Profiles

Mary Cooper BS, MBA

Mary is an acclaimed speaker and facilitator who has presented keynotes and delivered training to diverse audiences and organizations around the world. Her professional background includes specialty retail, hotel resort management and quick service restaurant operations with Fortune 100 companies. Six years with the Limited Brand’s Victoria’s Secret® led the way for her twelve years with the Walt Disney World Resort®. Mary quickly moved into leadership roles including being selected as a member of the Disney Traditions team, which facilitated the company’s cultural orientation program. As a leader at Disney’s Polynesian Resort, Mary was part of the team responsible for the design and implementation of a “Leadership by Values” process for 900 employees. Her partnering with executive leadership to initiate and create lasting cultural change resulted in a measured increase in customer and employee satisfaction. The company recognized Mary’s contribution by honoring her twice with Disney’s highest regarded corporate award, “Partners In Excellence”. In addition, this best practice was published by the World Travel & Tourism Human Resource Center, Cornell University, the American Hotel Foundation and in the book Be Our Guest: Perfecting the Art of Customer Service written by the Disney Institute. For six years, Mary shared this and other best practices as a consultant for the Disney Institute, assisting leaders and organizations from around the world. She is co-author of the book The Voice of Leadership, which focuses on strategies and tactics to develop managers into great leaders. Mary is qualified by the American Management Association (AMA) International to administer the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI)®, is a facilitator of The Leadership Challenge® Workshop, The Five Dysfunctions of a Team®.

Melissa Davies – B. Ed.

Melissa Davies is the founder and president of Wise Ways Consulting, Inc – an organization specializing in the design, development and delivery of targeted learning programs as well as executive coaching and communication strategies. Melissa is a masterful group facilitator and an effective technical designer, who helps groups and organizations accelerate their planning process and develop collaborative team work through shared leadership. Melissa provides coaching and direction for leaders and core teams who recognize their need to make new decisions and new choices for their organizations’ viability. Prior to beginning Wise Ways Consulting, Melissa spent ten years travelling to various corners of the world, both as an overseas educator and an insatiable world tourist! A self-proclaimed “Global Nomad”, Melissa has visited more than 30 countries and lived in 4 of those. She brings her diverse life and cross-cultural experiences to the organizations that she works with. It is her belief that through a shift from ‘tolerating’ to ‘embracing’, stronger and more beneficial relationships can be created which can only have positive long-lasting effects on an organization. Melissa specializes in group facilitation services for strategic planning, vision and mission development, organizational assessment, conflict resolution, mediation, change management, and cultural development. Melissa knows how to effectively align management teams and company sectors to generate collaborative systemic solutions. She has over fifteen years experience in results-focused facilitation, consulting, training, and executive coaching for non-profits, private and public sector clients. She has a unique ability to quickly establish rapport with audiences and clients that allow her to effectively lead strategic planning and project improvement, and team effectiveness sessions to get them to the next level. Melissa’s education and experiences include organizational communication, speech communication, organizational development, diversity awareness, and sustainable innovation. She has both systems thinking and behavioral management skills, which provide for a holistic understanding of individuals and their roles within company innovation and change processes. Client facilitation and training experiences include large and small for-profit companies, non-profits, and educational institutions, such as Defense Civilian Intelligence Personnel System, Prince William Chamber of Commerce, the Washington DC Project Management Institute, U.S. Army, U.S. Air Force, National Transportation Safety Board and the Department of Labor. From the May/June 2009 edition of Diversity Executive Magazine, Melissa’s recent publications include “Spirituality and Religion in the Workplace”.

Robert (Bob) W. Lucas, B.S., M.A., M.A., CPLP

Bob Lucas holds dual roles as President of Creative Presentation Resources --- a creative training and products company, and as a founding Managing Partner for Global Performance Strategies, LLC --- an organization specializing in performance-based training, consulting services, and life planning seminars.

With extensive experience in human resources development, adult learning, management and customer service, over the past three decades in a variety of organizational environments, Bob has gained valuable insights that he shares with client organizations. This background gives him a real-world perspective on the application of theory he has studied and used for several decades. He is also certified to teach a variety of training programs from various national and international training organizations.
Bob uses an interactive, experiential approach to assist organizations and individuals in developing innovative and practical strategies for improved workplace performance. Some of his areas of expertise include presentation skills, creative training/brain-based learning, supervisory/management development, train-the-trainer, interpersonal communication, adult learning, diversity, customer service, team building, and employee development.
In addition to training and consulting, Bob is professionally involved and has served on a member of numerous boards of directors. He was formerly the President of the Central Florida Chapter of the American Society for Training and Development and the Chairman for Leadership Seminole in Florida.

In addition to giving regular presentations to various local and national groups and organizations, such as ASTD International, Bob is a sought after expert. He is a regular interviewee on several local radio stations, writes a monthly e-newsletter on workplace issues, and regularly writes articles for professional publications. Bob also serves as an adjunct faculty member for Webster University where he teaches Human Resource Development, Diversity, Organizational Communication, and Training & Development.

Listed in the Who's Who in the World, Who's Who in America and Who's Who in the South & Southeast for a number of years, Bob is also an avid writer. He has written and contributed to twenty-nine books, including:

Training Workshop Essentials: Designing, Developing and Delivering Learning Events That Get Results
Engage the Brain for Learning InfoLine from ASTD
People Strategies for Trainers: 176 Tips & Techniques for Dealing with Difficult Classroom Situations
The Creative Training Idea Book: Inspired Tips & Techniques for Engaging and Effective Learning;
Customer Service Skills for Success
Creative Learning: Activities and Games That REALLY Engage People
The BIG Book of Flip Charts; How to be a Great Call Center Representative
Customer Service Skills & Concepts for Success
Customer Service: Building Successful Skills for the 21st Century
Job Strategies for New Employees
Communicating One-to-One: Making the Most of Interpersonal Relationships
Coaching Skills: A Guide for Supervisors
Effective Interpersonal Relationships
Training Skills for Supervisors
Customer Service: Skills and Concepts for Business.

Additionally, Bob has been a contributing author for the Annual: Developing Human Resources series by Pfeiffer & Company since 1992 and several other compilation works by other publishers.

Bob has earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Law Enforcement from the University of Maryland, a Master of Arts degree with a focus in Human Resources Development from George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia, and a second Master of Arts degree in Management and Leadership from Webster University in Orlando, Florida.

Dr. Sidney P. Malone, BA, MBA, DD

Relative. Cutting Edge. Contemporary. Daring. These are a few words among many that people have used concerning Dr. Sidney P.

Malone, the President of New Growth International (NGI) and Sidney P. Malone Management. As a Relative Leader, he is the founder and CEO of NGI, a multi-faceted corporate entity that oversees various non-profit and for profit ventures. As a Cutting Edge Leader who is committed to excellence, Dr. Malone is always seeking to learn and elevate his level of knowledge through leadership resources and continuing education.

Sidney P. Malone, known as an expert in Leadership Training & Development, is a well spoken diversified speaker who loves to facilitate the learning process. His motto is “never trust what you have not trained, and never train what you don’t trust.” He speaks to hundreds of people each year by conducting various leadership summits, conferences and executive forums. He is a consultant to several non-profit organizations in the US, and is a sought after international speaker. With extensive knowledge in world culture, Dr. Malone incorporates diversity in his presentation, making each session relative to the participant.

Dr. Malone, is also the president of Malone Consulting Group, a consulting firm which collaborates with clients in building strong teams through leadership coaching, conflict resolution, and diversity awareness; thereby producing customized results of increased profitability, customer loyalty and employee longevity.

Dr. Malone specializes in these three (3) areas:

1. Leadership Training

2. Conflict Management

3. Relationship Dynamics/Diversity Awareness

Serving as a training specialist, Dr. Malone has orchestrated workshops in many different areas such as corporate, educational, and governmental locales. Some of the entities that have benefited from his expertise are:

1. McDonald’s Corporation

2. University of Memphis

3. Memphis City School District

4. Shelby County School District

5. Tennessee Correctional System

6. Diversified Medical Office

7. Tennessee Air National Guard (Memphis)

8. Preferred Title and Escrow

In addition to being the CEO of New Growth International, Dr. Malone serves on several professional boards, such as Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. (Delta Fine Arts), Drayton Enterprises, and Green Line Community Development as well as an advisor to several political leaders.

Currently, Dr. Malone’s focus is on developing leaders and organizations. As a Life Coach, he formulates strategic methods for personal development that apply to every area of one’s life. His Life Coaching method assist leaders in eradicating distractions, refocusing their goals and achieving personal growth. He has also authored two (2) books and written many articles relating to empowerment and development.

Dr. Malone earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Business Administration and a Masters degree in Education Administration and Supervision from the University of Memphis. In 2004, the St. Thomas Divinity School located in Jacksonville, Florida presented Dr Malone with an honorary Doctorate of Divinity. He also is a 2009 graduate of Leadership Memphis; an organization designed to discover effective leaders and connect them to the community for the purpose of building great cities.

Dr. Malone currently resides in Memphis, Tennessee and is the proud parent of four girls.

Lenn Millbower, BS, MA

Lenn Millbower, The Learnertainment® Trainer

Lenn Millbower is the founder and president of Offbeat Training LLC --- an organization specializing in presentation skills, instructional design, creativity, and team effectiveness train-the-trainer programs.

Lenn has extensive experience in training and education, instructional design, presentation skills, and creativity over the past three decades in a variety of organizational environments. His lauded learner focused strategies gives him a real-world perspective on the relevant application of brain-based adult learning methodologies.

Prior to founding Offbeat Training LLC, Lenn was a training leader at Disney World Learning Solutions where he managed the team that wrote and documented all operational employee training. He wrote leadership, technical, and soft-skills training as the instructional design training manager for Walt Disney Entertainment, including the Disney Character training program and all the technical fireworks training. At the Disney Institute, Lenn was the instructional designer and content owner for The Disney Approach to Loyalty, The Disney Approach to Quality Service, and The Disney Approach to Quality Service for Health Care Professionals. Working as an instructional designer for the Disney University, Lenn wrote several training programs, including Housekeeping, Custodial, Attractions, Ticket Sales, customer service, and orientation programs for Epcot, Disney’s Animal Kingdom, and Walt Disney World. Finally, on the Disney’s Animal Kingdom opening team, Lenn wrote and established the entertainment training offerings and department.

Concurrently with his Disney career, Lenn taught Communications, Career Development, Human Resource Management, and Training at Southern College and Columbia College in Orlando, Florida.

Lenn practices the interactivity he preaches. His keynotes, seminars, and workshops use a highly engaging, interactive and enjoyable mixture of entertainment-based techniques that energize trainees while fully demonstrating the effectiveness of his techniques in real-world applications. Lenn focuses on demonstrating practical techniques that the trainees can immediately apply. His examples are specific and targeted to the training needs of the organization he is training.

A highly successful speaker and trainer, Lenn has delivered well-received presentations at international conferences including the American Management Association, the American Society for Training & Development, the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, the International Alliance for Learning, the International Society for Performance Improvement, the National Speakers Association, the Society for Human Resource Management, and the Training national and international conferences.

Prior to his training and education career, Lenn was a professional magician, comedian, and musician who performed extensively throughout the United States, Canada, and on cruise ships.

Lenn’s published works include the CLOUT Creator Inventory©; Show Biz Training; Cartoons for Trainers; Game Show Themes for Trainers; and Training with a Beat. Contributing works include Speaker and T&D magazines, and the books 90 World Class Activities from 90 World Class Trainers, the Pfeiffer Annual, and The Training and Performance Source Book.

Lenn received his BM in Composition from Berklee College of Music and his MA in Human Resource Development from Webster University. He is a member of the International Alliance for Learning, the National Speaker's Association, the American Society for Training and Development, a former board member of the National Speakers Association of Central Florida, and is listed in several Who’s Who editions.

Steve Schumacher, BS, MBA, EeD

Steve Schumacher is a management consultant, trainer, and public speaker with over 25 years of experience in numerous industries throughout North America. His focus is to provide measurable improvement in key business metrics by strategically and systematically focusing on the “people” side of business. He has worked with all levels of organizations, from executives to front-line employees on improving productivity, quality, safety, costs, teamwork, performance coaching, performance management, change implementation, leadership, teamwork, culture, organizational development strategy, and customer service.

Since 1981, Mr. Schumacher has been a resource to companies in nearly all sectors of business, including service, manufacturing, distribution, sales, and health care. His client roster includes Kaiser Permanente, Graymont Lime, Sutter Health, Mazda North America, Black Angus, Ingram Micro, Smith International, Coopervision, and Hunt Wesson, and Castellini Companies.

In addition to his consulting, group facilitation, and public speaking activities, Mr. Schumacher has written numerous articles on various Management and Leadership topics including: Change Agents: Creating Organizational Change Requires A Collaborative Effort, Succession Planning: Passing The Torch, Identifying High Potential Employees, and Keeping Your Top Performers During Tough Times. He is also an exclusive monthly columnist for Rock Products Magazine, and industry trade periodical.
Mr. Schumacher holds Bachelor’s and Master’s Degrees in Business from Arizona State University and a Doctorate in Education from Pepperdine University. He is a member of MENSA International and is on the faculty of the University of California, Irvine Gifted Students Academy. He resides in Orange, California.

Stephen (Steve) A. Tanzer, AS, BS, LREA, ACC, MCC

Steve Tanzer is co-founder and a Managing Partner of Global Performance Strategies LLC. (GPS), a company that provides performance consulting services by assessing organizational, environmental and staff human resource needs, then recommending and/or providing appropriate strategies to address identified challenges.

Steve has extensive experience in human resources development, sales, marketing and management over the past three decades in a variety of organizational environments. This background gives him a real-world perspective on the application of theory he has studied and used for several decades. Steve has held senior level management positions with global firms such as AT&T and MCI. After leaving the Telecommunications industry, Steve founded The PACE Group of Florida, a consulting firm specializing in HRD strategies and services. In that position, Steve led a team of professionals serving local, regional and national clients, such as Walt Disney World, AAA, FP&L, Norwegian Cruise Lines, IBM, RCCL. Steve has personally worked with many client executives by training them and their employees in presentation skills and effective communications. Additionally, Steve has conducted long range strategic planning within the Telecommunications industry.
At GPS, Steve focuses on assisting organizations and individuals develop innovative and practical strategies for improved workplace performance. His areas of expertise include communication, management and training program development, adult learning, customer service, and employee and organizational development.

Steve has served on the Business Advisory board of Seminole Community College where he held the Chairperson position for several years. Steve has served as an adjunct professor at SCC where he instructed programs in business and sales. Steve has been a guest lecturer on HR and HRD topics numerous times at Webster University and Rollins College graduate programs.

As a volunteer, Steve has a varied background serving numerous civic and community organizations over the years. He has served his community as a certified EMT and sworn police officer and has held instructor level credentials with the American Red Cross and American Heart Association.

Steve worked as a volunteer with the 1994 World Cup program in Orlando, coordinating security for the Orlando venue and the Irish National Soccer Team. He has been a member of the Local Planning Agency in his home community and has volunteered with the Central Florida INROADS program working with minority students to teach them effective presentation skills.

Steve holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Marketing (Cum Laude) and an Associate Degree in Business Administration from the University of New Haven. Additionally, Steve has studied graduate level courses at Fairleigh Dickinson University in New Jersey plus has successfully completed numerous professional course work including programs on solution sales, leadership, managerial and engineering while at AT&T.

Teri Yanovitch, BS

Teri Yanovitch is a speaker, consultant, and trainer with expertise in the areas of creating a culture of exceptional service, leadership development, continuous process improvement, and employee engagement.

Companies as varied as Nokia, AAA, Marriott, Johnson & Johnson, Humana, Subway, Fiserv Technologies, Westgate Resorts, and America’s Blood Centers were able to move from “business as usual” to a sharper focus on customers and quality with the help of Teri Yanovitch. Teri brings a powerful combination of customer service expertise and real-world quality management to her practice. She honed her skills with the best of the best.

As a keynote speaker and seminar leader, she shared the best practices of customer service developed by the Walt Disney Company with global organizations. For more than a decade, she also facilitated cultural change as an executive with the company that revolutionized total quality management, Philip Crosby Associates (PCA). Teri traveled world-wide implementing and consulting on quality improvement with both manufacturing and service organizations.

Her insight and engaging style made Teri an outstanding consultant and speaker at Crosby’s Quality College and The Disney Institute. Her highly acclaimed book Unleashing Excellence – The Complete Guide to Ultimate Customer Service is the culmination of the years of experience in the field and is a handbook to leaders of organizations that are looking to create a culture of quality and exceptional service as a way of life. She is also the co-author of Retain or Retrain – How to Keep the Best Ones from Leaving.

Teri began her career as a regional trainer with the Hertz Corporation. Today she draws on her 25 years with Hertz, Disney and PCA to work with companies committed to bringing consistent quality to their customer service. As a speaker, trainer and consultant, Teri is helping organizations achieve maximum high performance.

Debbie Zmorenski BS, MBA

Over the course of a 34-year career with the Walt Disney World Company®, Debbie worked her way up in the organization, holding leadership positions in Restaurant Management, Human Resources, Training and Development, Customer Service, Production Manufacturing and Resort Operations. Debbie is a recipient of “Partners In Excellence,” Disney’s most prestigious corporate award. For over five years, she was a Senior Facilitator and Content Specialist with the Disney Institute, sharing Disney’s best practices with organizations from around the world. Today, as Co-owner and Senior Partner with LSA, Inc. she travels the globe providing executive coaching and strategic partnering, enabling organizations to implement and maintain lasting organizational change. Her expertise in leadership, management and employee training, customer service, and process engineering, position her as a resource for organizations desiring to achieve strong, long-term business results. Debbie is a widely recognized motivational speaker and dynamic trainer. She has designed and delivered training for both the private and public sector, positively impacting their corporate culture and financial performance. As co-author of the book The VOICE of Leadership, Debbie is delighted to share strategies, tactics and her experiences to help others become great leaders.