Bios
Alicia Arnold
Post-Conference: Design Thinking: Inspire. Inform. Transform
Alicia is an award-winning, digital strategist. As SVP, Digital at Hill Holliday, Alicia leverages design thinking and creative problem solving to envision solutions that drive business results. Additionally, she facilitates breakthrough innovation workshops and conducts creativity training. Alicia holds an M.B.A in Marketing from Bentley University and is an M.S. candidate in the Creativity, Innovation and Change Leadership program at Buffalo State College.
Min Basadur
Post-Conference: Creative Problem Solving Profile (CPSP) Certification Workshop
Dr. Min Basadur, founder and president of Basadur Applied Creativity, is a recognized world leader in the field of applied creativity and possesses years of experience in building creative thinking, innovation and problem solving capabilities across organizations. His research-based work is noted for its applicability and scalability within organizations of all kinds. Educated in organizational psychology and engineering physics, Min began refining his insights into applied creativity at Procter & Gamble while working with teams developing new products and helping senior management to engage employees in cost and profit improvement. Following his award-winning doctoral research at the University of Cincinnati, he became a professor of management in the Michael G. DeGroote School of Business at McMaster University. His recent book The Power of Innovation became an instant CEO need-to-read. His network of consulting and research associates uses his Simplex™ system to consult with major organizations in a broad range of industries.
Amy Basic
Pre-Conference: Painting On Water Workshop - Achieve your Goal With The Flow
Amy Basic (also known as Amy Lee Segami) is a mechanical engineer and professional artist who is recognized for her extraordinary talents in bridging the gap between science and art, and combining science and art with the cultural diversity of the East and West to create a rich medium for expression, development, and innovation. With water as her canvas, Segami draws on physics and her knowledge of Asian cultures to create art. Fluctuating between polarities of meaning, her works evoke the essence of the human experience and its relationship to the universe. Since 1989, her unique and distinctive paintings have won numerous awards and have been featured in a number of exhibitions and permanent collections. Born in China and raised in Hong Kong, Segami is a naturalized U.S. citizen. She earned a BS and an MS in mechanical engineering from Illinois Institute of Technology and studied many traditional Asian art forms. Her Painting on Water™ workshop is an experiential program she developed for innovators to enhance their creativity and problem solving skills
Simon Bray is Client Partner at ?WhatIf!, the largest independent innovation consultancy in the world, with 250+ people spread across offices in New York, London and Shanghai. ?WhatIf! helps businesses become better at innovation through projects, training programs and study tours.
Simon has a psychology/management consulting background, and specializes in working with business leaders to help them design and deliver their innovation agendas. He previously set up the ?WhatIf! Learning practice, and is passionate about inspiring and unlocking innovation potential in people and organizations. He has worked all over the world, with clients as diverse as Coca-Cola, Citi, J&J, the BBC, myspace, Marriott and Disney.
He is an Englishman living in New York who supports the Yankees and the Giants, but who misses English newspapers and decent curries!
www.whatifinnovation.com
Dan Buchner
Immersion: Innovation Leadership
Dan Buchner is an award-winning designer, entrepreneur, and innovation consultant who has driven innovation in a wide range of organizations worldwide. For nearly 30 years, Dan has been developing innovative new products, creating compelling new services, and helping organizations establish design and innovation capabilities to drive success. Dan is also a sought-after speaker and workshop facilitator on innovation practices and organizational strategies. As vice president of organizational innovation at Continuum, he directs interdisciplinary organizational innovation projects for leading organizations such as the Center for Creative Leadership and Nathan Associates. Prior to joining Continuum in 2000, Dan established Moen Incorporated’s first Industrial Design Group and implemented the Moen Real World Lab, a simulated residential environment for consumer experience testing and research. Dan has been published in Innovations and Product Development Best Practices, and has been quoted in numerous publications such as the New York Times, BusinessWeek, ID magazine, A Whole New Mind, and the Boston Globe. Media appearances have included the “Today Show” and “NBC Nightly News.” He has won 11 design awards, including a bronze and gold BusinessWeek IDEA Award. In 1999, Dan was awarded the Innovator of the Year Award by EDI. He holds more than 25 U.S. and Canadian design and mechanical patents.
Cyndi Burnett
Post-Conference: Beyond Thought: Striking the Balance between Logic and Intuition in CPS
Cyndi Burnett , M. S., is the Director of Distance Education Programs and a full-time faculty member of the International Center for Studies in Creativity. She is a former professional actress, and a 2001 graduate of the Master of Science in Creative Studies. She has taught, lead, and facilitated in the education, arts, and business sectors locally, nationally and internationally. She is currently completing her doctoral work in holistic and aesthetic education at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education at the University of Toronto. Her dissertation is based on holistic approaches to Creative Problem Solving.
Helene Cahen
Pre-Conference: Design Thinking: Inspire. Inform. Transform
Helene Cahen is an experienced innovation consultant, trainer and facilitator with more than 20 years’ experience in the areas of facilitation, market research, communication and new product development. Trained in creative problem solving and design thinking, Helene received an MS in creativity and change leadership from the State University of New York at Buffalo in 2008. She has held executive and management positions in advertising, marketing research, HR, finance and sales for large corporations such as the Clorox Company, as well as advertising agencies, consulting firms and small businesses. As an independent consultant for the past nine years, she has worked extensively with small businesses and nonprofit organizations. Born and raised in Paris, France, Helene graduated with a business degree from one of France’s elite schools, the Institut D’Etudes Politiques de Paris.
Michael Chapman
CPSI Short: Economic Development and Collaborative Partnership
Minister Michael Chapman was born and raised in Western New York and is a product of the community in which he serves. Called to the Ministry and licensed in 1988 he was installed as Pastor of the St. John Baptist Church in 2002. In just seven years Pastor Chapman has propelled St John Baptist Church and its subsidiaries into the forefront as a major player in the economic and community development initiatives of the City of Buffalo and Western New York region. He serves as Pastor and CEO of the twenty eight acre St John campus that includes a 3800 member congregation, McCarley Gardens Housing Complex, St John Tower Senior housing, Smith Family Life Center, St John Christian Academy and the Aloma D. Johnson Charter School. In addition, Pastor Chapman has established the following corporations: The Fruit Belt Community Development Corporation which is Single Family Home and Town Home Construction with Phase I completed in 2009. St John Hospice House was opened in June 2008. The development and construction of a faith based community Hospice Facility is unprecedented as the first of its kind in the United States. Pastor Chapman`s vision is to provide Hospice care and transitional services in the minority community in which we live and work. For this work Pastor Chapman received the 2009 Howard University Hospital Spirituality in Medicine Award which recognizes a member of the clergy for outstanding accomplishments in the area of Health Care with the connection to spirituality. Pastor Chapman is a gifted sermon orator and teacher with exceptional administrative skills, has expanded the St John Baptist Church ministries and auxiliaries to over 37 and he continues to realize his vision as the Founder and CEO of Blessed of the Lord Ministries which is a production company which produces Gospel concerts, plays and various other venues of religious content.
Pastor Chapman holds a Bachelors Degree, three Masters Degrees, and an Honorary Doctorate and is a much sought after speaker, lecturer and facilitator. Pastor Chapman is a devoted Husband and Father of five children and 19 grandchildren. He has been married for over 34 years to Ina R. Chapman and they reside in Buffalo, New York
Gail Vance Civille
CPSI Short: Sensory Discovery: Wake Up and Smell the Coffee
Gail Vance Civille, President of Sensory Spectrum, Inc., has pioneered advanced sensory evaluation approaches for industry, academia and the government. For over 40 years her application of strategic business initiatives to R&D and marketing projects has impacted sensory science globally. Her fundamental development of flavor, texture, fragrance, Skinfeel and Fabricfeel Spectrum Descriptive Analysis methodology, references and protocols is the foundation for sound analytical tools in sensory science. As an expert in the evaluation of sensory properties, Ms. Civille has worked with thousands of food and personal care products using sophisticated consumer and descriptive techniques.
As a course director for Sensory Spectrum and the Center for Professional Advancement she has developed diverse original workshops and courses in basic and advanced sensory evaluation methods and theory, as well as, consumer testing, panel leadership, quality control and the management of sensory programs.
Ms. Civille has published articles on general sensory methods, as well as, sophisticated application of sensory strategy, and is co-author of Sensory Evaluation Techniques, Sensory Evaluation in Quality Control and co-editor of Aroma and Flavor Lexicon for Sensory Evaluation.
Ms. Civille was awarded in 2002 the David R. Peryam Award given to outstanding professionals in the applied sensory science field by the ASTM Committee E18. In 2006 she was awarded the ASTM Award of Merrit.
As part of the organizing and founding committee Ms. Civille was instrumental in the establishment of The Society of Sensory Professionals and serves as its current Chair.
After graduating from the College of Mt. St. Vincent, New York (for which she serves on the Board of Trustees) with a BS degree in Chemistry, Ms. Civille began her career as a product evaluation analyst with the General Foods Corporation.
Kimberly Cutchall
Immersion: New Business Development… Only Better
Kimberly Cutchall is the Chief Executive Officer and President of Accendo International, a Houston-based human capital strategy firm. She is a dynamic, high-energy leader and speaker who has more than 20 years of executive experience and whose areas of specialty run the spectrum from expert coaching to sales training, and leadership development to strategic execution. Kimberly’s background includes designing, staffing, and leading a best-in-class human capital management structure for a $10 billion Fortune 500 company with over 30,000 employees; hiring and training executive teams who were responsible for executing enterprise-wide, performance-based leadership and sales training that stimulated over $4 billion in annual revenue; coaching C-level and top-level executives nationally and internationally around topics including leadership effectiveness, executive succession planning, cultural issues, corporate communications, operational structure and impact, and sales performance improvement; and establishing and managing a first-of-its-kind talent-acquisition team that was responsible for executing rapid-deployment hiring plans company-wide across North America. This expertise and experience provides Kimberly a unique perspective that blends innovative thinking with a keen understanding of the role human capital plays in business execution, accountability, and measurable results.
Newell Eaton
Immersion: Coaching - The New Way of Learning
Newell Eaton is a Partner with New & Improved, an organizational development firm that focuses on the people skills organizations need to create growth through innovation. Newell offers his over 35 years of experience helping leaders to create change in turbulent, complex environments. Most recently he has been working as a coach and creative facilitator with executive leaders in the computer gaming, biotech, venture capital, global mobility and workforce management fields along with a broad range of nonprofit, philanthropic and government organizations. His extensive background in youth and community development bring a unique perspective to his work. He is actively involved as a coach for "Ready by 21," a new and improved applied research strategy.
Newell has held leadership positions in the nonprofit and government sectors. He was director of Strategic Planning for New York State's children and family services agencies for three different administrations. During that career he developed a high performance leadership culture and built cross-disciplinary programs for healthy youth and communities. He demonstrated that innovation can happen in the public sector.
Newell has his formal training in applied anthropology from Rensselaer and his master coaching certification from the NLP Center of NYC. He calls New York State's Hudson River Valley his home.
Bob Eckert
Pre-Conference: Building Innovative Organizations
Bob Eckert is CEO at New & Improved LLC. A sought-after speaker, trainer, executive coach, and facilitator who has impacted tens of thousands of people at conferences and meetings around the world, Bob has a solid track record of satisfied clients in the areas of innovation, HR development, leadership training, and building high-performance teams. The author of numerous articles and books, his most recent book (coauthored with Jonathan Vehar) is More Lightning, Less Thunder: How to Energize Innovation Teams, which details a path toward increased personal creativity, emotional intelligence and team contribution. Bob is a lifetime member of CEF and has been delighting participants at CPSI for the last 15 years. As comfortable driving productive meetings in the boardroom as he is driving a tractor, Bob lives on his tree farm in the Adirondack Mountains of Northern New York.
Janice Francisco
Post-Conference: Beyond Thought: Striking the Balance between Logic and Intuition in CPS
Janice Francisco, MSc Creativity & Change Leadership, change facilitator, adult educator, communications specialist, keynote speaker, author has close to 20 years experience helping clients focus on the people skills, business processes and communications activities they need to develop creative responses to organizational change. Adept at integrating creative problem solving, deliberate intuition and innovation processes to guide professionals through the entire business cycle, she is recognized as a pragmatic international thought leader who helps leaders and teams find novel solutions to work challenges, predicaments and opportunities to improve business functional and strategic planning, situation and needs analysis, awareness and training program development.
Paul Groncki
Immersion: New Thinking! New Thinkers!
An economist by training, Paul was a marketing professional for 30 years. He has served as treasurer on the Board of Trustees for the Creative Education Foundation, is on the Board of Trustees for Hudson Guild — a settlement house in NYC, facilitates not-for-profits and serves as NY Hub Leader for Facilitators Without Borders, is on the faculty of CPSI, volunteers as at the Rubin Museum of Himalayan Art, and serves on numerous community organizations.
Paul has helped many leading financial services firms develop marketing strategies targeting the sophisticated banking and financial needs of affluent clients in the U.S., Japan, and Europe. Before entering the financial services industry, Paul was an associate scientist at Brookhaven National Laboratory where he modeled energy supply and demand responses to changes in energy pricing and availability. He holds an MA and doctorate in economics from SUNY Stony Brook and lives in New York City.
David Magellan Horth
Immersion: Innovation Leadership
David Horth is coauthor of the award-winning The Leaders' Edge: Six Creative Competencies for Navigating Complex Challenges and co-inventor of Visual Explorer™. David is a senior faculty member of The Center for Creative Leadership's Design Center. For several successive years, BusinessWeek magazine has ranked the Center for Creative Leadership as number one for leadership development in its "Executive Education Special Report.” David specializes in study and practice at the confluence of creativity and leadership. His learning designs include "Leading Creatively"—an arts-based leadership program—and "Navigating Complex Challenges," as well as many other programs in which leadership and creativity are the major themes. David loves to coach executives to help them expand their horizons. He is chairman of CEF’s board of trustees. David describes himself as an artist in training. He is a musician and poet who uses these gifts to coach and develop others.
Kim Massey
Immersion: New Business Development… Only Better
Kim Massey has over 14 years of sales, management, and human capital consulting experience. She is a results-oriented executive with broad functional knowledge and demonstrated success as a leader and change agent. Kim’s areas of focus are leadership development and coaching, with a unique expertise in international settings such as China and India; strategic planning; performance management; and team development. During her career, Kim has partnered with non-profit organizations, academic institutions, small business leaders, and large media and entertainment companies. Passionate about improving the world through leadership, Kim’s work places an emphasis on self-empowerment, inner development, and individual responsibility. Most recently in India, she teamed up with an in-country human rights organization to improve its livelihood training programs for village women in the desert of western Rajasthan. Prior to moving into human capital consulting, Kim gained direct business unit experience as a vice president of sales for Clear Channel Worldwide, where she managed a national sales team and led restructuring initiatives.
Bernice McCarthy
CPSI Short: Maximizing Training Design
Post-Conference: Create Transformative Learning Using 4MAT
After extensive teaching experience in all grade levels, including special education, and her doctoral studies at Northwestern University, Dr. Bernice McCarthy developed an instructional model to connect all types of learners. She was convinced that the diversity of learners called for an all encompassing learning cycle. Bernice McCarthy drew on the research of Jung, Paiget, Vygotsky, Dewey, Lewin and Kolb to create an instructional system that would progress through the complete learning cycle using strategies that would appeal to all learners. This innovative approach, the 4MAT System, was the basis for the founding of her company, About Learning, Inc. in 1979. The 4MAT System began in education and quickly spread into corporate and government as the value of this model became more widely recognized. It applies to two levels within these organizations, teaching and training and administration and leadership.
Bernice McCarthy encourages organizations to use multiple methods of problem solving and communication to help tap into the full potential of an individual. Instructional design, team processing, leadership skills, communication, conflict resolution, decision making, problem solving, and creativity are all encompassed in the 4MAT Model.
Lynette McCormack
Post-Conference: The Natural Rhythms of Creation & Integration
Lynette McCormack, founder of AhHa! & IdeaConnect and a Natural Rhythms Institute Charter Facilitator, possesses a dynamic facilitation style inspiring people and teams to transcend barriers and accomplish the extraordinary. She offers her global clients an understanding of cross-functional and cultural dynamics, visual thinking and structural design. AhHa! and IdeaConnect’s clients include Fortune 50 businesses, government, and non-profit organizations. Lynette guides people to reach new levels of learning, understanding and innovation through graphic tools helping people see the big picture, achieve profound alignment and synthesize information and insights into actionable outcomes. Fueled by her quest to learn, synthesize and forward-apply, she has created team processes LearningConnect® and KnowledgeConnect™ to enhance organizational learning and collaboration and has trained hundreds of people in LearningConnect® around the world.
Lisa Michaels
Post-Conference: The Natural Rhythms of Creation & Integration
Lisa Michaels, author, dancer, facilitator, and founder of the Natural Rhythms Institute, assists others in accessing their ability to learn from nature and to discover more about their creative essence expression. For the past twenty years she has shared her expertise through her products, workshops, and facilitator training's. Lisa's most current products include her new book Natural Rhythms, The Elemental Forces of Creation Oracle and Audio Book. Her work has helped thousands of people find the key to moving their lives forward, thus enlivening their ability to co-create and unlocking their natural growth potential.
Jacqueline Lloyd Smith
Pre-Conference: Facilitating LEGO Serious Play
Jacqueline is the co-founder of Lloyd Smith Solutions, an international management consulting company with their head office located in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Jacquie has over twenty years experience working as an internal and external consultant. In 2000, she earned a Master's Degree in Conflict Analysis and Management and in 2006 she completed an MBA in Executive Management Consulting. In 2005 she studied business strategy and global business in Grenoble, France. She has consulted and presented in North America, Europe and Australia.
Jacquie has worked closely as a partner, consultant and facilitator trainer with the LEGO® group in Denmark. In 2009 she was instrumental in helping the LEGO® Play for Business group create an open source model, bringing LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY™ to a larger community of facilitators and consultants. Jacquie is also a registered Canadian Management Consultant.
Hedria Lunken
Pre-Conference: One-Day Jump into CPS
When creativity came into Hedria Lunken’s life, it changed her life, and she loves to teach others the magic of creativity. Her presentations are dynamic, inspirational, practical and funny. She has presented to and worked for Fortune 500 companies on five continents as a speaker, coach, writer, and authority in the field of creativity. Known for delivering valuable and practical advice in a humorous and engaging way, Hedria gives audiences and the readers of her book Square One at 51 the tools to deal with challenges and change, turn inspiration into action, and achieve personal and professional success. Hedria is a past president of CEF.
Blair Miller
Pre-Conference: One-Day Jump into CPS
Blair Miller is founder and president of Blair Miller & Associates. For 16 years, he has dedicated himself to helping organizations cultivate creative leadership, team building and innovation. As a guest instructor in MBA programs, Blair has taught at the Kellogg School of Management, the University of Chicago, and Emory University. Blair has coauthored numerous articles and books on creativity, innovation and creative problem solving, including Creativity Unbound, which has been translated into French, Spanish and Japanese. He is publisher of FourSight: The Breakthrough Thinking Profile, which has offered thousands of individuals and teams the ability to see how their personal problem solving style affects their creative output. Blair's gift at facilitating team building grew from his early years as a classroom teacher and Outward Bound instructor. Those experiences were enriched by his MS degree in creativity, innovation and change leadership from the State University of New York. His business combines the heart-and-mind approach to innovation to enrich the working climate and bottom line of clients including Aegon, Avon, Cadbury Schweppes, Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, The Coca-Cola Company, DuPont, Deloitte, Kodak, Kraft, MeadWestvaco, NutraSweet, Pfizer and S.C. Johnson. When he is not delivering programs or consulting with clients, Blair can be found learning creativity concepts from his three children and dreaming of the next great trek from his family's home base in Evanston, Ill.
Gerard Puccio
Post-Conference: Creative Problem Solving: A Leadership Skill for the 21st Century
Dr. Gerard Puccio is department chair and a professor at the International Center for Studies in Creativity at Buffalo State, a unique academic department that offers the world's only master of science degree in creativity. Gerard has written more than 40 articles, chapters and books. His most recent book, coauthored with his colleagues Mary Murdock and Marie Mance, is titled Creative Leadership: Skills that Drive Change. In recognition of his outstanding work as a scholar, Gerard received the State University of New York Chancellor's Recognition Award for Research Excellence and the President's Medal for Scholarship and Creativity. He is an accomplished speaker and consultant who has worked with major corporations, universities, and numerous school districts. Some of his recent clients include Fisher-Price Brands, Sun Life Insurance, Blue Cross and Blue Shield, Kraft Foods, Synovate (a market research firm), New Jersey Institute of Technology, Rochester Institute of Technology, and the Fashion Institute of Technology. He has delivered creativity workshops and presentations around the world, in such countries as France, England, Spain, Italy, Tanzania, Hong Kong, Singapore, the Dominican Republic, and Canada. Gerard holds a Ph.D. in organizational psychology from the University of Manchester, England.
John Sedgwick
Immersion: New Thinking! New Thinkers!
For the past decade John has designed and delivered training programs for corporate clients including General Motors, Dofasco, Stelco, and Canada Customs and Revenue Agency. For more than 20 years before that he was Professor of Business Administration at Mohawk College, designing and developing training programs tailored for corporate and government clients.
John conducts seminars and workshops through North America and Europe in the field of management development, including Team Building, Communications, Problem Solving, and Group Facilitation. He has also written numerous manuals on thinking skills and creativity. He is adjunct professor at the International Center for Studies in Creativity, and has presented at creativity conferences in the US, Canada, France, Holland, Spain, England, China, and Indonesia.
He has participated in three international projects funded by the Canadian International Development Agency: two in China and one in Israel. He taught Quality Control in Nanjing, China for two months in 1988 and Management Team Building in Kunming, China in 1992. He has given guest lectures at universities in France, Spain, The Netherlands, China and Indonesia, as well as at several in Canada and the USA. In fact will gladly travel almost anywhere to meet new, creative people. John is currently a senior consultant at thinkxic.
Douglas Smith
Pre-Conference: Facilitating LEGO Serious Play
Doug is co-founder of Lloyd Smith Solutions (2003). Doug has over 30 years of hands-on experience in business development and is an international speaker and presenter. Doug graduated from Lakehead University in 1977 with an Honours Bachelor of Commerce. Upon graduation he joined a family business which he grew into Northern Ontario’s largest and most trusted Insurance Brokerages firms. He holds a diploma as a LEGO® Serious Play™ facilitator. He is an avid guitar player and musicologist.
Doug has focused his professional attention on group facilitation for community and economic development. To his credit, he has been the recipient of many awards and recognitions including Thunder Bay Chamber of Commerce Businessman of the Year 2006, Charles J. Carter Award of Excellence 2003, The Commemorative Medal for the 125th Anniversary of the Confederation of Canada and Paul Harris Fellow Award Rotary Club of Thunder Bay 1991.
Tim Switalski
Pre-Conference: Facilitating Creativity in a Culturally Diverse World
Tim is founder and president of Darwin Associates, a consulting firm focusing on organizational evolution and strategic innovation. He is a master facilitator, trainer and coach with over 30 years of experience. Tim has worked extensively with public, private and non-profit organizations to creatively manage strategic change. He works with organizations throughout the United States and Canada as well as in Central and South America and in Europe. He holds a Master of Science degree in Creativity and Innovation from the Center for Studies in Creativity at Buffalo State College where he is also an adjunct faculty member. Tim is a founding board member of CREA (the European Creativity Association) and designs and coordinates the annual CREA conference in Sestri Levante, Italy. He is also an experienced leader at the Creative Problem Solving Institute.
Laura Barbero Switalski
Pre-Conference: Facilitating Creativity in a Culturally Diverse World
Post-Conference: Creative Problem Solving: A Leadership Skill for the 21st Century
Laura is a partner of Darwin Associates, a consulting firm in Buffalo, New York, specializing in organizational development and creativity training and facilitation. Laura is a master facilitator, coach and trainer specialized in leadership development, executive coaching, team effectiveness and group facilitation skills, with a specific focus in the area of creativity and innovation. Born and raised in Italy, Laura lives now in the United States, in Buffalo, NY and has an extensive experience in working internationally and facilitating cross-cultural teams. With Italian as her mother tongue, she is completely fluent in English and has a working knowledge of French and Spanish.
She works with organizations across North America, Central America and Europe to enhance teamwork and leadership, facilitate creativity and innovation, and help manage change and transition.
Laura holds a Master of Science degree in Creativity and Innovation from the International Center for Studies in Creativity at Buffalo State College, SUNY. She is now an adjunct faculty member of the International Center for Studies in Creativity where se teaches a course at the Master’s program level. She is one of the founders of CREA Conference (www.creaconference.com) and now President of CREA Italia (the non profit foundation that promotes CREA Conference). She is also a long time leader of the annual Creative Problem Solving Institute.
André Walton
Post-Conference: Tackling Turbulence in the Era of Creativity
After 20 years as an inventor and an entrepreneur André went ‘back to school’ to gain a Ph.D. in Social Psychology with the research area in creativity. He formulated the Group Affiliation Model of creativity which attempts to explain what motivates and demotivates us to be creative from a social perspective rather than as an individual attribute or specific skill possessed by some and not by others. The GAM helps explain why creativity is an inherently individual process, with the value of teams coming to play in turning the creative idea into the innovation.
André is designing a distance learning class, ‘Managing with Creativity’ for the University of Nevada, Reno, where he is Adjunct Faculty. He is also a Visiting Fellow at the University of Wales, Newport Business School, in the UK, working on upper management training programs that help senior managers prepare for the next phases of social and economic turbulence and the advent of the new era: The era of creativity.
André plays lots of music – flute, piano and guitar particularly and has a jazz trio in the South of Portugal where he has a home and runs workshops. His new book: “Managing the New Era” will be published in May 2010. André’s consulting business, Creative Paths, based in Reno, NV, and the Algarve, Portugal, specializes in helping organizations optimize the value of the creativity locked away in their employees, their customers, even their local community.
Janeen Whalen
Immersion: Coaching - The New Way of Learning
When Janeen Whalen speaks with executive clients about leading a business, she's speaking from experience. As the founder of the coaching and consulting company Remarkable Conversations, she works with organizations to grow their intellectual and human capital. Using the latest research in adult learning, as well as spirited inquiry and applied leadership, Janeen creates an enlivened environment of learning and transformation. Her clients refer to her as the “human potential excavator.” She, however, views herself as a facilitator of success who addresses the outer and inner landscape of individuals and organizations. Janeen brings a unique perspective to each project—one of a CEO, an entrepreneur, a creative thinker and an executive coach. Recognized as a visionary in the coaching profession, Janeen holds the Master Certified Coach designation, the highest level of proficiency granted by the International Coaching Federation.
Ed Whitson
Pre-Conference: Creativity in our Classrooms
Ed Whitson is an Associate Professor of Psychology at Roanoke College, Salem, VA. In addition to teaching a course in "Creative Thinking and Creative Problem Solving," he has taught courses in counseling and clinical psychology, personality, abnormal psychology, humanistic and positive psychology, statistics, research methods, and others. Having served as an Academic Affairs Associate Dean for 18 years, he has recently returned to full-time teaching. Ed has B.S. degrees in Mathematics and Psychology from Penn State, and his M.A. and Ph.D. in Psychology are from SUNY - Buffalo. His current research interests are in the areas of the pedagogy of creative thinking and problem solving, as well as correlates of self-actualization and psychodynamic personality patterns. Ed's wife, Debbie, is also a graduate of SUNY-Buffalo and is an M.S.W. social worker with a local hospital system; they have three wonderful daughters.
Gloria Williams
Post-Conference: The Natural Rhythms of Creation & Integration
Gloria Williams is the US director of RedZebra Integrated Insights, an innovative organizational development company operating globally since 1995 with offices in the UK, South Africa, and U.S. Designing and facilitating custom-tailored workshops and trainings using proven rhythm and creativity techniques, RedZebra heightens awareness and understanding, in turn maximizing individual and group potential, providing powerful discoveries and insights, and helping corporations and organizations grow and change from within.
Gloria also owns and runs MOLA, a market research firm dedicated to helping the US Latino consumer segment have a voice and be understood. MOLA brings a fresh approach to the field, integrating the industry's most rigorous market research disciplines with the latest techniques in creativity studies.
Gloria holds a B.A. in Psychology from the University of Texas at Austin and is a Goodfellow Award recipient from her alma mater. She is an active member of the Qualitative Research Consultants Association (QRCA). She is a graduate of the executive program at Harvard’s JFK School of Government, the Center for Creative Leadership and is a 2007 fellow of the National Hispana Leadership program.
Gloria has been taking courses with the Natural Rhythms Institute. She is fully bicultural and bilingual -- English/Spanish. Gloria and her family live in San Diego, CA.
