A native of Germany who immigrated to Canada in 1972, Leonore was educated in Germany, the United States, and Canada.  She holds a degree in International Commerce and a diploma in Adult Education and Development from the University of Toronto.  After six years as a telecommunications industry salesperson -- twice named Top Salesperson of the Year -- Leonore turned her attention in the early 1990s to the delivery of business training, research, and marketing services in North America and Europe.  Today she specializes in delivering executive coaching, intercultural competency development, advising for cross-border operations, and specialized consulting services including cross-cultural problem-solving, team-building, and win-win negotiating.

Leonore has facilitated numerous coaching sessions, training events, and business briefings in North America and Europe.  She once designed a training program for international employees and their families that, a dozen years later, still serves as a standard.  She also has developed a train-the-trainer program that is used by high-level professional training teams worldwide.  Leonore's clients include Lucent, GM, VW, Nortel, Procter & Gamble, Johnson & Johnson, Honeywell, Bausch & Lomb, Schering Plough and others.  She is especially proud of her highly successful experience as co-trainer of a 5-day management and leadership program for the Agricultural State Marketing Board of Bangalore, India.

Leonore, a passionate traveler, is fluent in English and German, and has a good working knowledge of French.  She has toured the world twice.  She now spends half of each year in her native Germany and other locations in Europe. When at home in Canada, she volunteers for the Centre for Victims of Torture.  During the summer, she likes to canoe and camp in Canada's North.

A native of Toronto, Sandro obtained a Masters in Industrial and Organizational Psychology from California State University in Los Angeles and earned a Ph.D. in Industrial and Organizational Psychology from Bowling Green State University in Ohio.  He is active in professional associations on both sides of the border including the American Psychological Association, the Canadian Psychological Association, the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology and the Human Resources Professionals Association of Ontario.

Sandro has extensive experience in the areas of leadership assessment and development, executive coaching, performance management, succession planning, human resources strategy development and execution, organization design and development, and senior team effectiveness.  He has managed large consulting practices in the United States and Canada.  Sandro worked at Hay Management Consultants as a senior consultant in the Toronto practice and as the regional director in Dallas, where he also headed the human resources planning and development practice.  He then joined KPMG in Dallas where he headed the workforce transition group; later, he moved back to Toronto, where he led the human capital group with Mercer Human Resource Consulting.  He now owns and operates his own human capital consulting firm, which he founded in 2003.

Sandro has consulted to the private and public sectors in Canada, the U.S., Europe, and the Middle East.  His most recent engagements have included large scale executive assessment, multi-rater and executive coaching, Board-driven CEO performance evaluation and system development, senior executive competency profiling, performance management system development, assessment for selection purposes, organization design and structure work, and human resources strategy development and execution.  A sample of the organizations he has served includes the Royal Bank of Canada, Sears, Aventis, the Ontario Public Service, JC Penney, Strauss Elite, Johnson & Johnson, the United Nations, and Microsoft.

Sandro lives with his wife and three children in the Toronto area.  He serves as a board member for non-profit organizations including the Multiple Sclerosis Society of Toronto and Kingsway College School.  He regularly provides pro bono career counseling assessment and advice for those starting their careers or looking to establish themselves in a new country.  Sandro speaks his first language, Italian, at every opportunity.

Priya grew up in India and moved to the U.S. at age 20.  Having experienced both the American and the Indian cultures so closely, she came of age understanding the importance of respecting people from every cultural background.  She holds a bachelors degree in business from the College of Mount St. Joseph and a masters degree in human resource development from Xavier University.  She is a certified coach practitioner and is qualified in both the Prosci Change Management methodology and the Intercultural Development Inventory. 

Priya has more than 15 years of experience in the corporate sector.  Her employers included Ashland Inc, Convergys, Great American Insurance, and Fifth Third Bank.  More recently, she served as director of client services for Global Lead Management Consulting, which had clients in the entertainment, utility, healthcare, legal, and financial sectors. 

Priya served in various roles and led several global projects during her corporate tenure.  She conducted focus groups and 360° feedback sessions, and created and carried out a variety of leadership, cultural, and HR assessments.  She was instrumental in the launch of Convergys in India.  She was placed in charge of the language and cross-cultural training of employees in both India and the U.S.; the pattern she developed became the company’s standard for all new employees worldwide.  She also was instrumental in the launching of Convergys in Europe and the Philippines.  Priya expanded her role at Convergys into that of a coach and mentor who helps to bridge the communication and cultural gaps all across the organization.

The success of Priya’s work with Convergys helped to inspire her career as an independent consultant.   She specializes in leadership development, change management, human resources, and diversity & inclusion.  She leverages her diverse background and work experiences to help her clients navigate and manage complex business issues at home and abroad.  She designs solutions that are strategic and forward thinking, yet practical.  Besides consulting, Priya teaches a graduate course on managing diversity at Northern Kentucky University. 

She now resides in Ohio with her extended family: husband, daughter, parents, and sister.  She enjoys gardening and reading, and loves to spend time with her friends.

Shannon holds an M.A. in intercultural communication, with an emphasis on organizational development and management training, from American University’s School of International Service, in Washington, D.C.  She has moderate Swedish proficiency after one year living and studying in Sweden and attaining a minor in Swedish as an undergraduate at the University of Minnesota.

Shannon began in 1994 to work for ProGroup, a provider of diversity consulting, training, tools, and products.  First as a senior consultant, then as vice president, Shannon designed multi-year strategic global diversity initiatives, consulted with corporate executives to promote inclusion strategies across business units, developed qualitative and quantitative data gathering and analysis tools, led client delivery teams of up to forty consultants, and launched and managed a global affiliates program on three continents.  As Vice President, she had P & L responsibility for over 45% of ProGroup’s revenues.

As an independent consultant since 2004, Shannon consults and trains internationally on cultural competencies, intercultural teaming, the globalization of diversity, and the creation of inclusive work environments in ways that are sensitive to local cultural mores.  As an interculturalist, her specialty is facilitating business relationships between managers in the U.S. and Germany; in the course of delivering this service, she has both trained and individually coached senior managers in the U.S. and in Germany.  As a diversity authority, Shannon has extensive experience in implementing large-scale, complex global initiatives, including one for the Deluxe Corporation for 18,000 employees, and another for Deloitte & Touche for 26,000 employees.  Among her other clients have been Intel, GlaxoSmithKline, Philips Consumer Electronics, American Express, Aetna Healthcare, Medtronic, and Deutsche Bank.

As a leading practitioner in both the diversity and intercultural fields, Shannon speaks regularly at international conferences.  For example, in 2005 she delivered “Global Diversity & Inclusion – A Strategic Approach” at the Conference Board’s annual workshop in Chicago, and “Creating Value By Valuing Differences” at the Women’s International Network conference in Geneva.

A native of Minnesota, Shannon now resides near Minneapolis with her husband and their two daughters.  Shannon spends her free time writing books, searching for bugs with her daughters, and planning the family’s next travel adventure – favoring tropical scuba and snorkeling destinations.

Neil received a bachelor’s degree in geology from Ohio University and a master’s degree in geology from the University of Cincinnati, after which he worked in energy exploration for BP in the U.S. and West Africa.  While working for BP, he made a career shift to coaching and consulting, earning a masters degree in organization development from Pepperdine University.  Neil has served as an examiner for the Texas Quality Award and was certified as a Total Quality Manager.  In addition, he is certified in and applies a number of instruments in his coaching including the VIA Survey of Strengths.

Neil devoted 27 years of his career to Amoco/BP, 10 as a geologist and 17 as an internal consultant.  He co-developed a cost-effective, web-based process to be used for 360° feedback throughout BP.  He also developed, applied, and trained others in an appreciative-inquiry approach to feedback for use in leadership development.  His extensive work with senior leaders and their teams helped create robust strategies with true alignment throughout their organizations.  In his final internal role, Neil worked in London for four years as manager of organization development for Europe, leading a team of consultants serving 30,000 employees in 13 countries.  During that time, Neil supported senior leaders in every business segment.

Neil founded his own consulting firm in 2006.  His clients have included Rolls Royce, Glaxo Smith Kline, Celebrity Cruise Lines, BP, Stantec Engineering, U.S. Geological Survey, International Fluid Power Society, Kimberly Clark, the Naperville Community School District, and Aviva Investors (where he coached the CEO of North America and four of his senior staff).  Having worked on six continents, he’s presented and published in the management, education, and organization development fields in the U.S. and U.K.; many of these contributions concern the application of appreciative inquiry in both business and education.  Neil also served as adjunct faculty at Pepperdine University’s Graziadio School of Business and Management.

Neil resides in the Chicago area with his wife and teenage son.  Always looking for a bridge game, Neil also plays tennis and enjoys bicycling on the prairie paths near his home.

A native of Croatia, Iva holds a bachelors degree in business from DePaul University and a masters degree in organizational development from Loyola University.  She has studied at the Summer Institute for Intercultural Communication, and she holds a diploma in business coaching from Corporate Coach University International.  Iva has served on the faculty of Thunderbird University’s international MBA program in Geneva, teaching classes in global leadership, competing through people, and cross-cultural communication.  In June 2011, Iva complted a Ph.D. degree in leadership and change at Antioch University; her thesis is entitled "How Leaders Think: Measuring Cognitive Complexity in Leading Organizational Change."

Iva began her professional career in Croatia.  In 1993 she moved to the U.S. to start up the American operations of a Swiss-based firm.  After holding a number of management and consulting positions, in 2003 she joined Allenbach Consulting in Switzerland as a managing partner, opening new markets in the energy sector and integrating management support services for companies in Eastern Europe and the Newly Independent States.  Iva has worked extensively with clients in Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Armenia, and Croatia; in addition, she is familiar with business practices in Russia, Ukraine, Hungary, Georgia, Serbia, and Bosnia. 

Iva is currently a senior consultant for Keane Consulting, working in their business transformation services department.  In this role, she advises clients’ senior leadership teams, helping them build capabilities for organizational change, including the tactical implementation of change initiatives.  Most of her work focuses on building commitment for change, strengthening sponsorship and planning for culture change, and developing communication and learning strategies. She is also responsible for creating human performance measures and standards.

With her wealth of global management experience and keen understanding of the challenges managers face when working across borders, Iva recently partnered with the Technical University “Gh. Asachi” in Iasi, Romania, to create the Center for Advanced Leadership.  This Center will provide learning opportunities for a new generation of Eastern European managers, enabling them to successfully bridge gaps between local and global environments, practices, and mindsets.

Iva is based in Illinois to be near her daughter, Ana, who is pursuing her degree in international relations at DePaul University.

Kathleen earned a masters degree in intercultural communication from the University of Texas at Austin.  She has held faculty positions with the Texas International Education Consortium, Institut Teknologi Mara, the European and Asian Divisions of the University of Maryland, Ngee Ann Polytechnic, and the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology.  She is a qualified administrator and interpreter of the Intercultural Development Inventory (IDI) and a graduate of Corporate Coach University (CCUI).

Kathleen has worked in leadership and advisory positions in non-U.S. organizations in various countries and cultures.  This has included service as liaison and advisor for the Saudi Arabian Educational Mission to the United States, which involved her in decision-making, motivation, communication, relationship development, and helping the Saudis and Americans mutually understand how their counterparts really get things done. 

As a business consultant, Kathleen has dedicated herself to the development of processes that build global leadership competencies by capitalizing on international and intercultural experiences for both individuals and organizations, with the objective of building truly global systems and practices.  Her consulting clients have included Hewlett-Packard, Enron International, Singapore Technologies, Singapore National Heritage Board, International Flavors and Fragrances, Federal Express, Nortel Networks, Honeywell Aerospace, MobileOne Singapore, Discovery Channel-Asia, Esso Singapore, AMC-Melawar Zecha, and Isis Pharmaceuticals.

Kathleen was a resident of Southeast Asia, principally Singapore, for more than a decade beginning in 1986.  Since returning to her roots in the American South, she has continued to live and practice her passion for that region of the world by maintaining a dual-continent lifestyle at every opportunity.

A native of Venezuela, Marilena grew up among expatriate families in the Exxon and Shell oil fields of Venezuela, where her father worked.  She holds a bachelors degree from Duquesne University and an MBA from the University of Michigan.  During her time as a corporate executive, she continued learning at the Center for Creative Leadership and the Harvard University business executive development program.  She is certified in the use of various assessment instruments.

Marilena began her career in the HR department of Petroleos de Venezuela and held various operational roles there for 10 years.  After a brief time as a consultant for Hay Management in Philadelphia, she moved to Florida and became a regional HR manager for Pepsi Cola International, responsible for seven countries in Latin America.  In 1996, Marilena became Citigroup’s HR Vice President for Latin America, responsible for some 7,000 employees in 23 countries; assisting her were 15 direct reports.  She became an independent professional in 2000. 

A graduate of Coach University, Marilena is one of the first executive coaches with a Latin American background and interests to be accredited as a Professional Certified Coach.  She is also the founder of a Spanish-speaking network of coaches for the International Coach Federation.

Marilena has worked as a coach, facilitator, and leadership consultant for companies in Latin America and elsewhere.  She has consulted with the top 25 leaders at Microsoft Latin America and the top 100 leaders at Citigroup.  Other clients include Unilever, AstraZeneca, Bombardier, Hewlett Packard, Chevron, Covidien, Ford, Sara Lee, Sony Pictures, MTV, Monsanto, NASA, Nokia, Procter & Gamble, Yahoo, and the United Nations.  She is also working with several wealthy family businesses.

Marilena is frequently invited to speak at large professional gatherings such as International ICF conferences in the United States and Europe, the Million Dollar Round Table, Asociacion de Mujeres Ejecutivas Mejicanas, and international HR conferences.  At the Wharton Business School in Philadelphia, Marilena also teaches within the Advanced Management program.

In her free time, Marilena enjoys the outdoors.  An avid scuba diver, she also enjoys zumba, yoga, long distance cycling, and travel.  She is married and the stepmother of four teenagers.  A resident of Florida, she is doing her best to master the game of golf.

Orlando attended high school in Puerto Rico, college at the University of Notre Dame, and graduate school at Stanford University. After attaining a masters degree in economics, he lived briefly in Miami and Chicago, then in Panama for one year and Venezuela for over two years before finally settling in New York City. Spanish was his first language; he also acquired English at an early age and Portuguese as an adult. 

Orlando's career has been in international finance, working with corporate and individual clients in Latin America. His skills and experience include sales, management, corporate finance and lending, wealth management, and estate planning. His employers have included First National Bank of Chicago, Crocker National Bank, Marine Midland Bank, First National Bank of Boston, and Brown Brothers Harriman. At one time or another, Orlando has had responsibility, including P&L and personnel responsibility, for business units dedicated to Argentina, Brazil, Mexico, and Central America. He also has been the sales manager for ZonaFinanciera.com, a tri-lingual (Spanish, Portuguese, English) portal providing financial information and access to financial services for web users in more than 20 Latin American nations. Recently, Orlando relocated to Miami, where is now serves as a director of CIMA Capital Partners LLC, a financial advisory firm proving services to a variety of domestic and international clients. 

Orlando has traveled extensively throughout Latin America, and also enjoys scuba diving and bicycle riding. He recently helped his father write his autobiography, which documents clandestine groups active in Cuba against the Machado, Batista, and Castro regimes. As well, he's an author in his own right, having wrtten a spy thriller that he hopes will be published one day.

A native of Connecticut, Lynn lived and worked in Belem, Brazil, as a young woman, then briefly resided in London, finally settling in Miami for nearly a decade.  There she was employed for seven years as a human resource specialist at the world headquarters of the Burger King corporation.  Subsequently, Lynn gained her bachelors and masters degrees in counseling from Florida International University.

Lynn relocated to Puerto Rico in 1998, opening a consulting business as well as a private counseling practice.  She traveled to the U.S. mainland to become certified as a cross-cultural trainer.  Today, Lynn is completing her first book, Living & Working in Puerto Rico, and is the only business consultant on the island trained to provide intercultural coaching and adaptation support services.  Her clients have included Prudential, Johnson & Johnson, Amgen, Glaxo Smith Kline, Merck Sharp & Dohme, AT&T, the U.S. Internal Revenue Service, Wyeth Pharmaceutical, Proctor & Gamble, Pfizer, Daimler Chrysler, Shepfield, Praxair, Brystol-Meyers Squibb, Pepsico, and Clorox. 

Lynn takes pride in her success in enabling senior managers and executives of large corporations to come to terms with, and master, both business dilemmas and cross-cultural challenges.  One coachee wrote, “I credit my coaching sessions with Lynn with providing me the essential skills for changing my managerial approach with my executive team.  I have recommended her to my best friend, also a high level executive.  [Lynn has the] capacity to help you turn ‘knowing how’ into actual performance.”  Another coachee said, “After many sessions with Lynn, a recurring thought pops into my head, ‘Boy, she’s good!’” 

Lynn has been a guest speaker at schools, seminars, and other functions throughout Puerto Rico and has appeared as well on radio and television.  The topics of her presentations include culture shock, cultural awareness, and cultural adjustment as well as a variety of other personal and family challenges. 

Lynn resides in Puerto Rico with her two children, Jessica and Peter.  One of Lynn’s passions is working out on a daily basis, often by engaging in an outdoor sport such as cycling, sailing, or running.

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