Meet the Instructors

ANTIGONI LADD, antigoniladd@tigrettcorp.com, is the Curriculum Director of Tigrett Corp., developing and instructing leadership workshops. Prior to co-founding Tigrett Corp. with her husband, Antigoni was Senior Vice President of the Consumer Bankers Association, and served for 15 years as Director of the Graduate School of Retail Bank Management at the University of Virginia. She has more than 30 years of experience in leadership education, as both program designer and instructor.

TARA WENZEL retired from the Department of Defense after 37 years of service working in training, finance, intelligence analysis, signals collection, and counter-terrorism. She earned the Department of Defense Master Instructor and Senior Collector certifications. Besides teaching, she also designed curriculum and managed programs while mentoring employees and providing career guidance. ​

JAMES HAYNEY, (lookingforalincoln.com/home.html), a veteran actor with a life-long fascination for Abraham Lincoln, has performed in over 100 stage plays across the country, and acted in numerous TV films and commercials. He is a life member of the National Association Abraham Lincoln Presenters.

GARY KROSS, author and businessman, is one of the most popular Licensed Battlefield Guides at the Gettysburg National Battlefield Park. A member of the advisory board of Blue & Gray magazine, he has published special editions on the Battle of Gettysburg for the magazine each summer since 1995. As both instructor and tour guide, Gary’s vivid battlefield recreations provide a level of dramatic realism to Tigrett Corp.’s Lessons from Lincoln, and Lessons from Gettysburg programs. ​

​TIFFANY RAMSBURG, tiffany@tigrettcorp.com, is Senior Vice President of Operations at Tigrett Corp.  She manages program logistics, client relations, budgets and contracts.  Tiffany is also a certified DiSC® instructor and teaches our programs, "Everything DiSC® Workplace" and "Working with You is Killing Me".  She has her undergraduate degree in Business from Virginia Tech and her MBA from Mount Saint Mary's University.

JOHN BANISZEWSKI, (www.HistoryAndLeadership.com) worked for NASA for 33 years, and in retirement provides leadership training to government agencies. He is a regular speaker at NASA’s annual Project Management Challenge Conference, which attracts over 1,000 people from across the nation to foster the development of project management skills. He is also an expert on the American Civil War, working at the Gettysburg National Military Park as a Licensed Battlefield Guide. He has combined his knowledge of government agencies and Civil War history to develop innovative leadership training programs that apply the lessons from the Civil War to the leadership challenges of today. 

RALPH SIEGEL is a Gettysburg Licensed Battlefield Guide, a leadership trainer, and specialist in historical tours (Civil War, World War II, and the Revolutionary War). He has researched the stories of American soldiers killed in WWII who are now buried in the Gettysburg Soldiers National Cemetery. Using databases from the National Archives and the National WWII Memorial, Ralph has confirmed the military missions of the Gettysburg veterans who died during the war, and he has memorialized their stories in a website, www.WW2atGettysburg.com. In his full-time job, he is Executive Director of the Garden State Preservation Trust, a New Jersey Treasury Dept. agency that finances land preservation. ​

JOSEPH MARSHALL (www.ThunderDreamers.com), Lakota historian and author, has written both historical novels and non-fiction works. A founder of Sinte Gleska University, Joe teaches Native American Studies and is a principle instructor in Tigrett Corp's Lessons from Lewis & Clark and Lessons from Little Bighorn. This author/professor/ historian has made TV appearances in “Lakota Moon,” “How the West Was Lost,” “The Real West,” and “Return to Lonesome Dove.” His newest seminar, “Indians and Indians” examines stereotypes vs. reality and offers a fresh approach to diversity training. His popular books and CDs — The Lakota Way, The Journey of Crazy Horse, Walking with Grandfather, Keep Going: The Art of Perseverance — have received national acclaim. ​

DR. RICHARD PHILLIPS, has been involved in training for the past 35 years. For 28 of those years, he was a trainer with the Central Intelligence Agency. He teaches three popular Tigrett Corp. workshops: Lessons from Fredericksburg, Lessons from Lincoln, and Lessons from Eisenhower and Churchill. He has also taught at George Washington University, Northern Virginia Community College, and the University of Virginia. 

DR. CRAIG L. SYMONDS is a professor emeritus and former chairman of the history department of the U.S. Naval Academy. From 2005 to 2007 he was Chief Historian of the USS Monitor Center at the Mariners' Museum in Newport News, Virginia. A prolific writer and editor, his books include: Lincoln and his Admirals; Decision at Sea—Five Naval Battles that Shaped American History; American Heritage History of the Battle of Gettysburg; The Naval Institute Historical Atlas of the U.S. Navy; A Battlefield Atlas of the American Revolution; A Battlefield Atlas of the Civil War; Operation Neptune: The D-Day Landings and the Allied Invasion of Europe.

CHARLIE HERBEK combines corporate-level business executive experience with a long military career and a life-long fascination with Civil War history.  After retirement from the Army and work with a national defense and technology firm, Charlie founded LearningFields to offer thought-provoking presentations to business executives.  He has over 15 years of experience in conducting leadership training at Virginia’s pivotal Civil War battlefields.  He has also performed the lead in “Walt Whitman during the Civil War” at the National Portrait Gallery, the Federal Government’s Senior Executive Institute, The University of Virginia summer teachers program, and the City of Fredericksburg, Virginia.

BRAD WINN is Site Manager of the Lewis and Clark State Historic Site in Hartford, Illinois (the first trail site on the Lewis & Clark National Historic Trail). Since May 2001, he has been developing the site and programs. A rabid Cardinals Fan, and local area restaurant consultant, Brad enjoys introducing groups to the history and tastes of the region. He was formerly Program Manager at Lincoln's New Salem State Historic Site. He has been Adjunct College Professor at Lincoln Land and most recently at Lewis and Clark community colleges, where he teaches U.S. history and computer literacy. He teaches the Tigrett Corp. workshop Lessons from Lewis & Clark.

CAROL BESSETTE, Licensed Professional Tour Guide, works as both classroom instructor and tour guide. A retired Air Force intelligence officer and instructor at the Defense Intelligence College, she has developed her own special niche—spy tours and programs. She can cover with equal skill the Cold War or the Civil War, and her broad interest in history stimulates excellent classroom discussions. 

LARRY BOPP, retired history and English teacher, brings his love of history to life as a reenactor, author, and instructor. He serves as president of the Ship’s Company Living History Group, which produces programs aboard the USS Constellation. Larry also serves on the USS Constellation Museum board of directors. He is the author of Sailor Life Aboard the USS Constellation, Lessons from Lewis & Clark, and USS Constellation. 

RON HAWKINS, Civil War historian, has been portraying General James Longstreet for over twenty years. Ron grew up in north Georgia near the former home of General Longstreet. He has been selected as the official Longstreet reenactor for the annual Gettysburg reenactment programs and portrays the general at most major reenactment events. An electrical engineer by background, Ron worked at the Naval Ordnance Center in Indian Head, Maryland, and previously was an Explosive Ordnance Disposal instructor with the U.S. Air Force. He portrays General Longstreet in the leadership workshop, Teamwork in Action: Lessons from Fredricksburg.