Culture

Jennifer Lyle is the owner of Lush Yummies Pie Company LLC. She is the head pastry chef and founder with a production kitchen in Detroit’s historical Eastern Market. As a child, Jennifer would stay with her grandparents where her grandfather would teach her how to make his family favorite pie recipes. Growing up, Jennifer attended all DPS schools, and graduated from Cass Technical High School.

Jennifer went on to earn a bachelor’s degree from Howard University and then traveled to Miami for Culinary School at Le Cordon Bleu. Jennifer later moved back to her hometown of Detroit Michigan and soon went back to her grandfather’s pie recipes. She started Lush Yummies Pie company shortly after returning home and the rest is history.
Her pies are sold in numerous retail chains across the Midwest including Kroger, Westborn Markets and soon Meijer. You can also find her pies at Eastern Market on Saturdays in Shed 2.

As Director of Torch’s Applied Engineering and Test business unit, I have the privilege of leading a highly dedicated workforce across 8 locations in the U.S. and abroad.

Our team provides a wide range of engineering, scientific, and logistics support to the DoD in disciplines such as systems engineering, test and evaluation, software development, electronics design, metrology, and environmental compliance.

I enjoy seeing our team of employee-owners excel and deliver solutions that make a difference to our nation’s men and women in uniform.

Prior to joining Vivayic, I worked for a large private corporation as a Retail Sales Supervisor and managed a territory of 30 sales reps. After that role, my husband and I moved back to Missouri and started in my family’s insurance agency. After a couple years there, I worked in marketing for a company that manages loyalty cards for grocery store chains. Around the same time, Vivayic was starting to take off, which my husband and I became co-owners of in 2009 (along with Seth and Carrie Derner). In the beginning, I worked part-time as the bookkeeper, and in 2013 came aboard full-time to fill the role of Business Manager, including all financial and human resources activities, which is what I still do today, along with duties on the ownership team.

I’m 35 and have been working with Bluewater since April 2008 (11 years). I started as a Junior Field Examiner and have grown into a Senior Field Examiner. I have a laid back go with the flow personality and love getting to know new people. I’ve been married for six years now and have a two-year-old son, Louis.

I grew up watching my Dad and uncle run several successful small service-industry businesses. Eventually, I followed in their footsteps and attended Cornell University and was fortunate to graduate magna cum laude with a degree in Business Management.

Now as Vice President for Core Management Services, I lead our consulting and software development operation. Core is a consulting firm dedicated to the janitorial and facilities industry. To date, we have conducted program assessments, audits, bids, staffing models and master plans for over 1 billion square feet, serving many iconic properties and universities across the U.S. I also oversee the development and support for Core’s custodial quality inspection app, Smart Inspect, which is used by thousands of cleaning industry professionals to conduct quality audits and share reports.

I live in upstate New York, and my favorite pastime is enjoying life with my wife and five young children.

I started with Gongos in our call center (that no longer exists in the organization) and worked my way from an intern to a programmer to Information Systems team leader and eventually leading our organization’s Data Sciences.

I sit on the companies leadership team and am currently involved with the evolving people system and leading all of our functional team leaders in weekly meetings to help grow our level 2 leaders.

I started at Gongos right after finishing my degree and was fortunate enough to move directly into a career and organization that I loved and was passionate about. As an avid learner and achiever, I’m always looking to push myself to new places, and have the opportunity to take on new challenges at Gongos while helping us achieve our core purpose.

With my role in business development and harnessing new relationships, I’m able to partner closely with leadership to expand our offerings, while ensuring we remain true to ourselves and our vision through the clients we serve. I also have a passion for helping others succeed, and strive to be a helpful guide and mentor for others – both within and beyond my organization.

Lorena is currently the Resource Manager at Vivayic where she inspects, schedules, reviews data and makes sure the right people and resources are on board for any particular solution. Before coming to Vivayic a year ago, Lorena worked in both city and state governments where she coordinated youth development programs, community-based programming, and workforce programs. She created a unique culture for her teams; a culture where it was safe for her departments to work alongside and learn from other departments; a culture where her team coordinated with public partners, non-profits, and businesses to identify community needs and solutions.

I’ve worked in the Finance arena for most of my career. Nine years ago I made a change and went from working for a publicly-traded company with thousands of employees to working for a privately owned business with six employees. It’s been a great experience. I was brought on as the Chief Compliance Officer and have taken on various roles over the years.

More recently I’ve been moving into the COO role. I have found that I truly enjoy the Human Capital side of the business.

Brandi White, MA wants to put the “human” back into Human Resources. After twelve years in the nonprofit sector serving as an Executive Director, she has been the Global Director of Employee Experience at InterWorks for three years. In her role at InterWorks, she uses her people passion to manage not only the traditional HR functions like payroll, benefits, recruiting, and professional development for their 250 global employees but is also in charge of protecting InterWorks’ unique corporate culture. Her focus is on employee engagement and satisfaction.

Christina Moore has experience in transactions involving securitization and warehousing of vacation ownership receivables, accounts receivable sale and hypothecation, real estate and related-asset secured loans and other complex credit facility transactions. Additionally, Ms. Moore has been involved in the structuring and regulatory compliance of resort and leisure developments such as condominium, hotel, timeshare, fractional development, condo-hotel, vacation clubs and destination clubs. She also assists clients in state and federal regulatory compliance with marketing and telemarketing laws, including sweepstakes; prize and gift promotions; do-not-call and various other Federal Communications Commission and Federal Trade Commission; state statutes and regulations; and she represents clients in marketing trade practice cases. Her depth of experience allows her to comfortably and knowledgeably work all aspects of a transaction and offer a full range of services to clients needing answers in just a single phone call. She also recognizes the need to balance the legal framework of regulations and in transactions with the business goals of growth and development.

Growing up in Berkley, MI, I was not one of the lucky ones who knew exactly what I wanted to be when I grew up. From my adolescents, through college, and into my early professional career, I was searching for that magical job that would bring me happiness. In all honesty, Managed Print Services never crossed my mind. Now, at the age of 29, I have been a Project Manager for the last 4 years at imageOne in Oak Park, MI, and I can finally say I absolutely LOVE my job! Sometimes things have a way of falling into place. Along the way, I also picked up a passion for theater, music, and team bonding, which I try to incorporate into my work as often as possible. Now that I’ve found a professional home, I am constantly looking for ways to challenge myself and continue to grow as a leader.

During my career, I’ve had the privilege of experiencing life as part of a Fortune 500 company, a couple of non-profits, a small but robust family business and, now, an employee-owned, purpose-driven company. From the first day on the job, I knew that Life’s Abundance was different…better, and I couldn’t be happier to be part of this team. My degree is in Applied Communication, but that seems a far and distant past from the professional education I’ve had since, largely in the marketing arena.

On the personal front, five years ago my husband, our two kids and I cut ties with suburbia to start a lychee fruit farm. We very happily live in the country with our chickens, cats, dog and an occasional alligator passing through.

I have thirty years of experience in both private and public accounting with a strong background in operational analysis. In addition, I also have 20 years of experience in commercial and residential construction management and development. I am well versed in processes required by the insurance industry and have developed organized systems for high volume workflow.

As VP of Finance, I manage the finance and administrative department and my responsibilities include cash management, job cost tracking and analysis, and forecasting. I also manage the general and administrative costs of the company and documentation of our company policies and procedures.

As VP of Emergency Services and Personal Property, I manage the self perform teams who perform Water Mitigation, Mold Remediation, and Personal Property Services for our customers. This includes creating the business strategy for these units (customer experience, team member development, equipment, processes, etc).

I am a 34yr old residing in the Cleveland, OH area with my wife and 2 small children (Logan, 6 and Riley, 3). I came to imageOne over 8yrs ago starting as a field technician but also had a background in management.

I am a Kolbe A fact-finder to the highest level – I always make sure I have all the information necessary to make an informed decision. Lastly, I am very process-oriented, and always looking for efficiencies and enhancements as a way of doing things.

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After growing up in Puerto Rico, my family moved to the mainland US when I was 11. Since then have lived in the Southeast, Northeast and Northwest, currently in Asheville, NC. After studying organic agriculture and dabbling in the culinary arts for a couple of years, I found my calling working in small mostly technology companies. What started out as a career in finance took a few twists and turns and has brought me into operations, strategy, HR and organizational development. Over the last couple of years I have developed an obsession with building resilient, adaptive learning organizations that are purpose driven and human centric.

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I am currently a Managing Partner at Atomic Object in the Grand Rapids office. Prior to this, I was President at Springthrough which was a software and managed services agency. I’ve worked in a LA based dot.com startup in the healthcare industry. And I’ve worked in the large corporate environment of a local Health Insurance company. I’ve held various leadership positions, managed a variety of teams, and even ran a small company for awhile. I consider myself lucky to now work with all the amazing people at Atomic Object. Their passion to help, curiosity to learn, and desire to solve hard problems align with my own desire to make the world a better place.

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I joined Atomic Object in 2013 as a senior developer after spending 10 years in the industry programming. Since then, I’ve moved into my role as Managing Partner in Atomic’s Ann Arbor (A2) office. I have broad P&L responsibility for the A2 office and my job includes sales, management, hiring/recruiting, facilities, financial and often helping project teams navigate client project success. It’s challenging but rewarding to see our people succeed.

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My name is Jeanine Cambra and I work for early education, inc., where I am currently working as Head of School for Sandwich Montessori School. I have spent a great deal of my life working as an educator and worked as a classroom teacher, reading specialist, and school principal. I left teaching, in the traditional sense, when I joined early education, inc. and began working with preschool directors to provide support and quickly moved into learning the acquisitions part of our business.

Attorney Green strongly believes that Divorce Mediation and Collaborative Divorce is the premier method to resolve family conflict with the highest integrity and dignity. Attorney Green is the Founder of CT Mediation Center, a mediation practice focused on problem solving, conflict prevention, education and empowering families who undergo separation and divorce to reach long-lasting agreements without resorting to the Court System. With guidance from caring and experienced collaborative professionals, couples can separate or divorce intelligently and creatively, considerate of one another and of their children. Collaborative Divorce or Divorce Mediation offers divorcing clients constructive, fiscally and emotionally efficient alternatives to ruinous and adversarial litigation process.

Attorney Green graduated from Hartford College for Women in 1990 cum laude and Clark University in 1992. She received her Juris Doctorate from Western New England College School of Law in 2001. She was born and raised in Hunedoara, Romania and immigrated to the United States in 1987, prior to the fall of the communist regime.

Attorney Green is a member of the Member of Connecticut Bar Association Family Law and Alternative Dispute Resolution Division, Member of Connecticut Council for Divorce Mediation, Member of New England Chapter of Association of Conflict Resolution, Board member of the Collaborative Divorce Professionals, member of the Collaborative Divorce Team of Connecticut and International Academy of Collaborative Professionals. Attorney Green serves as a Family Special Master in the Hartford Judicial District, Volunteer attorney for the Hartford Volunteer Attorney Program and Attorney Mediator for the Connecticut Bar Association Resolution of Legal Fee Disputes Program

I’m Sabrina also known by my work tribe as “sunny with a chance!” My nickname is actually a great way to describe me – I’m energetic and bubbly with a little bit of a feisty streak.

My husband and I are the proud parents of two fur babies. When we’re not cuddling with our pups – okay, we’re always cuddling with our pups – we love to watch movies, eat out at fun places and play dominoes!

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Ray Brown is Senior Director of Pricing and Contracting at Medtronic PLC, the world’s largest medical device company by revenue.  His outstanding team of 44 is responsible for pre- and post-sale support of offer development, contracting, global pricing governance, asset operations, pricing operations, and contract compliance for the company’s $3.2B Minimally Invasive Therapies Group in the US.

Ray has been at Medtronic (which acquired his former employer, Covidien) since 2006.  He has held positions with the company in Boulder, CO, and Zürich, Switzerland.  Prior to his time at Medtronic, he worked for Qwest Communications (now CenturyLink) and AT&T.

Ray lives near Boulder, CO and is married with two adult children.  In his spare time he enjoys flying, running, reading, and German language.  He earned a BA in history from the University of Michigan, and an MBA from Purdue University.

Jessica Rovello is the CEO and co-founder of Arkadium, which provides interactive, visual content to more than 450 of the world’s best-known brands and publishers. Founded in 2001, Arkadium has developed products ranging from games (notably Microsoft Solitaire Collection, one of the most played games of all time) to dynamic editorial tools allowing journalists to embed visual data and interactive content in their articles. Previously, at just 24, she pioneered modern digital viral marketing when she produced the website for The Blair Witch Project. A fierce proponent of evergreen business building and living a full life, Jessica was recently featured on the cover of Inc. magazine.  She lives in NYC with her husband and three sons.

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Jason Fried thinks deeply about collaboration, productivity, and the nature of work. He is the co-founder and CEO at Basecamp and co-author of Rework, Remote: Office Not Required, Getting Real, and the recently released,  It Doesn’t Have to Be Crazy at Work. You can get to know Jason before he takes the Summit stage through his TED Talk, Get Real Column for Inc. and Basecamp’s Signal v. Noise blog.

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Nicole Sahin’s mission is to make it easy for any company to expand into any country as easily as they hire team members in the United States. Her current focus is building the world’s most competent and trustworthy Global PEO to meet the standards of the company’s Fortune 500 clients. She led Globalization Partners to a ranking of No. 33 on the 2017 Inc. 500 list of fastest-growing private companies in America, No. 6 on the 2016 Inc. 500 list, has been named Entrepreneur of the Year in New England, and has won numerous awards for breaking the traditional corporate mold by building a nationally-recognized company culture.

Prior to launching Globalization Partners, Nicole was a Managing Director at High Street Partners, a firm which provided international HR, tax, legal, and compliance services to CFOs, HR Directors, and General Counsel of fast-growing technology companies establishing subsidiaries and hiring in dozens of countries. Via her experience advising companies ranging from Tesla to HID Global on their international expansions, Nicole founded Globalization Partners to create a legal and technology platform that eliminated the need for companies to set up branch offices and subsidiaries in multiple jurisdictions prior to expanding their global sales footprint.

Jim Hume is the Founder and Principal of Ann Arbor, Michigan-based Phire Group: a brand research + articulation + activation company. Phire is a fiercely independent agency focused on transforming organizations’ brands, their cultures, and their customers’ experiences. Using the power of research, community, and creativity, they help unleash brands that inspire and impact. With a focused and purposeful team of 25 all-stars, Phire Group has a wide range of experience working with clients ranging from Fortune 100 companies to startups in consumer goods, healthcare, technology, education, business-to-business, the arts, and more.

Jeff Liscum is an executive business coach and co-founder of Prism Perspective Coaching, specializing in entrepreneurial business owners and leadership teams. Jeff’s expertise lies in combining a client’s Gallup Builder Profile and CliftonStrengths results for targeted professional development and intentional business growth through the lens of his client’s unique talents. With a previous career in advertising and marketing development, Jeff provides the most authentic and individualized experience for each of his clients, as he knows the importance and impact of a tailored growth plan.

In addition to his executive clients, Jeff contributes to the betterment of his coaching colleagues by administering his custom Builder Profile + CliftonStrengths comprehension workshops. Training certified coaches around the country hones his craft while encouraging the growth and continued development of his field. Jeff received his BP10 coaching certification through Gallup, Inc. and his CliftonStrengths training through Strength Strategy Coaching Certification.

Michael is Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Big Path Capital, a leading boutique, impact investment bank focused on providing Corporate Finance, M&A, and Placement Agent services to impact companies and funds globally.  Big Path has worked with over 150 impact and sustainable companies and funds, more than any firm in the sector. In 2007 the old economy driven by the single gear of profit maximization reached a dead end in the financial crisis. It was a moment of reckoning during which Michael left his fifteen-year career in private equity to form Big Path Capital with his partner, Shawn Lesser, leveraging the engine of capitalism for an expansive economy built on natural, social, and financial capital.

Recognizing that impact investing isn’t just a different way of investing but a superior way of deploying capital, Michael is committed to challenging the status quo and to raising the expectation of capital.  In this vein, Big Path has created a number of first-in-class initiatives including the Five Fund Forum, Impact Capitalism Summits, and Impact & Sustainable Trade Missions.  Michael received his BA summa cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa from the University of the South in Sewanee, TN and received a joint MBA and MEM (Master of Engineering Management) from the Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University.

Heidi Convery is a Gallup Certified Strengths Coach and founder of Flourish LLC, a strengths-based coaching firm focused on putting purpose back in the workplace. Through high energy retreats and intentional one-on-one coaching, Heidi ignites purpose and value in your team where complacency might be looming.

Heidi specializes in improving Business-to-Business connections by aiding your team in understanding the unique Strengths of your business partners and how to tailor communication for intentional relationship development. With a previous career in university administration, she also has in depth experience in motivating Millennial and Centennial employees. Heidi maintains a selective number of executive clients for management-based Strengths coaching – understanding how an individual’s Strengths motivate and discourage the growth of his/her business and people.

Heidi is a co-author of the Amazon International Best Seller, “Turning Talents into Strengths: Stories of Coaching Transformations.” She holds a B.A. in French, an M.Ed. in University Administration, and CliftonStrengths Coaching Certification from Gallup, Inc.

Corey is the publisher of Conscious Capitalism Press, the founder and CEO of Round Table Companies (RTC), and a speaker, artist, and storyteller. He previously starred in one of the 50 greatest Super Bowl commercials of all time (Mountain Dew, Bohemian Rhapsody), has won 15 independent publishing awards, and has been featured on the cover of the Wall Street Journal as well as in the New YorkTimes, USA Today, Inc. Magazine, Forbes, and Wired.  Corey is the creator of the Vulnerability Wall and the Vulnerability is Sexy^TM card game. His documentary of the same name won 2017 ADDY and HERMES awards for branded content.

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Steven Dyme is the Co-Founder & CEO of Flowers for Dreams, a socially conscious flower company named one of Business Insider’s 20 Most Inspiring Companies in America (2012). Every bouquet his company sells benefits an amazing local charity in Chicago, Milwaukee, and soon Detroit. To date, they’ve donated over $400,000 from the sale of flowers.

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I’m the CEO of Know Your Team. My life’s mission is to help people become happier at work.

I write regularly on leadership at the Know Your Team blog, and have been published in Harvard Business Review, Business Insider, CNBC, Inc, Fortune, among others. I speak internationally on how to create more open, honest work environments. I teach as an adjunct professor of entrepreneurship at my alma mater, Northwestern University.

People matter to me, most of all. I love my family and friends. I also enjoy painting, yoga, cooking, and any project that requires a pencil.

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Jana specializes in helping people magnify what they’re passionate about and connecting them to resources and people. In her work at Trebuchet Group, she uses her extensive background in organizational management and marketing to help companies get clarity around where they need to go and the confidence to find the right path to get there. She creates and delivers workshops and keynotes on leadership and entrepreneurship, and gets delighted when people realize they need more healthy conflict to accomplish great things.

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Since 2002, hundreds of leaders have trusted Chris Hutchinson and Trebuchet Group to help them achieve great accomplishments through creating great teams. Chris brings together real-world experience and understanding to support leaders who feel the weight of their company on their shoulders, and are frustrated by teams not achieving their potential. Chris wrote Ripple: A Field Manual for Leadership that Works in 2015 to help leaders increase their personal impact and create long lasting results.

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For the past eleven years Blair Kellison has been the CEO of Traditional Medicinals, a mission driven, organic and fair trade botanical wellness company based in Sonoma County, CA.

Traditional Medicinals purpose since its founding in 1974 has been to connect people to the power of plants to change lives through its social business model.  This business model has enabled the company to continually be in a leadership position on social and environmental sustainability practices. This philosophy
coupled with the Company’s financial sustainability has resulted in five decades of commercial success and created a truly sustainability organization. The Company is now the 4 th largest bagged tea company in North America.

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Paul Spiegelman is the co-founder of the Small Giants Community, a peer-group of purpose-driven business leaders.  He is the former chief culture officer of Stericycle, the co-founder and former CEO of BerylHealth and the founder and chairman of The Beryl Institute.

Paul is a New York Times best-selling author and has been honored with the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year award.

Paul is a sought-after speaker and author on leadership, employee engagement, entrepreneurship, culture, and leading a purpose-driven life. He has made many radio and TV appearances and his views have been featured in the Wall Street Journal, Inc. Magazine, and he is currently a columnist for Forbes.com.

Paul practiced law for two years prior to starting BerylHealth. He holds a bachelor’s degree in history from UCLA and a law degree from Southwestern University.

Bo Burlingham is the author of Small Giants: Companies That Choose To Be Great Instead of Big (Portfolio, 2006) and an editor-at-large of Inc. Magazine. Bo joined Inc. in January 1983 as a senior editor and became executive editor six months later, a position he held for the next seven years or so. In 1990 he became editor-at-large for a number of reasons, including his desire to go back to writing. He subsequently wrote two books with Jack Stack, the co-founder and CEO of Springfield Remanufacturing Corp. and the pioneer of open-book management. One of the books, The Great Game of Business, has sold more than 300,000 copies. The other, A Stake in the Outcome, has also done pretty well and gotten great reviews.

Before joining Inc., Bo freelanced for various publications, including Esquire, Harper’s, Boston Magazine, and Mother Jones. Bo was also managing editor of Ramparts magazine. In 1982, he joined Fidelity Investments, where he wrote for Peter Lynch, Ned Johnson, and other honchos until coming to Inc. From 1992 to 1997, he served on the board of The Body Shop Inc., the U.S. subsidiary of the international cosmetics company. He was also a founder, with Tom Peters, of PAC World, a weird international networking group that gave him a chance to meet a lot of zany—and brilliant—people from around the globe.