The Next Idea 2004 Program Leaders

Leader Index (in alphabetical order)

1. Becknell, Leslie (Listening Creativity into Being)
2. Bick, Robert (Process Mapping - Discovering what's really going on in order to decide where to go next!)
3. Brady, Sean (Low-tech Facilitation Skills That Achieve Hi-tech Results)
4. Callisto, Ted (Team Building)
5. Cline, Jerome (What's my EQ?)
6. Cline, Starr (What's my EQ?)
7. Cook, Sarah (Foursight: The Breakthrough Thinking Profile)
8. deZanger, André (Inventive Thinking: An Introduction to TRIZ; The Tao of Creativity: Spontaneity, Beauty and Nature)
9. deZanger, Judith (The Tao of Creativity: Spontaneity, Beauty and Nature; Living Your Style - Finding Your Purpose)
10. Eaton, Newell (Salon: Restoring the Lost Art of Conversation)
11. Hurson, Tim (Quantum Thinking: How to Figure Out What's Really Going On ; CPS: A Creative Problem Solving Primer )
12. James, Michelle (Creative Facilitation Through Improv)
13. Kells, Charlotte (The Creative Side of Conflict)
14. Laraaji, (Consciousness and Sound Vibrations)
15. Madden, Michael (The Shamanic Traditions and Consciousness)
16. Markert, Charles (Problem Solving using Metaphorical Mind Maps)
17. Marx, Adam (Remembering Who You Are)
18. Middleton, Allie (Salon: Restoring the Lost Art of Conversation)
19. Olma, Jeff (The Unseen Executive: The Internal Critic In Management Decisions)
20. Olsen, Bill (The KAI of Facilitation; Networking on Your Feet)
21. Shanahan, Amy (Foursight: The Breakthrough Thinking Profile)
22. Smorra, Mary Ann (Recharged... Resilient...Relaxed: Stress Management )
23. Sturner, William (Innovation Theatre: Achieving Mastery In the Wild and Wonderful World of Innovative Change)
24. Swisher, Amy (Beyond PowerPoint: Developing Presentation Skills That Rock)
25. Wenger, Win (The Modern "Socratic Method")
26. Westgate, Paul (Corporate Creativity: An Oxymoron?)

Leader Bios (in random order)

Paul Westgate Ph.D. Ch.E. Cambridge MA
Corporate Creativity: An Oxymoron?
Paul Westgate is the Director of Innovation for Grace Performance Chemicals. In this capacity he provides strategic leadership to efforts that drive innovation as an organizational competency. Specific goals include enriching the new product development and productivity idea streams and improving the ability to identify and realize new business opportunities. Paul began his career with Grace in 1994 as a Research Engineer at the Washington Research Center in Columbia, Maryland. He has since led various activities in Process Engineering, Six Sigma, and Innovation throughout the organization. Paul has a Ph.D. Ch. E. from Purdue University and a B.S. Ch. E. from Worcester Polytechnic Institute.
Paul.J.Westgate@grace.com
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Newell Eaton Albany NY
Salon: Restoring the Lost Art of Conversation
Newell Eaton is a facilitator, trainer and transition coach specializing in strategic planning, innovation teams and high performance leadership. He recently completed a 30 year public service career promoting youth and community development as a leader in New York State government. In designed and coordinated a system-wide high performance leadership development training program for over 2500 professional state employees during a time of rapid change. He is now bringing this experience to help individuals and businesses, not-for-profit and public organizations achieve high performance. For the past three years he has hosted a monthly "Salon" providing a forum for the practice of intentional conversation in a community context. He is a faculty member of the Creative Problem-Solving Institute and a presenter at the International Association of Facilitators 2003 and 2004 conferences, presenting workshops on the use of Salon as a personal transformation and social change tool.
neaton1@nycap.rr.com
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Mary Ann Smorra Ed.D. Lakewood NJ
Recharged... Resilient...Relaxed: Stress Management
Mary Ann Smorra, Ed.D. is a Professor of Education at Georgian Court University, New Jersey. She teaches courses in learning theory, supervision, curriculum development, elements of instruction and supervises thesis students. Mary Ann also serves as a consultant, a presenter, and performer for a variety of organizations, agencies, and school districts statewide, nationally and internationally. She has performed and presented in Turkey, Brazil, and South Africa. Mary Ann is a colleague of the Creative Education Foundation and has conducted workshops and performed at their international Creative Problem Solving Institute for a number of years.This past summer she served as a professor for an Arts in Education graduate program associated with the international consortium, Cultura Pax--Peace through Art. This entailed working with K-12 teachers in the Appalachian foothills teaching multiple intelligences theory through music. Together with a chapter in the current ASCD book, Keeping Good Teachers, publications include "The Effect of Environment on Creative Thinking Test Performance", "Using Mnemonics and Visual Imagery to Facilitate Critical Thinking," "Mnemonics Strategies: How to Enhance Memory in the Higher Education Classroom", and "A New Doorway for the Arts-Connections to the Brain and Learning". Additionally, Mary Ann has authored two electronic course packs for Bell and Howell on effective supervision and multiple intelligences.
MSmorra@aol.com
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Starr Cline Ed.D. Plainview NY
What's my EQ?
Starr is the President of Learning Starr, Inc., a consulting company with services for parents, children and organizatons. A CPSI colleague, she received her Bachelor of Arts Degree from Molloy College in English Literature and Elementary Education. She completed a Masters of Science in Reading and Special Education at Hofstra University and a Doctorate in Curriculum Design, Supervision and Leadership from Teachers College, Columbia University. She has been involved in teaching children in the regular classroom, teaching in a program for gifted children, and in designing programs and curriculum for more than 20 years. She has worked as an adjunct instructor and has coordinated institutes for the gifted at Teachers College, Columbia University and Adelphi University. She was a delegation leader to the Soviet Union and is a Colleague and Facilitator at the Creative Education Foundation, Buffalo, New York. She has been involved in assisting educators from all over the world. She has lectured nationally and internationally on a variety of topics. Using her classroom as a laboratory, she has combined her experiences and research to author articles and books.
Sagamore39@hooob.com
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Amy Swisher North Bennington VT
Beyond PowerPoint: Developing Presentation Skills That Rock
Amy Swisher is an experienced public speaker and coach who has taught effective speaking in college classrooms and one-to-one sessions. From 1999 to 2003, she served as the national spokesperson for the First Day Foundationaddressing audiences ranging in size from three to three hundredand she has presented numerous creativity and communication workshops at conferences in the United States, Europe and Africa. Amy earned her Bachelor's in Speech from Northwestern University, and her Master's in Organization and Management from Antioch/New England Graduate School.
riverrun@sover.net
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Adam Marx North Easton MA
Remembering Who You Are
Adam focuses on team invention processes, combining consumer insights with exciting technology to generate breakthrough new products and services. His innovation toolbox includes a wide variety of techniques, such as Synectics, Osborne-Parnes, Systematic Inventive Thinking, TRIZ, improvisational methods, and Neuro-Linguistic Programming, among others. Adam was originally trained in Computer Science at Cornell and Boston University where he concentrated in cognitive psychology and artificial intelligence. He is an inventor who has been published in various journals, holds 5 patents and has been in televised features for his work on user interface design and technology forecasting. He has held creative positions in companies as diverse as US WEST, Price-Waterhouse, and The First Years. Adam also started his own software company, Virtual Iron, to create computer-aided design software for customizing Harley-Davidsons.
adam@kscopeconsulting.com
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Amy Shanahan Pittsburgh PA
Foursight: The Breakthrough Thinking Profile
Amy was a Program Manager of a substance abuse clinic at Horizon Health Services in Buffalo, NY, where she recently resigned to relocate and pursue her graduate studies. Amy consults as a trainer in creativity and innovation development. She is trained to use the Foursight tool, an instrument designed to reveal thinking styles and preferences among team members. Amy is completing her Master's degree and certification from the International Center for Studies in Creativity at Buffalo State College. Amy's background includes working with people in numerous settings in the health and human services field. She has supervised and managed clinics for over five years and continues to develop toward change leadership. As a trained consultant, she also provided presentations and trainings to employees agency-wide, and works with fellow consultants offering presentations at various other agencies in Western New York.
skashan@cs.com
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Jeff Olma Jacksonville FL
The Unseen Executive: The Internal Critic In Management Decisions
Jeff is a Professor of English and Creativity at Florida Community College at Jacksonville. He is an educator, writer and creativity practitioner. He holds a Graduate certificate in Creativity and Change Leadership from the State University of New York College at Buffalo and is completing the Master of Science degree in Creative Studies from the International Center for Studies in Creativity at Buffalo State College. He has presented at such forums as The Creative Problem Solving Institute (CPSI), the 14th International Conference on Creativity in Colleges and Universities, The International Conference on College Teaching and Learning, and the Florida Creativity Weekend. His main interests in terms of creativity are in teaching and learning, futures visioning, and CPS facilitation.
jolma@fccj.edu
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André deZanger Ph.D. New York NY
Inventive Thinking: An Introduction to TRIZ
The Tao of Creativity: Spontaneity, Beauty and Nature
André 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 Mather, United Technologies, Federal Reserve Bank, and Dept of Defense. He is author of The Creative Genius Book, Zingers, TRIZ -- 40 Principles of Inventing, Instant Selling, and co-authored the creativity chapter in The Advertising Managers Handbook (1997) and The Tao of Living on Purpose (1998). André is the inventor of the "Flasher" (an anti-theft auto device), and co-creator of the Creativity Machine, a creativity computer software program. The Creativity Institute - 1664 Third Ave., New York NY 10128 (212) 289-8856
creativityinstitute@juno.com
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Ted Callisto
Team Building
Ted has retired from Adjunct Professor at Canisius College in Buffalo to devote time to working as a consultant. His teaching and administrative experiences include public and private education. In East Aurora Schools Ted has been a teacher in MS and HS, and was Middle School Principal and Director of Special Program there.His Middle School was one of the first to have Creativity Programs.Ted was Principal at Mt. St. Joseph Academy, a private school in Buffalo,NY. As a partner in DOK Publishers and SC Associates, Ted has been a consultant for NY State Education Depeartment, West Virginia, South Carolina and many school districts thoughout the USA,Russia,and Ukraine. He has authored and co-authored books, articles and videotapes including "Observational Analysis", "Parents Make the Difference" and "Gifted in The Regular Classroom" Ted continues to be active in Creativity Work. He is a Colleague of the Creative Education Foundation.
tedcallisto@aol.com
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Win Wenger Ph.D. Gaitherburg, MD
The Modern "Socratic Method"
Win Wenger Ph.D. is the Director of Project Renaissance and a pioneer in the fields of creativity , accelerated learning, brain and mind development. Formerly a college teacher, Dr. Wenger is a trainer renowned around the world, and the author of 48 published books, including his latest breakthrough text of techniques to facilitate scientific discovery and technical invention, Discovering the Obvious. His main text of education-related and growth techniques is Beyond Teaching and Learning, The Einstein Factor and How to Increase Your Intelligence. Synopses of his work, has appeared in Success Magazine. Win Wenger has also founded of Project Renaissance, dedicated to increasing individuals' potential and intelligent. Win is a Colleague and Faculty Member of the Creative Education Foundation and CPSI.
wwenger101@aol.com
www.winwenger.com
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Charles Markert CPF Purcellville, VA
Problem Solving using Metaphorical Mind Maps
Mr. Markert is a practicing Certified Professional Facilitator (CPF) and consultant of process enhancement methodologies. He is an executive facilitator for the Center of Excellence and Leadership in Facilitation, LLC where he facilitates process improvement, reengineering partnering strategic planning and innovation for client organizations. He holds masters degrees from American University (MPA), University of Rhode Island (MSOE), and Michigan State University (BSCE) and has co-authored Partnering In Construction: A Practical Guide To Project Success published in 1999 by American Bar Association. He has 30 years of public sector engineering and management experience involving all aspects of facility design & construction, process redesign and quality improvement. He is now the Chief Operating Officer of the Center of Excellence and Leadership in Facilitation and has been a professional group process facilitator since 1996.
markert@facilitationcenter.com
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Sarah Cook Lockport NY
Foursight: The Breakthrough Thinking Profile
Sarah is currently a graduate student at Buffalo State College where she majors in Creativity, Creative Problem Solving and Change Leadership. Sarah is an advanced trainer of Foursight, an instrument designed to reveal thinking styles and preferences among team members. Sarah also enjoys singing for two Western New York choirs: Blessed Sacrament R.C. Church Choir and the Adult Choir of St. Paul's Episcopal Cathedral. As an undergraduate, Sarah earned a bachelor's degree in Philosophy at Buffalo State College while also studying for a secondary degree in Humanities and a minor in Creative Studies.
sarahacook@aol.com
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Leslie Becknell Atlanta GA and Boston MA
Listening Creativity into Being
Leslie Becknell is an independent consultant, trainer, and speaker. She helps individuals discover who they really are and live their lives from that sacred, creative place. She guides organizations to discover the power that is possible when associates bring more of themselves to work. Leslie has built brands and inspired innovation working for IBM, Procter & Gamble, and The Coca-Cola Company. Her current clients include The Home Depot, Bank of America, and Levi Strauss & Co. She has presented on creativity and innovation at conferences in Australia, Singapore, Chicago, and Miami in the past year. She is a leader at The Center for Authentic Leadership and at the Creative Problem Solving Institute. She finds inspiration for new ideas through inquisitive travel, extensive reading, avid workshop and conference attendance, and generally staying awake and paying attention.
LeslieBecknell@aol.com
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Michelle James McLean VA
Creative Facilitation Through Improv
Michelle James, founder of Proteus Center for Change, is an organizational development and creativity consultant, facilitator and coach. She is has spent several years as a student and performer of short-form, long-form, and 'tornado' form improv and is a performs full-length improvised plays with Precipice Improvisational Theater Company (www.precipiceimprov.com). Michelle is also a CoreSomatics® Practitioner: CS integrates movement/bodywork, depth psychology, ritual, psychodrama, and the expressive arts. She is the Co-founder, with Bill Olsen, of the Capitol Creativity Network (CCN) in the Washington, DC area.
mjames7770@aol.com
www.precipiceimprov.com
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Tim Hurson Toronto ON Canada
Quantum Thinking: How to Figure Out What's Really Going On
CPS: A Creative Problem Solving Primer
Tim Hurson is one of North America's pioneers of idea marketing. Throughout his career, Tim has helped major corporations in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom create innovation, marketing, new product, and workplace transformation programs. He has written numerous articles on improving creative intelligence both in the workplace and at home.
tim@timhurson.com
www.timhurson.com
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Allie Middleton J.D., C.S.W.
Salon: Restoring the Lost Art of Conversation
Allie Middleton JD, CSW is a licensed psychotherapist, mediator and facilitator who has held multiple leadership positions in the business, not-for-profit and public sectors. For over 12 years she has trained and facilitated diverse groups and organizational communities including debriefing rescue workers after the World Trade Center disaster. "Change as a Critical Incident" is a benchmark idea she has developed in her clinical and consulting practice; her models include a humanistic approach to group and individual communication styles and differences, combined with a rigorous commitment to transformative learning. She designs collaborative frameworks, facilitating communities of practice and improvement revolutions. She has been adjunct graduate faculty at SUNY Albany, a presenter at the Creative Education Foundation and the International Association of Facilitators annual conferences. She is a founding board member of the Sustainable Careers Institute.
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Jerome Cline Plainview NY
What's my EQ?
Jerry is a practicing attorney who is a CPSI Colleague. He is a volunteer attorney for educational and arts not-for-profit organizations. Over the years he has been involved as a facilitator and a presenter in the Extending Program at the Creative Problem Solving Institute. As a practicing attorney he has incorporated the CPSI process into his professional and personal life. He has lectured to various groups on creativity and the law. In the practice of law he has had the unique experience of observing other attorneys and clients and assessing the importance of emotional intelligence in the workplace.
Sagamore39@hooob.com
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Laraaji New York, NY
Consciousness and Sound Vibrations
Laraaji is a composer-musicologist with some 30 years of experience. He has many recordings in the area of consciousness, meditation and self realization. He runs workshops in consciousness and laughter meditation throughout the world.
laraaji@yahoo.com
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Judith deZanger Ph.D. New York NY USA
The Tao of Creativity: Spontaneity, Beauty and Nature
Living Your Style - Finding Your Purpose
Judy is Director of the Passionate Path Institute, a subdivision of the Creativity Institute. Judy's joy is in the Spirit and Art of Creativity. Her specialty is in using Creative Expression for Self- Discovery, helping people find their "Way", listening to their intuition through creative expression, dialogue and multidimensional exploration. She is an explorer in the field of the "science and art of creativity", combining both her background as a sculptor and psychotherapist. She is the co-author of The Tao of Living on Purpose, and The Creative Genius Book and the author of Creativity Therapy: Be Your Own Best Psychotherapist and Getting Stoned: The Tao of Sculpting. The Creativity Institute - 1664 Third Ave., New York NY 10128 (212) 289-8856
creativityinstitute@juno.com
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Michael Madden Ed.D. Media, PA
The Shamanic Traditions and Consciousness
Michael is a long time student and practitioner of alternative healing arts and has applied ancient shamanic rituals to support healing and creativity. He has explored the native traditions in North and South America as while as Ireland, to gather the wisdom of the ancient ways. His published dissertation at Temple University was the first written to combine the Native Sweat Lodge Ceremony with Western Group Dynamics. Michael teaches at Penn State, has a private psychotherapy practice and leads week long canoe/hiking adventures in northern Canada focusing on Father/Son and Couple bonding.
madden_601@yahoo.com
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William Sturner Ph.D. USA
Innovation Theatre: Achieving Mastery In the Wild and Wonderful World of Innovative Change
William Sturner, Ph.D., is the author of ten books, the father of two children, the spoiler of five grandchildren, a Yankee fan, a lover of art and music, a Visiting Professor of Creative Studies at Buff State, a new resident of East Aurora, N.Y., an international consultant, and a very spirited and joyful facilitator. His work combines the perspective of growing up in the Bronx with the disciplines of Jungian, Gestalt and transpersonal psychology. He is a former editor with Sperry-Rand and research assistant to the editor of The Washington Post. His university appointments have included professorships at three American universities, vice presidencies at two, and visiting professorships at the universities of Santiago de Compostela, Limerick, Moscow State Istanbul and Malta.
WFSturner@Adelphia.Net
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Robert Bick Vancouver, BC
Process Mapping - Discovering what's really going on in order to decide where to go next!
Robert Bick has business in his genes. He is an integral part of a Canadian business legend. A surplus of cucumbers on the family farm became the first 2,400 cases of pickles. The barn became a factory and Bick's Pickles became a household name in Canada. Robert was involved in every aspect of the family business and other businesses -- children's clothing, marketing, software, and food distribution. Robert is a consultant using process mapping as a tool to analyze and improve a wide variety of business processes. Robert is also a classical flautist who spent 10 years performing and recording throughout Europe and North America. He learned all there is to know about team building when performing with his high-powered, ego-driven quartet partners.
robert@robertbick.com
www.robertbick.com
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Charlotte Kells M.Ed. MS Duxbury MA
The Creative Side of Conflict
Charlotte Kells, president of Kells Associates, a management / human resource consulting firm in Kingston, MA; specializing in organizational effectiveness, leadership coaching, group facilitation, HR consulting, and custom training. Since 1987, she has been a faculty member in the Leadership Program at the Creative Problem Solving Institute. During those years, she has taught multi-cultural leadership groups the Osborn-Parnes Creative Problem Solving model, tools and techniques for creative thinking, and the skills to create high performance, innovative teams. She holds Masters Degrees in both Education and Business from the University of Michigan and Lesley College and has completed advanced training from Mediation Works Inc. and the Coaches Training Institute. Her clients include: C.R. Bard, ETEX Corporation, Norwood Hospital, Fidelity Investments, Blue Cross Blue Shield, The Christmas Tree Shops, etc.
ckells@kellsassociates.com
www.kellsassociates.com
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Sean Brady Binghamton NY
Low-tech Facilitation Skills That Achieve Hi-tech Results
Sean Brady is founder of PRISM Decision Systems, LLC, providing state-of-the-art CoNexus, Concept Systems, and Frontier Analyst support for strategic planning, benchmarking, best practice identification and dissemination, project management, customer research, alliance management and negotiation. His clients are in the education, energy, telecom, technology, transportation, news and entertainment, and health care industries. Previously, Sean was manager, strategic planning of New York State Electric & Gas's electric power generation business. There he coordinated strategic planning, alliance management, competitive intelligence and employee communications.
Sean was a teacher of grades 6 to community college for twelve years. He has presented at the annual Creative Problem Solving Institute, the Fourth Annual International Creativity Conference in Pretoria, South Africa and the Fifteenth Annual Conference on the Positive Power of Humor and Creativity, as well as at numerous other conferences. Sean is a Lifetime Member of the Creative Education Foundation.
sean.brady@prismdecision.com
www.prismdecision.com
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Bill Olsen CPF Springfield VA
The KAI of Facilitation
Networking on Your Feet
Bill Olsen is a recovering Naval Officer. Seven years ago he was badly infected by creativity gurus and the Creative Problem Solving Institute. Since then he became a Certified Professional Facilitator (CPF) and consultant/business owner. Now he facilitates, trains and guides teams to uncork their own creativity. He is a well-honed facilitator in Creative Problem Solving, KAI, fast-forward change management, team building and strategic planning 'Thinkshops'. He has guided organizations to increase performance, triple market share, save billions of dollars, develop breakthrough technologies and create award-winning teams. His clients have included federal and county government, military, NASA, corporations, medical research, associations and small businesses. He is now a regular workshop leader and on the Advisory Board with the Creative Problem Solving Institute. He is also a Board member for the Mid Atlantic Facilitators Network and co-founder of the Capitol Creativity Network. And whenever possible he guides outdoor rock climbing adventures.
bill@olseninnovations.com
www.olseninnovations.com
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