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Turning Points was founded in the early 1980's by Phoebe and Jack Ballard, under the name of THL ("Third Half of Life") Associates. The Ballards had experienced Jack's retirement from a 35 year career in corporate America, and they were interested in assisting their friends and contemporaries in maximizing quality of life during their retirement years. The result of this effort was a series of training seminars and two books, the second of which was entitled: Turning Points: Create Your Path Through Uncertainty and Change.

From the 100’s of participants that successfully attended the Ballard’s trainings and seminars came a consistent call for the Turning Points curriculum to be made available on a mass basis. Community colleges, senior advocacy groups, and distance learning distributors began requesting that Turning Points be converted into a distance learning

curriculum. Starting in 2003, the Ballards began working with their son Mike, who had a background in the computer industry. 26 years in the making, this collaboration has resulted in the production of a series of on-line products.

Click here for more TPRI background.

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Executive Director - Mike Ballard

Mike Ballard is an entrepreneur and career coach with 6 years career development experience. He is a Senior Career Consultant with the Impact Group, providing career services to US corporate outplacement clients (www.ImpactGroupHR.com). He became Executive Director of TPRI in 2003. Mike is an active member of the National Career Development Association, Colorado Career Development Association and the Denver Coach Federation, for which he was recently nominated to board-level positions. His tenure marked a new direction for Turning Points. A new business plan, branding, marketing and key accounts were established. Mike raised over $250,000 in new funding to bring the Turning Points concepts to a mass, online audience. He managed technical development, performed detailed market research and conducted pilot testing – which resulted in a comprehensive, integrated “hybrid” online product and class curriculum.

Mike was recently named to receive the 2007 JoAnn Harris Bowlsbey Award for Excellence in Technology and Curriculum Development by the Career Development Leadership Alliance (CDLA) of NCDA. He received his coach certification from the nationally-renowned NACTLI program (www.NewAgreementsCoaching.com), and serves as a coach mentor for NACTLI students. As a trainer, he leads career workshops at the University of Colorado and Denver University, consistently receiving high marks for his public speaking and group facilitation skills. He is currently recruiting a team of trainers and strategic partners as part of Turning Points’ “Authorized Provider” program, and managing development of the latest online product, TPN 3.0. In 2006 and ’07, Mike was invited to speak at 10 national and regional conferences, while he and Turning Points have been the subject of numerous regional and national media.

Prior to Turning Points, Ballard amassed 20 years of business and technology experience combining operations, contracts, finances, sales, writing and production. In the competitive Washington, DC integration market, Mike produced annual sales over $1 million for 4 consecutive years. Accounts included GTE, Freddie Mac, FDIC, the World Bank, the DC Circuit Court, major law firms, and the Army Corps of Engineers. As a technical rep, he was invited to teach Local Area Networking at the Army War College. Still in his twenties, Mike established and directed eastern regional operations for an innovative California systems integrator. Later he was part of proposal teams that successfully won multi-million dollar contracts such as US Army NIMA, and contracts for the National Security Agency and the US Department of Transportation.

At Nextel Communications, Ballard managed purchasing for over $35 million in Colorado cellular site development and construction services. In one year, he purchased over $20 million in construction services in an aggressive site build that resulted in 90 new sites on air. As part of this effort, he overhauled and rolled out a new PO system involving three different Site Acquisition teams including nearly 100 people. He also audited Colorado telco carrier services, resulting in annual savings of $129,000 per year.

Mike has produced a variety of web-based marketing, production and public relations projects, involving web design, voice-over, original music composition and performance, copy writing, graphics design and layout. As a leader with Friends of Red Rocks, he has produced over a dozen community concerts at Red Rocks Amphitheatre, as well as several of Colorado’s other leading performance venues. Most recently, he co-founded Multi Serv Pro (MSP), a “multimedia service provider” specializing in producing and supporting on-line interactive services. He is also a published poet, songwriter, musician and actor. (Email Mike)

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An American Success Story: Jack Ballard Remembered

Hightstown, NJ – March 13, 2006 – From a small town all-state linebacker, to a Princeton Magna Cum Laude graduate, Mobil Oil executive, board member and chairman of internationally renowned Wainwright House, to founder of Turning Points, John W. (Jack) Ballard lived a true American success story. On Thursday, February 9, 2006, John W. (Jack) Ballard passed away at his home in Hightstown, New Jersey. His life serves as an example of a life dedicated to the ideal of service to humanity.

Born March 30, 1927, in Mason City, Iowa, Jack Ballard graduated from University City High School in St Louis, Missouri. An all-state Linebacker, he was an Order of the Arrow Eagle Scout who was honored to escort Sir Winston Churchill around St. Louis during a visit to the U.S. during World War II. Upon graduation, Ballard enlisted and served in the U.S. Navy and was offered an athletic scholarship to attend the U.S. Naval Academy at Annapolis. Instead he accepted an academic scholarship at Princeton University. In 1950 he graduated Magna Cum Laude with a degree in International Affairs, then completed his graduate studies at Columbia University Business School, where he earned a Master’s Degree in Economics.

Ballard had a 30-year career with Mobil Oil International, during which he held executive positions in the fields of human resources and energy economics. In 1971, as a personnel manager overseeing 3,000 executives in 100 countries, he assigned himself the “Human Resources Manager” title – making him one of the first in corporate America to use the term. His innovative style later gave him the opportunity to head up a landmark project to train Saudi Arabian workers to take over all refinery operations from foreign workers.

Jack met his wife Phoebe on a blind date, and soon began a marriage that lasted 55 years. Ballard’s career took him and his family to over 40 countries and every continent around the world. After retiring, he worked for Mobil as a consultant and trainer, educating mid-level managers worldwide in the economics of the oil industry. Ballard also spent two years “on loan” to the New York Urban Coalition, where he was responsible for personnel and finance. While at the Coalition, he started an innovative program to allow Harlem residents to own their homes, but soon became disillusioned with the politics that prevented the program from expanding.

During the 50’s the Ballards became involved in the Laymen’s Movement; a group of spiritually-minded businessmen who influenced business leaders to apply their highest values in everyday work. The Receptive Listening Course at Wainwright House was a formative experience for them, where participants quickly discovered that a listener is much more effective if he or she has self-understanding (to listen to another we first need to listen to ourselves). For the next twenty five years, the Ballards were an integral part of Wainwright House. Phoebe served as Assistant Director for years. In 1968 Jack was a trainer in the Innovative Management Program, to “help the individual manager to become a more mature, creative person who can in turn help others to develop”.

In 1984, Jack and Phoebe introduced the Turning Points companies - authoring and leading the Third Half of Life (THL) seminars, starting with the "Going for the Gold" life transition workshop. These intensive seminars used narrative assessments and receptive listening exercises to help retiring professionals and their spouses make decisions about how they would live in their golden years. During the 1980's, the Ballards trained over 400 individuals. They wrote and self-published 2 books, Beating the Age Game - Redefining Retirement and Turning Points - Create Your Path Through Uncertainly and Change. “They were visible examples, “pioneers” I called them, of living lives of purpose and meaning, paving the way for their own generation and for the larger cohort of baby-boomers that would follow.” said former Turning Points CEO Steve Ristau, recalling the first time he met Jack & Phoebe Ballard.

More than 20 years after they began, the world has caught up with Phoebe and Jack Ballard. Turning Points is now on the internet, publishing a new edition of the Turning Points book, and rolling out a national network of providers. Their vision is finally coming true. Meg Newhouse is a life coach in Boston, who said of Jack Ballard: “He had... a wonderful life and very positively impacted a lot of people, including me.” In 2002, Jack and Phoebe’s son Mike took over management of the company. Under his leadership, Turning Points recently completed the Turning Points Navigator™ and Career Navigator™ online products. When word of Ballard’s death went out, many Turning Points students sent emails, including CU Alumna Myria Crawford, who wrote: “…Your father has left a great legacy in the Turning Points Program.”

In the next 5 years, millions of Americans will reach turning points in their lives, and Turning Points providers nationwide will be positioned to assist them. A new version of the Turning Points book will be out soon, revised and edited to speak to a wider range of adults. College and university career centers continue to add Career Navigator™ assessments and workshops to their counseling and course offerings. More students, alumni, and professionals will subscribe to Turning Points Navigator™ in order to build the foundation for discovering the meaning and purpose of their lives.

Jack Ballard is survived by his beloved wife Phoebe, three sons, a daughter-in-law, two grandchildren, and many cousins, nieces, nephews and friends. He will be sorely missed and fondly remembered by family and friends alike. A Memorial Service will be held at 11:30am on May 13, 2006 at Round Hill Church in Greenwich, Connecticut to honor the life of a man who dedicated his life to the development of human potential.

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