2010 Presenter Bios

Judith Glaser

Judith E. Glaser is one of the most innovative and pioneering change agents and executive coaches in the consulting industry – and refers to herself as an Organizational Anthropologist. She is the world’s leading authority on WE-centric Leadership. Through her dynamic, interactive and provocative keynotes, and leadership summits, and executive coaching, she has introduced her powerful transformative technologies to CEO’s and their teams from major Fortune 500 companies. She is the Founder of Benchmark Communications, Inc., the Co-founder and Chairman of CreatingWE Institute and founding partner of Creating WE LLC.

Judith founded Benchmark Communications, Inc., in 1980 as firm that works with CEOs and their teams helping them focus on competitive challenges in a world of moving targets – with a direct line of sight to the customer. Through Benchmark’s innovative Creating WE technologies, applying the newest leading edge thinking and research from the field of Neuroscience of WE, leaders learn new ways in addressing challenges at the intersection of culture, leadership and brand. Executive learn to set and achieve new benchmarks for success resulting in higher levels of profitability, expanded market share, and a renewed vision for the future. Judith draws upon her deep expertise in neuroscience, human behavior and development, psychology, anthropology, linguistics and transformational social sciences, to help clients “graft” new practices into their culture, enabling them to discover their DNA and reshape their company's ‘genetic code.’

Benchmark's clients span a wide variety of industries including pharmaceuticals, fashion, retail, consumer goods, finance, technology, communication, consulting, entertainment and manufacturing. These include clients such as: Time Inc., Ferragamo, AXA Equitable, KKR, Burberry, American Airlines, Barclays, News American Marketing, Clairol, Inc., Reed Elsevier, Merrill Lynch, PR Newswire, Siemens, Pfizer, Coach, Inc., MSNBC, Liz Claiborne, Lipton, VeriSign, Thomson Financial, Novartis, Verizon, Citibank, Donna Karan International, Champion International and Exide Technologies.

CREATING WE Institute & CREATING WE LLC Judith is the Co-founder and Chairman of the Creating WE Institute, launched in 2007 to expand WE-centric thinking in organizations globally by enhancing engagement and innovation in the workplace, and she is a Founding Partner of Creating WE LLC focusing on helping clients make strategy happen.

Judith is a best selling author of 3 business books on leadership. Her first two books Creating WE: Change I-Thinking to We-Thinking & Build a Healthy Thriving and The DNA of Leadership (Platinum Press, an imprint of Adams Media), made Amazon Business Book Best Seller Lists in 2005 and 2006, and were also selected by both Forbes and Business Book Review as two of the top business books of 2005 and 2006. Creating WE has been translated into Chinese, Korean, Spanish and Russian, and The DNA of Leadership has been translated into Spanish. In 2008, Creating We won the Bronze Award as one of the top leadership books of 2008, from the prestigious Axiom Business Book Awards. In 2009, 42 Rules for Creating WE, became an Amazon Best Seller, and #1 in Leadership, Management, Motivation and Organizational Behavior and the #2 fastest selling book the day of the book launch. She is also the producer and writer for a best selling Animated film called The Leadership Secret of Gregory Goose.

She has appeared on the NBC Today Show, ABC World News, Fox News Channel, News 12 Connecticut, NY 1, Martha Stewart Show and the Family Network talking about We-Centric Leadership, Bully Bosses and Culture Transformation. She has been quoted many times in the NY Times, WSJ, Crain’s, Newsday, Star Ledger, Harvard Management Review, AMA World and other print media talking about her Revolutionary Workplace Approaches. She is contributing Editor of Executive Excellence Magazine. In 2006 she was listed in the Excellence Top 100 Consultants, and in 2007 she was selected as one of the Top 100 Thought Leaders Globally on the subject of Leadership. In addition, Benchmark was selected by Executive Excellence as one of the top small consulting firms specializing in leadership.

Judith earned a B.A. from Temple University in Interdisciplinary Studies, and an M.S. in Human Behavior & Development from Drexel University, where she was a Research Fellow. She has earned credits from Harvard University’s Bales School of Social Relations, with a focus on Organizational Studies. She later received a Master’s Certificate in Corporate and Political Communications from Fairfield University. Judith is a principal Faculty Member and Board Member of The Liminal Group. She served as an Adjunct Professor at Wharton, visiting guest speaker at Harvard, Kellogg, Loyola, University of Chicago, NYU, IIT and others. She was awarded the Benno Curtis Entrepreneur of the Year and Quality Consultant Award. She is currently on the boards of The We Are Family Foundation, Expeditionary Learning, and WITH (Woman in Transition Helping and Healing), and was a founding member of The Executive Woman’s Business Forum. She was awarded Business Woman of the Year in New York City in 2004, and in 2006 she was inducted into the Temple University Gallery of Success.

Lisa Giruzzi

Lisa Giruzzi has more than 25 years of experience helping people be more successful through effective communication. She has learned the key elements necessary for people to achieve their goals and create the life they want. She is the author of 31 Days to Transform Your Life and co-author of the Amazon bestseller 42 Rules for Creating WE called “today’s greatest guide for team success” by Angela Ahrendts, CEO of Burberry, Lisa has co-authored articles on Appreciative Leadership that have appeared in Leadership Excellence Magazine (a Warren Bennis publication). Her newest book, Bringing Out The Best In Your Employees: The Ultimate Guide for Managers and Supervisors to Engage and Empower Employees to Be Effective and Productive will be available spring 2010. She is a co-host of the television talk show Real Conversations and is a dynamic speaker captivating audiences with her powerful message at keynotes, presentations and workshops nationwide.

Lisa began her career in the field of social work primarily working with families in distress. During those difficult times, effective communication was essential to create successful outcomes in very emotionally challenging situations. Her experience as a social worker left her with one profound lesson – the key to being successful in any situation in life was her ability to communicate. From that time, she made it her mission to learn everything she could about effective communication and its impact on one’s ability to produce results.

In fact, after participating with one of the country’s first self-development corporations that specializes in communication and its impact on performance, Lisa was so drawn by her mission, that she left her profession and went to work for this corporation. Since then, she has designed and led transformational seminars, studied Appreciative Inquiry with its creator Dr. David Cooperrider at Case Western Reserve University, Weatherhead School of Management, and in 2003 she founded her own consulting company, Transformational Conversations. She has had the privilege of working with thousands of people to achieve their goals and attain success through effective communication.

For the last seven years, she has focused her mission on causing positive, sustainable change in the workplace. She specializes in assisting organizations to empower and engage their employees to be more successful through effective communication.

Lisa is a founding member of The Creating We Institute, an international group of critical thinkers dedicated to harvesting new forms of engagement and communication in the workforce. Additionally, she is a co-owner of Appreciative Inquiry Consulting, a consortium of consultants dedicated to creating a positive revolution in change using Appreciative Inquiry.

More information is available at www.TransformationalConversations.com.

Matthew Kohut

Matthew Kohut leads the communications team for the NASA Academy of Program/Project & Engineering Leadership. He serves as the editor of the ASK the Academy e-newsletter and oversees the development of the Academy’s case studies about NASA projects. He has 20 years experience writing about scientific, technical, and quantitative subjects for both general and expert audiences. He has also written for the U.S. Department of Energy, Harvard University, the German Marshall Fund of the United States, and Princeton Survey Research Associates International.

He previously served as a speechwriter and researcher for Professor Joseph Nye of Harvard Kennedy School. He holds a Masters in Public Administration from Harvard Kennedy School and a B.A. from the Writing Seminars at Johns Hopkins University.

Nancy Dering Mock

Nancy Dering Mock brings intellect, insight and savvy to her role as principal in her consulting practice, NANCY DERING, Inc., and as a leader in her profession and community.  An accomplished executive, entrepreneur and consultant, she has broad experience in private, public and independent sectors.  Nancy is recognized as an incisive strategist and trusted advisor in Strategy, Leadership, Change and Human Capital Management. She is highly sought after as an articulate, inspiring and powerful communicator and master facilitator of high-profile, high-stakes deliberations.  Her clients include corporations, professional services firms, government agencies and nonprofit organizations. Additional information can be found at www.nderingmartin.com .   Nancy is also a Senior Advisor to the Government Performance Project, an initiative of the Pew Charitable Trusts that works to improve management and performance in state governments.

Prior to returning to the private sector in 2007, Nancy was Deputy Secretary for Human Resources and Management in the Governor’s Executive Offices for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. She was appointed as Deputy Secretary by Governor Tom Ridge in 2000 and re-appointed by Governor Edward G. Rendell in 2003 at which time she was named Chief Human Resources Officer and added to Governor’s senior staff.  She led the Office of Human Resources and Management, responsible for managing Human Resources policy and programs for the Commonwealth, an employer of 80,000 employees, including those covered by 21 bargaining units.  During this time, she also served as President-Elect of the National Association of State Personnel Executives and was the 2006 recipient of NASPE’s Eugene Rooney Award for Leadership in Human Resources.

Ms. Dering Mock was founder and president of The Dering Consulting Group from 1986 – 1999.  She successfully built the firm into one of the most respected teams of organization development professionals in Pennsylvania, with a client list that included Fortune 500 companies, educational and healthcare institutions, and nonprofit organizations. She worked extensively with government organizations at the federal, state and local levels and completed international assignments with Argentina and Zimbabwe. She sold the firm in 1999.

From 1986 through 2007, Nancy was adjunct faculty at the H. John Heinz School of Public Policy and Management at Carnegie Mellon University, designing and presenting seminars for Executive Development programs. Nancy received her Bachelor’s degree from Elizabethtown College and her Master’s, with highest honors, from Temple University.  In July, 2001, Nancy was selected and participated in the prestigious Program for Senior Executives in State and Local Government at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.

She has been actively involved in professional associations and community organizations having served on the Boards of the Harrisburg Regional Chamber of Commerce, the YWCA of Greater Harrisburg and Leadership Harrisburg Area.   Her current community involvement includes serving as Vice-Chair of the Board of the Harrisburg Symphony and Vice-Chair of the Cultural Enrichment Fund. She also serves on the board and the Campaign Cabinet of the United Way of the Capital Region. Nancy was selected as one of the YWCA’s Tribute to Women of Excellence honorees in 2004, was named one of Harrisburg Magazine’s 2006 Movers and Shapers and was the recipient of the Harrisburg Chamber’s 2006 Athena Award. Nancy is also the author of a series of a six books, Discovering Meaning, Discerning Direction and Deepening Faith, published by Morehouse Publishing in 2003.

She is married to Phillip Mock and together they educate and develop as leaders “untouchable” youth in Tamil Nadu, India through their non-profit, LEADForward! Their blended family includes five children and seven grandchildren.  Nancy loves music, and enjoys travel and golf.

Ellen Moran

Ellen Moran joined the Commonwealth’s Enterprise Project Management team as the project manager for PSP’s CLEAN Services Project in May 2008. A PMI-certified project manager since 2005, Ellen recently led large technology projects for Baltimore County (MD) government, Baltimore City Police Department, and DOD’s Defense Security Service in Fort Meade, MD.

Ellen became interested in formal project management while serving as a U.S. Army officer, as the military transitioned to Microsoft technology in 1988. After leaving active duty, she worked in corporate training, software testing, business analysis and project management for CareFirst Blue Cross Blue Shield in Maryland, and as a program manager for Titan Corporation (now L3-Titan, a defense contracting firm). As an Army Reservist, Ellen also provided project support for Joint Special Operations Command, the military’s vanguard for international operations.

While never setting out to do so, Ellen’s work for the Commonwealth enables her to claim a diverse mix of project management service to private sector, local, county, state, federal and international customers. She’s found that the key factors in all projects are teamwork, leadership and a willingness to acknowledge that time really does equal money.

Art Petty

Art Petty is an experienced senior executive bringing global marketing, sales and strategy capabilities to his client firms. Additionally, Art has achieved visibility as a management and leadership author, educator and speaker since the publication of his book, Practical Lessons in Leadership.

Art is the founder of Strategy & Management-Innovations, LLC where he serves small and midsized firms for strategy and marketing consulting and Building Better Leaders™, an on-line leadership training and mentoring practice serving a variety of professional audiences.

Prior to forming Strategy & Management Innovations, LLC and Building Better Leaders, Art served a number of the world’s premier firms as a marketing and sales professional and senior executive.

As the Chief Sales and Marketing executive reporting to the CEO for Firstlogic, Inc., he was part of the senior management team that rescued, recast and grew the firm into the market leader in a segment of the fast growing business intelligence software market. Art led the firm’s strategy formation and managed all go-to-market resources and budgets.

As a Marketing Strategy Director at Pittway (now Honeywell), Art worked directly for the Group President of a $500 million unit as an internal consultant, and supported the global divisions, including Notifier, Inc., System Sensor and Xetron for strategy development and marketing execution. At Panasonic (Matsushita Electric), Art led the marketing, product management and sales functions as a Group Manager, for this global giant’s first true “systems” division. The division became a leader in retail and restaurant automation systems and services.

At Omron-Tateshi, Petty gained early-career experience in marketing, sales and product management with this global giant in systems, medical product and control components.

His management and leadership writing is regularly featured in the various SmartBrief publications, and he has appeared in BusinessWeek On-Line, Communication World, The Pragmatic Marketer and many others. Art regularly speaks at conferences and runs workshops on leadership, strategy, innovation and performance. In addition to consulting, speaking and workshop activities, he is a management educator at DePaul University, The Illinois Institute of Technology and The Academy for High Performance at McHenry County College.

Art earned an MBA from DePaul University and a BA in Finance from the University of Illinois- Urbana. Art is an alumnus of a number of executive programs at Northwestern’s Kellogg Graduate School, including the year-long Kellogg Management Institute.

Art lives in the Chicago, Illinois area with his wife and two sons.

Whitaker H. Raymond

Whit Raymond is a high impact advisor and strategic leadership coach to senior executives and teams. He has worked with a diverse group of large and small corporations for over 20 years and is a master facilitator of executive groups and projects where consensus, shared focus and collective commitment are necessary to enable organizations to reach higher levels of functioning and achieve stretch objectives.

His talents are in the following areas. Whit assists executives in translating organizational and leadership needs into effective solutions, and then organizes innovative leadership programs and initiatives that engage leaders collectively in implementing those solutions. He also develops the leadership at multiple levels while working on strategically important organizational and business projects. He is a skilled facilitator of large and small groups, a coach to individuals and teams, and designer and deliverer of highly engaging training programs. Whit is trained and certified in a number of instruments that he uses selectively with individuals and groups to provide specific kinds of insight and perspective so they may function more effectively.

Most recently, Whit served as Director of Organization Development at Merrill Lynch in both the corporate and retail units. Whit advised senior executives on strategic solutions to critical organizational needs and often served as a confidante and coach. He implemented leadership initiatives in sales, marketing, technology, operations, finance, risk management and new product development, through both executive teams and cross-functional collaborative initiatives. He also designed and delivered numerous top-rated management and leadership development programs. Last, he led the firm’s executive coaching program, which included the selection and coordination of external coaches, development of a standard process and comprehensive in-house tracking system, and the education and training of human resources professionals in how to effectively manage coaching engagements.

Prior to Merrill Lynch, Whit was a partner of LodeStar Associates, Inc., providing leadership, team and strategic organizational development, and executive coaching, to both large and medium-sized corporations. His clients included ABB Asea Brown Boveri; Cummins Engine Company; Fidelity; GE Capital, General Electric; IBM; Johnson & Johnson; Kodak; and US Healthcare, among others. Earlier in his career, Whit was Vice President and one of two thought-leaders at the Princeton Center for Leadership Training, a non-profit training firm, where he directed business development, project design and training, and managed an internal staff and external network of select coaches and trainers. Before this, he was employed as Senior Organizational Effectiveness consultant at Cummins Engine Company.

Whit holds a BA degree from Bowdoin College where he played on two ECAC championship hockey teams. He received his M.Ed. at Lesley University, where he focused on group dynamics and leadership. Whit lives in Jersey City, NJ and Saratoga Springs, NY.

Dr. Edward Rogers

Dr. Edward Rogers is the Chief Knowledge Officer at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt Maryland. He received a Ph.D. from Cornell University’s School of Industrial and Labor Relations focusing on the role of cooperation in high tech firms. In the early 1980s he performed five years of international relief work in Southern Lebanon. Prior to returning to academic work at Cornell, Dr. Rogers operated a private consulting practice focused on knowledge workers and intelligent enterprise. His research and publications apply game theory models to human behavior in organizations. He has consulted with a number of organizations on building conceptual transparency and leveraging collective knowledge. Before joining NASA he taught strategic management and entrepreneurship at Cornell, Duke, and the University of Alabama in Huntsville.

The Office of the Chief Knowledge Officer (OCKO) provides the Center with knowledge management services and support; managing intellectual assets, facilitating the application of knowledge, and enhancing Goddard’s development as a learning organization. One of the office’s primary activities is the Road to Mission Success (RTMS) workshop series, which gives upcoming Goddard leaders an integrated perspective on mission success, from procurement and administration to science and mission operations. The office also conducts Knowledge Sharing Workshops, open to everyone on Center, which provide discussion forums on relevant topics or recently launched Goddard Missions.

Both types of workshops make use of case studies, also produced by the OCKO, to enhance participant’s learning. The OCKO’s other main initiative is the Pause & Learn, a facilitated team meeting used to transfer individual lessons about a specific project event. In addition to introducing this practice at Goddard the OCKO has also partnered with ESMD to spread the practice to MSFC and JSC.

Mike Shevlin

Mike Shevlin was appointed Chief Information Officer for the Pennsylvania State Police in February 2008. During his tenure he has overseen an IT Infrastructure Staff Consolidation with the Governor’s Office for Information Technology, and negotiated a contract for the first major upgrade to the Department’s Law Enforcement Message Switch in 20 years with a goal of securely delivering law enforcement information over the public internet Commonwealth-wide.

Mike has worked in Criminal Justice and Information Technology for the Commonwealth since 1996. He most recently served in the Office of Administration’s Office for Information Technology (OA/OIT) within the Public Safety Community of Practice as a Project Manager. Previously, he held Information Technology and Criminal Justice positions as a Community of Practice Planner in OA/OIT, and as the Manager of the Pennsylvania Commission of Crime and Delinquency’s Local Services and Technology Development Division.

Mike has more than 20 years of experience in law enforcement, criminal justice and information technology, having previously served as a military police officer, a municipal police officer, and as a municipal Chief of Police. Because of his background, he is focused on delivering system and process improvements for troopers and municipal officers across the Commonwealth.

Sue Todd

Sue Todd is President and CEO of Corporate University Xchange. She works as an advisor to Global 2000 organizations on the future of organization leadership and learning, and strategies to embed learning into work. She conceived CorpU Academy to leverage a new social learning paradigm, using Web 2.0 technologies to connect cohorts facing emergent business challenges with experts on industry and global marketplace changes. Sue is currently collaborating with the University of Pennsylvania and Harvard Business Publishing to co-create programs on a variety of new topics confronting leaders in Global 2000 organizations.

In 2009, Sue worked with the University of Pennsylvania and Wharton School faculty to design an annual Global Leadership Congress, a 3-day forum that challenges leadership and learning executives to consider next generation models, structures, technologies and practices that will better enable organization learning, innovation and adaptability.

Sue has more than 20 years of experience consulting with organizations like Exxon, Pfizer, UBS, M&M Mars and many others to revise enterprise talent and learning strategies to address dynamic conditions of the 21st Century. Prior to joining CorpU, Sue was V.P. of Product Management for KnowledgePlanet, where she directed the evolution of the first web-based learning management system, and the development of the first business-to-business eLearning marketplace. She also drove the development of technology-based performance management solutions and helped both media and industry analysts shape the LMS and eLearning industries.

Phil Tomassini

Phil Tomassini is the Deputy Chief Information Officer (DCIO) for the Public Safety and Environmental Communities of Practice. Some of the state agencies within this Community of Practice are: Pennsylvania Department of Transportation, Pennsylvania State Police, Department of Corrections, Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency (PEMA), Department of Environmental Protection and the Fish and Boat Commission. As the DCIO Phil is responsible for promoting shared services across multiple agencies and reviewing and approving all IT related projects and procurements.

Prior to this position Phil was the Executive Director of JNET, responsible for the administration of a Commonwealth-wide integrated justice system to public safety and criminal justice practitioners at the federal, state, county and local levels.

Phil also has more than 20 years experience working for the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation, most recently as Division Chief overseeing the Commercial Driver’s License (CDL) and Non-Commercial Driver programs, driver license suspension sections and the photo license centers.

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What makes the Project Leadership programs unique?

The program focuses on the interpersonal aspects of managing people. Through interactive case studies, you'll examine actual projects and learn about the leadership factors that impacted the project's outcome. Exchange lessons learned with peers, and hear about the techniques successful project leaders consider essential. Instructional seminars will explain key theories and principles that are the foundation for effective leadership behaviors.