Meet Our Team

Michelle Tillis Lederman, MBA, CPA, PCC
Founder & CEO

Michelle Tillis Lederman is a people expert who inspires organizations and individuals to build real relationships and get real results. For the past 15 years, Michelle has helped companies grow a business’s greatest asset – it’s people. Michelle is an accomplished speaker, trainer, coach, and author of four books including The Connector’s Advantage, The 11 Laws of Likability, Heroes Get Hired and Nail The Interview – Land The Job.

Named by Forbes as one of the top 25 Professional Networking Experts and a former NYU professor, financial executive, and CPA; Michelle teaches from experience and shares what she learned during her extensive career. Clients range from government to academia and non-profit to Fortune 500 companies like Madison Square Garden, Citi Group, Johnson & Johnson, Ernst & Young, Deutsche Bank, Michigan State University, Columbia Business School, Target, Sony, the NYC Department of Environmental Protection, and The Museum of Modern Art. Read Michelle’s full bio here.

Abby Katoni

As an affiliate of Executive Essentials, Abby brings her 20 years of experience, energy, resourcefulness and humor to support the development of employees at all levels within organizations. Her transparent communication, adaptability, approachability and humor enable her to quickly engage and build critical relationships with her clients. Her leadership and influencing skills have allowed her to easily navigate the challenges facing the new manager or the C-suite executive.

Abby’s diverse industry experience crosses the profit and non-profit sectors including consumer products, healthcare, pharmaceutical, government and biotechnology. She skillfully assesses organizations and the people that are responsible for bringing the vision and mission alive so that she can deliver meaningful learning solutions. Abby prides herself in the ability to balance the needs of the organization as well those of the employees that count on her coaching and expertise. She designs and delivers supervisory, middle tier and executive level management programs that meet the challenges of today’s ever changing workplace.

Abby is a graduate in Communications from The George Washington University and has her MSW from the University of Pennsylvania with a specialty in Workplace Dynamics. She has a certificate in Organizational Development from Columbia University Teachers College. She has held critical roles at The National Board of Medical Examiners, New York University Medical Center, Mount Sinai Hospital, Cadbury, Kraft, LifeCell, Symphony Health Solutions, G&W Laboratories and Lonza. Through her career she has utilized a wide array of tools and is certified in the GROW Coaching model, Thomas-Killman Conflict Instrument, Situational Leadership II, The Hogan Assessment, The Neethling Brain Instrument, the Myers-Briggs Type Inventory and the full suite of Korn Ferry Leadership Programs.

Adina Viezel

Adina Viezel, an Executive Essentials affiliate, is a technology trainer and computer applications consultant with over 20 years of experience. She is a certified Microsoft Office Specialist and Microsoft Office Excel Expert and regularly teaches all levels of Microsoft Office, proprietary applications and new hire technology training in live classrooms across the U.S. and, virtually, to a global audience. A graduate of Wellesley College, Adina has served as a Training Manager, TTT, Lead Trainer, curriculum developer and has led large-scale software migration projects for clients such as ExxonMobil, Citi, Regeneron, Wolters Kluwer, New Jersey Manufacturers Insurance, New York City Campaign Finance Board, Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital and Cadbury Schweppes as well as hundreds of other organizations.  Adina’s passion for training is infused into each class she teaches and her students regularly comment on her deep knowledge of the material and her engaging, friendly style.

Adina’s training expertise is complemented by concurrent specialties in several other areas. She is a consultant/project manager who has developed automated database and spreadsheet solutions for clients in over 50 fields, managing all phases of development including discovery, specifications, system design, testing, implementation, documentation, training and ongoing support. Adina also brings award-winning writing and editorial skills which she regularly applies to custom curriculum, e-learning and IT communications and marketing projects. Adina also has had the unique opportunity to serve as an assistive technology trainer for the New Jersey Commission for the Blind and Visually Impaired, experience which she finds invaluable for her mainstream training, as well.  

Andrew Mellen

Andrew Mellen is an organizational expert, speaker, and the #1 best-selling author of Unstuff Your Life! His humor, honesty, tough love and foolproof strategies have won fans and followers from Fortune 50 CEOs, award-winning artists and older adults to local and national government agencies. A member of NAPO’s Golden Circle, he’s brought greater organization and productivity to American Express, Genentech, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, NetApp, Singapore Tourism Board, Time, Inc. and the US Depts. of Education and Homeland Security, among others.

Andrew is a featured contributor to Real Simple, AOL Jobs and KnowMoreTV and is on the faculty at New York Open Center. In addition to New York Open Center, he teaches frequently on the intersection of organization and spirituality at venues such as San Francisco Zen Center, Tassajara and Omega Institute.

Andrew speaks internationally on organization and productivity, addressing audiences from TEDx and Sustainability Leaders Forum to International Trade Expo UK and BlogHer. He’s been dubbed “The Most Organized Man in America” by media outlets including The Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, The New York Times, Real Simple, Oprah Magazine, America Now, Martha Stewart Living Today, HGTV, Better Homes and Gardens, Ladies’ Home Journal and NPR.

Audrey Halpern

Audrey began her career in sales and developed a knack for training and coaching.  Audrey is a highly engaging learning and development professional with a diverse background in Human Resources, instructional design (ILT/OLT), and sales, which makes for effective workshop facilitation and design. Since 1992, Audrey has been consulting with corporate clients, developing customized content and facilitating soft skills, emotional intelligence, leadership, and communication content face to face and through global webinars for clients in a variety of industries. Previously a Director of Training with a telecom company, she has experience in both management and consulting. Audrey has worked with global Fortune 500 firms both here in the US and abroad. She has been an adjunct professor for the MBA program at Hofstra University and New York Institute of Technology. Where she taught presentation skills/communication skills.  She has coached MBA students in successfully navigating their internships.

Audrey is passionate about soft skills in professional development. As a life-long learner, her philosophy is centered on two questions: how can I improve things around me and how can I assist employees in becoming more self-aware. She has a passion for making a difference. She is knowledgeable with adult learning theory, analyzing roles and responsibilities of skills to transform data into optimal results. As a trainer, she utilizes impactful activities to build confidence and essential 21st-century skills for individuals and teams to communicate and collaborate effectively.

Audrey is a faculty member of the American Management Association in New York where she teaches professional development topics throughout the Northeast. Audrey holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Painting and Art History. This creativity infuses her training making it fun, engaging, and highly interactive. She is able to pivot easily with acronyms and industry-specific terminology making it easy to understand. Audrey holds training certifications with Zenger Miller (AchieveGlobal) Instructor Frontline Leadership Instructor, Richardson, Gitomer, Investment in Excellence, Reciprocity Ring/Rippelle Effect Facilitator, Creative Training Techniques, Design Thinking, Leadership Challenge Posner/Kouzes, Actionable Books Facilitator, Story Leaders Facilitator, DiSC, Franklin Covey, Who Moved My Cheese Facilitator, FISH, Give ‘em the Pickle, Question-Based Selling Facilitator, Customer-Centric Selling Facilitator, Innovation Women Speaker/Presenter.

Bill Straubinger

An Executive Essentials affiliate, Bill Straubinger specializes in helping businesses improve their results by developing employees and providing tools to make better decisions and solve problems more effectively. His background includes more than twenty years of senior management experience in the public, private and nonprofit sectors.

Over that time, he has worked with hundreds of individuals as an executive consultant, coach, project manager and trainer with more than 250 major organizations such as: AstraZenica, Bank of America, The Federal Reserve Bank of New York, National Grid, Southern Company, Marine Corps/Intelligence School, McGraw Hill, NY/NJ Port of Authority, Johnson & Johnson, Societe Generale Bank, Time Inc. the U.S. Mint and XLHealth, to develop and improve their employees’ professional and interpersonal skills to increase their management effectiveness.

As a trainer, Mr. Straubinger has presented and coordinated workshops at the local, state, national and international levels on topics concerning key management/organizational aspects of creating and operating winning programs throughout the company structure. A foundational topic in his practice is Critical Thinking and he’s a certified Mindex trainer. He also serves on the faculty of the American Management Association conducting seminars in their Leadership, Communications and Management practices.

Casey Carpenter

Casey Carpenter is a speaker, author, business coach, and Learning & Development specialist with expertise in executive coaching, leadership development, performance consulting, seminar facilitation, and sales training. She brings over 30 years experience working within the healthcare sector.

Casey excels at sales training, where she has used inquiry and coach training to motivate commercial and retail healthcare sales teams. Her areas of workshop expertise include giving effective feedback, motivating the team, effective delegation, innovation at the workplace, public speaking, strategic and critical thinking, and sales strategy. Casey’s strengths include her engaging and dynamic style that facilitates trust quickly. Her warm, upbeat tone diminishes barriers, and participants feel comfortable sharing tough organizational issues, knowing that they are in a safe space.

Casey holds a B.A. from Tufts University, a coaching certificate from Coach Training Institute (CTI,) and a Performance Consulting Certificate from Langevin Learning Institute. She is the author of Introverts in Sales: Turn Your Peaceful Power into a Profitable Selling Machine, a pocket sized sales survival guide, available on Amazon.

Cindy Fleischer

Cindy Fleischer is an accomplished executive coach, trainer and consultant with a proven record of driving transformational initiatives, empowering people and delivering successful projects. Cindy is a creative, strategic thinker with particular talent in identifying opportunities and articulating needs. With a drive to help her clients, their stakeholders and the community, she develops strategies for alignment to effectively achieve goals, maintain stakeholder engagement and addresses issues of leadership, employee engagement, productivity and innovation. She demonstrates excellence in communication and facilitation skills. Her exceptional interpersonal skills impart the ability to influence. She is a true student of behavior in the business world and is passionate about her work. With grace, confidence and a business owners’ mind- set, she creates a collaborative environment for her clients to safely and confidently explore options and ideas.

During the course of her career, Cindy has mentored many who have gone on to be industry leaders and enjoy successful and fulfilling careers. As a coach, trainer and consultant, Cindy has had the opportunity to create and implement innovative and original pilot programs for nonprofit organizations, serving many in new and innovative ways while creating models to be duplicated. She has also had the opportunity to coach new managers, mothers returning to work, faith leaders and seasoned executives engaged in career change. Her training work has introduced her to manufacturing, distribution, corporations, the pharmaceutical industry, educational institutions, faith organizations and non-profit fields.

She holds a BA from FDU in psychology and several certifications including DiSC, Hogan HBRI, and from Rutgers: Sustainability, Project Management and Lean Six Sigma. She is honored to have served as a member of the board of directors for the Mental Health Association of Morris County, the Mental Health Advisory Board of Morris County, MC Stigma Free Initiative and currently serves on the grant committee of Impact 100 Garden State. In addition to coaching and training, available courses include: Management & Leadership, DiSC Behavior Profile, Communications skills, Customer Service, Conflict resolution, Change, Goal setting and feedback, Sales, Lean 6S for managers, Team building and others.

David Drew

David is a strategy, marketing, people, and execution consultant who delivers break though performance improvement for organizations, teams, and individuals. His emphasis is on core leadership and management capabilities, including complex issue prioritization, problem solving, and decision making. He also specializes in risk management, strategic planning and execution, marketing functional leadership redefinition, and assessing and modifying human performance ecosystems.

David has provided global leadership experiences in telecommunications, software, automotive, manufacturing, training, and management consulting. He has trained and coached clients at all levels from the C-suite to operational teams in capabilities including program planning, project management, marketing planning/ execution, and partnership and alliance management. He has directly managed various aspects of business operations in over 30 countries.

David has a BA Joint Honours in Modern European Languages from Cardiff University. He has certifications in the IDEO/Experiencpoint Design Thinker simulation; Kepner-Tregoe’s Program Leader Development Institute, Analytic Trouble Shooting, Problem Solving and Decision Making, and Managing People in Projects. He’s been published in the Weslaw Automotive Journal and The Journal of the American Management Association.

Dru Cutler

Dru Cutler focuses on the space where technology and interpersonal skills meet. He understands the hyper-paced tech landscape and the incredibly short attention span of the digital learner. His philosophy is simple: Learning should be fun.

Having worked in Learning and Development for Tech-giants Apple, Amazon, Samsung, and IBM, Dru successfully designed programs to grow subject matter experts into better speakers, teachers, trainers and leaders. His areas of expertise include: Presentation Skills, Classroom Facilitation, Brainstorming and Ideation, Design Thinking, Time Management and Intergenerational Dynamics.  

Originally from Tampa, FL. Dru graduated from the University of South Florida and now lives and works in New York City. He’s a certified instructional designer through Langevin Learning.

Edward Kim

Ed is a coach, consultant, and trainer with expertise in leadership, emotional intelligence, intercultural competence, and aligning intentions to the impact leaders and teams want to have. He has helped leaders and teams clarify their north star and utilize emotions as critical data points when making decisions and leading people.

As a coach, Ed works with leaders of all levels from profit and non-profit organizations across various industries including healthcare, higher education, and tech. His goal is to meet his clients where they are, provide value, and set them up for success. Ed has led team development workshops around intercultural competence, clarifying values, and Everything DiSC®. Each workshop is customized to create learner engagement, relevance, and clear application to be effective in relationships and business objectives.

Ed received his M.A. in Social-Organizational Psychology from Teachers College, Columbia University, and a B.S. in Sport Management from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. He is certified in Everything DiSC®, and the Intercultural Development Inventory® (IDI®). His previous work experiences have been with Barclays Capital and NBCUniversal, Dartmouth-Hitchcock, and Dartmouth College.

Dr. Howard D. Leifman

Dr. Leifman is an internationally recognized expert in the area of human development. He currently advises, trains and consults with corporate clients, consulting firms, not-for-profits, and individuals specifically on: executive coaching, career development, change management, counseling, human resources, outplacement, training, recruiting and staffing and time management. He specializes in helping organizations and individuals work through their personal and human resources issues.

Howard has worked with numerous Fortune 500 firms, major consulting firms and individuals both here in the US and overseas. He has trained employees on both soft and hard skills. He is also an adjunct professor at two major Universities. He is the author of the Vault Guide to Resumes, Cover Letters and Interviewing.

Dr. Leifman has a bachelor’s degree from Syracuse University, a master’s degree in Communications Management also from Syracuse University, a master’s in Social Work from New York University and a Ph.D. also from New York University. His dissertation is on, “Family of origin roles and adult work roles in relation to employee adjustment, satisfaction, and success.” He has guest lectured at Harvard, MIT, NYU, CUNY, Stanford and the College of Aeronautics. He has worked and lived internationally.

Jeanmarie Alessi

Jeanmarie is an organizational learning and development consultant with over 30 years of experience in coaching executives and designing and facilitating adult learning initiatives. She has worked in various industries including financial services, technology, publishing, communications, education, non-profit, retail and health care. As a consultant, she has trained hundreds of employees in New York City, nationally, and internationally. As a coach she coaches mid to senior executives in the process of increasing their self-awareness and targeted competency building to achieve their professional goals.

Jeanmarie’s areas of expertise include leadership development, communication, consulting skills, emotional intelligence, change management, career development and team building. She is certified in several personality/style assessments and has coached people to better understand how their personality/style influences their leadership style, team performance, and career goals. Additionally, she uses instruments such as the Emotional Competency Inventory, Strength Deployment Inventory, Hogan Assessment Series and a number of other 360-degree assessments in her work with clients.

Jennifer Wisdom

Jennifer Wisdom, PhD MPH, helps curious, motivated, and mission-driven professionals to achieve their highest potential by identifying personal and organizational goals and then providing them with the roadmap and guidance to get there. She has a mission to help people achieve clarity, reach their greatest potential, and lead with wisdom.

Jennifer is a former academician who is now is a sought-after consultant and speaker. She helps individuals and teams successfully master transitions, improve client service delivery and outcomes, implement evidence-based treatments, and conduct cutting-edge research. Her book, Millennials’ Guide to Work, has been highly praised as an “awesome resource with practical tips” and was a best seller in vocational guidance.  She is an expert in intergenerational struggles at work and has been delighted to use her more than 30 years of work experience to help Millennials and others navigate the workplace. Millennials’ Guide to Work helps Millennials achieve success and respect at work while keeping their integrity and sense of humor.

She has worked with complex health care, government, and educational environments for 25 years, including the serving in the U.S. military, working with non-profit service delivery programs, and as faculty in higher education. She has previously been a photojournalist, soldier, therapist, marathoner, surfer, academic, and teacher.

Jenny Fernandez

Jenny Fernandez is an Executive Coach, Chief Marketing Officer, and Adjunct Professor at Columbia Business School. As Executive Coach, Jenny’s mission is to help successful leaders and organizations drive exponential growth by unlocking resilience, collaboration, and innovative thinking through personalized coaching. Her clients include executives from Fortune 500 Companies to start-ups such as Colgate Palmolive, Kraft, Google, Meta/Facebook, Tiffany’s, Marsh, Mercer, Driscoll’s, Zscaler, and EltaMD Skin Care. Jenny empowers successful leaders with the self-awareness, knowledge, and mindset shifts needed to accelerate their organizational impact and career trajectory. She also teaches and facilitates courses and workshops that leaders leverage to create competitive advantage such as Business Resilience & Reinvention; Executive Presence & Leadership Brand; Power, Influence & Collaboration; and Navigating the Digitization of Media and Marketing.

Jenny Fernandez is also a Chief Marketing Officer, and Adjunct Professor at Columbia Business School & New York Universities. Jenny brings over 20 years of experience leading, launching, and growing brands, from multi-million-dollar businesses within Mondelez International (Oreo, Trident Gum), Kraft Foods (Ritz, Triscuit, and Wheat Thins breakthrough Innovation), and Accenture to high-growth, mid-sized organizations such as Merlin Entertainments, and Loacker USA.

Jenny is a Board Advisor at the American Marketing Association and Board Chair of the Global Connections for Women Foundation. She is a contributor to Harvard Business Review, speaks in engagements, and moderates panels about leadership, marketing, and business growth. Her book on Leadership Habits will be published in 2023. Her unique perspective is shaped by her academic background in Applied Mathematics & Operations Research at Columbia University and her Marketing, Strategy and Management & Organizations MBA from Northwestern’s Kellogg School of Management. She is certified in the Marshall Goldsmith Stakeholder Centered Coaching (SCC) method and a member of The World’s Largest Executive Coaching Network.

Jess Wass

Jess Wass is an Organizational Development Consultant, Career Coach, Educator, Facilitator, and Speaker. Jess Wass is a Career Coach and Consultant with expertise in high-performance environments. She helps high-achieving individuals craft intentional career paths and high-performance organizations cultivate people-centric work cultures. She’s been featured in publications such as The New York Times, Bloomberg Businessweek, and Thrive Global. Prior to her current career, she was an Associate Consultant with Bain & Company. She then spent several years at Starwood Hotels working on strategy, global marketing partnerships, and as Chief of Staff to the Chief Brand Officer. After that, she spent several years working across various stage startups leading Operational teams.

As a Career Coach, Jess works with a variety of clients to find meaning, direction, and fulfillment in their careers. She supports individuals on challenges such as navigating career and job transitions, supporting managers and leaders in their career progression and to become empathetic leaders, and adopting habits and organizational skills that support better productivity. As an Organizational Development Consultant she specializes in Diversity, Equity, Inclusion & Belonging and Learning & Development. She creates and facilitates workshops aimed at helping teams develop a culture of communication by providing them foundational skills and knowledge needed to work more effectively together. Example workshops include: Team Communication, Foundational Manager Skills, Building a Culture of Feedback, Unmasking Microaggressions, Navigating Difficult Conversations, and (Re)Setting Expectations. She also supports organizations in developing the strategy behind their DEIB and L&D initiatives and helping leadership teams lead more effectively.

Jess holds a M.A. in Social-Organizational Psychology with a focus in Change Leadership from Teachers College, Columbia University. She has a BSBA in Finance and Psychology from Washington University in St. Louis where she was also an Ervin Scholar. Jess is also trained as a certified coach through the Coactive Training Institute (CTI). Jess uses the following assessments for her client work: Clifton Strengths, Myers Briggs Type Indicators (MBTI), and a custom Values Assessment.

John Neral

John Neral is an executive and career transition coach who helps mid-career professionals “SHOW UP” to find a job they love or love the job they have. John has been developing talent for over 25 years. He has served as a mathematics educator, instructional coach, supervisor, educational administrator, and training director. John’s expertise is in helping his clients create a professional roadmap aligned to their professional goals.

John has worked with clients across various industries and Fortune 500 companies to help them identify their strengths and the value they bring to their clients, teams, and companies. As a public speaker and workshop facilitator, John speaks to organizations and audiences about what it means for them to “SHOW UP” energetically and professionally to make a more significant impact as leaders and with their teams and clients. He is a best-selling author and podcast host.

John earned a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from Loyola University in Maryland, a Masters of Arts in Teaching from Monmouth University, and obtained his professional coaching certification through the Institute for Professional Excellence in Coaching (iPEC). John is also a Master Practitioner in the Energy Leadership Index Assessment™.

Julie Nickerson

Leveraging art and science, Julie Nickerson is an enthusiastic champion of human-centered design, design thinking, and systems approach to help clients improve their communication, leadership presence, and business impact. Julie empowers individuals and teams with the communication and leadership skills they need most to persuade and increase their influence.

From Walmart to New York City Government Agencies, Julie has worked with diverse global organizations to drive change and help build internal capability so they can be more agile, innovative, and effective. Her art background comes from extensive experience in the consumer goods area where she served as product manager and design director persuading and influencing diverse, complex corporations to bet on innovation, resulting in increased sales and profits. A life-long learner, she built on her experience innovating product and process, and blends art with science. Working with a variety of industries including media, management consulting, and public sectors, she helps people and teams develop communications, articulate, and connect to make their interactions count so business goals can be achieved with greater impact.

Julie has conducted and presented original research on creative teams, shared leadership and emotional intelligence. She holds an MS in Industrial-Organizational Psychology from Baruch and received her BA in Organizational Behavior and Communications from New York University. She is certified to administer and coach the EQ-i 2.0 Emotional Intelligence assessment.

Ken Blackwell

Ken brings over 25 years of experience as a certified coach and trainer to his work with a diverse mix of US and international companies across a wide range of industries such as: American Express, Bayer Healthcare Pharmaceuticals, Blue Cross Blue Shield; Bristol-Myers Squibb; Campbell Soup Company; County of Albemarle, VA; Chase; Dallas Morning News; FujiFilm, Johns Hopkins University; L’Oreal; Nabisco; Novartis; Ocean Spray; PepsiCo; Roche Molecular Systems; Rohm & Haas; Saint-Gobain; Schering AG; Transportation Safety Administration; US Army; US Marines; US Navy; Verizon and W.L. Gore.

Clients experience Ken as centered, engaged, and optimistic; at the same time, his work is grounded, realistic, and practical. He creates an open, inclusive environment that makes it safe for participants to tackle difficult issues that may be outside their comfort zone. Ken approaches even the most difficult situations with good humor and a smile. Whether he is working with individual contributors and front-line supervisors or members of the C-Suite, he tailors his approach to their specific needs rather than applying a “one size fits all” mindset. 

Ken is one of a few consultants worldwide to be Certified in Conversational Intelligence® (C-IQ), a revolutionary methodology that leverages the power of neuroscience to elevate performance and create lasting change for individuals, teams and entire organizations. He is also an Everything DiSC® Certified Trainer and a Five Behaviors of a Cohesive TeamTM Accredited Facilitator.  Ken is a sought-after speaker and has presented at a variety of organizations and many corporate conferences. He is an instructor at Drexel and Rutgers Universities and has also appeared as an expert guest on Comcast Network’s Money Matters and ABC’s Good Morning America. 

Kisha Wynter

Kisha Wynter is a certified neuro-transformational coach with extensive corporate experience in Fortune 500 companies in leadership development, human resources, and consulting. Kisha’s outcome-based coaching helps leaders dismantle limiting beliefs and habits that hold them back from reaching their full potential while utilizing strategies to help them lift their executive presence, influential communication, and strategic execution skills. She has led initiatives in leadership and talent development, training, facilitation, diversity equity and inclusion, team effectiveness, cultural transformation, change management, and executive coaching. She held various leadership positions at Citicorp, and General Electric including as GE’s Global HR Leader, Americas for the company’s premier leadership development program where she designed an initiative for high potential women to build their leadership presence and influencing skills so that they can step into leadership roles in the US, Africa, Europe, Latin America, Asia, & the Middle East.

Kisha has coached or trained clients from the following organizations: Wells Fargo, General Electric, Ernst & Young, Samsung, Citicorp, CVS Health, PWC, Royal Bank of Canada, Microsoft, Standard Chartered Bank, Kraft Heinz, Adobe, Apple, Concordia College, GEICO, Comcast, and NBC Universal among others. Her premier leadership development program for high potential Women in Leadership, Own Your Power has been delivered in corporations globally. Kisha also delivers training for experienced and emerging leaders on topics such as Developing Leadership Coaching Skills, Leading With Emotional Intelligence, Executive Presence And Communication, Building Stress Resilience And Mental Acuity, Owning Your Career While Managing Self-Doubt, Leadership Skills As A New Manager, and many more.

Kisha is a Certified Professional Co-active Coach from the Coaches’ Training Institute, a Certified Neuroscience, Consciousness and Transformational Coach from Be Above Leadership, and holds a MBA from Sacred Heart University.

Laura Schwarz

Laura Schwarz, former Marketing Director turned executive coach and trainer, has developed leaders at some of the world’s most recognized companies. Laura understands the pressures and challenges facing her global clients and appreciates the urgency to demonstrate progress quickly to optimize business results. Laura engages her clients by linking their development opportunities to their core values and career aspirations, creating an ideal environment for clients to embrace the changes necessary to maintain a competitive advantage. Laura provides powerful insights for her clients to build new yet authentic behaviors to improve their leadership and expand their impact.

Laura’s executive coaching and leadership programs have inspired leaders across 10+ countries to unleash their full potential and ignite productivity across their organizations, with extensive experience delivering virtual coaching engagements and programs. She created and hosts the Mojo Mondays Bootcamp podcast series where she coaches and inspires audiences to overcome the obstacles between them and their dreams.

Laura has held leadership positions at American Express, Young & Rubicam and Research International. She is a graduate of the University of Michigan with a B.A. in Psychology. Laura is certified by The Coaches Training Institute (an International Coaching Federation accredited program) and in a wide range of assessment tools including MBTI, DiSC and NBI.

Lisa D. Jenkins

Dr. Lisa Jenkins Brown is an award-winning cultural strategist helping organizations unleash cultures of impact that inspire their people to lead with unstoppable purpose, passion, and bold action. With a diverse background that includes human resources divisions within Fortune 500 companies, as well as a faculty member with the largest urban university system in the United States, Lisa’s passion is to equip teams and increase productivity by strengthening individuals through cultural competency.  Known for her engaging and transparent style of communication, Lisa’s passion spans the arenas of Corporate America, academia, and civic engagement.

A sought after facilitator, trainer, and lecturer, Dr. Lisa’s areas of expertise include multicultural workforce, intergenerational communication, and unconscious bias. She also addresses issues of workplace accommodation and productivity. As a cancer survivor, Lisa rises daily above the challenges of ADHD, a subject she also addresses.

Dr. Jenkins holds a B.A. in Speech Communications from Pace University, a Master’s degree from New York Theological Seminary, and a Doctor of Ministry from McCormick Theological Seminary. She has also studied Organizational Leadership at Boston University.  An adjunct faculty member with the City University of New York, she is a certified Prepare/Enrich facilitator, and has served on the board of trustees for the Helene Fuld College of Nursing and the advisement committee of the National Association for the Advancement of African American Children with Learning Differences. Dr. Jenkins was appointed to Manhattan Community Board 10 as well as numerous task forces and has worked in nonpartisan environments with a goal of enriching and empowering individuals, communities, and organizations.

Marc Kalan, MBA

Marc H. Kalan is a Marketing/Business Development Executive, now full time Professor of Marketing, with over thirty years of diverse consumer marketing experience at clients (from established Fortune 500 to start-ups, including the Internet), suppliers, and promotional marketing agencies. Kalan’s background includes executive positions in both Marketing and Sales Management. With a foundation in traditional CPG Brand Management, he brings expertise identifying, qualifying, creating, selling and managing impactful new business marketing programs, building strong client relationships while building/managing major account and sales teams in both On-Line and Off-Line spaces (media and promotion).

Upon an extensive industry career Marc began teaching at the college and graduate levels in 2003 and has taught at Fairleigh Dickinson, William Patterson and Kean Universities. Since 2008 Professor Kalan has served on the faculty of the Rutgers Business School, Department of Marketing, teaching an array of Undergraduate, Graduate and Executive Marketing Courses. Kalan adds multiple international experiences teaching RBS EMBA students in Beijing and Singapore, and RUNIN students in Changchun, China.

In spring 2012 the RBS undergraduate student bodies on the New Brunswick campus (New Brunswick Rutgers Business Governance Association) and independently on the Newark Campus (RBS Undergraduate Dean’s Advisory Council) each voted Professor Kalan awards based on his engaging presentation style. These include: “Overall Best Professor”, “Most Motivational”, “Most Liberal Teaching Methods”, “Funniest Teacher”, and “Most Likely to Brighten Your Day”, “Most Knowledgeable Professor 2012”, and “Best Teaching Style 2012”.

In January 2013 Marc authored a 3 part series published in the online edition of The Journal of Sales and Marketing Management entitled, “Tips to Enhance Personal Presentation Skills in the Digital Age” and in addition to his full time teaching runs seminars/workshops on building these individual skills, as well as seminar workshops on “Marketing Basics for the Non-Marketing Professional”.

More recently (May 2013) the Rutgers Business School Newark and New Brunswick presented Professor Kalan The Thomas H. Mott, Jr. Award for Excellence in Teaching and followed this honor in July 2013 by appointing him one of just 5 inaugural Teaching Excellence Center Fellows where he initiated the faculty workshop series (“Tips to Enhance Personal Presentation Skills in the Digital Age”). Capping these honors he is a recipient of “The Dean’s Award for Excellence in Teaching 2015-2016.” Kalan holds degrees from The University of Pennsylvania and Columbia University.

Marjie Terry

Marjie Terry is a passionate, dedicated, and inspiring speaker, executive coach, and facilitator who, for over 15+ years, has honed her leadership development expertise across the corporate and not-for-profit sectors. As a social worker and Co-Active coach, Marjie is highly adept at guiding clients as they discover and pursue their most fulfilling and high-impact personal and professional goals. Marjie is also an executive presence trainer who helps individuals bring their best selves to every conversation and communication. Whether a client is mastering the art of memo writing, learning to lead meetings, or preparing for a keynote, Marjie teaches them to command an audience by presenting with energy, clarity, and conviction.

As a coach, leadership development trainer and consultant, Marjie has had the privilege of developing and leading communication skills, DEI, executive presence, and group coaching programs at companies including Morgan Stanley, JP Morgan Chase, Facebook, Google, TikTok, LinkedIn, Amazon, Disney, Spotify, ViacomCBS, NBC, and CBRE. 

Marjie holds a coaching certification through Coaches Training Institute, a master’s degree in social work from Hunter College, and received her undergraduate degree from Northwestern University. 

Mark Riesenberg

Mark Riesenberg is a motivational speaker and business coach specializing in the goal achievement and time management process. His book, “Stop Whining and Start Winning,” zeroes in on ways to combat negative thinking, one of the most powerful stumbling blocks to success there is. Mr. Riesenberg is an expert at focusing clients on the essentials of leadership in life and in business: vision, mission, goals, time management, implementation and accountability. He has written two books, How to Stop Whining and Start Winning: A Guide to Goal Setting and Time Management (1997) and Brightening Your Life’s Path (2011).

His leadership seminars and workshops – Thinking BIG: Focused & Organized – concentrate clients on results which are specific, measurable and meaningful. Over the years Mark’s leadership seminars, workshops and keynote addresses have assisted thousands of individuals and companies such as MetLife, Guardian Life and Northwestern Mutual Life in clarifying their visions, and identifying and streamlining their goals by following the specific steps required to hit their marks.

Mark holds a B.S. in Economics from C.W. Post College of Long Island University. He began his career at 7-Eleven Food Stores working his way up the corporate ladder from night clerk in Staten Island to Northeast Division Training Manager overseeing training for 365 franchise stores and coaching 7-Eleven’s executives. Mark is also a certified teacher of Transcendental Meditation (TM).

Melissa Romo

Melissa Romo is a veteran of global business management, having held executive roles in Warsaw, Paris, London and New York for some of the world’s most recognized companies. Across her three decades in marketing and advertising, she has been recognized as a global advertising and marketing “40 over 40,” “Inspirational Woman of the Year,” and “Inclusive Leader,” and her team’s work has received numerous awards and accolades. She is a regular speaker and mentor at events such as the Digital Marketing World Forum, Generation Success Breaking Barriers and the B2B Marketing Podcast.

Melissa has built and managed high-performing teams around the world in office-based, hybrid and fully remote settings. She is the author of the forthcoming book “Your Resource Is Human” (2023), a practical guide to empathetic leadership for building culture and connections in the remote and hybrid workplace. Melissa’s book has been lauded by workplace and leadership experts as “the book 21^st century leaders and followers have been pining for.”

Melissa holds an M.B.A. from the Yale School of Management, where she studied organizational behavior and leadership. She also holds a B.A. in History from the University of Virginia and earned a Post-Graduate Certificate in Business Sustainability Management from the University of Cambridge. Her clients and employers have included American Express, Grey Advertising, SAPConcur, Sage, and Procter & Gamble.

Nayla Bahri

As a consultant, faculty member, facilitator and coach, Nayla Bahri brings the best of research and practice to an empathic, heart-led practice of helping people and organizations thrive.  Nayla brings more than 15 years of experience into partnerships with clients and collaborators to develop leadership skills, promote career growth and satisfaction, improve employee, student and community engagement, and establish learning communities.

Nayla was the longtime Dean of Students at Columbia Business School where she coached, taught, and advised thousands of students and co-founded the Leadership Lab, the clearinghouse for leadership activities for MBA and EMBA students. Subsequently, Nayla helped lead the global talent and organizational development practice for a global medical diagnostics organization, creating and leading initiatives including culture and employee engagement strategy, leadership development programs, performance management innovation, management curriculum, leadership coaching and workplace learning.  She has consulted and facilitated trainings for Columbia University, News Corp, H-E-B, American Express, PwC and many other organizations across industries.

Nayla has conducted original research and presents workshops and keynote addresses based on her findings on the impact of change on career identity and satisfaction for several leadership conferences and professional organizations. She serves as an adjunct professor at the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia Business School and with the Institute for Personal Leadership. Nayla is involved with various women’s leadership organizations, including the Athena Center at Barnard College, the Quorum Initiative and Ellevate. Nayla graduated from Smith College and the University of Pennsylvania, and has a doctorate in Adult Learning and Leadership from Columbia University. She is a member of the International Coaching Federation (ICF).

Nina Hoch

Nina Hoch is an accomplished business executive with nearly two decades of experience and record of successful learning & development innovative solutions design and delivery. She has worked at the intersection of management consulting, technology, and training/education, with established skills in strategy and leadership development, HR & training, global teaming and communications, Future of Work, and XR/Immersive technologies. She served as a client executive at KPMG, Ernst & Young & Arthur Andersen, and held executive roles at Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs. Her clients included major capital markets, asset management, insurance, life sciences, real estate, and technology companies. She also served as an adjunct professor at City University of New York College of Technology and was a speaker at industry conferences, most recently about the Future of Work. She is a member of the Women’s bond club, an executive networking organization, and is supporting a number of the Diversity & Inclusion initiatives.

Nina is passionate about developing her clients’ professional, communication, and leadership skills, resulting in career growth and fulfillment, and increased employee engagement. Nina has consulted and facilitated trainings for professional services organizations, capital markets, banking, asset management clients, universities, and other organizations across industries from soft skills including business communication, teaming, leadership, and management, to industry-specific topics including accounting, risk, and financial products. She coached internal clients on soft skills, communication, management, team building and conflict resolution.

Nina earned her Master of Arts in Mathematics of Finance from Columbia University and Bachelor of Science in Finance from Long Island University. She also holds Chartered Financial Analyst Series 63 certifications. Her international upbringing allows her to connect with and understand the global teaming complexity. She spends her spare time doing traveling, art, sports, and staying involved in charity and community efforts, including veterans’ mentoring, domestic violence prevention, Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, and local school district PTA chapter.

Pam Soden

Pam has an infectious belief that learning is lifelong and fun. She applies that belief in the design and delivery of every training program she creates. Through coaching, consulting, and training she supports her clients in facilitating change, increasing productivity, and improving quality. In her more than 30 years as a Learning and Development professional, Pam has trained thousands of individuals in the skills they need to be more successful in their lives and in their careers.

Pam skillfully uses a blend of accelerated learning techniques as she teaches her clients how to lead, supervise and manage, build teams, manage conflict and change, communicate effectively, train others, manage time and stress, make presentations, assert themselves and create winning customer service. Her wealth of experience, her passion, a naturally engaging style, and a willingness to share have earned her the title of “The Trainer’s Coach”.  Some of the organizations Pam has worked with are Instrumentation Laboratories, Unilever, Honeywell, HUD, B Braun, 1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers, Eppendorf, Sharp, Weil, Gotshal & Manges, and A&E Television Networks. In addition, she served as adjunct faculty at NYU School of Professional Studies for 15 years.

Pam has practiced what she teaches by mentoring an award-winning team of fellow consultants and trainers. A frequent lecturer and popular speaker, she has been a top-rated presenter and conference speaker for the American Management Association where she has taught management and leadership courses since 1981. Pam holds a degree in Business Administration from Marymount Manhattan College and is past President of its Alumni Association. She is also a former Chairperson and Director of the Council of Concerned Black Executives and advisor to the Women’s Center for Education and Career Advancement.

Paul Naronis

An accomplished trainer and facilitator, Paul Naronis brings more than 25 years of sales and management experience to his clients. He works with companies and firms like Fannie Mae, KPMG, Liberty Mutual, the NBA, and many more. Paul has trained over 7,000 professionals, and counting, in virtually every industry at every level from new hires to the C-Suite. In addition to working with groups of professionals and senior executives, he creates many customized communication skills training solutions. Paul helps leaders craft and deliver impactful messages to their business audiences when they’re presenting, leading, managing, meeting, selling, and writing.

Paul began his career as a sales professional and relationship manager at a major international medical device and optics company. He managed financial transactions and leasing portfolios across the Southwest. Paul continued his career at an international imaging company in New York City in a similar role. He was responsible for developing relationships with new and existing clients, negotiating contracts, and closing deals.

Following his corporate experience, Paul moved into the training and consulting world where he became an expert facilitator, client development manager, and executive coach. He seamlessly integrates his corporate and client experiences as training lessons in the classroom and coaching sessions, connecting communication skills to real-life business situations. When Paul is not teaching business professionals, you can find him enjoying his other passions, his family, his photos, and his prized Fender Stratocaster.

Rachel Wainer

Rachel is a professional educator with ten years of experience as a training facilitator and motivational coach. She has worked extensively with the public and voluntary sectors, helping teams and individuals become better aligned with their strategic goals. Rachel has created and delivered a broad range of workshops on leadership development, communication, personality assessment, customer service, goal-setting, behavior modification, and health and wellness.

Rachel’s experiential workshops engage groups through reflection, skill building, and action planning. Drawing on her background in education, Rachel guides participants through activities and discussions that bring content to life. With new information, a new perspective, and a new plan, individuals are motivated to make an impact with lasting change.

Rachel holds a Master of Science in Education with concentrations in student development and multicultural competence, and a Bachelor of Arts in Public Relations and Organizational Communication. She is a certified MyersBriggs Type Indicator practitioner.

Rebecca Friese

Rebecca, an affiliate of Executive Essentials, has spent her career helping individuals and organizations navigate and manage change. Her strength lies in her ability to cater to a client’s unique needs and customize a program grounded in practical principles that brings about successful change and growth. Her 16 years of experience includes organizational development, coaching, change management and talent engagement. Rebecca’s work spans large corporate entities and small independent, one-on-one relationships.

As a Manager in Accenture’s Change Management Practice, Rebecca became an advocate for people impacted by organizational change through training, communication and project planning. Armed with this strong foundation, Rebecca further helped clients grow as the VP of People for a financial services internet company, and then by collaborating with niche change management consulting companies and consulting independently. Her corporate clients have included Chevron, PMI Mortgage Group, Gateway Computers, Thompson Reuters, AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals and She Writes. In addition to being a consultant and coach, Rebecca is proud to be a Nittany Lion, earning her degree in Communications with a minor in Speech Communications from Penn State. She’s also a featured writer on numerous websites, an actress and a mother of two.

Rich McLaughlin

Rich is a strategy, people and innovation consultant who has over 12,000 hours engaging leaders and teams in developing their capacity and innovating their business forward. He has coached leaders in a number of situations over the years including; accelerating them into a new team, 360 for career development, and to avoid derailment. Rich has engaged departments as large as 100 people in processes that unleash their creativity to improve operations and identify new revenue streams. He has worked in professional services, pharmaceutical and biotech, financial services and manufacturing industries.

Rich has worked with Accenture (Effective Presentations, Leadership Skills for New Managers), Baxter Healthcare (7 Habits of Highly Effective People, Foundations for Leadership), Chicago Board of Trade (New Leader Program, Hard Conversations), PWC (Effective Presentations and Managing Meetings, Tools for Tapping Group Genius), Square D Company (Leading with Vision and Values, Leadership and Quality Simulation) and Siemens Diagnostics (New Leader Workshop, Customized Team-building)

Rich has an M.A. in Training and Development for Business from Ohio State University, and is consulting faculty for the University of Notre Dame’s College of Business. He is author of, Rules of Engagement: A Story About How Leaders Can More Effectively Engage Employees. And he co-authored The Experience-Based Learning Guide: Consulting Tools and Exercises that Facilitate team Performance and Learning Through Action. He is also certified in EQi 2.0, Rummler-Brache process mapping methodology, MBTI, TMI, CCL’s 360 Benchmarks, the Hermann Brain Dominance Index, the Matrix Management Institute’s Project Management Methodology, and the IDEO/ExperiencePoint Innovation simulation.

Robyn Hatcher

Robyn Hatcher shines a light on how the power of COMMUNICATION can lead to more sales, stronger teams, a collaborative culture and increased retention & productivity.

Robyn is an author, speaker, recovering actor, communication skills coach and consultant and a thought leader. She has been quoted and published in major magazines, has appeared on over 20 Podcasts and on Good Morning America speaking about #metoo and the workplace. Robyn has successfully trained and coached thousands of business professionals from – Fortune 500 companies and brands, like Lifetime Television, Jones New York, AXA, UBS, Hewlett Packard and many more providing lightning fast results  to improve their sales, culture, retention and engagement management. She has spoken in front of hundreds of audiences large and small.

Despite being incredibly shy as a child, Robyn has spent over 20 years as a professional actor appearing in TV commercials, episodic TV shows and the stage and has written for two daytime dramas. She is also a certified Neural Linguistic Programming (NLP) Practitioner and a brain science geek. She uses a combination of her creative skills and experiences and her scientific research to turn her dynamic keynotes and breakout sessions into educational, engaging, entertaining events. She delivers tangible, easy to implement techniques that turn your high potentials into high performers.

Robyn’s first book, Standing Ovation Presentations (Motivational Press, 2013), contains a unique communication-style system called ActorTypes.  and was named on Forbes.com as one of 2015’s Top 100 Coaching Books.

Rochelle Rice

Rochelle Rice, CSP, AS, is a nationally recognized speaker, author and educator. A former professional jazz dancer, she creates highly interactive, entertaining and content-rich presentations that anchor the learning objectives for immediate implementation. Rochelle makes it her personal mission to create a sense of community and inclusion with every program she delivers building confidence, improving decision making and impacting bottom line results.

Rochelle has been featured on Fox News, ABC World News Tonight and the CBS Early Show.    Her movement program has appeared in the New York Times, the LA Times, Family Circle and Fit Magazine. She helped develop and lead a Leadership Training at Verizon in Brooklyn and has worked with several local law firms on stress management and team building. Rochelle has authored numerous articles for IDEA, Massage Magazine, and the American Council on Exercise. Providing confidence, trust and hope, with a solid, proven technique, her message is one of unwavering faith in people’s unique ability to create a dynamic life of leadership. 

Rochelle is the first woman in the world to hold both the Accredited Speaker (AS) designation from Toastmasters International and the Certified Speaking Professional (CSP) designation from the National Speakers Association. She is a Somatic Experience Practitioner and is trained in the C.H.R.I.S Technique with Christine Schenk. She received her MA in Individualized Study from New York University specializing in movement and her BFA in Dance from UMASS, Amherst. 

Stella Lee

Stella Lee is a seasoned Organization Development professional with over 17 years of experience in the for-profit and not-for-profit sectors. In her career, she has focused on the assessment, development, training and coaching of clients from individual contributors to senior executives and physicians. She has worked extensively assessing individuals and organizations, and helped clients with large group change, strategic planning, and self-awareness in order to achieve goals.

As a senior internal Organization Development Consultant at Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, she designed and delivered interactive learning programs on a variety of management and customer service topics including Problem Solving, Listening, Project Management and Time Management. She has developed customized training in self-awareness to facilitate group learning and self-discovery. She facilitated organization development initiatives using large-scale change approaches (Appreciative Inquiry), and small group / individual awareness tools (The Human Element, HBDI).

In order to get a broader exposure to the businesses, Stella has also spent time as a Human Resources Generalist in several organizations, enabling her to tailor OD solutions more directly to critical business needs. She has consulted with MetLife, Pfizer, and HP, and has run survey programs at Citibank and Memorial Sloan Kettering. She is currently coaching extensively in technology firms and also serves as a faculty member at New York University and Baruch College receiving strong teaching evaluations for her courses in coaching, organizational psychology and research methods / statistics.

Stella received her M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in Industrial/Organizational (I/O) Psychology from New York University (NYU) and a B.A. in Psychology from the George Washington University. She holds a certificate of Professional Coaching Skills from Results Coaching Systems and is a certified facilitator in Benchmarks 360, EQ-I 2.0 – Emotional Intelligence, MBTI, & HBDI various other assessments.

Fiona Humphrey

Executive Essentials provides engaging and dynamic sessions with a good mix of full group discussions and smaller breakout groups. The facilitator brings a wealth of experience with her framework and provides easy to use tools in improving one’s capabilities in making better connections.

Berna Merih, FCPC, ACC

It was an invaluable 90 minutes of learning, interaction, reflection, connection, and inspiration.

Tina Shah

Her style and content to be direct, clear, concise, and very engaging. The session was full of practical takeaways. Thank you, Michelle, for your generosity of spirit and sharing

Jennifer Mancini

If you have the opportunity to attend one of Michelle Tillis Lederman’s courses about Leadership or listen to one of her podcasts, DO IT. It will change your life. Michelle is such a captivating speaker who has such an extensive knowledge base on effective leadership. You forget you are taking a training course as the time and days fly and the interaction is truly enjoyable. I walked away from her course with pages of notes and pearls that I can effectively apply today

Charles Thomasset

I recently participated in leadership training. I usually don’t get much from leadership workshops, but Michelle left the group with clear direction and a plan to put into action. Her authenticity and energy convey clarity and purpose in developing lasting trusting connections to build collaborative and productive teams. Michelle helped us understand our personal Thinking Preferences and identify those of others to better communicate and connect. Definitively worth your time!

Shawn Shook

I have read Michelle’s book The 11 Laws of Likability three times and I highly recommend this book. I have learned something new each time! Great read!!

Rebecca Friese

Connected Leadership is a deep dive into the tools you need to succeed as a leader in today’s organizations. More and more it’s about how you connect with and influence individuals, and Michelle’s approach, based on her books, takes an incredibly practical, straight-forward approach on a topic that’s anything but technical. Michelle’s style, energy and content are world-class, and I feel lucky to have been a part of this.

Casey Carpenter

Casey Carpenter is a speaker, author, business coach, and Learning & Development specialist with expertise in executive coaching, leadership development, performance consulting, seminar facilitation, and sales training. She brings over 30 years experience working within the healthcare sector.

Casey excels at sales training, where she has used inquiry and coach training to motivate commercial and retail healthcare sales teams. Her areas of workshop expertise include giving effective feedback, motivating the team, effective delegation, innovation at the workplace, public speaking, strategic and critical thinking, and sales strategy. Casey’s strengths include her engaging and dynamic style that facilitates trust quickly. Her warm, upbeat tone diminishes barriers, and participants feel comfortable sharing tough organizational issues, knowing that they are in a safe space.

Casey holds a B.A. from Tufts University, a coaching certificate from Coach Training Institute (CTI,) and a Performance Consulting Certificate from Langevin Learning Institute. She is the author of Introverts in Sales: Turn Your Peaceful Power into a Profitable Selling Machine, a pocket sized sales survival guide, available on Amazon.

Cheryl Stevens

Cheryl is an executive and leadership coach, team builder, trainer and facilitator who is passionate about partnering with her clients to achieve and exceed their personal and organizational goals.  Cheryl helps her clients discover, develop, and deliver a more powerful and aligned version of themselves.  Her clients thrive by uncovering, supporting, and tapping into the greatness and capabilities that lie within.   Cheryl listens diagnostically and exudes warmth, grace and professionalism that puts her clients at ease.  Cheryl has been coaching and mentoring leaders for nearly 15 years beginning in her federal career and now in her practice.  Cheryl works with executives and aspiring leaders individually and with teams helping them to deliver outstanding results by building synergy and establishing greater trust.  Cheryl challenges her clients’ thinking, beliefs, and behaviors – helping them to uncover their vision and purpose.  The result is they see themselves clearly and how to be and do their best!   Using the core energy coaching process -focusing on emotionally connecting the clients’ inner purpose and passion to outer goals and strategies, Cheryl facilitates transformational change.

Cheryl had a 33-year career within the Department of Health and Human Services, 25 years of which were in leadership and executive positions including being selected in the Senior Executive Service.   Cheryl has coached leaders from the Department of Defense, (DOD), the National Institutes of Health, (NIH) Food and Drug Administration (FDA) the Health Research Services Administration (HRSA), Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute, (PCORI), the Office of the Surgeon General, (OSG) AmeriCorps and the Federal Transit Administration, (FTA).  She has also coached professionals from state and local government and in the corporate setting.  Cheryl has led and coached executives and leaders in positions of leadership, management, administration, programmatic and scientific roles.  Cheryl knows firsthand leadership challenges of competing demands, limited resources, and time management.  She has also helped emerging leaders identify and or strengthen their voice and style and show up in a positive and powerful way.

Cheryl received her MPA from The American University and her BA from the University of the District of Columbia.  She has certifications in Emotional Intelligence, (Eqi2.0), Strengthsfinder 2.0, Everything DiSC, bTrue Values and the Energy Leadership Index, (ELI).

Cindy Fleischer

Cindy Fleischer is an accomplished executive coach, trainer and consultant with a proven record of driving transformational initiatives, empowering people and delivering successful projects. Cindy is a creative, strategic thinker with particular talent in identifying opportunities and articulating needs. With a drive to help her clients, their stakeholders and the community, she develops strategies for alignment to effectively achieve goals, maintain stakeholder engagement and addresses issues of leadership, employee engagement, productivity and innovation. She demonstrates excellence in communication and facilitation skills. Her exceptional interpersonal skills impart the ability to influence. She is a true student of behavior in the business world and is passionate about her work. With grace, confidence and a business owners’ mind- set, she creates a collaborative environment for her clients to safely and confidently explore options and ideas.

During the course of her career, Cindy has mentored many who have gone on to be industry leaders and enjoy successful and fulfilling careers. As a coach, trainer and consultant, Cindy has had the opportunity to create and implement innovative and original pilot programs for nonprofit organizations, serving many in new and innovative ways while creating models to be duplicated. She has also had the opportunity to coach new managers, mothers returning to work, faith leaders and seasoned executives engaged in career change. Her training work has introduced her to manufacturing, distribution, corporations, the pharmaceutical industry, educational institutions, faith organizations and non-profit fields.

She holds a BA from FDU in psychology and several certifications including DiSC, Hogan HBRI, and from Rutgers: Sustainability, Project Management and Lean Six Sigma. She is honored to have served as a member of the board of directors for the Mental Health Association of Morris County, the Mental Health Advisory Board of Morris County, MC Stigma Free Initiative and currently serves on the grant committee of Impact 100 Garden State. In addition to coaching and training, available courses include: Management & Leadership, DiSC Behavior Profile, Communications skills, Customer Service, Conflict resolution, Change, Goal setting and feedback, Sales, Lean 6S for managers, Team building and others.

David Drew

David is a strategy, marketing, people, and execution consultant who delivers break though performance improvement for organizations, teams, and individuals. His emphasis is on core leadership and management capabilities, including complex issue prioritization, problem solving, and decision making. He also specializes in risk management, strategic planning and execution, marketing functional leadership redefinition, and assessing and modifying human performance ecosystems.

David has provided global leadership experiences in telecommunications, software, automotive, manufacturing, training, and management consulting. He has trained and coached clients at all levels from the C-suite to operational teams in capabilities including program planning, project management, marketing planning/ execution, and partnership and alliance management. He has directly managed various aspects of business operations in over 30 countries.

David has a BA Joint Honours in Modern European Languages from Cardiff University. He has certifications in the IDEO/Experiencpoint Design Thinker simulation; Kepner-Tregoe’s Program Leader Development Institute, Analytic Trouble Shooting, Problem Solving and Decision Making, and Managing People in Projects. He’s been published in the Weslaw Automotive Journal and The Journal of the American Management Association.

Edward Kim

Ed is a coach, consultant, and trainer with expertise in leadership, emotional intelligence, intercultural competence, and aligning intentions to the impact leaders and teams want to have. He has helped leaders and teams clarify their north star and utilize emotions as critical data points when making decisions and leading people.

As a coach, Ed works with leaders of all levels from profit and non-profit organizations across various industries including healthcare, higher education, and tech. His goal is to meet his clients where they are, provide value, and set them up for success. Ed has led team development workshops around intercultural competence, clarifying values, and Everything DiSC®. Each workshop is customized to create learner engagement, relevance, and clear application to be effective in relationships and business objectives.

Ed received his M.A. in Social-Organizational Psychology from Teachers College, Columbia University, and a B.S. in Sport Management from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. He is certified in Everything DiSC®, and the Intercultural Development Inventory® (IDI®). His previous work experiences have been with Barclays Capital and NBCUniversal, Dartmouth-Hitchcock, and Dartmouth College.

Dr. Howard D. Leifman

Dr. Leifman is an internationally recognized expert in the area of human development. He currently advises, trains and consults with corporate clients, consulting firms, not-for-profits, and individuals specifically on: executive coaching, career development, change management, counseling, human resources, outplacement, training, recruiting and staffing and time management. He specializes in helping organizations and individuals work through their personal and human resources issues.

Howard has worked with numerous Fortune 500 firms, major consulting firms and individuals both here in the US and overseas. He has trained employees on both soft and hard skills. He is also an adjunct professor at two major Universities. He is the author of the Vault Guide to Resumes, Cover Letters and Interviewing.

Dr. Leifman has a bachelor’s degree from Syracuse University, a master’s degree in Communications Management also from Syracuse University, a master’s in Social Work from New York University and a Ph.D. also from New York University. His dissertation is on, “Family of origin roles and adult work roles in relation to employee adjustment, satisfaction, and success.” He has guest lectured at Harvard, MIT, NYU, CUNY, Stanford and the College of Aeronautics. He has worked and lived internationally.

Jamie Levinson

Jamie Levinson is an executive coach and experienced training facilitator. She has worked over 20 years in Human Resources both in leadership development, and learning and development in financial services, professional services, healthcare and non-profit organizations. Jamie has extensive experience working with newer leaders as well as more senior leadership. She has developed expertise working with women leaders and the issues facing women in the workplace today. Her Masters in Counseling Psychology, behavior change theory, and her unique ability to build trust quickly with her clients, supports them to achieve lasting and impactful results.

Jamie’s signature presence carries a warm, relaxed yet professional style, which creates a safe environment in which to work. She builds a foundation for trust by being present, engaged and curious. She brings openness, warmth, humor and authenticity to her relationships. Through assessment, powerful listening, questions, feedback, and an action-oriented approach, Jamie’s clients achieve results they did not think possible. Jamie has delivered workshops on many communication skills topics, coaching others, leadership presence, confidence and assertiveness training for women, virtual teaming, emotional intelligence and leadership. She has expertise in virtual as well as classroom training.

Jamie holds a B.S. in Education from The University of Maryland, and a M.S. in Counseling Psychology from The Johns Hopkins University. Jamie has a professional coaching certification from iCoachNY at the Zicklin Business School of Baruch College, CUNY. She is qualified in Hogan, Myers-Briggs Type Indicator(MBTI), The Thomas-Kilmann

Conflict Mode Instrument, EQ- i2.0 and EQ 360. She also holds certifications from Coach University, The Ken Blanchard Companies, NTL, DDI, and multiple other training companies Jamie is a member of ICF NY Chapter ODNNY, and ATD NYC Chapter.

Janis Machala Brief

Janis brings her clients over 25 years of coaching leadership and excellence in creating and supporting intentional values-based cultures for organizations, executive teams, and C-suite leaders. She has a broad background in Professional Services, Cloud Computing, E-Commerce, IT Services, Healthcare, Education, Technology, and other industries nationally and internationally. Janis has successfully coached entrepreneurs and board members as well as C-suite executives, directors, and senior managers to gain more confidence, executive presence, and embrace bravery, integrity, empathy, and compassion in their contributions to leadership and business initiatives. Janis’s knowledge paired with honest insights helps those she coaches recognize their authentic leadership style to achieve desired business results. She empowers her clients to fully utilize what “gold” already exists in them to become more effective leaders, achieve greater results in their business initiatives, and raise their and their team’s performance bar. Janis has coached clients within companies such as Accenture, Amazon, Costco, Dropbox, Expedia Microsoft, MSCI, and Smartsheet.

Janis has held senior management roles in Fortune 500 companies at Microsoft Corporation, Sun Microsystems, and Wang Laboratories. She has held numerous interim C-suite roles for a myriad mid-size and start-up organizations; providing active leadership, executive search, and business, marketing, and sales expertise for cultivating sustained productivity and smooth transition periods. Janis is an active, sought-after speaker on board development, innovation, leadership, talent management, entrepreneurship, and women in technology.

Janis uses the following assessment for her client work: Core Values Index, GallupOrganizations’s Strengths Finder 2.0, Harrison Career Assessment, Myers Briggs Type Indicators (MBTI), and Various 360 Leadership Assessments. She is a CPCC through the Coactive Training Institute (CTI), is a PCC level coach through the International Coaching Federation (ICF), and is a PQ certified coach through Positive Intelligence, Inc. Janis has a B.A. In Psychology and English from Augustana College in Rock Island, Il. And an M.B.A. with a concentration in Marketing from the University of Iowa, Iowa City, Ia.

Jenny Fernandez

Jenny Fernandez is an Executive Coach, Chief Marketing Officer, and Adjunct Professor at Columbia Business School. As Executive Coach, Jenny’s mission is to help successful leaders and organizations drive exponential growth by unlocking resilience, collaboration, and innovative thinking through personalized coaching. Her clients include executives from Fortune 500 Companies to start-ups such as Colgate Palmolive, Kraft, Google, Meta/Facebook, Tiffany’s, Marsh, Mercer, Driscoll’s, Zscaler, and EltaMD Skin Care. Jenny empowers successful leaders with the self-awareness, knowledge, and mindset shifts needed to accelerate their organizational impact and career trajectory. She also teaches and facilitates courses and workshops that leaders leverage to create competitive advantage such as Business Resilience & Reinvention; Executive Presence & Leadership Brand; Power, Influence & Collaboration; and Navigating the Digitization of Media and Marketing.

Jenny Fernandez is also a Chief Marketing Officer, and Adjunct Professor at Columbia Business School & New York Universities. Jenny brings over 20 years of experience leading, launching, and growing brands, from multi-million-dollar businesses within Mondelez International (Oreo, Trident Gum), Kraft Foods (Ritz, Triscuit, and Wheat Thins breakthrough Innovation), and Accenture to high-growth, mid-sized organizations such as Merlin Entertainments, and Loacker USA.

Jenny is a Board Advisor at the American Marketing Association and Board Chair of the Global Connections for Women Foundation. She is a contributor to Harvard Business Review, speaks in engagements, and moderates panels about leadership, marketing, and business growth. Her book on Leadership Habits will be published in 2023. Her unique perspective is shaped by her academic background in Applied Mathematics & Operations Research at Columbia University and her Marketing, Strategy and Management & Organizations MBA from Northwestern’s Kellogg School of Management. She is certified in the Marshall Goldsmith Stakeholder Centered Coaching (SCC) method and a member of The World’s Largest Executive Coaching Network.

Kathy F. Bernhard

Kathy F. Bernhard is the president of a firm that helps organizations drive performance through the design and implementation of talent management as well as other strategic development and human resources programs. She is an accomplished human resources executive with 25+ years of experience. She works with clients to create talent management processes aimed at developing the organization’s future leaders, and consults with leaders at all levels concerning strategies for enhancing business results through developing human capital.

Kathy’s areas of expertise include leadership development, coaching, performance management and organization development. She is a seasoned “hands-on” professional with in-depth knowledge of executive assessment, 360° feedback, succession planning, training facilitation and executive assimilation.

Kathy holds a B.S. in Industrial and Labor Relations from Cornell University and an M.B.A. from Adelphi University. She is also a member of the YWCA Academy of Women Achievers and represented Arrow Electronics as a member of the Conference Board Council on Development, Education and Training.

Kisha Wynter

Kisha Wynter is a certified neuro-transformational coach with extensive corporate experience in Fortune 500 companies in leadership development, human resources, and consulting. Kisha’s outcome-based coaching helps leaders dismantle limiting beliefs and habits that hold them back from reaching their full potential while utilizing strategies to help them lift their executive presence, influential communication, and strategic execution skills. She has led initiatives in leadership and talent development, training, facilitation, diversity equity and inclusion, team effectiveness, cultural transformation, change management, and executive coaching. She held various leadership positions at Citicorp, and General Electric including as GE’s Global HR Leader, Americas for the company’s premier leadership development program where she designed an initiative for high potential women to build their leadership presence and influencing skills so that they can step into leadership roles in the US, Africa, Europe, Latin America, Asia, & the Middle East.

Kisha has coached or trained clients from the following organizations: Wells Fargo, General Electric, Ernst & Young, Samsung, Citicorp, CVS Health, PWC, Royal Bank of Canada, Microsoft, Standard Chartered Bank, Kraft Heinz, Adobe, Apple, Concordia College, GEICO, Comcast, and NBC Universal among others. Her premier leadership development program for high potential Women in Leadership, Own Your Power has been delivered in corporations globally. Kisha also delivers training for experienced and emerging leaders on topics such as Developing Leadership Coaching Skills, Leading With Emotional Intelligence, Executive Presence And Communication, Building Stress Resilience And Mental Acuity, Owning Your Career While Managing Self-Doubt, Leadership Skills As A New Manager, and many more.

Kisha is a Certified Professional Co-active Coach from the Coaches’ Training Institute, a Certified Neuroscience, Consciousness and Transformational Coach from Be Above Leadership, and holds a MBA from Sacred Heart University.

Laura Schwarz

Laura Schwarz, former Marketing Director turned executive coach and trainer, has developed leaders at some of the world’s most recognized companies. Laura understands the pressures and challenges facing her global clients and appreciates the urgency to demonstrate progress quickly to optimize business results. Laura engages her clients by linking their development opportunities to their core values and career aspirations, creating an ideal environment for clients to embrace the changes necessary to maintain a competitive advantage. Laura provides powerful insights for her clients to build new yet authentic behaviors to improve their leadership and expand their impact.

Laura’s executive coaching and leadership programs have inspired leaders across 10+ countries to unleash their full potential and ignite productivity across their organizations, with extensive experience delivering virtual coaching engagements and programs. She created and hosts the Mojo Mondays Bootcamp podcast series where she coaches and inspires audiences to overcome the obstacles between them and their dreams.

Laura has held leadership positions at American Express, Young & Rubicam and Research International. She is a graduate of the University of Michigan with a B.A. in Psychology. Laura is certified by The Coaches Training Institute (an International Coaching Federation accredited program) and in a wide range of assessment tools including MBTI, DiSC and NBI.

Linette Gomez

Linette Gomez is a first-generation, American-born, French Colombian LatinX. She is a coach, consultant, and trainer who provides clarity in a short period of time by quickly cultivating trust and motivation that helps her achieve a level of focus that they did not know was attainable. Linette brings a no-nonsense and motivating style to her coaching relationships, led by emotional intelligence, excellent communication skills, and business acumen. She sparks change and transformation for her clients, anchored in both strategic thinking and natural empathy. Her executive and organizational coaching is informed by nearly 20 years of marketing, business, communications, and leadership experience. Her background spans from start-ups to enterprises within technology, hospitality, legal, media, advertising, education, and recruitment. She draws from various company cultures and multinational work including her time at CA Technologies (now BroadCom), SS&C Intralinks, and Criteo. 

Throughout her career, she has built out and led teams both remotely and in-person, run mentoring programs and been an advisor to others in their careers. As a coach, facilitator, and consultant, Linette has expertly developed and delivered leadership and manager coaching and development programs for both corporations and non-profits. She works predominantly with managers of managers, seasoned executives,  rising leaders, as well as teams. She predominantly works with tech, media, and non-profit organizations.

She received her BS in International Area Studies and International Marketing from Drexel University and earned her executive and organizational coach certification from Columbia University. In addition, she’s certified in the Shift Positive 360 Method. She holds leadership board seats with the Leadership Forum Community and Marketers2Marketers for Women in B2B. Additionally, she is on the leadership team for the Columbia Coaching Conference and committee member of the Association for Coaching US chapter. Outside of work, she’s a proud mom, enjoys visiting family in France and Colombia, and is active in women’s retreats.

Lorraine DiSimone

Lorraine is a skilled vocal coach and trainer enabling her clients to be heard, to be understood, and to communicate with their authentic voice. She had a successful career as a professional opera singer for 35 years while simultaneously serving as a voice and public speaking teacher in both private and academic settings. Her 40 years of experience included positions at Wake Forest University, Clark University, and she served as an Associate Professor at the University of Tennessee/Knoxville for 15 years.

Lorraine provides a Tool Kit of vocal exercises designed to develop a speaker’s understanding and mastering of resonance, pitch variation, volume, articulation and breath support. Elements of concentration, focus, and stage fright are also central to her work. She has trained numerous business people through workshops in affiliation with the International Forum (founded by the Wharton School of Business) in seminars in Europe and the United States. Her clients included Managing Directors and CEOs from Deutsche Bank, Proctor & Gamble, Volkswagen, Xerox, SEB Bank in seminars held in Brugges, Stockholm, Riga, and Krakow as well as Toronto and Philadelphia.

Lorraine received a Masters in Voice from New England Conservatory of Music and has attended workshops and seminars with leading voice therapists and pedagogues through the Voice Foundation and the National Association of Teachers of Singing. Remaining current and active in new developments in pedagogy and voice science is both a passion and delight for her.

Marjie Terry

Marjie Terry is a passionate, dedicated, and inspiring speaker, executive coach, and facilitator who, for over 15+ years, has honed her leadership development expertise across the corporate and not-for-profit sectors. As a social worker and Co-Active coach, Marjie is highly adept at guiding clients as they discover and pursue their most fulfilling and high-impact personal and professional goals. Marjie is also an executive presence trainer who helps individuals bring their best selves to every conversation and communication. Whether a client is mastering the art of memo writing, learning to lead meetings, or preparing for a keynote, Marjie teaches them to command an audience by presenting with energy, clarity, and conviction.

As a coach, leadership development trainer and consultant, Marjie has had the privilege of developing and leading communication skills, DEI, executive presence, and group coaching programs at companies including Morgan Stanley, JP Morgan Chase, Facebook, Google, TikTok, LinkedIn, Amazon, Disney, Spotify, ViacomCBS, NBC, and CBRE. 

Marjie holds a coaching certification through Coaches Training Institute, a master’s degree in social work from Hunter College, and received her undergraduate degree from Northwestern University. 

Mark Riesenberg

Mark Riesenberg is a motivational speaker and business coach specializing in the goal achievement and time management process. His book, “Stop Whining and Start Winning,” zeroes in on ways to combat negative thinking, one of the most powerful stumbling blocks to success there is. Mr. Riesenberg is an expert at focusing clients on the essentials of leadership in life and in business: vision, mission, goals, time management, implementation and accountability. He has written two books, How to Stop Whining and Start Winning: A Guide to Goal Setting and Time Management (1997) and Brightening Your Life’s Path (2011).

His leadership seminars and workshops – Thinking BIG: Focused & Organized – concentrate clients on results which are specific, measurable and meaningful. Over the years Mark’s leadership seminars, workshops and keynote addresses have assisted thousands of individuals and companies such as MetLife, Guardian Life and Northwestern Mutual Life in clarifying their visions, and identifying and streamlining their goals by following the specific steps required to hit their marks.

Mark holds a B.S. in Economics from C.W. Post College of Long Island University. He began his career at 7-Eleven Food Stores working his way up the corporate ladder from night clerk in Staten Island to Northeast Division Training Manager overseeing training for 365 franchise stores and coaching 7-Eleven’s executives. Mark is also a certified teacher of Transcendental Meditation (TM).

Nayla Bahri

As a consultant, faculty member, facilitator and coach, Nayla Bahri brings the best of research and practice to an empathic, heart-led practice of helping people and organizations thrive.  Nayla brings more than 15 years of experience into partnerships with clients and collaborators to develop leadership skills, promote career growth and satisfaction, improve employee, student and community engagement, and establish learning communities.

Nayla was the longtime Dean of Students at Columbia Business School where she coached, taught, and advised thousands of students and co-founded the Leadership Lab, the clearinghouse for leadership activities for MBA and EMBA students. Subsequently, Nayla helped lead the global talent and organizational development practice for a global medical diagnostics organization, creating and leading initiatives including culture and employee engagement strategy, leadership development programs, performance management innovation, management curriculum, leadership coaching and workplace learning.  She has consulted and facilitated trainings for Columbia University, News Corp, H-E-B, American Express, PwC and many other organizations across industries.

Nayla has conducted original research and presents workshops and keynote addresses based on her findings on the impact of change on career identity and satisfaction for several leadership conferences and professional organizations. She serves as an adjunct professor at the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia Business School and with the Institute for Personal Leadership. Nayla is involved with various women’s leadership organizations, including the Athena Center at Barnard College, the Quorum Initiative and Ellevate. Nayla graduated from Smith College and the University of Pennsylvania, and has a doctorate in Adult Learning and Leadership from Columbia University. She is a member of the International Coaching Federation (ICF).

Regina Miller

Regina M. Miller is a senior executive coach, facilitator, and consultant with more than twenty-five years of proven success and experience in Organization and Leadership Development. Her background includes holding senior level and executive roles in both established and start-up telecommunications organizations.

Regina has a passion for working with executives and leaders at all levels who are focused on creating a positive impact. She understands and relates to the challenges, dilemmas, frustrations, and joys of leadership and brings a deep level of respect for the role of leaders in today’s organizations. Her live and virtual facilitation style is focused, fun, and outcome-oriented. Regina has worked for and consulted with large enterprises in a wide variety of industries and sectors. Regina designs and facilitates ongoing leadership development and coaching initiatives. Clients include the U.S. Air Force, the U.S. Army, USAID, the Intelligence Community, FDA, Federal Executive Institute, and the Equal Opportunity Employment Commission.

She is certified in the following assessments: DiSC, Four Lenses, 360 Feedback Assessments, Lumina Spark, EQI 2.0, Thomas-Kilmann Conflict Instrument, The Change Style Indicator, the Conflict Dynamic Profile and The Influence Style Indicator. She holds her Professional Certified Coach (PCC) credential from the International Coaching Federation. Regina holds her BA in Political Science from Hunter College and an MA in Human Resources/OD from the New School for Social Research in New York. She completed the Human Resources Executive Program at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Additionally, she completed an Executive Clinical Coaching and Consulting for Change program at INSEAD. She recently received an Executive Certificate from the Graduate Institute of Geneva in Global Environmental Governance. She lives near the ocean on the eastern end of Long Island in Southampton, NY.

Reggie Carney

Reginald “Reggie” Carney is the CEO, lead coach, workshop facilitator, and public speaker. With a focus on emotionally intelligent leadership, Reggie helps leaders, teams, and organizations of all sizes maximize their potential. From in-person and/or virtual one-on-one coaching to group workshops, his experience offers growth in crucial leadership areas such as time management, conflict resolution, process improvement, interpersonal communication, and more.

Acting as the “guide on the side and not the sage on the stage”, Reggie’s down-to-earth approach to coaching and facilitating appeals to leaders from new professionals to executives. Each new engagement is built on the foundation of the 4 C’s: Connecting, Contextualizing, Collaborating, Conversing. Reggie first connects with each leader to learn about past successes and struggles. Then, the leader and Reggie work together to create context around identified goals. Once a plan is created through collaboration, Reggie continues conversations through routine check-ins to celebrate successes and make adjustments as the leader moves toward well-defined goals.

Reggie is an electrical engineer by degree turned leadership enthusiast with certifications in Insights Discovery, E.Q. 2.0, Myers Briggs Type Indicator, Korn Ferry 360, Master Facilitator, Conflict Dynamics Profile, and Modern Classroom Certified Trainer.

Robyn Hatcher

Robyn Hatcher shines a light on how the power of COMMUNICATION can lead to more sales, stronger teams, a collaborative culture and increased retention & productivity.

Robyn is an author, speaker, recovering actor, communication skills coach and consultant and a thought leader. She has been quoted and published in major magazines, has appeared on over 20 Podcasts and on Good Morning America speaking about #metoo and the workplace. Robyn has successfully trained and coached thousands of business professionals from – Fortune 500 companies and brands, like Lifetime Television, Jones New York, AXA, UBS, Hewlett Packard and many more providing lightning fast results  to improve their sales, culture, retention and engagement management. She has spoken in front of hundreds of audiences large and small.

Despite being incredibly shy as a child, Robyn has spent over 20 years as a professional actor appearing in TV commercials, episodic TV shows and the stage and has written for two daytime dramas. She is also a certified Neural Linguistic Programming (NLP) Practitioner and a brain science geek. She uses a combination of her creative skills and experiences and her scientific research to turn her dynamic keynotes and breakout sessions into educational, engaging, entertaining events. She delivers tangible, easy to implement techniques that turn your high potentials into high performers.

Robyn’s first book, Standing Ovation Presentations (Motivational Press, 2013), contains a unique communication-style system called ActorTypes.  and was named on Forbes.com as one of 2015’s Top 100 Coaching Books.

Shrooti Singh Naga

Shrooti is an Executive Coach and Facilitator with over 10 years of experience coaching individuals and teams across various industries throughout the world. Shrooti combines humor, empathy, and some good old tough love to connect with her clients. She is passionate about supporting clients to achieve promotions, become confident and strong people managers, achieve work-life balance, and manage stress. Shrooti helps people communicate effectively, understand their values, strategize ways to overcome conflict, and create accountability plans for the long-term.

Shrooti launched the Mumbai chapter of She Creates Change, a women’s empowerment start-up founded in NYC. The company used a 12 principled process to support women in finding purpose in their work and lives. She worked closely with women at companies such as ICICI Prudential and Barclays, in order to help them maximize their engagement to work and leverage their resources to further their careers. Additionally, Shrooti spearheaded a change initiative for Nexsales Mumbai, a B2B marketing start-up headquartered in California, resulting in overall productivity and engagement through group facilitation and 1:1 coaching. She has coached clients from various companies like Facebook, TikTok, Microsoft, Amazon, TBWA/Chiat/Day, Skybound, Flowspace, The Black Tux, and Saifee Hospital. She is experienced in coaching startup CXOs.

Shrooti holds Master’s and Bachelor’s degrees in Mathematics from Bryn Mawr College. She is an ICF, Certified Professional Coach from Leadership That Works. She has previously worked at PwC in NYC, at Harvard Medical School, and performed with the Nayikas Dance Theater Company in NYC.

Stacey Staaterman

Stacey Staaterman is a Certified Professional Coach (Executive, Leadership, Career) and Communications Consultant. With in-depth expertise in media and lifestyle industries (luxury, epicurean, travel, tourism, automotive), Stacey works with companies to remove performance blocks, drive employee engagement and elevate leadership/executive skills. She also helps individuals clarify their values, improve executive skills and align personal priorities with professional pursuits.

Stacey has coached executives and high-potentials at organizations including: Google, Amazon, Egon Zehnder, Viacom, Mercer Healthcare, American Express, JP Morgan, Chanel, LVMH, Sesame Street Workshop, Novartis, McCann, McGarryBowen, MEC, Prudential, Indeed.com, Consumer Reports, Fortune, Post Foods, Meredith, Time Inc., StartUp Institute, Marsh & McLennan, MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) Media Lab, Random House, Blackstone, Legal Zoom, Bloomberg Media, and EY.

Stacey also held leadership positions in the advertising and media industry for more than 20 years with companies including American Express, Time Warner, Fast Company, Meredith Corporation, and Scholastic. Stacey is a Certified Professional Coach (CPC) and Master Practitioner of the E.L.I. (Energy Leadership Index) which she earned through ICF-recognized,  iPEC (Institute for Professional Excellence in Coaching). She is also certified in Stakeholder Centered Coaching methodology — a framework designed by Marshall Goldsmith, coach to more than 150 Fortune 100 CEOs.

Stephanie Licata, M.A., A.C.C.

With over two decades of leadership and management experience in the business and educational arenas, Stephanie is a skilled organizational development consultant, coach and training specialist.

She has served a variety of industries including but not limited to marketing, technology, pharmaceutical consulting, healthcare, event management, television production, SaaS, public relations, education, hospitality, tribal-owned businesses and tribal government, retail, nonprofit, and with dozens of entrepreneurs running their own show.

As a practicing and certified coach, Stephanie had dedicated a large part of her career to coaching in a variety of settings including leadership coaching from the C-Suite to the individual contributor, team coaching and career transition coaching. Additionally, Stephanie has trained thousands of leaders and managers in the art and science of coaching for performance and to elevate their leadership and communication skills. Stephanie has worked with companies like DropBox, Poshmark, Kroger and most recently worked with Proctor & Gamble to support their global team of learning professionals in helping leaders and teams leverage the power of behavioral assessments.

Stephanie received her professional coaching certification from New York University and is also certified at the ACC level with the International Coach Federation. She holds a BS in counseling and a MA in organizational psychology from Columbia University. Stephanie has also taken courses in Public Leadership at the Harvard Kennedy School.

Winston Lau

Winston Lau is a consultant with more than 25 years of international corporate executive experience and more than 15 years of international consulting experience in developing leaders who drive organizational performance. His specialty areas include executive leadership education, executive coaching, team leadership, crosscultural awareness and change management.

Winston’s strength as a consultant lies in his ability to communicate with great credibility and conviction backed by insights gained from his extensive executive experience. He is able to help individuals to develop leadership competencies and enhance performance by delivering tough messages while offering real-world perspectives. He has worked extensively with clients in manufacturing, distribution, chemical, pharmaceutical, media, industrial and consumer products. His clients include Ingersoll Rand, Hercules, Verizon, Lexmark(China), Starcom Mediavest, Rosetta Marketing, Becton Dickinson, ConAgra Foods, Reed Elsevier, Johnson and Johnson, AT&T, BASF, FedEx, GE, Publicis, Pepsico, a NFL franchise, Campbell Soup, E&J Gallo Wineries, KPMG, Amgen and the Yale School of Management.

Prior to his consultant role, Winston was President of the Palnut Company, Industrial Retaining Ring Company and Seeger Inc. where he led the successful consolidation of these companies and the implementation of a business strategy to exploit the various brands and marketing channels for profitability and growth. Before that, he was the President and CEO of Crane Canada Inc. headquartered in Montreal where he successfully reengineered the company to meet the challenges of NAFTA and the severe recession in the early 90’s both in Canada and in the US. Significant changes in culture, strategy and processes were implemented to achieve efficiency and profitability including plant closure, divestiture and acquisition. Before that, he had an extensive and diverse career with Ingersoll Rand Company as Vice President of Distribution, Marketing Manager Asia Pacific, MIS Manager and Manager of Accounting. Winston holds an M.B.A. from the University of North Carolina, with undergraduate studies in Electrical Engineering and Business. He is bilingual in English and Cantonese. He works extensively in the US, Europe and Asia. He resides in Wyckoff, New Jersey.

Jonny B.

I was looking to fine tune some executive skills and prepare for bigger opportunities. Michelle tailored a custom plan for me that exceeded my expectations. The work we did together helped shape and grow my goals and trajectory, and I saw measurable, definitive results immediately. Truly grateful for the chance to work together and I highly recommend her!

Thomas Sachtler, MBA

I thoroughly enjoyed my coaching sessions with Michelle. It was eye-opening how she helped guide me through specific presentations and situations to better present my work. There are things that will stick with me forever.

Passionate, enthusiastic, genuinely down to earth and invested in your development! Highly recommend you allow Michelle to help you; you don’t know what you don’t know!!