Barry Mike is a senior change management consultant with Avanade, a division of Accenture, the global consulting and technology firm. He has worked extensively as a change management leader, strategic communication consultant and executive communication coach with partners at McKinsey & Co., the world’s leading strategic consulting firm, and senior and emerging leaders in organizations like Kaiser Permanente, Carlson Companies, Royal Dutch Shell, McDonald’s, Merrill Lynch and Watson Wyatt.

Barry joined Avanade after working at CRA, a boutique consulting firm, and after extensive corporate communication experience working with senior executives on strategic leadership communication at T. Rowe Price, Pizza Hut, Verizon, and HP. He has published articles on organizational accountability, communicating compliance, and changing corporate culture, and his ongoing series of interviews with leaders in the field of Organizational Behavior, “Footprints in the Sand,” continues in the journal Organizational Dynamics with the forthcoming interviews with Harvard University Professor Michael Beer, and MIT’s legendary organizational psychologist, Edgar Schein.

Barry received his MBA with honors from the Executive MBA Program at the Cox School of Business at SMU. He also has two MAs in the social sciences, as well as a BA in history from the University of Pennsylvania.  Though he currently resides in Houston, Texas, he remains a formerly forlorn fan of the Boston Red Sox.

Steve Forsyth has a 44-year career in communications, including corporate experience with Trans World Airlines, Delta Air Lines, Global Aviation Holdings and Miller Brewing Company. He has worked for three public relations agencies: Burson-Marsteller, Edelman and Stephan & Brady. His primary expertise is in internal communications, media relations and crisis response communications. He has a journalism degree from Indiana University.

John Jensen has been with World Vision in a number of increasingly responsible positions for over 24 years.  He presently serves as Senior Director of Public Relations. His previous positions included a number of years engaging and handling external partnerships and prior to that directed the efforts of the Creative Services Division which encompassed Branding, Print Design, Internet, Intranet, and the Video and Photo Departments. Prior to World Vision, he worked for a division of Westinghouse Broadcasting as Director of Sales and Marketing. For a number of years he was General Manager of Radio Station KMPX in San Francisco.

Sherry Scott, consultant at Gagen MacDonald, has more than 20 years of results-driven experience within corporations and as a consultant to the Fortune 500 in change management, leadership communication and employee engagement, strategic planning, labor communication and internal and corporate communication.

Miranda Bouldin founded LogiCore Corporation – a technology services and solutions company offering mission-essential systems integration expertise – in 2002 as a woman-owned small business. She was dedicated to ensuring that LogiCore became an innovative resource for Department of Defense, Government, and commercial clients, and today, LogiCore has become a trusted partner for these same clients by focusing on success and consistently delivering dependable solutions. LogiCore is steadfast in its desire to offer unparalleled service to its customers, and we stand ready to respond to customer needs and exceed customer expectations – hence our company motto “Readiness Accelerated.”

LogiCore consists of a dynamic team of highly qualified employees who truly enjoy their work and share a common vision: To be recognized as a global leader providing Management and Analytical Solutions in support of the world’s toughest challenges. Thus, our workforce strives daily to provide value-added, comprehensive, mission-driven support to our valued customers.

Headquarters: Cummings Research Park – Huntsville, AL
Products & Services: Life Cycle Logistics, System Engineering, Software Engineering, Information Technology, Programmatics, and Training and    Education
Customer Base: Government contracting organizations; U.S. Army Aviation and Missile Command (AMCOM) Research, Development, and Engineering Center (RDEC); AMCOM’s Integrated Materiel Management Center (IMMC); the Missile Defense Agency (MDA); DIA’s Missiles and Space Intelligence Center (MSIC); the Joint Interoperability Test Command (JITC); the US Army Tank & Automotive Command (TACOM) Life Cycle Management Command; and Manpower, Personnel, Training, and Education (MPT&E) Information Technology Support Services (ITSS) section of the Navy Personnel Command (NPC) Business Operations Department; among others
Community Involvement: Active contributor and supporter of numerous non-profit organizations; creator and sponsor of the Miranda Bouldin Scholarship Fund to provide bright, deserving students with educational financial assistance and laptops
ISO 9001: 2008 certified

Leila Bryner is Director of Employee Engagement Communications for ITT Corporation where she is responsible for developing communications strategies, platforms and programs that align and engage the company’s 9,000 global employees around ITT’s vision, goals and business objectives.

Prior to joining ITT in 2011, Leila was vice president and business leader of corporate, executive and internal communications at MasterCard Worldwide, where she led the development of thought leadership platforms for the company's most senior executives.  Prior to MasterCard, Leila was director of internal communications at Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc., where she built an employee communications discipline, function and team that served 150,000 employees in hotels around the world.

Leila’s work experience also includes marketing and communications roles at Thomas Publishing Company, where she spearheaded the organization's efforts to re-position the 100 year-old company and its related product lines, including the Thomas Register of American Manufacturers.  Leila has also successfully managed her own communications consulting firm.

An award-winning strategic communicator whose change management and communications work has been featured in several industry leading publications, Leila was recently recognized as a finalist for several communications excellence awards, including two SABRE Awards and two Melcrum Strategic Communication Management awards.  In addition to being an International Association of Business Communicators (IABC) 500 Club Member, and an All Star Speaker for the organization, she is also an incoming Director at Large for the Communications Leadership Exchange.

Leila holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration from Georgetown University, as well as a Master’s Certificate in Essentials of Hospitality Management from Cornell University. With almost fifteen years of experience living outside of the U.S., in both Europe and Asia, Leila has a uniquely multi-cultural background and perspective.

Jim Buchheim is vice president of Corporate Communications for CUNA Mutual Group. In this role he is responsible for leading the internal communications, public relations and community relations functions for the organization. This includes overall leadership of the company's Intranet and serving as an external spokesman for the company.

Buchheim began his career with CUNA Mutual Group in 1990. In 1991 he served as a financial service representative in Ohio. In 1994 Buchheim transferred to Madison, Wis. as a field training manager. He moved into a communications role in 1999 and assumed his current role in 2005.
Throughout his tenure he has led a restructuring of the communications and public relations functions at CUNA Mutual Group and was a co-leader of the team that launched the organization’s first Intranet.

Prior to joining CUNA Mutual Group, Buchheim was assistant director of Admissions at Wartburg College in Waverly, Iowa.

Buchheim earned a bachelor’s degree in communication arts-journalism in 1985 from Wartburg College.

Rob Hallam serves as vice president, corporate communications at ServiceMaster Corporation, the parent company of TruGreen, Terminix, American Home Shield, Merry maids and four additional home service brands.  In this role Rob oversees corporate public relations, internal communications, community affairs, meetings & events.

Previously, Rob served in senior communication roles at The Home Depot, Washington Mutual, Pitney Bowes and Collective Brands.  Rob earned master’s and bachelor’s degrees in corporate communications and broadcast journalism respectively from the University of Missouri-Columbia.  He graduated with honors. Rob, his wife Jeannine and twin eleven-year old daughters live in Collierville, TN.

This is Rob’s second term serving on the CLE board; he served from 2004-2007 as well.

Jeff Kosiorek has over 20 years of experience in marketing and communications management. As a director of marketing communications at Siemens he helps define, implement and evaluate the strategic marketing communications direction for the Building Technologies division. He leads a team of professionals that manage internal and external communications for business units focused on building automation, control products and systems, and fire safety and security. Specific areas of focus are web communications, advertising, internal communications, trade shows and events, public relations and branding. Jeff also serves as a leader on the internal sustainability committee.

Prior to joining Siemens, he was the senior manager of corporate marketing and communications at Schneider Electric. He was responsible for developing and implementing global communications programs aimed at increasing efficiencies in the company’s marketing operations for their building automation division. Prior to that, he was director of marketing at Inforonics, where he developed and executed marketing strategies and managed the company’s product marketing, direct marketing and marketing communications operations. Before that, he worked as marketing communications manager for Edgil Associates, Inc. a leading provider of software for the newspaper publishing industry.

Jeff received a B.A. in Marketing Communications from Westfield State University, a M.S. in Innovation and Technology from Boston University, and conducted post-graduate work in publishing and communications at Harvard University.

With more than 25 years of nonprofit management experience, Mike Metallo is the President and CEO of the National Gardening Association and directs the activities of the 3 million dollar non-profit. His expertise includes effectively focusing mission objectives, expanding youth gardening opportunities across the U.S., maximizing asset value and outreach, focusing mission and brand, maintaining financial stability, as well as contributing to strategic organizational development and growth. He has successfully managed NGA and directed its mission for over 6 years. In the past he has served as Executive Director for both trade and educational mission-driven organizations, including the National Gallery of Art, the Parks & History Association, and the Independent Lubricant Manufacturers Association.

During his tenure at the National Gardening Association, Mike has redefined the scope and mission of the organization to better serve two key markets: Adult gardeners (at all skill levels) and youth educators. His work developing garden.org includes innovations in the areas of gardening how-to, content presentation, social media, new market research, and corporate support. With kidsgardening.org he has revitalized the publications division, boosted catalog circulation, and increased grant programs to achieve a Garden in Every School®.

Mike is a magna cum laude graduate of Gordon College with a bachelor's degree in Economics and a minor in Psychology. He serves on the Advisory Panel of the National Forum on Children and Nature, the USDA People's Garden Forum, the Learning for Life Skilled Trades Committee, and is on the Advisory Board of the Housekeeping Channel. He has served as an advisor to notable institutions such as the White House First Lady’s office, USDA, and the CDC, as well as providing his expertise to magazines, newspapers, television reporters and a host of for-profit and nonprofit organizations on the subject of adult and youth gardening and nonprofit management.

Kerrin Nally drives the change management function in HR for Pfizer. Partnering with regional counterparts, she applies change management expertise to ensure alignment, understanding and acceptance of changing HR strategies globally to achieve business results.

Kerrin has also held roles in the Pfizer communication function, supporting various areas of HR communications. Prior to joining Pfizer, Kerrin worked for Marsh & McLennan Companies and Lucent Technologies. Kerrin holds a BS from the University of Dayton and an MA in Corporate and Organizational Communication from Fairleigh Dickinson University.

Becky Healy joined State Farm Insurance in April 1979 in Greeley, Colo. 

In September 1985, she was promoted and transferred to State Farm’s Corporate Headquarters in Bloomington, Ill., where she worked in the Agency Communications Unit. After series of promotions, she became manager of the Agency Communications Unit in 2003. 

In 2010, Becky was elected president of the Communication Leadership Exchange and held that office for two years.

Becky graduated from the University of Northern Colorado at Greeley with a bachelor’s degree in journalism. Prior to working at State Farm, Becky worked for three Colorado newspapers.

Sarah Newson is Associate Vice President for Communications at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, ranked the nation’s leading cancer center according to the U.S.News & World Report’s “Best Hospitals” survey.  She sets strategy for the institution’s comprehensive internal, external, integrated media and visual communication programs. Direct multi-way communications programs for the institution’s 19,000+ workforce; executive consulting; brand and reputation management; media and public relations; social and digital media; video and multimedia; mobile apps; web content; emerging communications technologies; crisis, inclement weather and issues management; corporate alliance and cause marketing; publications; blogs; websites and microsites; and creative design services.

Sarah specializes in creating communication strategies that improve business performance and reputation, consulting services for executives, brand management, corporate crisis communications (merger/acquisition, bankruptcy, layoffs), and cultural change and innovation initiatives.

She joined MD Anderson in 2002 as director to create and manage its first Internal Communications department. She was promoted to executive director in 2005, and moved to her current position leading the Communications Office in 2007.

Previously, Sarah spent eight years at Enron, and left as Internal Communications Manager three months after its bankruptcy. At Enron, she served 30,000 employees worldwide at the corporate level, as well as its CEO, COO and Management Committee.

Sarah holds a Bachelor of Arts in Advertising from Texas Tech University, with minors in graphic design and creative writing. She also holds an associate degree in visual communications.

Fred Droz is a senior level executive with more than 30 years of communication experience working with an array of public/ private sector organizations and non-profits.  His expertise includes developing and driving strategy, determining and formulating policies, building and inspiring teams. Recognized as a savvy thinker with the ability to gather valuable insights and translate findings into well-crafted programs that produce desired results, Fred focuses his strategies on leveraging existing strengths and building new resources.

As president of The Droz Group, a nationally known multi-association management and communication firm, he specializes in transformational organizational development, turn-key national conference/meeting services, cohesive brand and crisis communication processes and collaborative partnerships.

Fred holds a Juris Doctor degree from Georgetown University Law School and a Bachelor of Arts in political science from California State University, Fullerton (CSUF). A former CSUF student-body vice president, he received the University’s Distinguished Alumnus Award and has served on the Board of Directors of the CSUF Alumni Association. Fred is a Founder and Organizer of TEDxLagunaBeach.

Known for his understanding of “big picture” and forward-thinking planning strategies, Fred was appointed as the CEO and National Project Director for USA for Africa's domestic hunger project, HandsAcrossAmerica, where he managed a staff of more than 600 and directed 28 field offices throughout the country.

With an already significant background in public affairs, governmental and public service work, Fred was appointed a member of President Carter's White House team serving as Special Assistant Reorganization Staff in the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). As a member of the President's Reorganization Project, he directed the Public Awareness Component. In addition, he served as a member of tri-project-unit researching the Executive Office of the President (EOP) in the areas of: international economic policy; domestic economic policy; national security. During this period, Fred was detailed to the U.S. Department of Transportation, Office of the Secretary, consulting with that department's reorganization programs as well.