LEADERSHIP TEAM
Bill Shepard
Founder & CEO Bill Shepard is the Founder and CEO of the Chief Operating Officer Business Forum (COO Forum), a 15-year-old professional development association for Chief Operating Officers and Second-in-Command executives. He founded the COO Forum in 2004 expressly to enable COOs to have the opportunity to learn and problem-solve with their peers in a safe and confidential place. Find Bill on LinkedIn bshepard@cooforum.org (408) 206-7953 |
Laura Weikle
Executive Vice President Laura Weikle has served the Chief Operating Officer Business Forum for over 12-years and has extensive organizational management and operations experience to drive the organization's growth. She manages member services, oversees the administrative functions of the association, and works directly with Bill Shepard on the day-to-day operations, future growth and new initiatives. Find Laura on LinkedIn lweikle@cooforum.org (408) 206-7953 |
Fiona Murray
Member Services Director Fiona Murray brings decades of experience in administrative support and project management to the COO Forum. Fiona has spent much of her career working with and supporting large teams, while also supporting executive management. She works directly with CEO Bill Shepard and Laura Weikle, and all Chapter Directors to build and grow the COO Forum globally. Find Fiona on LinkedIn fmurray@cooforum.org (408) 206-7953 |
EASTERN REGION CHAPTER DIRECTORS
Larry Stybel
Boston, Massachusetts Larry Stybel is a licensed doctoral-level psychologist, co-founder of two companies, a national expert on corporate governance/leadership and careers. He and his partner Maryanne Peabody are co-authors of monthly perspectives on leadership published in Psychology Today and downloaded 240,000 times. They are co-authors of Navigating the Waterfall, a book on leadership in the 21st Century. One of Larry's companies focuses on providing leaders for Board of Directors. Another company focuses on Leadership & Career Success. Larry received his doctorate from Harvard University. Find Larry on LinkedIn (617) 594-7627 |
Maryanne Peabody
Boston, Massachusetts Maryanne Peabody is co-founder and Vice President of Stybel Peabody. As an organization development consultant, she has assisted companies in the areas of leadership effectiveness and career management since 1981. One of Maryanne's areas of expertise is assisting individuals rising through the professional ranks to become leaders without their having received specific education in management. Maryanne has been a guest on various national and local TV and radio programs to discuss career issues. Her work has been featured in The Wall Street Journal, Harvard Business Review, MIT Sloan Management Review, and The Boston Globe. Find MaryAnne on LinkedIn (617) 371-2990 |
Chris O'Rourke
New York City, New York Chris O'Rourke is a NYC-based operations leader with lengthy experience in growing business and building teams globally. He assists organizations in connecting the dots of strategy, finance, IT, marketing and people, to deliver great work and to create an inspiring, thriving office. Chris has worked on global projects for Fortune 50 companies throughout Europe, Asia, South Africa, and North and South America. He is a frequent speaker on the intersection between technology, operations and the creative practice, and is a mentor in the School of Visual Arts Masters in Branding program, supporting students through their studies and post-graduation. Chris is an accomplished marathon runner and running coach. Find Chris on LinkedIn (917) 658-7531 |
Gwen Kinsey
Reston, Virginia Gwen Kinsey helps people navigate the gap between the way things used to be and our fast-emerging future. She facilitates leadership meetings that explore strategic direction, workshops designed to help people navigate the inevitable challenges that arise from organizational change and leadership executive coaching that supports change makers. Gwen incorporates holistic practices that help people learn as they go. Her workshop expertise includes developing soft skills, the dynamics of change management, building collaborative teams and experiential, natural systems approaches for collaborative problem solving. Find Gwen on LinkedIn (605) 212-8462 |
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SOUTHERN REGION CHAPTER DIRECTORS
Jeremy Snyder
Tampa, Florida Jeremy Snyder is the COO at DocuPhase, a Workflow Automation company headquartered in Clearwater, Florida. Jeremy has over 11-years of senior management and executive-level IT, Professional Services and Support Services experience. He is also a law enforcement professional and holds a Kansas Peace Officer Commission and an FBI HDS Bomb Technician certification. The combination of experience provides Jeremy with rich knowledge of law, information technology, hospital procedures, IT management & integration, public speaking, project management, recruitment, scope of work development, budgeting, company operations & administration. Find Jeremy on LinkedIn (727) 240-0298 |
Richard Mays Owen
Austin, Houston & San Antonio, Texas Richard Mays Owen's most recent 20-years consulting in business analysis, process improvement, and compliance has exponentially enhanced the previous 20-years of excellence in business-to-business relationship building and strategic decision making critical to leadership success. In 2008, Richard earned his Ph.D. in Leadership Studies with a dissertation and published work in Business Ethics, followed by designing and teaching Risk Management & Organizational resiliency in Cybersecurity. Richard is now bringing his education, experience, and network exclusively to the board room by founding Top Board Advisor. Find Richard on LinkedIn (713) 854-8654 |
Jeff Spalding
Charlotte, North Carolina Jeff Spalding is a business and technology executive with 25+ years' experience who focuses on growth strategies and execution. A high energy and passionate entrepreneur and leader with experience in sales, marketing, products and operations. He has led all growth, operations and customer business functions in companies ranging from start-ups to mid-size to Fortune 50 enterprises. Jeff drives employee engagement which enhances customer loyalty thus increasing financial results. As a former COO, he understands the importance of driving scale thru process improvements, employee productivity and excellent customer experiences. He is a strong believer in people, process and technology initiatives to drive operational efficiencies. Jeff is currently the President of Spalding Solutions, a growth execution firm. Find Jeff on LinkedIn (704) 236-4160 |
Mark Myers
Nashville, Tennessee Mark Myers is a Career Management Coach, Job Search Strategist and Network Development Coach. Mark's primary goal is to assist individuals with making connections with 'themselves' and others to create their desired professional and personal success. Through Career Connection Partners launched in 2011, Mark incorporates his ability to open doors with senior executives and senior management of large businesses with his passion to help others pursue their professional passions. Mark retired in 2018 from a 37-year career in accounting and financial management and business development. His roles as a CPA included CFO and Controller in private industry, and Client Services Manager in a global accounting firm. His voluntary, professional experiences include Chairman of the Nashville Chapter of Financial Executives Networking Group; leadership in local, regional and national roles for Financial Executives International. Find Mark on LinkedIn (615) 260-0782 |
Percy Cannon
Miami/Ft. Lauderdale, Florida Percy Cannon is an executive coach, leadership consultant, author and speaker. He is an "alumnus" from three multinational corporations, P&G, IBM and Microsoft. He leverages his close to three decades of corporate, executive-level experience to coach corporations within the Americas in leadership, career and personal development. Percy is a Certified Professional Coach from Wainwright Global, an Authorized Partner for "The Five Behaviors of a Cohesive Team," and "Everything DiSC" methodologies, and a certified "Go-Giver" speaker & coach. Percy has lived in seven different cities and five countries, and speaks Spanish (native) and Portuguese fluently. He's a passionate runner and reader. Find Percy on LinkedIn (954) 224-4674 |
Maria Jones
Atlanta, Georgia Maria Jones is an accomplished senior executive and thought leader with more than 20 years of success spanning startup companies, healthcare, financial services, real estate, and SaaS IT. Leveraging extensive experience with technology integration and new technology implementation, Maria is a valuable asset for a company requiring advisory related to global expansions, stagnant sales, rapid growth, or long-term goals. Her broad areas of expertise include operational strategy, customer experience, business turnaround planning, program leadership, and change management. Maria excels at building cross-functional teams delivering difficult case, crisis management solutions. Find Maria on LinkedIn (315) 355-7579 |
MIDWESTERN REGION CHAPTER DIRECTORS
Catherine King
Detroit, Michigan Catherine King is a Texas-born businesswoman, who has traveled the world searching for talent on behalf of the world's leading organizations. Having lived and worked in England for a few years, "Crown" Talent is a nod to Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth. Catherine, herself having been a CEO, is now engaged in searching for and on behalf of them, that rarefied and gifted executive that companies yearn for - to take them to their aspirational heights in performance. She is known for building leadership strength in others that have had meaningful impact on the companies and organizations they serve. Find Catherine on LinkedIn www.crowntalentassets.com (248) 705-9617 |
Cathy Lieberman
Chicago, Illinois Cathy Lieberman is an executive coach, facilitator, change management consultant and a skilled public speaker. With 25 years of corporate and non-profit experience, she coaches individuals and teams in leadership, career and skill development. Cathy serves as a board member for World Chicago and as a Mentor for the Leadership Circle of the Executives Club of Chicago and is certified in Coaching for Learning and Performance from Northwestern University’s School of Education and Social Policy. Find Cathy on LinkedInwww.cdlbusinessconsulting.com (773) 935-0206 |
Margaret Ricci
Twin Cities, Minnesota Margaret Ricci is the Founder and CEO of Cultural Strategies, LLC. Margaret is the first triple-qualified Gallup Coach in the Twin Cities area. She is a Gallup-Certified Strengths Coach, Gallup BP10 Coach, and Gallup Q12 Employee Engagement Champion. Margaret uses a broad knowledge gained from over 30 years in business at multiple levels. She understands the needs of business owners to develop themselves as leaders to build strong teams and businesses that benefit their clients and employees. Margaret also has a keen interest in helping leadership teams excel, getting past problematic conflicts, and becoming more productive in their interactions with one another. Find Margaret on LinkedIn (651) 206-1470 |
Jeanette Renshaw
Indianapolis, Indiana Jeanette Renshaw is the founder of Smart Scale Consulting. She is an authentic leader and problem solver with a passion to help companies achieve repeatable, predictable and profitable results in order to scale revenue and growth through optimizing sales. Rooted in the belief that there is no neutral in business, Jeanette helps companies translate their innovation into forward progress no matter if they're bringing their first product to market or commercializing corporate innovation. Her background experience with B2C and B2B companies across many industries. She specializes in early-stage B2B SaaS companies slotted for high growth. Find Jeanette on LinkedIn (317) 507-7031 |
John Nelson
Kansas City, Missouri John Nelson is co-founder and CEO of Morris Nelson & Associates LLC. John has vast experience adapting, integrating and applying diverse methods and frameworks for solving complex problems. For the past several years, he has worked extensively with federal, state and local law enforcement agencies combating transnational criminal organizations, facilitating large-scale, inter-agency working groups and developing new analytical methods and tools to thwart the flow of illicit commodities. Since retiring from the Army in 2007, John has published several articles and presented at numerous professional conferences on organizational improvement, analysis and knowledge management topics. Find John on LinkedIn (913) 210-4216 |
Tony D'Avino
Cleveland, Ohio Tony D'Avino is founder of The Performance Collaborative. Tony applies nearly 30-years of experience in leading sales, marketing and B2B media organizations. During his career in professional business media, Tony navigated cultural shift, change process (transition) and talent needs of an organization transforming from a print publishing business to a digital media organization. Change and development is a messy process, and without the people strategy to support the business strategy, your success is at high risk. Tony is a Certified Partner with The Predictive Index and Certified Six Seconds Vital Signs consultant and Tony applies these tools in helping companies and revenue leaders develop insight into the people-side of performance. Find Tony on LinkedIn (440) 382-1151 |
John LaMotta
Columbus, Ohio John LaMotta is a Recruiting, SME, Talent Optimization Certified Consultant, Employer Branding Strategist, and Career Coach with 20+ years of experience in talent acquisition, recruitment processes business consulting, sales, marketing, and employer/personal branding. Through senior executive and consulting roles, John has worked with/for the most nationally recognized brands. John founded Talent Harvest LLC, a full-service talent management and recruitment consulting firm specialized in Talent Optimization and Retained Recruitment as a Service (RaaS). His firm will work with any sized company, but specializes in partnering with start-ups and small businesses. Find John on LinkedIn (614) 569-9248 |
Jennifer LaMotta
Columbus, Ohio Jennifer LaMotta is Co-Founder and Director of Operations at Talent Harvest LLC, a full-service talent management and recruitment consulting firm specialized in Talent Optimization and Retained Recruitment as a Service (RaaS). The firm will work with any sized company, but specializes in partnering with start-ups and small businesses. Jennifer brings 15+ years of diversified experience in business analysis, operational planning, marketing communications, and human resource management. She has worked in various leader and project management roles for small to large staffing and recruiting companies as well as non-profit organizations. Find Jennifer on LinkedIn (614) 638-4926 |
George Simms
Cincinnati, Ohio George Simms is President of BreakThru Business Solutions. He is an Operational Excellence and Continuous Improvement Consultant who enables organizations and businesses to grow profitably and become strategic suppliers. Through his Lean Six Sigma and Innovation Expertise, Business Acumen and StrengthFinder leadership themes, George sees possibilities and achieves results that others deem impossible. For over 35 years, 28-years with Procter and Gamble, George has led manufacturing and organizational transformations across the globe that have enabled businesses to significantly increase sales and profit while dramatically improving cashflow. Find George on LinkedIn (513) 884-4937 |
Paula Giovacchini
Northshore Chicago, Illinois Paula Giovacchini, founder and owner of Gio Group, Inc., is a consultant, coach, facilitator and workshop leader. She provides organization effectiveness consulting, business development consulting, and professional development and training. Paula enjoyed a corporate career in leadership roles in organization effectiveness, change management and sales. Since starting Gio Group in 2005, Paula has enabled organizations to accelerate revenue, enhance operational efficiency and attract, develop and retain leaders and employees. She is highly skilled at working with people through transitions and change. As a Certified Retirement Coach, Paula is passionate about assisting leaders transition to their next stage of life and create a retirement plan that brings fulfillment and aligns with their purpose. Find Paula on LinkedIn (312) 520-1133 |
Corrie Talo
Milwaukee, Wisconsin Corrie Talo, founder and CEO of All That Prospers, is a leadership, business and life coach. She is passionate about working with people; coaching, inspiring and motivating them to be their best. Her coaching and leadership style focus on initiating change and growth through enthusiasm and collaboration. Since 1999, Corrie has held several management and leadership positions leading high-performing teams in customer services, tech support and operations management across multiple industries. She enjoys working in complex cross-functional environments in medium to large businesses, and also being able to strategically scale down enterprise operations methods to fit smaller businesses. Corrie actively pursues her commitment to personal and professional growth, as well as mentoring others in their growth journeys. Find Corrie on LinkedIn www.allthatprospers.com (844) 342-1742 |
WESTERN REGION CHAPTER DIRECTORS
Bill Shepard
San Francisco & Silicon Valley, California Bill Shepard is the Founder and CEO of COO Forum, a 14-year-old professional development association for Second-in-Command Executives. He founded the COO Forum in 2004 expressly to enable COOs and Second-in-Command Executives to have an opportunity to learn and problem-solve with their peers. Find Bill on LinkedIn (408) 206-7953 |
Marvell C. Allen
Oakland, California Marvell C. Allen is Owner and Principal, of Millennium Career Advantage, LLC, a professional leadership development and executive coaching practice, started in 2010. Marvell is an expert at delivering executive, management, and staff development programs with passion and commitment, focused on supporting organizational objectives. Marvell is known as a key strategic partner for senior executives and cross-functional teams to help achieve business imperatives. Additionally, she is a sought-after business facilitator who assists teams and organizations with solving their most critical challenges. Marvell holds several coaching certifications and has worked with both domestic and global teams. Current and past clients have included companies and organizations in technology, banking/financial services, hospitality, municipalities, and the US Government. Find Marvell on LinkedIn (510) 813-7176 |
Felicia Lyon
San Diego, California Felicia Lyon is an accomplished human capital professional and trusted advisor with 20 years' experience; 11 of those years at one of the largest consulting firms. She brings a hands-on approach, backed by leading practices, to develop and deliver organization effectiveness solutions to drive her clients' key business objectives. She has expertise in executive coaching, organization design, competency modeling, performance management, leadership alignment, and organizational change management. Her track record of success spans across industries to include Energy, Life Sciences, Technology, and State and Federal government. Find Felicia on LinkedIn (858) 242-7461 |
Paul Herrerias
Marin, California Paul Herrerias has more than 30 years of executive search and leadership consulting services in the Bay Area. He has conducted hundreds of search assignments in the professional and financial services, consumer products, technology and wine industries. Prior to becoming Managing Director of Comhar Partners' San Francisco office, he ran Stanton Chase San Francisco for 13-years and co-founded three additional executive search and consulting firms. Paul lectures and consults with CPA firms on recruiting, leadership development and succession planning. Find Paul on LinkedIn (415) 302-5300 |
Rich Horan
Sacramento, California Rich Horan, a former Air Force Colonel, provides extensive leadership and operations expertise gained over 28-years in a wide variety of global management roles. Currently he provides cognitive diversity and insight to entrepreneurs and organizations as a coach, mentor and angel investor. A national Association of Corporate Directors Board Fellow, Rich is an independent board member of a private company, serves on the Yolo County Financial Oversight Committee and served as a not-for-profit board member. Find Rich on LinkedIn (618) 407-9084 |
Juan Montermoso
Silicon Valley, California Juan Montermoso is an executive consultant in Marketing and Leadership Development. Juan enables high-tech organizations to reach, touch, and retain their best customers through effective marketing planning and implementation. Juan also is a professor of Practice in Marketing at the Leavey School of Business, Santa Clara University and is a core faculty member and mentor at Silicon Valley TVLP (Technology Venture Launch Program). Find Juan on LinkedIn (408) 390-6475 |
Ralph Young
Seattle, Washington Ralph Young is partner of Top Gun Ventures, a premier global executive search firm that specializes in recruiting proven executive GameChangers. With a background in a variety of vertical markets at Microsoft, including executive leadership positions within multi-billion dollar business units, Ralph understands what it takes to build and run a world-class organization across a wide array of markets. Find Ralph on LinkedIn (425) 785-0251 |
Anne Dellos
Phoenix, Arizona Anne Dellos is a strategic marketing professional who spent 20-years in Singapore helping companies to expand into Asia before moving to Phoenix in 2017. Her firm "Be Interesting!" supports corporate and business presentations with compelling messaging and impactful delivery. Anne is a sought-after public speaker who has given keynote and topical presentations at over 100 events around the world, and has also been featured in guest spots for TV stations, including CNBC, BBC and Bloomberg. Early in her career, Anne was an Operations Officer at the Central Intelligence Agency specializing in counter terrorism, counterintelligence and intelligence reporting. Anne is a graduate of the University of Illinois and holds a Global MBA from Thurderbird/ASU. Find Anne on LinkedIn (480) 217-3837 |
Isabella Zaczek
Denver, Colorado Isabella Zaczek utilizes her 18-years experience supporting Fortune 500 and other global companies, to leverage the potential of their sales and operations teams to increase profits and loyalty while lowering organizational friction and costs. Isabella's endeavor is to mind and bridge the gap between the key stakeholder teams in the customer service life cycle, to improve internal engagement and dedication, and increase customer sales and loyalty. Having led 120+ people strong global customer operations teams across Europe, Asia, North, Latin- and South-America, performing various roles in Customer Operations, Sales, Service Delivery, System and People Training and Coaching, Program and Bid Management, Isabella comprehends what organizations need from their internal teams. Find Isabella on LinkedIn (720) 278-8808 |
John Dicconson
Monterey, California John Dicconson is a results-oriented C-Level executive with extensive start-up, medium and large company experience in technology, web services, consumer/small business internet and strategic marketing services. John is an entrepreneur with a passion for creating and cultivating innovative businesses. He founded several early-stage companies in high-growth technology ventures. John has broad expertise including business strategy, strategic and tactical marketing, business development and corporate development, with functional experience identifying, sourcing, negotiating and closing strategic partnerships. Find John on LinkedIn (831) 236-7207 |
Fauzia Khan
Los Angeles, California Fauzia Khan is an accomplished leader with proven track record and success in business automation and transformation, building global organization and solutions for multinational and startup companies across multiple industries. She is acknowledged for innovative ideas, provisioning pragmatic solutions and building collaborative teams and partnerships resulting in high levels of productivity in multicultural and cross-functional environments. Fauzia is a creative problem-solver with excellent facilitation, communication and client relationship skills. Find Fauzia on LinkedIn (661) 312-0010 |
INTERNATIONAL CHAPTER DIRECTORS
Alain Gardner
Montreal, QC, Canada Alain Gardner is the ‘go to’ person in the fields of high-performance teams, change management, performance management and business transformation (from strategy to bottom-line results). Alain has over 25-years leading businesses through change by training/coaching of management, employees and teams into surpassing their own perceived limits. He is experienced with large, medium and small businesses with international experience in North America, South America and Europe. Find Alain on LinkedIn (514) 594-0705 |
Geoff Shorter
London, United Kingdom Geoff Shorter is a vastly experienced recruiter and sales manager with an enviable track record of high performance. As a professional recruiter with a strong commercial background and former owner and manager of two recruitment enterprises, Geoff supports SMEs with growth, cash flow management, corporate governance and compliance, recruitment and retention, and coaching and mentoring. He currently works with start-up businesses within the recruitment industry, and in the personal development and training industries. Find Geoff on LinkedIn +44 780-1-19-17-04 |
Brad Horan
Sydney, Australia Brad Horan is the founder and director of Lucrature-Financial Peak Performance. Brad helps business executives get out from under the day-to-day management of their companies by putting the management infrastructure in place that teaches the business to manage itself. Brad has an extensive career in management accounting and global business transformation with such firms as HSBC, MetLife, Vodafone and Otis Elevator. Find Brad on LinkedIn +61 42-425-9058 |
Isabella Zaczek
Frankfurt, Germany Isabella Zaczek utilizes her 18-years experience supporting Fortune 500 and other global companies, to leverage the potential of their sales and operations teams to increase profits and loyalty while lowering organizational friction and costs. Isabella's endeavor is to mind and bridge the gap between the key stakeholder teams in the customer service life cycle, to improve internal engagement and dedication, and increase customer sales and loyalty. Having led 120+ people strong global customer operations teams across Europe, Asia, North, Latin- and South-America, performing various roles in Customer Operations, Sales, Service Delivery, System and People Training and Coaching, Program and Bid Management, Isabella comprehends what organizations need from their internal teams. Find Isabella on LinkedIn (720) 278-8808 |