Team - Clearwater Consulting

Andrea Hopke

Partner

Background

As business leaders, we live in a VUCA world – the acronym originally identified by the US Army War College decades ago and embraced by business to summarize the volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous context in which we all operate. As co-principal of Clearwater Consulting Group, Andrea offers a highly engaging process for leaders and their teams to explore, understand and thrive in this environment, identifying how best to cross the chasm from what is to what could be as a leader, as a team, as an organization. With a natural interdisciplinary bent, she works at the intersection of systems thinking, design thinking and inspired action. Applying expertise in situation assessment, strategic content, experiential learning and the synthesis of complex information, she provides remarkable clarity that clients rely on to grasp what is possible and how best to move forward. As reflected in her blended DiSC work style of D (direct, results-oriented) and I (ideas, imagination) she works best when immersed in that creative tension.

Experience At A Glance

With a master’s degree in Social Psychology and prior experience as a consultant in marketing and communications, Andrea applies those insights while working with executives and their teams to address the individual, group, and organizational dynamics that help or hinder positive growth. Since the early days of her career, as Assistant Director of Equal Opportunity Programs at Emory University, Andrea has continued to explore how change occurs (or doesn’t!) in complex systems, experimenting with various ways to engage stakeholders, how best to reveal patterns and interdependencies that maintain the status quo, and how most effectively to facilitate the essential conversations the enable actual transformation. Leaders across all industries are grappling with significant and relentless change, seeking insight that drives effective action and alignment with peers and across functions. From her experience in leading consulting practices in marketing strategy, product development, marketing research, and currently as co-Principal for Clearwater, Andrea applies a unique talent for shared leadership, co-creativity, and her enthusiasm for bridging the space from brilliant idea to inspired action.

Education & Professional Achievements

One of the foundational values of Clearwater Consulting is active pursuit and practical application of ongoing learning. To that end, Andrea and the entire Clearwater team commit to developing professionally and helping others do so as well. A graduate of The Coaches Training Institute (ICF accredited), Andrea is also a Registered Corporate Coach through the World Association of Business Coaches (WABC). In addition to her MA from Emory, her leadership development training includes the Inter-cultural Institute, Creative Problem Solving Institute, the Center for Mind Body Medicine Cancer Guides Program, the Trauma Resource Institute, 400 Years of Inequality, and the Institute of Cultural Affairs for Group Facilitation Methods. She is certified in a multitude of assessments including DiSC®, Birkman, Intercultural Development Inventory (IDI) and Patrick Lencioni’s 5 Behaviors of a Cohesive Team, the Leadership Circle Profile and Leadership Circle System.

Conni Todd

Partner

Background

At Clearwater, we believe that effective leaders are self-aware, adaptive, and intentional. Organizations and leaders that desire sustainable impact make room for building muscles in cultural competency, vulnerability, empathy, and yes, workplace equity – not your typical leadership competencies but certainly required if you want continued success in today’s global environment. As co-principal at Clearwater Consulting, Conni has a passion for partnering with clients to uncover what’s possible, supporting transformational change that appropriately challenges the status quo for greater outcomes. Conni’s courageous authenticity supports a client’s capacity for uncovering options for desired change while exploring individual and organizational accountability measures that drive success. A trusted advisor to her clients, Conni has a passion for working with leaders who believe they have the power to positively influence the cultures in which they lead. Together, they figure out the how.

Experience At A Glance

With over 30 years of experience anchored in business development and sales leadership with Fortune 100 and 500 companies, Conni recognizes the importance of relationships, understanding your audience and the power of influence. Her most effective support as a coach and leadership consultant is at the intersection of self-awareness and humanity, meeting leaders wherever they are in the crossroads with an eye on purpose driven leadership.  Conni has an engaging coaching approach and believes that self-awareness is empowerment and the foundation for leadership growth. Her adaptive style and holistic approach to coaching supports a leader’s ability to uncover self-limiting beliefs and reframe key leadership challenges in ways that are constructive to the individual and the business. Conni coaches C-level executives and senior leaders worldwide and across a variety of roles, lines of business and industries resulting in noticeable improved leadership capability. 

As a facilitator, her delivery creates energy and engagement, and the opportunity for safely investigating tough conversations by fostering a balanced environment for brave exploration of tough topics. For individuals and for teams, she creates the essential bridge from awareness to insight and on to meaningful action. 

Education & Professional Achievements

A Registered Corporate Coach through the Worldwide Association of Business Coaches (WABC), Conni’s developmental training/certifications include Workplace Diversity, Bold & Inclusive Conversations, Performance Problem Solving, Conflict Management, Skilled Negotiator, 400 Years of Inequality and Trauma Resource Institute. Conni is certified in a host of leadership assessments including Leadership Circle Profile 360, the Birkman Method, DiSC® (Wiley), Patrick Lencioni’s 5 Behaviors, Intercultural Intelligence (KnowledgeWorkx), Intercultural Development Inventory (IDI), Diversity Equity & Inclusion in the Workplace. 

A graduate of Florida State University, Conni takes pride in community service and has held leadership roles for ArtsNow and the American Red Cross. She currently serves as a Social Justice Race & Equity Commissioner for the city of Brookhaven, GA and is on the board of the Sub-Saharan Education Project (SSEP), a US-based organization working to improve the quality of life in sub-Saharan Africa through education. Conni is a triathlete and supports the Leukemia Lymphoma Society’s Team in Training.

Candy Purvis

Leadership Consultant

Background

Candy Townsend Purvis is a certified coach, engaging facilitator and consummate connector who focuses on supporting people as they grow and thrive in high-performing cultures. She quickly understands and addresses client realities, building trust and maintaining a strong coaching relationship. She sees the power in collaboration and provides practical methods and practice for leaders to build meaningful relationships with key stakeholders. Candy’s influence rests in the knowledge and capacity to help leaders identify and create a network of vital and lasting connections.

Her accessibility and openness are key strengths she brings to the coaching relationship. Her authentic appreciation of her coaching clients as individuals encourages their creativity when crafting their personal and professional growth. 

Experience At A Glance

Candy has extensive experience across multiple industries, including finance, education, healthcare, hospitality, and retail. She has specific expertise in leadership development, designing and delivering opportunities for leaders at all levels. Prior to joining Clearwater, Candy had a prestigious career in talent management for the Federal Reserve System, designing and guiding leadership development initiatives for senior executives. She managed the senior executive coaching program for the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, linking engagement outcomes to Bank strategy and making executive coaching a successful component of leadership development. During her career in finance and education, she helped individuals and teams learn and grow through design of customized learning experiences. While with Right Management, a global talent firm, she assisted executives at all levels with their career searches and positioning. 

Education & Professional Achievements

Candy earned her Certified Professional Coach distinction from the Center for Coaching Certification, an ICF accredited institution. She is certified in the Leadership Circle Profile, Korn Ferry Voices 360 and viaEdge assessments, DiSC Workplace, Management and Work of Leaders and Development Dimensions International’s (DDI) Targeted Selection process. She was a leader in the Federal Reserve System’s Leadership Initiative and planned corporate engagement forums for Atlanta-based Fed leaders. She sat on the district’s Diversity Advisory Council. A graduate of Ohio University, Candy resides in central Georgia with her husband and visits her California-based daughters as often as possible.

Cate Sabatini

Coach/Facilitator

Background

Cate partners with her coaching clients to expand their leadership presence and signature influence through greater self-awareness by leveraging their strengths and developing the critical leadership competencies they need to succeed in their roles. Leading authentically, navigating critical transitions, and increasing well-being to mitigate burn-out are among her areas of expertise. She focuses on the whole person, working with her clients to bring clarity to their aspirations as leaders, to identify their challenges and strengths and to define pathways to accomplishing the goals they aspire to achieve.

Experience At A Glance

Cate served as a founding Director in PwC’s prestigious Leadership Coaching Center of Excellence, providing coaching, facilitation and training to PwC leaders across their accounting, advisory, and tax lines of service. Prior to PwC, Cate brought culture and leadership transformation to the companies in which she worked, coaching executive and senior management staff through the resulting personal and organizational changes. Whether it is in a one-to-one coaching engagement or in a dynamic group leadership experience, Cate is recognized for her authentic, substantive voice and her ability to bring out the best in her clients. She is a sought-after leadership coach who brings a passion for leadership transformation and a depth of business insights to each of her clients.

Her depth of business insights come from experience. Cate Sabatini is an executive leader with over 30 years of demonstrated success in business, technology and coaching in the Big 4 consulting, biotech, pharmaceutical and high-tech industries. Cate has held the positions of EVP of Sales and Marketing, Chief of Staff, and Vice President of Program Management for some of Silicon Valley’s most successful biotech companies. In addition, she has a breadth of functional experience including sales and account management, operations, organizational development, marketing, program management and business analysis and systems implementation. She is highly adept at working with organizations to deliver results.

Education & Professional Achievements

Cate obtained her Executive Coaching credential from the Hudson Institute and is recognized as a Professional Certified Coach (PCC) through the International Coach Federation (ICF). She is a National Board Certified Health & Wellness Coach (NBC-HWC), a certified Breakthrough Coaching coach by the World Business and Executive Coaching Summit (WBECS) and a graduate of the WBECS Global Team Coaching Institute (GTCI). She is certified in many tools, such as The Leadership Circle 360, DISC, Hermann Brain Dominance Indicator (HBDI), and The Energy Project. Cate has a BS in Management Information Systems from the University of Texas and holds a patent for the first microbial DNA database. She lives in California with her husband and travels frequently to visit her two sons and their families.

George Rohrer

Leadership Consultant

Background

George’s background includes 20 years of global business experience in management positions in product development, global portfolio management, business strategy and planning in the consumer electronics industry, and working with teams and clients worldwide.

He understands the challenges and pressures today’s leaders face and what they need to succeed in an increasingly complex, dynamic, and unpredictable business world. He knows how to help leaders thrive in the unknown and achieve the clarity they need to move the needle on their organization.

George understands the complexities of company culture – the power dynamics, deeply held beliefs and habits, and other unseen forces that keep individuals and organizations in stasis – and how to infuse organizations with momentum, agility, and resilience.

He believes that a coaching partnership is built on non-judgment, honesty, and mutuality, and its momentum is fueled by a leader’s vision, determination, and rigor. He enjoys serving as a mentor to leaders seeking to integrate coaching capabilities into their leadership, communications, and influencing approaches.

Experience At A Glance

George’s coaching experience extends across various industries, including technology, financial, consumer products, SaaS, government, retail, hospitality, facilities management, education, healthcare, and more.

He works with executives and senior and emerging leaders worldwide within diverse disciplines, including Engineering, Product/Program Management, Strategy, Marketing, Quality, Customer Service, Training and Development, People, IT, Finance, Manufacturing, Sales, Facilities Management, Healthcare, Restaurants, and Research.

George has developed leaders within large and small companies – such as Apple, McDonalds, Northwestern Mutual, Christies, Global Payments, CBRE, Dentsu Aegis, Rio Tento, SAP, Guidewire, SC Johnson, ADP, Abbott, Lonestar Circle of Care, Banner Health, and Data Robot.

Education & Professional Achievements

MBA in Marketing, with Distinction – DePaul University, IL
Bachelor of Arts, Music Engineering – University of Miami, FL
Master Coaching Certification (MCC), ICF
Certified Professional Co-Active Coach (CPCC), CTI
Certified Conversational Intelligence Coach (C-IQ)
Co-Active Leadership Certificate, CTI
Transformational Leadership Certificate, Wright University, IL
Trained in Organization & Relationship Systems, CRR Global
Certified in The Leadership Circle (Profile, Collective & System)
Certified in Korn Ferry 360 Feedback
Certified in Hogan Assessments (HPI, HDS, MVPI)

Gina Hayden

Coach/Facilitator

Background

Gina has been coaching and developing leaders for the past twenty years in a variety of organizations, industries and geographical regions. Born in South Africa and based out of London, her clients range from senior managers to C-suite executives in health sciences, consumer products, financial services, technology and consulting. She brings tremendous cross-cultural experience to her coaching, having worked with leaders in the UK, Europe, Africa, the Middle East and the US. She is a strong advocate of responsible and sustainable business that is profit-driven as well as purpose-driven.

Experience At A Glance

As a coach, Gina brings to her clients a powerful combination of insightful challenge and support that cuts through the main blocks to a leader’s effectiveness and impact. Her clients describe her as intuitive, articulate and warm, yet with a powerful ability to identify and shift limiting patterns. She has coached in a broad range of situations including the transitions of senior leaders, stress and team dynamics, and personal impact and communications. Executive coaching was one of several key roles during her tenure as a consultant with PriceWaterhouseCoopers, conducting all aspects of program design and facilitation, Partner development, team development and large group interventions. The capacity to challenge, encourage and inquire with great insight, the ability to synthesize and help clients look at things with a new perspective has contributed to her continued success as a coach. Other areas of coaching specialty include building positive business relationships, productive business conversations, influencing skills, high value client relationships, authentic leadership, impact, confidence and team alignment.

Education & Professional Achievements

With a Master’s degree in Psychology and extensive training in coaching, Gina draws on a unique blend of skill, experience and expertise. In 2016 she published her first book, Becoming a Conscious Leader, to great acclaim. She is an ICF-accredited coach at the Professional Certified Coach level (PCC), a certified coach in Stakeholder Centered Coaching with Marshall Goldsmith, and a Certified Consciousness Coach, aimed at shifting leaders’ mindsets and ways of being that makes them highly effective in impacting other people and their contexts. She is also certified in the 360 feedback assessment tool The Leadership Circle Profile and the Leadership Culture Survey. Gina has been trained in neurobehavioral modeling that applies neuroscience to coaching. Her extensive training and work in psychometric instruments gives Gina a wonderful background in understanding measurement and how best to assess behavior, personality and commitment to change.

Ivor Twydell

Julia Karpeisky

Coach/Facilitator

Background

Ms. Karpeisky is an executive coach, author, speaker, and a Russian interpreter with 15+ years of experience working with executives and their teams in Fortune 500 companies, US government, non-profit and international organizations. Her practice is devoted to high-impact leaders committed to making a positive change in their worlds by staying true to their values and purpose. Her specialty is highly complex, sensitive, and cross-cultural environments. Her clients come from numerous countries and cultures, including Italy, India, Pakistan, Ukraine, Russia, United Kingdom, South Korea, and many others.

Experience At A Glance

Julia helps clients evolve their “inner operating system” to match the complexity of today’s world. Julia’s coaching style is light-hearted, direct, compassionate, creative, and focused on achieving clear, measurable results by leaning on the client’s strengths, engaging their teams, and honoring their values. She helps clients find balance and satisfaction with their whole system – body, mind, spirit, community, family and career. She is an author of a small inspirational art book, THE VOICE, which she uses as a quick way to discover where the client needs to focus their work in order to deepen their impact.

She is known as a “strong” coach, and is often called upon for intense, high-conflict assignments, requiring ability to hold a neutral space, clearly and quickly synthesize and articulate what is being said and what is being meant. 

Julia’s clients report successfully leading in the VUCA world (volatility, uncertainty, complexity ambiguity) by finding courage and freedom to make their decisions from within. 

Her top values include excellence, freedom, results, and joy. She is funny, kind, imperfect, and irreverent. She likes to dance and spend time in nature. She is fascinated by everything that makes human being truly alive and is passionate about helping people focus on what’s essential so that they could make the impact they are capable of making.

Built exclusively by referral, Julia’s representative client list includes Afiniti, AgCo, BB&T, Booz Allen and Hamilton, Exxon, Chevron, CH2MHill, Ferring Pharmaceuticals, Fleetcor, Halliburton, Lockheed Martin, Medtronics, The Washington Speakers’ Bureau, ReedSmith LLP, Ashoka, The Global Good Fund, the World Bank, The World Health Organization, United Nations Development Program, US Courts, The Executive Office of the US President, US Department of Defense, Commerce, Energy, Interior, Treasury, Justice, Central Intelligence Agency, Federal Reserve Board, National Institutes of Health, Harvard, Georgetown, George Washington, Duke Universities, and many others.

Education & Professional Achievements

M.A. in International Communications, Patterson School of Diplomacy, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY
Master of Science (MS), in Molecular Biology, Moscow State University, Russia
The Coaches Training Institute (CTI)
Certified facilitator in The Leadership Circle Profile 360, The Leadership Circle Profile Leadership Culture Survey, full suite of Hogan Personality Assessments, Hogan Team Report, Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI), and OPM 360 Assessment

Kathia Castro Laszlo

Coach/Facilitator

Background

Kathia is a compassionate and reflective executive coach, organizational development consultant, and facilitator with extensive international experience across North America, Latin America, and Europe. Kathia develops collaboration and innovation capacities for organizational effectiveness and systemic transformation. 

As an executive coach, Kathia uses her keen listening and intuitive skills to guide her clients to a deeper understanding of unconscious patterns and assists them in becoming self-aware leaders focused on purpose. She combines her scholarly and professional expertise in systems thinking, feminine and indigenous ways of knowing, regenerative design, mindfulness, and collective wisdom to support leaders in transforming themselves and their organizations from the inside out.

Experience At A Glance

With over 30 years of experience, Kathia has worked with leaders, managers and entrepreneurs addressing a wide range of leadership coaching and organizational consulting needs such as start-up support, leadership transitions, organizational restructuring, diversity and inclusion, racial justice initiatives, team development, conflict resolution, strategy design, program development, and innovation labs. Her workshops and trainings translate systems thinking into experiential practices for transformation. Some of her consulting and coaching clients include Accenture, the City of Los Angeles, Earth Justice, Greenpeace International, Kaiser Permanente, Microsoft, the Presidio Trust, Othering and Belonging Institute, Pixar, Roche-Genentech, RSF Social Finance, Salesforce, SEIU, Sisters of Mercy of the Americas, Stryker, Twitter, and Verizon 

Kathia co-founded multiple educational social enterprises. She was a faculty member at Saybrook University, Meridian University, Presidio Graduate School, and EGADE Business School (Mexico) where she taught systems thinking, leadership, organizational development, strategy, and sustainability in their MBA and Ph.D. programs. She has served on multiple nonprofit boards and created the retreat Unfolding Wisdom: Re-Membering our Wholeness which integrates the experience of leadership development training and spiritual retreat. She currently serves as Board Vice President of Cultivate Community Food Coop. 

Education & Professional Achievements

Kathia is from Monterrey, Mexico where she earned a BA in Marketing and an M.Ed. in Cognitive Development from the Tecnológico de Monterrey (ITESM). She came to the USA as a Fulbright Scholar to pursue her Ph.D. in Human Science with a specialization in Social and Institutional Change at Saybrook University. Kathia is a certified executive coach in the Leadership Circle Profile, Be Well Lead Well Pulse Assessment, a Permaculture designer, and Reiki Master. She is fluent in English and Spanish. Kathia is a mother, writer, yoga practitioner, gardener, and book lover.

Keith Edmunds

Coach/Facilitator

Background

An excellent coach and trusted advisor, Keith Edmunds is an experienced executive coach and former operations professional, leadership development trainer and consultant. Keith has true passion in developing and coaching leaders, both as individuals and teams with intentionality around creating the space for growth, change and transition with a focus on sustained strategies for flourishing and evolving. Keith specializes in body language awareness, behavior identification and growth, generational differences, diversity and inclusion, neuroscience, linguistics, and goal setting.  

Experience At A Glance

Keith brings a wealth of experience spanning over 15 years in various operations and project management positions, client management in the financial service and telecommunication industries for Equifax, Verizon, Comcast and T-Mobile. He segued into executive coaching in 2007, where he was responsible for all levels of leadership at T-Mobile USA. Keith’s clients include C-suite leaders, high–potentials and senior executives to mid-level managers in various industries including financial services, telecommunications, technology, medical, education, consumer goods, healthcare, global nonprofits and government services. Keith applies a variety of coaching methodologies and techniques to facilitate individualized support and outcomes for his clients.

Education & Professional Achievements

Keith has a BA in Political Science from Virginia Commonwealth University. With dual certifications as a leadership trainer and virtual trainer, Keith earned his Executive Coaching Certification from University of Texas at Dallas whereby he was granted Professional Certified Coach (PCC) status in 2011 from the International Coach Federation (ICF). Keith is certified in the Leadership Circle Profile 360 Profile, Leadership Systems Certification, Leadership Circle Culture Survey, the Birkman assessment, as well as the Brain Based Conversation Skills (BBCS) certification through the Neuroscience Institute. With a passion for philanthropic and missionary focused projects Keith started two foundations: HopeFeathers.org and Craft-Edmunds Foundation that focus on poverty eradication, feeding the homeless, organic farming, as well as providing children housing and education in emerging countries such as Ghana, Uganda, Haiti, India and South Africa. He resides in Atlanta, GA and Panama City Beach, FL with his wife Kimberly.

Kelly Jones-Waller

Coach/Facilitator

Background

Kelly Jones-Waller is a dedicated executive coach, masterful trainer, engaging facilitator, and nimble team strategist who focuses on enhancing leadership effectiveness for those committed to greater engagement in life and work. Kelly has specific expertise in leadership development, team effectiveness, women’s leadership, inclusion and human engagement, sales, and marketing. As an ICF Certified Coach, facilitator and trainer, Kelly collaborates with organizations, teams, and executives to create lasting sustainable change by focusing on what matters most – simultaneously achieving professional results and personal fulfillment in a constantly evolving environment. Kelly believes everyone is a leader with an intended impact to make in the world. With her agile, personable, and direct style, she creates a safe yet courageous space for her clients to pause in the busyness of it all, reconnect to their authentic wisdom and stretch into their full leadership potential.

Experience At A Glance

Prior to her career in coaching, Kelly had various positions in the apparel industry, advertising, sales, merchandising, and marketing management for Levi Strauss & Co and Macy’s. She strategically maximized a $1.0 million marketing budget that resulted in more than $150 million in annuals sales. Kelly coaches high potential leaders, and senior executives within Fortune 500, financial services, consumer goods, hospitality, healthcare, technology, and government organizations. Kelly is an international course leader, certification leader, and senior faculty member for the Co-active Training Institute™ (CTI), a foremost authority in professional coach training. Organizations Kelly has worked with include The Home Depot, Veritiv, Deloitte, Levi Strauss & Co., Marriott, Microsoft, IBM, Pepsi Co., Scripps Networks Interactive, Novartis, Merck Pharmaceuticals, UCB Pharmaceuticals, W.L. Gore, Huber Engineered Materials, RBC (Royal Bank of Canada), Cargill, CARE, Literacy Action, Inc., Families First, Breakthrough Atlanta, The Zeist Foundation, The Community Foundation of Greater Atlanta, Girls Inc., and the City of Decatur, GA.

Education & Professional Achievements

Kelly has a BS in Management and Marketing from the A. B. Freeman School of Business at Tulane University. She earned a Certified Professional Co-Active Coach (CPCC) distinction from the Coaches Training Institute™ in 2001 and her Professional Certified Coach (PCC) in 2005 from the International Coach Federation (ICF). Kelly is past President of ICF Georgia, the 4th largest ICF chapter with over 250 coaches. Kelly is certified in the Leadership Circle 360 Profile, the Leadership Circle Culture Survey, the Hogan Potential Indicator, and the Intercultural Development Inventory (IDI). Kelly is also a Certified Team Performance Coach™ through Team Coaching International and is also trained in Organizational and Relationship Systems Coaching (ORSC) through the Center for Right Relationship. Kelly is a graduate of the Co-Active Leadership Program, an intensive year long, life-changing leadership development program. Kelly resides in Atlanta, GA with her husband and two teen age sons.

Laura McElveen

Leadership Consultant

Background

For Laura there is no greater reward than to see a leader grow and thrive in their career by learning from experiences. As a former leader with a Fortune 500 retailer, Laura brings over seventeen years of experience leading teams to deliver quality results. With regional sales targets of over $320 million, she was responsible for managing field operations, implementing sales and promotional strategies, annual budgeting, and developing direct reports with leadership responsibility of over five-hundred store team members.

Experience At A Glance

Through her experience, she discovered what she valued most was maximizing talent and helping others bring out their best. With that, she made the career change to Talent and Leadership Development. As Leadership Consultant at Clearwater Consulting, she brings over a decade of practice working across a wide variety of functional areas with all levels of leaders. She works with clients to understand their unique challenges and develops solutions to activate talent. Whether through her professional work, or serving in the community, she values building relationships and collaborating to help people in a direct and meaningful way.  

One of her many gifts is the ability to balance strategic vision with tactical execution to design unique curricula that address a broad set of training needs from enterprise wide, to cohort and team specific programs. She has led the creation and implementation of learning solutions for leaders at all levels including new hire orientation, on-boarding, customer service training, functional skill development, new leader assimilations, team development sessions, 360° assessments and feedback delivery, individual development planning, and high-potential programs. 

Education & Professional Achievements

Laura is a certified trainer and Registered Corporate Coach with the Worldwide Association of Business Coaches (WABC). In addition, she holds numerous certifications including the StandOut Strengths assessment, DiSC behavior assessment, InsideOut Coaching, Hogan personality assessments (HPI, HDS, MVPI), Korn Ferry Profilor and KF 360 assessment, The Leadership Circle 360 Profile, the Intercultural Development Inventory (IDI), and is a certified facilitator of The Winters Group Bold, Inclusive Conversations®.

With degrees in Fashion Merchandising and Business, coupled with extensive experience in various leadership roles, Laura brings a unique perspective to the impact of talent development strategies on individual and team performance.

Michele Carbone

Office Manager

Background

Michele brings organizational skills and passion for her work to every client. She is passionate about helping clients get organized and enjoys solving problems by contributing to innovative ideas. An excellent listener, she knows the importance of implementing strategic plans and is detail-oriented while also managing big-picture visions. Clients consider Michele to be organized, responsible, committed, and dependable and value her resourcefulness and proactive approach.

Experience At A Glance

She brings over twelve years of experience helping clients from a broad range of industries, including DEI consulting, real estate development, architecture/design, and product development, implement administrative practices that improve efficiency and accuracy while reducing redundancy.

Education & Professional Achievements

Michele received her Bachelor’s Degree from Montclair State University. She is also trained in EOS®, the Entrepreneurial Operating System®, a comprehensive business system, integrating a holistic business model with a complete set of simple tools and a proven process to align and synchronize all the pieces of a business.

Randy Brenneman

Coach/Facilitator

Background

Randy Brenneman is a passionate executive coach, innovative leader, and dynamic facilitator with expertise in global operations management, call center leadership, leading diverse geographically-dispersed teams, learning design, executive onboarding, employee engagement, and leadership development. As an ICF Certified Coach, engaging facilitator, and accomplished leader, Randy partners with executives, teams, and organizations who view people as their most valuable resource to bring heart-centered leadership to the forefront. Randy challenges professionals to “look in” before they “look out” to create an authentic leadership brand; ultimately resulting in deeper relationships, stronger executive presence, and followership. Randy connects with his clients first on a professional level. Then, he uses a direct, energetic style to engage on a personal level and uncover the deeper longing and purpose of the client.

Experience At A Glance

During his 23 years at American Express, Randy held leadership roles in Global Talent, Learning & Development, Leadership Effectiveness, Operations Management, and Global Leadership Development & Coaching. Randy played a key role in spearheading an internal Performance Coach team targeted to improve new hire ‘time to productivity.’ After leading a cross-functional team in Legal, HR, L&D, and Operations, he engaged a Six Sigma process to prove the pilot a success. AX captured multi-million dollar reengineering saves through the creation of a US network-wide Performance Coach team. Later Randy began leading and coaching participants in an industry recognized, award-winning global leadership development program. Post American Express, Randy utilizes his experience in human resources, contact center operations, and learning and development roles to design, develop, and deliver leadership development & coaching programs that blend with demanding, fast-paced corporate environments. Randy combines over 25 years of leadership experience with more than 17 years of Co-Active® Coaching to meet the organizational need for more effective, collaborative, supportive, heart-centered servant leaders that create followership, develop engaged employees, and drive stellar results. Randy coaches mid-level leaders, and senior executives within Fortune 500, financial services, consumer goods, hospitality, healthcare, technology, and government organizations. Randy is an international course leader and senior faculty member for the Coaches Training Institute™ (CTI), a foremost authority in professional coach training.

Education & Professional Achievements

Randy has a BS in Business with a focus on Organizational Innovation. He earned a Certified Professional Co-Active Coach (CPCC) distinction from the Coaches Training Institute™ in 2002. He earned a credential of Professional Certified Coach (PCC) in 2006 from the International Coach Federation (ICF), the international governing body of coaching. Randy is a past President of ICF Georgia, the 4th largest ICF chapter with over 230 coaches. Randy is certified in the Leadership Circle 360 Profile and the Leadership Circle Culture Survey. Randy is also a Certified Team Performance Coach™ through Team Coaching International. Randy is a graduate of the Co-Active Leadership Program, an intensive year long, life-changing leadership development program.

Dr. Robin Stacia

Leadership Consultant

Background

Dr. Stacia is a dynamic, experienced, effective, and creative leadership consultant, facilitator, trainer, and coach. Her expertise with designing and implementing customized executive, board and organizational assessments consistently results in clarity and focus about the current state of alignment, performance, strengths, and opportunities for improvement. Through her work as a master consultant and organizational systems improvement expert she focuses on the intersection of governance, leadership, organizational performance, and impact. Robin is known and trusted for her model of consulting that is highly customized, collaborative, rooted in data, centering on the organization’s purpose and mission. Believing that organizations achieve transformative performance through innovative and disciplined leadership practices, Dr. Stacia is known for creating transformational experiences that result in increased trust, constructive partnerships, and dynamic engagement at all levels within the organization.

Experience At A Glance

With 30 years of experience, Robin maximizes her credentials as a clinical psychologist, certified governance consultant, Lean Six Sigma Green Belt and Diversity Equity and Inclusion Solutions (DEIS) practitioner. Through her approach to understand the root causes of organizational performance, Robin creates leadership performance and systems level solutions that result in measurable improvements. Her work with philanthropic, nonprofit, corporate, and academic institutions consistently advance the mission, purpose, and sustainability of these valued institutions. With her unique lens of intersectional work, she understands the organizational alignment across structures, operations, practices, and culture is critical to achieving improvements that are valued, respected, and internalized. Robin’s philosophy is that the board of directors, President/CEO and C-Suite level must promote the ethos of personal responsibility, understanding that to achieve transformation leaders must commit to intentional work at the personal, board and leadership team levels.

Dr. Stacia has been trusted to partner with executives and boards including Occidental College, the ALCU of Missouri, FSG Consulting, Healthcare Georgia Foundation, Morehouse College School of Medicine, Path Foundation, Horizons National, National Eating Disorders Association, Philanthropy Southeast, and the Foundation for CA Community Colleges. She is currently serving as the Inclusion Resident Consultant for the Virginia Risk Sharing Association and was previously the Inclusion Resident for the Association of Government Insurance Risk Pools. Robin is a frequent presenter at conferences such as Habitat for Humanity International, Planned Parenthood Federation of America, and Boys & Girls Clubs of America.

Education & Professional Achievements

Dr. Stacia earned her Doctorate in Professional Clinical Psychology from Wright State University and secured her Lean Six Sigma Green Belt from Johns Hopkins University Hospital and Purdue University Advanced Lean Institute. Founder of Sage Consulting Network (2015), she is a BoardSource Certified Governance Consultant and Standards for Excellence Licensed Consultant as well as a Certification Candidate (March 2022) for Diversity, Equity, Inclusion Solutions, UNC Kenan-Flagler Business School.  Robin has acted as Clinical Psychologist, Director Quality and Performance Improvement for GA, AL and SC for the Department of Veterans Affairs, Director of Consulting & Training, Maryland Association of Nonprofit Organizations, and serves on the Board of directors for The Center for Black Women’s Wellness and the Society for Psychologists in Leadership. She lives in Atlanta, GA and is a Member of Ebenezer Baptist Church and Delta Sigma Theta Sorority.

Senam Apaloo

Leadership Consultant

Background

Senam is a passionate Leadership Development Consultant who partners with leaders, teams and organizations to drive business results. After spending a decade in non-profit, higher education and hospitality in a variety of roles, she brings her expertise in leadership development, change management, program evaluation, facilitation, coaching and strategic talent management.

Experience At A Glance

Senam’s broad background in Strategic HR Business Partnering, Program Evaluation, Organizational Effectiveness and Talent Management, allows her to provide a practical and balanced approach in all her client engagements. Senam’s extensive work in Haiti through funding from USAID & US Department of State allows clients to rely on her knowledge in needs assessments and stakeholder analyses for greater outcomes. Senam’s personal, global experience, as a past resident of Amiens (France), a native of Ghana, and a US Citizen, offers a unique perspective and a broad lens when exploring the intricacies of global leadership and the intersection with diversity, equity, and inclusion. Her intercultural intelligence is key to expanding the mindsets of leaders who grapple with the challenges of leading global teams.

An excellent facilitator, Senam uses both an individual and systems approach to ensure linkage between leader behavior, team effectiveness, culture, and business results. Whether facilitating or consulting with clients on talent management and organizational design, Senam has a strategic approach that connects the dots from an enterprise view. As a coach, Senam supports her clients to bring passion, purpose and clarity to deepen their leadership impact.

Education & Professional Achievements

Senam has a B.A. in Economics & Organizational Management from Agnes Scott College and a master’s degree in Organizational Development & Human Resources from the University of Georgia. She is certified in the PROSCI Change Management Model, Everything DiSC (Wiley), the Birkman Method, and the Intercultural Development Inventory (IDI). She also holds a professional certificate in Advanced Non-Profit Management and Leadership. Senam is a trained Co-Active coach, currently working towards her Certified Professional Co-Active Coach (CPCC) distinction from the Coaches Training Institute™.

Talibah Mbonisi

Leadership Consultant

Background

Talibah Mbonisi has a passion for partnering with leaders helping them focus on key developmental areas that will amplify their impact in communicating their vision and engaging stakeholders. Her background as an executive in marketing operations enables her to understand the challenges faced by leaders at the nexus of technology, operations, and people management, and their need to lead both through strategic influence as well as providing clearly communicated direction. She is passionate about supporting leaders seeking to galvanize team members and unlock their collective intelligence to solve complex problems for the intact team and the organization. She is an intentional coach, skilled in helping leaders develop and apply strategic insights and leverage their relationships to positively impact the organization.

Experience At A Glance

A high-potential and fast-tracked leader, she has a proven track record of driving strategic alignment across functions with a focus on leveraging new technologies, developing compelling value propositions and demand generation programs and maximizing operational efficiency. Talibah is a transformational leader with the proven ability to translate theory into practice, bridging the gap between vision and engineered process. She has over 20 years of Marketing experience with particularly deep expertise leading Marketing Operations teams and strategic initiatives for B2B technology companies. Her experience spans a diverse range of industries, from packaged goods to technology for small and mid-market (Revegy, Silverpop) through Fortune 50 companies (IBM). She has worked with leaders across a variety of functions, including IT, Analytics, Sales, Product Development, and others. 

Education & Professional Achievements

Talibah holds a BA in History from Spelman College and an MBA in Marketing from Wake Forest University. She is a Certified Professional Coach through the Academy of Creative Coaching and a Coaching for Everyone Fellow. She is also certified in Leadership Circle Profile, Intercultural Development Inventory, and DiSC® work style profiles and is a member of the International Coaching Federation. Talibah volunteers as a mentor for the Spelman College/Braven partnership which focuses on empowering college students from underrepresented communities with the skills, confidence, and networks to transition into strong first jobs. Passionate about seeing families of all forms thrive, Talibah has been active in supporting African American co-parents navigating the complexities of living apart and parenting together.

Terrence O. Harewood

Coach/Facilitator

Background

Dr. Terrence Harewood is an experienced Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) facilitator, executive coach, trainer, thought leader, and organizational development strategist. For over two decades, he has and continues to innovate unique approaches to facilitate changes that have added to the bottom line and enriched the cultures of the organizations with whom he partners. His advanced skills and expertise consistently exceed clients’ expectations, helping them lay the groundwork for the development of increased personal and organizational capacity to meaningfully and effectively engage cultural differences and commonalities in order to engender more inclusive workplaces. Dr. Harewood has an uncanny ability to quickly create a safe environment while reframing scenarios in ways that uncover blind spots while encouraging individual and collective growth opportunities.

Experience At A Glance

Dr. Harewood has served an Associate Professor of Multicultural Education at the University of Indianapolis since 2002. In this role, he was charged with preparing and delivering curricular content and experiences that supported the development of intercultural competence with preservice teachers, and school leaders in the undergraduate and graduate level programs. An expert facilitator and coach, in 2018 he received the IDI Intercultural Competence Award based on his work supporting educators in developing their intercultural competency. Dr. Harewood is among the elite faculty to receive the coveted Teacher of the Year Award from the University of Indianapolis.

Dr. Harewood, a native of Barbados, West Indies, has engaged his extensive DEI coaching expertise globally, with clients at all levels in corporate, education, government, and not-for-profit sectors. He engages individuals and intact teams supporting their learning journeys for more effective leadership in the current landscape of diversity, inclusion and belonging. Clients like Capital One, Naval Nuclear Laboratory, Michigan Department of Civil Rights, depend on Dr. Harewood’s expertise to transform leaders and cultures.

Harewood is co-author of a forthcoming book entitled, Intercultural Learning from the Inside Out, designed to help higher education faculty and staff effectively facilitate intercultural learning experiential learning through a four-phased developmental approach.

Education & Professional Achievements

Dr. Harewood holds a BA in Journalism and a Masters in Communication from Murray State University. He earned his doctorate in Educational Leadership with a focus of multicultural organizational transformation from Miami-Ohio in 2002. He received training in adult development and is in the process of completing his Immunity to Change (ITC) coaching certification. Dr. Harewood is also an Intercultural Development Inventory Qualified Administrator and one of 15 select international IDI Qualifying Seminar Facilitators.

Tracey Thorsen

Coach/Facilitator

Background

When people feel valued and they know their work matters, amazing things happen – and it starts with the leader of the organization. Focus on four areas is paramount to leadership success: culture, connection, collaboration and communication. As an executive and team coach, Tracey supports her clients in building confidence, being more purposeful in their desired impact, and bringing their best to the table – every time. She challenges business leaders to connect with themselves and others in ways that takes their leadership – and their team’s leadership – to another level. At the core of this focus is the leader’s ability to adeptly shift the emphasis from what s/he is leading to how s/he is leading.

Experience At A Glance

This award-winning executive has held key B-to-B roles in Fortune 10, mid-size and early start-up companies across almost all functional areas. She draws from extensive experience as a cross-functional leader in a variety of roles that included 18 successful initiatives – from start-up projects to technology upgrades, acquisitions and reorganizations. Routinely tapped to lead first-of-a-kind /one-of-a-kind transformations, her expertise is in the areas of culture change, team development, leadership development, and process improvement or systems creation. Tracey keenly understands the value of alignment across a group of any size (an intact team, an entrepreneurial venture, a single department or an entire company). She knows first-hand how important it is to create relationships where everyone is aligned with a common purpose … and she knows how to help others do that too. She never tires of hearing: “You get it; you understand my environment.”

Education & Professional Achievements

Tracey earned her Professional Certified Coach (PCC) credential from the International Coach Federation, a level of coaching currently held by only 35% of ICF coaches. She is also a Certified Professional Co-Active Coach (CPCC), a PROSCI Change Management Practitioner and a trained Organization & Relationship Systems Coach (ORSC). She adds to her coaching “toolbox” through routinely attending executive and team coaching programs.  

She holds an undergraduate degree in Sociology from the University of Virginia and a master’s degree in Business from Webster University. Her passion for people development is also evident in her volunteer work: Founder and President Emeritus of Kettering Executive Network’s Women’s Group; Past-Chairwoman for Women-In-Technology’s Executive Readiness Leadership Development Program; and former Mentor for Pathbuilders’ Achieva program.

Vanessa Lowry

Graphic Designer

Background

Being a member of the Clearwater Consulting team fits perfectly into Vanessa Lowry’s philosophy of working together with passionate, mindful entrepreneurs to differentiate their brand through distinctive graphics, compelling copy, and unique strategies for promoting Clearwater products and services.

Vanessa first worked with Clearwater during the development of Tough Talk, the book authored by the original founders and published in 2014. After brainstorming to determine the book’s focus and topic, Vanessa guided them through the publishing process, honing the content, designing and formatting the book for printing, and connecting them to key resources.

This successful project led to an ongoing relationship with Clearwater to create a cohesive branded image for the firm’s printed materials, presentation materials, online presence, signage, and events. In addition to assisting with the visual perception and clarity of Clearwater offerings and marketing, she co-designs major leadership programs and workshops created collaboratively partnering with Clearwater’s clients to help them communicate complex messages.

Experience At A Glance

One of Vanessa’s professional and personal principles is to learn by doing and she often explores marketing avenues for her own ventures in tandem with client projects.

While working mostly behind the scenes, Vanessa’s goal is to help others clearly communicate their expertise and ideas across diverse channels to expand their influence and support their brand.

Organizational change agents at your service

Committed to inspiring and developing extraordinary people who lead with heart, humility, and hope

Meet Our Team

Andrea Hopke

Andrea Hopke

Conni Todd

Conni Todd

Candy Purvis

Candy Purvis

Cate Sabatini

Cate Sabatini

George Rohrer

George Rohrer

Gina Hayden

Gina Hayden

Ivor Twydell

Ivor Twydell

Julia Karpeisky

Julia Karpeisky

Kathia Castro Laszlo

Kathia Castro Laszlo

Keith Edmunds

Keith Edmunds

Kelly Jones-Waller

Kelly Jones-Waller

Laura McElveen

Laura McElveen

Michele Carbone

Michele Carbone

Randy Brenneman

Randy Brenneman

Dr. Robin Stacia

Dr. Robin Stacia

Senam Apaloo

Senam Apaloo

Talibah Mbonisi

Talibah Mbonisi

Terrence O. Harewood

Terrence O. Harewood

Tracey Thorsen

Tracey Thorsen

Vanessa Lowry

Vanessa Lowry

Our Clients

Real Cultural Change Awaits