CSI Management Team
Witold W. Zabinski
Managing PartnerWitold W. Zabinski is Managing Principal of Corporate Strategies International, Inc. Mr. Zabinski has fourteen years of senior level experience in the financial industry in Dallas, Houston, Baltimore, Washington, and Atlanta. He and his five associates have used their wide-ranging expertise to help clients in the specialized areas of management consulting, banking, finance, sales, distribution and marketing.
Prior to founding CSI in 1992, Witold Zabinski served as Director of Product Development and Planning at the Federal Home Loan Bank in Atlanta (District Bank of the Southeastern United States). In addition, he oversaw lending, investment, and treasury management products. His career began with Republic Bank Dallas in Dallas, TX, where he held management assignments in corporate banking, and domestic and international operations.
Mr. Zabinski earned a Bachelor of Industrial Engineering degree from the Georgia Institute of Technology and an MBA from Mercer University in Atlanta. A native of Poland, he speaks Polish, English, and Russian.
Michael Lapsys
Vice PrincipalMichael Lapsys is a an experienced CEO, turnaround expert, entrepreneur, consultant, and B2B e-commerce investor with successful experience in semiconductor packaging, banking, assisted care living, internet startups, and in many sectors of agribusiness. Mr. Lapsys has had responsibility for over 20 separate operating companies in various industries during his career.
He is currently President of Crimson Cardinal, Inc., a firm which provides general management consulting and management to distressed firms. Recent assignments have included developing an international procurement strategy (with emphasis on China and Chile) for an a large agribusiness firm and assisting with due diligence on a large acquisition in Brazil and Argentina. An earlier assignment involved acting as CEO for a $60 million breaded shrimp company.
Mr. Lapsys owns and serves as CEO of Device Dynamics Incorporated of San Jose, California, a specialized company in the semiconductor packaging industry. In addition, he is the majority shareholder and president of Pacific Grove Associates which owns the Morris Living Center, an assisted care living facility in Marietta, Georgia.
Before he founded Crimson Cardinal in 1996, Michael Lapsys was the majority shareholder and CEO of Berliner & Marx, Inc., the largest U.S. veal processor. Prior to that, he was an executive for 13 years with ConAgra, Inc., a $25 billion food company.
Mr. Lapsys earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science from Stanford University and an M.B.A. degree from the Harvard University Graduate School of Business. He speaks Spanish.
Rod Taylor
Vice PrincipalRod Taylor established Taylor & Company in 1984 to meet the increasing global demand for professional international management consulting and executive recruiting services. Throughout his career, Taylor has conducted strategic planning and executive recruiting projects for multinational corporations, small- and medium-size businesses, governments, and philanthropic institutions. Taylor’s unique capabilities are derived from an extensive network of relationships among world leaders in industry and government. These relationships have been developed through 25 years of consulting and recruiting experience in over 65 countries, concentrated primarily in North and South America, Europe and the Middle East.
Prior to forming Taylor & Company, Taylor served as Vice-Chairman of Union Planters National Bank in Memphis, Tennessee. As the senior executive responsible for international strategic planning, he assisted in the planning and development of one of the country’s largest and most profitable fixed income investment banking groups specialized in the securitization, sales and trading of government guaranteed loans. As President of Union Planters International Bank, he was also responsible for the formation of Unitrade, the first highly successful bank holding company affiliated export trading company organized under the Export Trading Company Act of 1979.
Before joining Union Planters in 1982, Taylor was associated with A. T. Kearney International Management Consultants and Executive Recruiters. During his tenure at Kearney, Taylor’s practice was concentrated in international corporate strategic planning specialized in financial services, petrochemicals and export operations. Prior to joining Kearney, Taylor served as Managing Director of the State of Mississippi’s office in Brussels, Belgium, organizing trade missions and serving as the Governor’s diplomatic liaison and economic development representative in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
Taylor holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree from the University of Mississippi and a Master’s Degree in International Management from the American Graduate School of International Management (“Thunderbird”). He speaks French fluently, has a working knowledge of Spanish and German, and has also studied Arabic, Japanese and a variety of other languages. Taylor was a founding member of United States Library of Congress the James Madison Council, The American Graduate School of International Management’s President’s Council and the University of Mississippi’ Banking and Finance Advisory Board.
Seth Barnhard
Vice PrincipalSeth Barnhard is an associate professional with Corporate Strategies International, Inc. Mr. Barnhard has 18 years of real state and project management experience, and since 1997 has provided a broad range of advisory services for international and domestic real estate, project conceptualization and new business opportunities. This includes, research/evaluation, market and economic analysis, new business development and/or marketing for international companies reviewing the US markets, coordination of professional disciplines and interfacing with private clients and government agencies. Clients have included major development companies, construction and project management entities, international transportation and energy concerns, international consulting companies and individual investors.
From 1988 to 1997, Mr. Barnhard was Vice President of Portman Overseas and Portman Holdings, Ltd., an international real estate and trade mart concern headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia. The position entailed establishing new international and domestic real estate development and consulting roles for multiple Portman Companies. Before joining Portman, Barnhard was Vice President for Financial Center Corporation, an Arkansas company focusing on suburban office, retail, multi-family and land development and structuring and sales of limited partnerships. Job function was development manager, and owner's representative. From 1979 to 1982 he worked at Arkansas' largest architectural firm as a project and design architect. Mr. Barnhard holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and Bachelor of Architecture with Honors, University of Arkansas School of Architecture.