Strategic Partners, Inc. is affiliated with 30 professional consultants, instructors, and facilitators, each with varying backgrounds, experience, and expertise. We choose from a large pool of the resources and specialize in finding just the right fit of experience and personality for each engagement.
Here is just a sample of some of our talented team members:
Ken Boxer Ken Boxer, President of Strategic Partners, Inc., regularly consults with senior managers on the design and implementation of business plans and strategies to recruit, retain, and develop employees. Throughout the years, he has worked with such organizations as Blockbuster Entertainment, Comsat Corporation, Crown Central Petroleum, Frito-Lay, Inc., Marriott Corporation, McCormick Spice, Texas Instruments, and numerous federal government agencies, including the U.S. Departments of Health & Human Services, Agriculture, and Commerce. Read more about Ken.
Mary Jo Ammon Mary Jo is an accomplished strategist and organization development and process improvement consultant. Mary Jo’s open and approachable style enables her to work closely with executives and line employees to identify and remove barriers to implementation. She is adept at creating a safe and trusting environment so that people feel comfortable bringing their best ideas to the table. Mary Jo has completed an International Coach Federation (ICF) Accredited Coach Training Program (ACTP) as well as Coaching Excellence in Organizations (CEO), a post-graduate program for experienced coaches, through Newfield Network.
Merrill C. Anderson Merrill C. Anderson, PhD is a business consulting executive, author and educator with over 20 years experience improving the performance of people and organizations. Merrill is currently the CEO of Cylient, a professional services firm offering coaching-based leadership development, culture change and MetrixGlobal® evaluation services. He has held senior executive positions with Fortune 500 companies including chief learning executive and vice president of organization development. He has consulted with over 100 companies throughout the world to effectively manage strategic organization change, has over 100 professional publications and speeches to his credit and was recognized as the 2003 ASTD ROI Practitioner of the Year.
Kristin J. Arnold Kristin J. Arnold, CMC, CPF, CSP helps corporations, government, and non-profit organizations achieve extraordinary results. With years of team-building and facilitation experience, Kristin specializes in coaching executives and their leadership, management and employee teams, particularly in the areas of strategic, business and project planning, process improvement, decision-making, and collaborative problem-solving. Kristin’s current and past clients include: American Express Financial Advisors, Inc., American Red Cross, American Society for Training & Development, Anheuser-Busch, Inc., City of Baltimore, Commonwealth of Virginia, Defense Investigative Services, Georgetown University, Grimes Aerospace Company, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, United Stated Air Force, United States Army, United States Navy, United States Coast Guard, and the United Way of Virginia Peninsula.
Andy Beaulieu As a Senior Consultant with Strategic Partners, Inc. with over 20 years of experience, Andy brings incredible depth and insight to each performance improvement engagement.
He has consulted to management, helped groups form and succeed, developed leaders, and reengineered business processes. He has managed projects, conducted all aspects of consulting assignments, coached client staff, and presented to large audiences.
Maureen Caughran Maureen is a senior consultant affiliated with Strategic Partners, Inc. Maureen has designed, developed, and conducted training programs in management and leadership, performance management, customer service skills, communication, and diversity for over 20 years for both public and private sector organizations in the United States and Canada. Maureen has extensive experience in developing and facilitating customer service workshops, management and leadership training, diversity workshops, and workshops in all areas of communication, including the MBTI. Ms. Caughran has done extensive work with work teams at all levels, including executive teams. Maureen received an M.S.A. with a concentration in Human Systems and Organizational Behavior from The George Washington University. She received her B.A. from The Ohio State University and a Diploma from the Cours de Civilisation Française at the University of Paris. She served as an ESL instructor in the Peace Corps in Tunisia. Maureen is also a Trainer.
Wendi Eldh Wendi has more than 13 years experience as a trainer, curricula developer, facilitator, coach, and editor for the public and private sectors. Wendi has conducted training throughout the U.S. as well as in England, Italy, and Germany. Wendi is an experienced, certified trainer in Exercising Influence and specializes in developing and presenting training programs in the areas of interpersonal communication, dynamic public speaking, workplace professionalism and etiquette, as well as grammar and business writing skills. Wendi has a Master’s degree in adult education/human resources development from Boston University (summa cum laude, 1992) and a bachelor’s degree in broadcast journalism from San Diego State University (magna cum laude, 1988). Her current clients include: BAE Systems, Marriott Corporation, AARP, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, Army Audit Agency, and the United States Senate. Wendi is also a Trainer.
Lori E. Ermi Lori Ermi’s focus is executive presence, emotional intelligence, strategic alignment, communications, influencing others, success in a new role, leading change, building effective teams, dealing with conflict, optimizing performance and execution, and has been developing leaders at all levels since 1991. She has trained over 1,000 leaders in coaching, negotiating, managing, leading, communication, executive presence, and diversity. She has coached leaders, both domestically and internationally. She understands the complexity, responsibility, and pressure on and among leaders first hand. Clients appreciate her business focus, pragmatic, and real world perspective. She combines her business experience of working with hundreds of leaders with tools, frameworks, and models. A skilled facilitator, she has partnered with dozens of leadership teams on strategic planning and team effectiveness initiatives. She helps hold her clients accountable for sustainable results by providing a structured approach in setting milestones and a scorecard.
Kelly Fairbairn Kelly Fairbairn began her career as an Instructional Designer with a northeastern utility. While piloting projects, she evaluated programs and conducted training sessions as part of the utility’s university for professional employees and supervisors. Kelly evaluated and designed learning on management development topics such as team skills, communication skills, listening skills, conflict management, selection interviewing, and termination management. Later, she became Instructional Design Manager for Fleet Mortgage Group, managing a team of technical and professional development trainers and instructional designers who created total learning solutions for leadership, professional development, and technical employees. Kelly has a Bachelor’s degree in public communication from Cornell University and a Master’s degree in employee counseling and relations from Binghamton University. Kelly is also a Trainer.
Kathryn Gaines, Ph.D Dr. Gaines helps clients achieve results by building leadership capacity, commitment, and competence. She has 15 years of experience as a management and organization development consultant and coach.
Kathryn partners with clients to strengthen performance and communication in the workplace, navigate changes and challenges, build collaboration at all levels, and foster the highest levels of employee engagement and accountability.
Heather Kaye Heather is a Senior Consultant associated with Strategic Partners, Inc. Ms. Jacobs develops comprehensive, cutting edge programs designed to help today’s organizations grow and retain key talent by cultivating individual potential. Her consulting firm works with individuals and organizations to create successful workplaces where meeting strategic goals emanate directly from employee growth and satisfaction. Heather brings to her leadership role the insight gained through 25 years as a senior manager and consultant to Fortune 500 companies, government agencies, and not-for-profit organizations. During her years as a consultant, Heather’s clients have included managers and staff from organizations as diverse as Marriott, AT&T, Westinghouse, Viacom Corporation, United Way, U.S. Patent and Trademark, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and National Rural Electric Cooperative.
Leah Kedar Leah has over 25 years of experience leading organizational change efforts worldwide. She works with clients in the U.S. and internationally, facilitating organization transformation from the inside out, helping teams, leaders and organizations in diverse organizational environments, including: government, corporate, not-for-profit, political and academic. Ms. Kedar is known for her exceptional ability to bring together disparate voices in the pursuit of common goals. She is the author of “Voices of Children: AIDS Orphans in the District of Columbia” and editor of Power Through Discourse. Ms. Kedar is based in Washington, D.C.
John V. Keenan is an executive coach with over 30 years of executive management and leadership expertise in the areas of engineering, transportation and logistics. John’s most recent experience as the President and COO of a publicly traded Transportation and Logistics Company will provide clients with a focus on current issues of today. John’s experience with successfully leading and influencing a large geographically diverse company has given him a solid foundation to coach others in organizational effectiveness and leadership development. John brings a unique blend of practical experience to his coaching approach by succeeding as a corporate officer of a Fortune 500 company as well being one of three leaders of the executive team taking a company public following private equity ownership. John is enrolled at the College of Executive Coaching, pursuing his ICF Advanced Personal & Executive Coach Certification.
Jefferson Kellogg As a Senior Consultant with Strategic Partners, Inc., Mr. Kellogg has over 25 years of experience in the professional services arena. His work reflects a combination of internal human resource and external consulting experience that provides a broad understanding of the dynamics of successful human capital management. Mr. Kellogg has an undergraduate degree from the College of Wooster, graduate degrees from Kent State University and George Washington University, and is certified as a Senior Professional in Human Resources from the Society of Human Resource Management. Read more about Jeff.
Bette Krakau Bette has over 20 years of broad experience as an internal and external training and development consultant. Her expertise has been focused in the areas of leadership development, strategic planning, organizational change, and team development and effectiveness. In addition, Bette has also worked and consulted in human resources, organizational development, influence and communication, career development, customer service, and process improvement. Her past clients include: 3M, T. Rowe Price, Kaiser Permanente, U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, U.S. Navy, Johns Hopkins University, and the Baptist Medical Center in Southern California. Her international assignments include leadership and team development projects in Poland, Hungary, Singapore, and Japan.
Jodi McGill Jodi has been extensively involved in learning and development projects. She has led projects for clients such as Constellation Energy Group, Sandoz Pharmaceuticals, Crown Central Petroleum, and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s Center for Veterinary Medicine; including managing the outsourcing of leadership training, leading a project team to develop an online learning center, and serving as the project manager for a series of management development programs. Jodi has extensive experience designing and delivering instructional courses, as well as managing instructors, course designers, and training programs. Jodi is an accomplished trainer who thrives on making learning enjoyable and memorable. Clients she has worked with include: MCI, Intelsat, American Chemical Society, American Diabetes Association, Arent Fox, and LMI.
Don Peterson Don Peterson has over 20 years of management and executive experience in large organizations, including nine years as a senior executive. He has served in a variety of line and staff positions at the executive level. With this background, he is able to bring to his clients a “been there, done that” credibility, understanding, and rapport. During his career, Don successfully played lead roles in a variety of major change initiatives. He led the development of new automated systems, oversaw restructuring of major processes, and was a leader in the move to participative management, labor-management partnership, and stakeholder collaboration. He offers a distinctive blend of technical business management training and experience and a strong interest in executive and employee development, conflict resolution, facilitation, team problem solving, and negotiation. Don’s current and past clients include the U.S. Intelligence Community, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, the National Institutes of Health, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, and NASA.
Deborah Prawda Deborah Prawda is a psychologist specializing in leadership, organization development, and coaching. She works with business units, teams, and individuals to produce learning and change. Deborah’s expertise is based on a solid foundation in adult learning and bilingual/multi-cultural living and work experience both as an external consultant to private, government, and inter-government organizations and as an internal consultant for the Inter-American Development Bank and International Monetary Fund. Deborah supports clients in developing skills and competencies to lead and manage in a broad range of arenas including planning, organization culture change, team leadership, communication, interpersonal skills, coaching and developing staff, and performance management.
Linda Putz Linda Pütz specializes in understanding the human side of organizations, designing programs and systems that bridge the gap between workforce and management capabilities and changing organization direction. As an external consultant for the last 17 years, Linda’s clients have included AT&T Solutions, Capital One, NIST, NASA, NOAA, the Commerce Department, the FAA, the Federal Judicial Center, the Intelligence Community, and Health and Human Services. She is a skillful workshop and meeting designer and facilitator, and author of a three-day course on Facilitation Skills. Linda earned an M.A. in 1990 in Counseling from the University of Maryland’s Counseling and Personnel Services Program. During her studies, she managed two nationally known Career Resource Centers, at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center and the General Accounting Office, working directly with employees and managers, and designing customized career development models, including linkage between all related organizational systems. Linda is also a Trainer.
Christopher N. Sonnesyn is a senior strategic planning consultant and facilitator. He has designed and led strategic planning engagements for scores of leadership teams in the federal government – with cabinet-level appointees, senior military officers, and members of the senior executive service. He has served as the project manager for several comprehensive human capital (HC) and organizational assessment projects. In short, he is an experienced organizational development (OD) consultant, with research and applied experience across the entire spectrum of OD and HC management functions.
Mr. Sonnesyn earned an MA Degree in Industrial-Organizational Psychology from New York University and a BA Degree in American Studies from the University of Minnesota. He has served as a national leader in the American Society of Training and Development and as the chairperson and speaker at strategic planning conferences sponsored by the International Quality and Productivity Center and the Advanced Learning Institute.
Diane Thielfoldt Diane, learning strategist and co-founder of The Learning Café, partners with clients to create custom learning solutions that produce business results and support personal growth. Diane is the co-author of the thought leadership chapter on generational issues in the newly published and highly acclaimed Human Resources in the 21st Century. Her articles include Generation Integration-A Case Study of How Xerox Corporation Bridged the Generation Gap Between Two Business Groups, Mentoring for All Ages, Engaging Today’s Workforce and Today in ER, Dr. Welby Meets Doogie Howser: Engaging the Generations in Healthcare. Diane holds undergraduate and advanced degrees from Pennsylvania State University. She is qualified in the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator and a wide variety of testing and assessment tools, including 360 degree feedback. Diane is also a Trainer.
Mary Frances Winters Dr. Winters is a master strategist with over 30 years experience in strategic planning, change management, diversity, organization development, training and facilitation, systems thinking, and qualitative and quantitative research methods. As a Senior Consultant with Strategic Partners, Inc., she works with clients to assist with strategic planning, training, and public speaking with an emphasis in ethnic and multicultural issues. She has extensive experience in working with senior leadership teams to drive organizational change. Clients describe her as highly creative, collaborative, visionary and results oriented. The author of three books and numerous articles and reports, she is a sought after keynote speaker and workshop leader. Current and past clients include the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Black Enterprise Magazine, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Florida, Constellation Energy, Eastman Kodak Company, Loyola College of Maryland, National Center on Black Philanthropy, Society of Human Resource Management (SHRM), Sodexho USA, Starbucks, University of Michigan Institute for Social Research, and the U.S. Virgin Islands Housing Authority. Mary Frances is also a Trainer.
Mindy L. Zasloff, MBA Mindy has more than 25 years of experience in human resources, organizational development, and training design and delivery specializing in executive coaching, supervisory development, engaging the generations, and mentoring. Mindy is an Executive Coach to high-level executives helping them to be more people focused in their leadership efforts. She is a master certified trainer in areas of retention, mentoring, and career coaching programs. In addition, she is certified in the Center for Creative Leadership’s Skillscope 360 degree process, DISC, and Listening Styles. Mindy’s experience consulting with organizations ranges from small, local organizations to large global companies, and from business startups to the Fortune 500 corporations. Her clients include, but are not limited to: Microsoft, Kroger, Autodesk, Amgen, U.S. Patent and Trade Office, Sun Microsystems, and the U.S. Census Bureau. Mindy is also a Trainer.
