Atlanta Creativity Exchange Presenter Index

Here are the presenters who have committed to come thus far. Click on their name to view their bio.

Chris Andrus is the owner of Archimedes Consulting, a firm dedicated to helping teams work better together. He is a 23 year veteran of consulting to both small and large businesses. His background includes almost 15 years consulting experience with a "big four" Firm, several years as an active participant in his family's business and as an owner/operator of his own small business. Mr. Andrus began his study of Workgroup Performance Improvement in 1989 when he participated in a corporate training project which incorporated team building, creative problem solving, facilitation techniques, and thinking styles into a week long training program. During his career, he has incorporated these techniques into his work in Strategic Planning, Training Development & Delivery, and Team Dynamics. In addition to his consulting practice, Mr. Andrus teaches communication skills and project management internationally. Click on PEOPLE at www.ArchimedesConsulting.com for a complete resume.

Amy Basic With water as canvas, Segami (see-GAH-me) transforms the ancient Suminagashi* (sue-me-NAH-gah-shee) into a contemporary art of Painting On Water™ with her innovative creativity, blending arts and science with the culture diversity from the East and the West. Her work is referred to as breaking historical boundaries of art and expanding technological limitations by redefining its expression. Since 1989, this unique and distinctive style has won numerous awards and inclusion in many juried competitions. The BBC radio called the work "a major accomplishment". In addition to many private collections worldwide, her works are in the permanent collection of the Museum of New Mexico in Santa Fe and the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum, Smithsonian Institution in New York. Segami is recognized for her extraordinary ability to bring science and art together.

R. Bruce Baum, a legend in his own mind, is a Professor in the Exceptional Education Department at Buffalo State College. In the fall of 2007 Dr. Baum received the President's Award for Excellence in Teaching at Buffalo State. He received degrees from the University of Cincinnati and Indiana University. Dr. Baum is a Colleague in the Creative Education Foundation, a leader in the Annual Creative Problem Solving Institute, and an Ambassador with the Center for Development of Human Services. He holds membership in the International Brotherhood of Magicians, the Association for Applied and Therapeutic Humor, the Roswell Park Cancer Institute Humor Project, the American Society for Training and Development and is a Certified Laughter Leader. In his spare time, Dr. Baum is a Rocket Scientist, Bronco Rider, Taxidermist, Explorer, Brain Surgeon and Gourmet.

Robert Alan Black Each day Alan strives to S.P.R.E.A.D. creative thinking wherever and however he can around the globe and has been doing so since 1976. As a consultant, speaker, trainer, coach and author he works to help people expand and enrich their natural creative abilities plus help leaders and managers learn how they can turn their organizations, departments and teams into productive and profitable Cre8ng Communities. Alan uses his 47 years of daily creative working experience at 47 different jobs in 8 fields along with his formal education in creativity -Ph.D., design-MA, architecture-BS, counseling-MEd and educational psychology-Ph.D. to provide examples, skills, tools and techniques to everyone he works with. Alan sees life as A Creative Journey, Not a Guided Tour.

Starr and Jerry Cline are both colleagues of the Creative Education Foundation and have been involved in creativity for the last thirty years. They have both involved in teaching the creative process and presenting at conferences. Starr received her Doctorate from Teachers College, Columbia University and is the author of several books on giftedness and has recently published The Power of Yes which is devoted to creativity and the creative process. She would like to share the "power" that has supported her with others. Jerry is an attorney and in facilitating the creative problem solving process at the Creative Problem Solving Institute has incorporated the process into his life. They have been invited to present at the African International Creativity Conference next October.

Eileen Doyle is president of Deeper Dives; a qualitative market research firm that conducts focus groups, taste tests and ideation sessions. Moderating specialties include online focus groups, consumer products, kids, travel, pharmaceuticals and insurance. Her facilitation style includes creative problem solving, projective techniques, team building and laughter! Eileen is co-founder of the New England Creativity Group and recent co-chair of the New England Chapter of the Qualitative Research Consultants Association. She is a Certified Laughter Leader and an international cat sitter.

Newell Eaton is a partner of New and Improved, LLC and DeLoayza Associates. As an avid learner, facilitator, and coach he partners with other leaders and teams to help them communicate, innovate, plan and perform more effectively. He is sought out for his creative responsive approach, his capacity to facilitate productive conversations, and his broad knowledge of the behavioral change field. In 2004 he completed a 26-year career as Strategic Planning Director for New York's children and family services agency. He now brings his passionate commitment to create positive change to a broad spectrum of individuals and businesses, not-for-profit and government organizations. When not working he can be found with his partner, Allie, exploring transformative practices, visiting sacred sites or road biking in New York's scenic Hudson River Valley. He is currently in the second year of study at the NLP Center of NY.

Melissa Gordon is VP of Strategic Communications for Mountain View Group, Ltd. Melissa's focus is on corporate culture and how change happens, and on building connections between frontline workers and the management teams who lead them. Gordon is Co-Founder of WorkForce Instinct™, a proprietary process of aligning the internal and external brand, whereby a critical mass of employees understands the corporate vision in their heart and gut. Drawing on many years of business — and CPSI! — experience Gordon's work drives ideas and experiences that liberate the potential of the individual, and build consensus within high-performing work teams. Gordon works with committed leaders at GE, IBM, Home Depot, and The Coca-Cola Company. Gordon joined Mountain View in 1992 and founded the Atlanta office in 1998. Previously, Gordon worked as a film/video/web producer for several different companies and at two television stations.

Kim Greene has facilitated hundreds of innovation and creative problem solving projects working with professional groups, non-profit and government organizations and numerous Fortune 500 companies (E.g. Microsoft, PepsiCo, Kimberly-Clark, Washington Mutual, JP Morgan Chase & Co., Starbucks, General Mills).

Jack Hipple is Principal in the consulting firm Innovation-TRIZ located in Tampa, Florida. He is an Inventive Problem Solving (TRIZ) specialist and teaches Inventive Problem Solving for the American Institute of Chemical Engineers and the American Society for Mechanical Engineering. He also does workshops for PDMA and ASQ chapters, the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society, the Altshuller TRIZ Institute, and the Institute for International Research. He is a certified TRIZ specialist and has been doing TRIZ consulting since 1999, with clients including Siemens, Hollingsworth and Vose, Dow Chemical, S.C. Johnson, and the US Navy. He is converted chemical engineer from Carnegie Mellon University and was responsible for the Discovery Research Program at Dow Chemical as well as its global chemical engineering research laboratory. He has also been responsible for new product development programs at Ansell Edmont and Cabot Corporation.

Mary Ann Hoffman, M.Ed., is an elementary principal at Heathwood Hall Episcopal School in Columbia, South Carolina. She has 29 years in the education field where she has been Teacher of the Year three times, principal of a Blue Ribbon School of Excellence, and has developed gifted and talented programs in both in elementary and middle schools in PA and SC. She has written a thinking skills program for her elementary school that uses both original lessons and commercial programs. She has coached both Odyssey of the Mind and Destination Imagination teams, and her students have garnered two national Invent America first place awards for the fourth grade. She has presented her Thinking Skills Workshops at national conferences for the National Association of Independent Schools, The National Center for Independent School Renewal, and The Commonwealth in Education in VA, and numerous other local and state conferences.

Tim Hurson likes to think about thinking. He's been doing that since he first read Roger von Oech's Whack on the Side of the Head in 1975; five years ago he contributed to the latest edition of that work. Tim especially likes to talk about thinking; he presents keynotes and workshops throughout the world. Tim likes to help people think better; he's both faculty member and Trustee of the Creative Education Foundation, a founding director of Facilitators Without Borders, one of the founders of Mindcamp, and a founding partner of thinkx intellectual capital, through which he helps people think more productively, creatively, and effectively. Tim also likes to learn about thinking, which is probably why he does all this stuff in the first place.

Brownell Landrum is CEO of DrawSuccess, LLC. DrawSuccess is a company dedicated to providing innovative, fun and transformative programs to help people around the world learn to recognize and appreciate diversity of thought. Brownell has worked on teams in marketing, sales, project management, planning, and many others, for over 20 years, with companies of all kinds, including The Coca-Cola Company, Eastman Kodak, Siemens Energy & Automation, The Bloom Agency, Chattem Consumer Products, Long John Silver's, and several others, as well as a two-year study group while getting her Masters in Business Administration at one of the leading EMBA schools in the U.S. Brownell's vision for DrawSuccess came from being a member, years ago, of a particularly challenging team. It was a turning point for her, because she couldnŐt stop until she discovered an antidote to such an unsettling and pervasive problem in corporate America. DrawSuccess is the solution. Check out: www.DrawSuccess.com.

Jacquie Lowell, M.Ed. leads active/interactive creativity workshops for conferences, organizations, and companies worldwide. She has taught improvisational comedy for the last thirty years, and uses the vast array of lively creativity-stimulating exercises she has collected and developed to custom-tailor training programs in creativity, teambuilding and communication skills for such clients as McKinsey & Company, Visa, NCR, US Bank, the City of Lemon Grove, and Cranfield School of Management. A creativity consultant to the San Diego City and County school systems, she has taught in their gifted and talented programs. She is founding director of The Creative Urges, San Diego's longest running improvisational comedy troupe, and has also directed and performed improv comedy with: Out On A Whim, Mission Improvible, and Planet Mirth. She studies heart centering with Brugh Joy and tantra with Francoise Ginsberg. Her magnetic personality is responsible for many of your computer malfunctions.

Hedria Lunken “When creativity came into my life, it changed my life. When my life changed, it was creativity that helped me continue.” Hedria loves to teach others the magic of creativity. Her presentations are dynamic, inspirational, practical, and funny. She has presented and worked for fortune 500 companies on 5 continents as a speaker, coach, writer, and authority in the field of Creativity. Known for delivering valuable and practical advice in a humorous and engaging style, Hedria gives audiences and readers the tools to deal with challenges and change, turn inspiration into action, and achieve personal and professional success. Hedria is the author ofSquare One at 51, a poignant, emotional and inspirational book about personal and professional change.

Darrell Mann is an engineer by background. After spending 15 years working at Rolls-Royce in various R&D related positions, he left the company in 1996 to begin a programme of systematic innovation research at the University of Bath. In 1998 he started teaching systematic innovation methods to both technical and business audiences, and to date has given workshops to over 3000 delegates across a broad spectrum of industries and disciplines. He also set up an IPR-based company in 1997 which currently has over 200 patentable inventions at various stages of exploitation. Darrell consults regularly with companies around the world. His clients include Infosys, Intel, Hewlett Packard, Procter & Gamble, General Motors, Nestle, Mahindra & Mahindra, MindTree, Telekom Malaysia, Hong Kong government and, a wide roster of SME organisations. Averaging around 25 days per month on the road, Darrell has an average annual velocity of 40km/h and an average altitude of almost 30metres.

Michael McDermott has spent many years in Corporate America. During those years, he has taught leadership, specific management skills, teamwork, dispute resolution, diversity, problem solving and numerous other employee related classes to all levels of the organization. He has also worked with employees for their personal and professional development. Some of his other activities have included facilitating for problem-solving/quality improvement teams, facilitating for process mapping teams, facilitating employee dispute resolution and functioning as a control operator of an electric power generation plant. Michael has had the opportunity to teach business and decision-making classes, as adjunct faculty, for several colleges and universities. He feels that well prepared people are successful and have the potential to be innovative in their organizations. Whether in Corporate America, academia, or through conferences his focus is to help others be the best they can be for who they are.

Allie Middleton integrates mind-body practices to support groups and individuals moving through personal and professional transformation. She currently works as a clinical director and creative change agent in a rural regional behavioral health organization. As a licensed psychotherapist she was deployed to assist the trauma victims and rescue workers following the World Trade Center disaster in NYC. "Change as a Critical Incident" is a benchmark idea she has developed in her clinical and consulting practice. This idea connects individuals' unique perceptions to events occurring in groups before, during and after stressful encounters. Allie worked for many years in major corporations and art exhibition licensing/retailing as a start-up leader and team development consultant. She has taught graduate clinical and change management courses at SUNY Albany. A long-term practitioner, she loves teaching yoga. With her partner Newell, she is preparing for an extended "wander" to sacred places around the planet.

Dr Kobus Neethling is the President of the South African Creativity Foundation. In 1998 he received "The Distinguished Leader Award" from the International Creative Problem Solving Institute and the Creative Education Foundation: The most prestigious creativity award in the world. He is also the founder and Director of the South African Creativity Foundation and the Kobus Neethling Group. He holds 6 University degrees (Cape Town, Potchefstroom and Georgia USA), including two Master's Degrees, a Doctorate and a Post Doctorate (Cum Laude). Dr Kobus Neethling is a Keynote Speaker and corporate trainer. He focuses on getting companies and individuals to extra-ordinary levels of thinking and doing. He is also an author of more than 70 books and has written and presented many television series. He has also done work on television shows like Big Brother and currently presents the only television show on creativity in the world.

Rosemary Rein, Ph.D is an International Speaker, Author and Training Consultant based in Costa Rica. She is the Author of Go Wild! Survival Skills for Business and Life and the upcoming Blueprint for Success with Stephen Covey and Ken Blanchard to be released in 2008. Rosemary speaks internationally over 100 days each year on Creativity, Problem Solving, Leadership and Team Building and is the founder of Costa Rica Learning Adventures and Safaris. Her expertise is getting business teams to think differently and getting them out of their "bored rooms" mixing adventure with learning.

Dr. Cynthia Rolfe is Assistant to the President and Vice President for Information Technology at the University of Central Oklahoma.Dr. Rolfe is no stranger to the business world, having owned a small consulting company which focused on management efficiencies as well as technology initiatives. She developed processes for companies such as Anderson Consulting in Philadelphia and Chicago, Tyco Toys, and The Green Tree Group. Her work with a Philadelphia-based MicroAge Computers, Inc. franchise moved the organization from strictly a retail operation to a service group, significantly increasing revenue in the first year. Her avocation (and Ph.D.) is metaphysics, the study of first cause which encompasses spirituality and alternative and complementary health and well being. She has developed a model which encourages whole-person living through balancing each of seven defined aspects of life.

John Sedgwick For the past decade John has designed and delivered training programs for corporate clients including General Motors, Dofasco, Stelco, and Canada Customs. For more than 20 years before that he was a Professor of Business Administration at Mohawk College designing and delivering a variety of post-secondary business topics, such as Quality Control, Production Planning and Materials Management. John now conducts seminars and workshops throughout North America and Europe in the field of management development, including Team Building, Communications, Problem Solving, and Group Facilitation. He is an adjunct professor at the International Center for Studies in Creativity, at SUNY, Buffalo, and has presented at creativity conferences in the US, Canada, France, Holland, Spain, England, China, and Indonesia. His current focus is on the growth and development of Facilitators Without Borders, a non-profit organization to bring facilitation skills to in-need communities.

Marci Segal, MS (Creativity) is an internationally respected authority and go-to person for creativity and innovation that leverages personality styles. For more than 20 years she's educated, inspired and coached leaders and teams into action to make important changes in their business and lives. As a keynote speaker and conference presenter she has spoken to thousands of people worldwide instilling confidence, competence, comfort and commitment their ability to make a difference. Marci is the co-founder of World Creativity and Innovation Day (April 21), which is now recognized in over 40 countries as well as being president of CreativityLand Inc, a Toronto based creativity consulting firm for organizations wanting to embed innovation day to day on the job. She has been quoted in Fast Company and is a regular guest on Workopolis TV. For further information visit www.creativityland.net.

Win Wenger is one of the principal pioneers of the creativity movement, having created and developed several dozen CPS methods now in apparent successful use. "Practicing what he preaches," he has authored or co-authored 50 published books, is an inventor, and teaches several techniques of creatively composing music. Motivated by world conditions, Win has been active in the CPS and creativity movements for 35 years.

Gus Whalen is the Chairman of The Warren Featherbone Company of Gainesville, Georgia. In its remarkable 123-year history, Warren companies have been active in manufacturing, banking, agriculture, publishing and philanthropy. The company has been profiled twice by The Wall Street Journal and most recently was described as "representative of that huge mass of often overlooked businesses that give breadth and stability to the U.S. economy." Of particular interest to Gus Whalen is manufacturing and philanthropy, which he believes have worked together to help strengthen communities across America. Gus is the author of three books. The Featherbone Principle: A Declaration of Interdependence was published in 1996 and reprinted in 2001. His second book, The Featherbone Spirit, Celebrating Life's Connections was published in 2000 and includes a special supplement on the role and work of foundations in America. The Gift of Renewal, his most recent book, was published in 2003.

Jack Wolf For 31 years Jack has presented before audiences on the topics of Adult Learning, Teaching and Training Techniques, Meeting Leadership and Communication. His clients include the Government of Hong Kong, AIG, HBO, Starbucks and numerous school districts. His classes titled Creative Teaching Techniques is being utilized at the local, county and State levels with teachers, administrators and staff developers. He is certified in Learning Styles, Adult Learning, Accelerated Training and numerous psychological disciplines. His classes are interactive and immerse the learners in techniques that they can use back in their training and classrooms. He is an adjunct faculty member at Kennesaw State University and teaches at the annual creative Problem Solving Institute.

André de Zanger Andre is Co-Director of the Creativity Institute. He is an engineer, inventor, author, and seminar leader. He has facilitated "Creative-Innovation" projects at AT&T, Bell Labs, Ogilvy and Mathers, United Technologies, P&G, Federal Reserve and the DOD. He is the author of The Creative Genius Book, Zingers, TRIZ - 40 Principles of Inventing, Instant Selling and has co-authored the creativity chapter in The Advertising Managers Handbook (1997) and The Tao of Living on Purpose (1998). André is creator of INVENTIUM® Card Game and the inventor of the "Flasher" (an anti-theft auto device), and the co-creator of the "Creativity Machine", a creativity computer software program. www.creativityinstitute.net

Judith de Zanger is Co-Director of the Creativity Institute which is dedicated to spreading and empowering the creative spirit in business, science and the arts through workshops, coaching and conferences. The next conference, Quantum Creativity, will be held in the Northeast in October, 20008. Judith has fallen In love with the arts, the Tao philosophy and Quantum Physics and combines them in her creativity workshops. She has written The Tao of Creativity, Connectium and Getting Stoned: The Tao of Sculpting and co- authored The Creative Genius Book and The Tao of Living on Purpose. She has recently created a set of visual images, Surrealistics, which are aimed at directly stimulating the creative subconscious. Her sculpture is represented at Gallery 71 in NYC and can be viewed on her web site at www.creativityinstitute.net.