Don “Donko” Kochanski
Asst VP of Business Development

Don brings a unique and varied perspective to assist Spartan clients along the Human and Organizational Perfor-mance (HOP) journey. From his early experience as a collegiate soccer and hockey player, to his many years in the US Air Force, he has been a part of many highly successful, and some not so successful, teams. He learned valuable lessons from both.

As a pilot training instructor, an aircraft commander on a crew airplane, and a squadron commander, Don faced lead-ership challenges in encouraging individuals to perform at their best as well as those challenges that come with mo-tivating hundreds of people towards a common goal. Several leadership tools he relied upon to unify team and squadron members were based upon the tenets of Crew Resource Management (CRM) and Plan, Brief, Execute, Debrief (PBED).

In his last two assignments, Don moved to The Netherlands working in a NATO command and then to Germany leading an Air Staff division. While in NATO he acted as a Military Assistant to a four star general in charge of all NATO operations in Afghanistan. He interacted and led personnel from 22 NATO countries, which required many of HOP skills he acquired during his operational assignments. While on the Air Staff, Don engaged with several of our African nation-partners and their Air Forces directing training, logistics, and leadership. Leadership, he found, re-quires the ability to establish trust and common ground among many different partners.

After retiring from the military, Don concentrated on perhaps the most gratifying job he has held—shaping the char-acter of his four children. Raising children may have given Don his most intense training in individual and team building skills. Don eagerly looks forward to sharing his insights with you and your team as we advance along the HOP journey together and learn from one another.