OUR TEAM
Leadership Team
We have a passion for solving problems and delivering results. We are advocates of our clients, devoted to delivering on commitments and experts who entwine ourselves in our clients’ business. Our consultants are conscientious, detail oriented, deeply experienced and empowered to care. Our leaders are curious and strive to continue learning, embrace technology and embrace innovation as industries and business practices develop.
Dean Nelson
Co-CEO
The Leader of the Pack
Dean is an expert in quality assurance, testing, and test automation solutions. With over 25+ years of experience, he has built successful teams and methodologies to help many fortune 500 companies transform from traditional testing methodologies to Agile/DevOps disciplines. He is a Certified Software Test Engineer and is a published author and speaker on the subject of testing in Rapid Application Development projects.
A serial entrepreneur, Dean co-founded Cornerstone Consulting in 1999, and later created C2 Solutions with the core leaders serving the company today. His financial acumen and strategic growth insight has helped the company expand over the years, building the Minneapolis, MN and Dallas, TX branches, in addition to managing resources and clients in Los Angeles, CA.
Dean is the epitome of leader in everything he does, including playing in a heavy metal band. He is adventurous, loves to travel with his family, enjoys his grandkids, and can play a mean bass guitar.
Recruiting & Business Development
Tom Riley
EVP, Business Development
The Sales Guy
Tom is a business development executive with a technical aptitude who works with clients to identify business strategies and technical solutions to further organizational initiative success. He is responsible for continued practice growth, establishes partnership ventures and cultivates C2 Solution’s trusted business relationships with clients. Tom leads with compassion and drives efforts to achieve successful project outcomes that create long-standing relationships.
An original leadership team member of the 1st generation company prior to C2 Solutions, Tom has leveraged his business development expertise to drive continued growth and success of the firm over the past two decades. With his desire to help mentor consultants and clients, he has helped build the fabric of culture at C2 Solutions and produced hundreds of satisfied clients.
A devoted hunter and outdoorsman, Tom enjoys bird hunting and fishing, as well as spending time with his family, attending kid activities and is known by many as a hockey fanatic.
Joel Coquyt
EVP, Engineering & Technology
The Innovation Guy
Joel is an experienced consulting services executive who believes trust and competency are foundational to strong business relationships. He serves as a trusted advisor to clients in project delivery, requirements management, software quality assurance, data management, software development, and product engineering. Joel leverages true passion and an unwavering commitment to excellence to build highly effective teams. Joel enjoys navigating the complex waters of business to secure positive results in challenging and complex client organizations.
As a founding partner of C2 Solutions, he established the firm’s government consulting business and product engineering consulting business to drive continued growth and expansion of services. Joel is a life-long inquisitive learner and finds satisfaction through problem solving, learning about customers and consultants, pragmatic assessment of delivery capabilities that match customer needs, and helping others achieve their goals.
Joel enjoys trail running, boating, woodworking, as
well as spending time with his family and his
favorite pastimes – cooking, movies and music.