Linda is a professional speaker and trainer specializing in helping corporations improve employee skills in communication, relationship management and business networking. She has more than 10 years experience training adults in industries such as corrections, engineering, medicine, financial services, manufacturing and accounting. Linda is owner of How to Business Network and an associate with Contacts Count. Linda holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology from the University of Missouri-St. Louis.

Ana-Elena Jensen, currently a Practice Enhancement Facilitator for TransforMed, has more than 18 years experience as an organizational development consultant. Her areas of focus include leadership, organizational design, strategic planning, performance management, quality processes, culture and change management. She has consulted with Fortune 500 and 100, and small and mid-sized organizations in the profit and not-for-profit areas. Her client list has included companies in health care, telecommunications, technology, and service industries, as well as local governments. Ana worked as an organizational development and talent management consultant for 10 years at Sprint where she led projects to improve organizational effectiveness, human resource planning and talent development. She was also responsible for enterprise wide initiatives on diversity, ethics and legal compliance, and change management planning.

In addition to her involvement at ASTD, Ana is a member of the American Psychological Society and she served on the board for the KC Hispanic Chamber of Commerce from 2000 – through 2005. She holds M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in organizational communication from the University of Kansas and a bachelor’s degree in organizational psychology and management from Georgia State University. In addition to her consulting and work, she teaches in the Masters in Human Resources and MBA Programs at Ottawa University, Kansas City.

Judy Unrein is an instructional designer specializing in computer- based training for Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas City. She has been employed in the training industry for the past twelve years as a trainer, project manager, and content developer and is a Microsoft Office User Specialist Master Instructor. She also freelances as voice narrator and writer/editor of books specializing in standardized test preparation. She has a BS in English from the University of Texas and an MBA from Baker University, and is currently pursuing her Masters of Education in Instructional Design from the University of Massachusetts, Boston.

Dawn is the owner of EffectUs, Inc., a training and development firm which specializes in leadership development, coaching and custom-training initiatives. With more than 20 years of experience in various training and management capacities, Dawn’s specialty services include facilitation & training, curriculum development, project management, product development & new initiatives, sales & marketing, and creative resourcing. She has been a returning member of ASTD since 2006, participates on the Awards Planning Committee with ASTD, is a certified Evelyn Wood Reading Dynamics instructor and a mentor for the YouthFriends organization in Kansas City. Dawn attended the University of Missouri and holds a Bachelor’s degree in Communication.

Kevin Dolan serves as a Senior Sales Trainer for Fort Dodge Animal Health, a manufacturer or vaccines and pharmaceuticals for most species of domestic animals. In that role, he develops and delivers programs that train territory managers in both the science of how the products work and the benefits of the individual products. One of the programs he developed for distributor sales representatives helped them become the market leader in the veterinary pharmaceutical industry. Many competitors tried to imitate the program but with limited success. Today all distributor programs are measured against the Fort Dodge model.

Kevin has been a member of the Kansas City chapter of ASTD since 2000. He holds an MS degree from Kansas State University in Adult Learning.

Greg consults with organizations on issues including training and development, customer service, conflict management, internal branding, and organizational change. Using a strengths-based approach, Greg emphasizes the use of employee engagement methods and skillful decision-making processes to develop persons and organizations. Greg has 13 years of leadership experience including 11 years with Barnes & Noble Booksellers, Inc. where he helped develop practices and procedures to increase employee and customer satisfaction while improving productivity and financial outcomes. During this time, Greg was chosen to head regional training programs in talent development, targeted employee selection, workload planning, merchandising, and new systems implementation. Greg has a bachelor’s degree in Psychology from William Jewell College, and will receive his master’s degree in Organization Development from Avila University in March, 2009.

Stephanie is responsible for the learning and professional development for 3,000 associates across three locations (Hartford, CT, Kansas City, MO, El Dorado Hills, CA). She and a team of facilitators present and create learning solutions for both nonexempt and exempt associates in the areas of interpersonal communication, business and teaming skills, mentoring, leadership, human resources, and on the job training. To enhance the climate of the company and the competencies of associates and management, the team coordinates with internal departments and external training organizations to close performance gaps by providing supervisory, managerial, and organizational skills to effectively achieve business results. She engages in performance consulting as a partner with management to assess, implement and measure work, culture and performance improvements. Stephanie has been involved with ASTD for eight years and is currently working on her CPLP certification.

Deb has served as an adult educator and manager of the training function on the local and national levels of major youth-serving organizations. Her most recent professional role was as the Organizational Effectiveness Consultant for the City of Kansas City, MO where she assisted supervisors and managers of the City’s 20 departments improve efficiency, productivity and customer service. In her more that 25 as a Workplace Learning & Performance, Deb has built more than one training division from scratch, dramatically increasing participation and launching new programs to meet organizational needs. She is a past president of KC-ASTD and has served on national ASTD committee.