presenters, consultants and practitioners in the world.

Jerry D. Estenson, Managing Director

During more than 30 years in management, Jerry D. Estenson served as Chief Executive Officer of two private corporations and Chief Administrative and Operations Officer of a public agency. Dr. Estenson consults extensively in the United States, Europe and Asia.

His private clients have included: Aerojet, China Tobacco, Changan/Ford Motor Company, Coopervision, Raley’s, and Sutter Health. In the public sector, his list of past and current clients include: County of Los Angeles, United States Army Corps of Engineers, State of California Franchise Tax Board, , State of California Department of Corrections, California Department of Transportation, Sacramento Regional Transit District, and Alameda Contra Costa Transit. In addition he has conducted research for the Chairman of Joint Chief of Staff and Commander in Chief of the United States Special Operations Command.

Since 1980, he has taught organizational behavior and management for University of Southern California, University of California, Davis, St. Mary’s College of California, and Embry Riddle Aeronautical University. He is currently a professor in the California State University, Sacramento College of Business and has been a visiting Professor at Nankai University, Tianjin, China, Bosporus University, Istanbul, Turkey and Far Eastern State University, Vladivostok, Russia. Off campus he is actively engaged in the development and delivery of Senior Executive Leadership Development Programs for international firms and is conducting research related to leadership behaviors of exemplary senior executives in business, government, and the military. In addition, he engages in selective executive coaching assignments. Recent coachees included a CEO of $1.2 billion dollar contact lens company and in a $11 billion dollar health care system he has coached the Senior Vice President for Shared Services, Chief Information Officer, Chief Operating Officer, IT Division, Regional Presidents, Chief Legal Counsel, Senior Physician Leaders and Vice Presidents in various operating units.

Dr. Estenson received his B.S. in Economics from the University of San Francisco. He holds an M.B.A. from Portland State University, Oregon and Master and Doctorate degrees in Public Administration from the University of Southern California. He served in the United States Army Special Forces as a Commissioned and Non-Commissioned Officer.

Associate – James Kennedy

Over the last 20 years, Jim has worked with CEOs and executive teams create and execute change that has had lasting positive impact on business performance and the delivery of improved customer benefits. He is a seasoned HR practitioner and executive leader who gained his experience in US, UK and European owned multinational companies. Jim has led on various types of change; mergers, acquisitions, integrations, managing growth, consolidations, divestments, turnarounds, operational effectiveness, commercial excellence and cultural transformations. He has worked in medical devices, diversified industrial groups, telecoms, project engineering and chemicals. A UK national, Jim is based near Cambridge, UK. He was also resident in the USA for several years.

Jim’s purpose is to improve organisation performance through its people and create sustainable competitive advantage as a result. He has strong interests and expertise in business strategy, organisation culture, leadership, employee engagement and the execution of change.

Jim is Director of Metis (People and Organisation) Consulting Limited and, in addition to The Estenson Group, is associated with other human capital and management consultants both in the UK and overseas.

A graduate of the University of Edinburgh, he also holds educational attainments from Edinburgh’s Napier University, and from the University of West London. He is a Chartered Member of the UK’s Institute of Personnel and Development. Jim is also a Trustee / Director of the Cambridge Meridian Academies Trust (CMAT).

Outside of work, Jim is a frustrated golfer and a novice wine collector. He and his wife split their time between their home in the countryside of south Cambridgeshire and a second home on the Suffolk coast.

Associate – Jessica Bagger

Dr. Jessica Bagger is currently Professor of Management at the College of Business Administration, California State University, Sacramento and associated faculty at the University of Gothenburg in Sweden, and she teaches in the Executive MBA programs at both universities. Jessica completed her education at the University of Arizona, where she received a B.A. in Psychology, a B.S.B.A in Management and International Business, a M.S. in Business Management, and a Ph.D. in Management.

Jessica actively conducts scientific research and has been published in many of the industry’s top journals including Journal of Management, Journal of Applied Psychology, International Journal of Selection & Assessment, Journal of Vocational Behavior, Human Performance, Human Relations, Journal of Behavioral Decision Making, and Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes. research relates to factors impacting employee wellbeing and performance, including HR systems, leadership, organizational culture, and decision making. She collaborates with researchers in the U.S., Sweden, Italy, Switzerland, and Singapore, and was during 2015 and 2016 one of six Associate Editors at the Scandinavian Journal of Management.

Over the last 10 years, Jessica has created, facilitated, and instructed at a variety of management and executive-level training and development seminars in addition to individual leadership coaching and consulting projects. Clients include non-profit (pro bono), public, and private sector organizations. Training topics include organizational change and change management, evidence-based management, current workforce challenges (e.g., generational differences), decision making, leadership, team effectiveness, and motivation. She has served on the boards of the Sacramento Employers Advisory Council and the Capitol Region chapter of the American Red Cross. She is currently a co-author of the Sacramento Business Review, a public service publication for the Sacramento region aimed to produce a body of objective regional economic analysis to help educate and inform our community.