Meet some of our consultants

Deanna Alaimo, MA, PHR

Deanna's mission is to support organizations in achieving their strategic initiatives. With attention to increasing revenues and decreasing costs, she is committed to providing effective performance support solutions that add value to her clients' businesses. With over 13 years experience in developing best-in-class performance solutions and consulting with clients on human performance improvement (HPI), Deanna offers expertise in course and curriculum development, course evaluation, training delivery and facilitation, team building, recognition program development and implementation, and project management. She has worked with several delivery media including virtual classrooms, web-based and computer-based training, and traditional classroom training. Deanna specializes in helping business leaders implement the latest learning technologies and leverage HPI methodologies.

Leigh Branham, SPHR, MEd, MA

Leigh brings 30 years of business, education, and management consulting experience to consulting, researching, writing, and speaking. Recognized as an expert on employee retention and engagement, Leigh has designed and implemented employer-of-choice strategies and employee career development programs that have significantly increased the retention and productivity of professionals. He has coached hundreds of executives, managers, and professionals. He is author of The 7 Hidden Reasons Employees Leave: How to Read the Subtle Signs and Act Before It’s Too Late (AMACOM, 2005), and Keeping the People Who Keep You in Business: 24 Ways to Hang On to Your Most Valuable Talent (AMACOM, 2001). Leigh holds Master's degrees in Counseling/Personnel Services and Journalism, both from the University of Missouri - Columbia.

Barbara Berthiaume, MSW

Barbara is a social worker who has lived overseas 24 years and currently resides in London. She has two children who have lived outside their passport country until going to university. Barbara conducts workshops for international corporations, schools, and overseas organizations on aspects of supporting the expat family with transition, stress management, goal setting, and re-entry issues. She has a private counseling practice and has co-authored a children’s book and family card game that deals with both the emotional and practical aspects of moving. Barbara works with corporations in training interpersonal communication skills and is certified in teaching Leader Effectiveness Training.

Lana Cooke, MS

Lana was raised in Peru and Costa Rica and has lived and worked in China, Russia and Mexico. In her 15 years of both International and domestic training/teaching she has taught both trainers and end users in customer retention, sales, technical products and customer service. She has taught culture awareness training for Asian, Latino, Eastern European, Russian and Polish markets within the USA. She is a proven project manager, having lead complex technical projects on time and within budget using PMI project management standards. Lana has her Masters in Total Quality Management from Friends University.

Gary Hassenstab

Gary is a leadership consultant and trainer who has been a performance analyst and coach for a Fortune 100’s High Potential Executive Development Program. He brings extensive business management experience of large technical teams to his approach in delivering pragmatic training and coaching. Gary has trained and coached over a thousand leaders – from first-line supervisors to the executive level. He uses 'systems thinking' and 'learning organization' concepts to complement his management knowledge and leadership training experience to move organizations or teams in the right direction. Gary specializes in creating a sense of stewardship among leaders to create highly-engaged employees. The resulting culture of accountability builds enterprises that are nimble and able to not only be responsive to change, but to create and lead change within their market space.

Barbara Hillmer, Ph.D.

Barbara is an Organization Development Consultant with over 15 years of experience in consulting, management, and facilitation of organizational change. She holds a Ph.D. from the University of Kansas in Communication, specializing in communication in groups and organizations, and is a certified mediator. Barbara works collaboratively with organizations to help them articulate and refine their strategies and make the changes necessary to achieve results. Her clients have included Fortune 500 corporations as well as local and regional organizations. Barbara has management experience in both training and sales in the public and private sectors.

Charles T. Huddleston, RODC

Charlie has served for over 25 years in roles such as Organization Development Director, Training Director, Human Resources Director and Business Consultant to a variety of industries. He holds a Masters Degree in Industrial-Organizational Psychology from the University of North Texas. Charlie currently serves as the President of OD Works, an organization development consulting firm he founded in 1999. He is also President of the Heartland Organization Development Network (HODN) and a founding member of the Kansas City Human Performance Resource Network (HPRN). Charlie is fully accredited by the Organization Development Institute (ODI) where he is a Registered Organization Development Consultant (RODC).

Cynthia Kyriazis

Cynthia is a Professional Organizer, consultant, speaker, trainer and author of the book, “The Organized Communicator”. She is founder & President of Organize It, Inc., an organizational consulting firm with offices in Kansas City and Philadelphia. Cynthia has worked with over 150 companies and hundreds of professionals to help them improve their performance in the areas of paper, time, space and electronic file management. She has appeared in the Kansas City Star, the Topeka Capital-Journal, and Small Business Monthly news. Cynthia currently holds the position of Secretary on the Board of Directors for the National Association of Professional Organizers (NAPO), is past-Chair of the Item Writing Committee for NAPO's Certification effort, 2001 nominee for the NAPO Founders' Award and a consultant to the American Coaching Association.

Jana Lance, MA

Jana has an M. A. in Social-Organizational Psychology from Columbia University. She has worked primarily in change management, assisting companies through organizational change processes. She has extensive experience in sales and sales management, and has worked with multiple organizations around the country. Jana has also participated in conflict resolution and mediation forums, assisting parties in determining a mutually beneficial outcome.

Brigitte Lippmann, MA, MBA

Brigitte has lived in 7, and worked in over 20 countries; an experience that provides her with cross-cultural insights that she uses in her role as management consultant and coach. She has an international MBA and an MA in organizational psychology. Her objective is to support individuals and organizations in achieving excellence in all they do. By focusing on individual and organizational development, work flow processes and communication, Brigitte facilitates needed changes within companies, teams and individual employees. Her approach balances rational, political and emotional aspects that address mindset, culture and leadership issues.

Laura Mullins, MA

Laura holds her Masters Degree from the University of Kansas with an emphasis in finance. With over 16 years of experience in corporate and government finance roles, Laura has helped organizations improve operations by applying Activity Based Management techniques, Balanced Scorecarding strategy development, and customer and employee satisfaction programs. She passed both the Certified Public Accounting and Certified Internal Auditor exams.

Patricia Parham, Ph.D.

Patricia, a graduate of Smith College, earned her doctorate in Psychology from the University of Texas at Austin. She has conducted research and evaluated federal and foundation programs in areas such as education and labor. Combining her interests in management, group and organization development and technical assistance, she established a consulting practice, Parham Enterprises in 1987. Patricia has worked on behalf of persons with developmental disabilities and taught full-time at the Robert O. Anderson Schools of Management, University of New Mexico. Her current interests include change management, cultural diversity, and spirituality in the workplace.

Thomas Reefer, Ed.D.

Thomas is a former university lecturer, private school headmaster, public school principal, industrial engineer, instructor and executive coach. He possesses a breadth of business knowledge coupled with a clear sense of what makes organizations work. Steeped in a philosophy of quality management, Thomas uses his quantitative and qualitative skills to pursue his passion for knowledge management in complex organizations, where he has a proven track record of demonstrating ROI on capital investment in knowledge management. Thomas received his Ed.D. from Harvard University.

Amy Stewart, Ph.D.

Amy is an organizational consultant with 12 years of experience in helping organizations to capitalize on people - their most valuable resource! She holds a doctorate in Industrial/Organizational Psychology from the University of Georgia and specializes in selection, performance management, and individual assessment and development. Amy works with organizations to define the elements of and barriers to success. She then uses that understanding to design systems and practices that support and shape successful performance and perpetual progress. Her clients include Fortune 500 corporations as well as local, regional, and nonprofit organizations. Amy is experienced in training HR professionals to implement and effectively manage foundational and advanced human resource systems.