Presenters
Pat Everett
Laila Howard
Laila has been in the teaching and consulting business for 25 years. She is an adjunct professor in the Graduate School for Teacher Education at the University of Michigan. She also has a small consulting business focusing on issues of Diversity and Educational Leadership. Currently, Laila is the Advanced Placement Psychology teacher at Saline High School. She holds a Masters degree with honors in Education, as well as post-graduate courses in Middle East History, Education and Leadership. She has worked for the National Endowment for the Humanities conducting workshops for teachers around the country in an effort to build an intellectual relationship between the East and the West. She has also published secondary school curriculum on teaching the Middle East from a conflict resolution perspective, as well as presenting at the National Council for the Social Studies focusing on the Middle East conflict.
Bill Lavery
Betsy Maxwell
Betsy is a business coach and consultant with a broad background in engineering, process and continuous improvement, as well as organizational effectiveness. Building on product and systems engineering experience, Betsy expanded into the areas of process improvement and organization development. Serving in various positions as an internal consultant within the auto industry for 35 years she has also been a lecturer and consultant at multiple universities and professional organizations. She served as an organization liaison member of the Society for Organizational Learning (SOL). Betsy provides customized coaching to organizations, teams and individuals. Her focus is on melding proven technologies of engineering and business with those for improved human effectiveness to benefit the whole.
Paul Morris
Paul is a Systems Engineering Manager with Visteon. He holds a bachelors degree in electrical engineering and a masters degree in computer science. During his tenure at Ford/Visteon he completed the Systems Dynamics Executive Course at MIT and was active in the Society for Organizational Learning (SOL). He has developed and presented training classes in Systems Thinking and has participated with Peter Senge and others in the SOL community on sustainable development initiatives.
Diane Biondi Mukkala
Diane was named Head of Daycroft Montessori School in May 2007. Prior to her role at Daycroft, Diane was the owner and principle consultant of DBM and Associates. She has done extensive consulting in the United States and internationally on strategic planning and implementation, reorganizations, education and training, team building, leadership development, and managing change. Diane also worked as an Organizational Development Consultant for General Motors and worked in operations at Ford Motor Company. She has served on several boards and has been a guest lecturer at various colleges and universities. Diane has a Bachelor of General Studies degree from the University of Michigan and a Masters in Industrial Relations from Wayne State University. Additionally, she graduated from the Advanced Program in Organizational Development at Columbia University. She earned her Montessori Certification at the Adrian Dominican Teacher Education Institute. Diane lives in Pittsfield Township, Michigan with her husband Ben and two sons Daniel and Matthew. She enjoys the outdoors, exercise, stained glass and coaching her sons' sport teams.
Jamie Nast
Jamie is the co-founder of NastGroup, Inc. and the author of "Idea Mapping." Idea Mapping is a powerful whole-brained visual thinking tool that enhances memory, note-taking skills, thought organization, planning, creativity, and communication. It uses color, key words, lines and images to connect thoughts associatively. Idea Maps are the natural expression of the way the brain processes information associatively. Jamie has trained over 18,000 professionals around the globe since 1992. ACH, BMC Software, Boeing, BP, ConocoPhillips, HSMAI, DOW Chemical, DTE Energy, Franklin Templeton, Ford Motor Company, L.L. Bean, Larimer County Government in Ft. Collins, CO, MARC Advertising, Mayo Clinic, Middle Tennessee State University, Ontario Teacher’s Pension Plan, Pennsylvania College of Optometry, U.S. Army and University of Warsaw in Poland are among many organizations that use Jamie’s services.
Margaret Nowak
Margaret is a board certified art therapist, artist, and educator. Prior to her current job she worked at Washtenaw Community College providing training and development services to companies in Washtenaw and Livingston counties. She combined her knowledge of art and training in order to guide individuals in the use of art for both the delivery of training programs and personal and professional development. In teaching, her focus is on the use of art as a means for self-mastery, self-understanding, meditation, enjoyment, and healing. As an artist she works with a wide range of mediums and exhibits her work regularly. As an art therapist Margaret works at the UofM Comprehensive Cancer Center and the Gifts of Arts Program as the Coordinator of the Bedside Art Program.
Kurt Roy-Borland
Kurt is a certified instructor with the State of Michigan and is employed by Saline Area Schools as a teacher and Director of the Saline Outdoor Education Center for the past 14 years. He holds a bachelors in education and a masters in counseling. Additionally, he has 32 credits in Outdoor/Experiential Education, and 17 years experience working in Outdoor Education and Wilderness Based Therapy Treatment Centers in California and Montana, as well as with the University of Michigan Challenge Program and Outdoor Adventures.
Dan Stotz
Dan is director of strategic partnerships for the University of Georgia Terry College of Business. He has 18 years of marketing and communications experience. He earned a masters degree in Marketing Management from Colorado State University and is one of the co-founders of Saline Leadership Institute.