The Larsen Group

Darlene Knight is Global Vice President of Manufacturing and Quality for Tecumseh Products, a manufacturer of compressors for residential and specialty air conditioning applications.  Darlene started in the automotive sector and knows well the principles of lean manufacturing, now applying that thinking to leading broader business change.  She encourages us to set aside the five year career plan, and instead be ready to be open to new opportunities even if they are not what you had envisioned.  Take the risk to volunteer for the inevitable, instead of waiting to be asked.

Dr. Betsy Garofalo is Vice President and Neuroscience Development Franchise Head at Novartis Pharmaceuticals in Basel, Switzerland, an opportunity like others in her interesting career where “they pay us to think.”  A native of northern Indiana, Betsy began her career as an academic Pediatric Neurologist and researcher at the University of Michigan.  She continued to teach for many years after joining the pharmaceutical industry.  Betsy specializes in developing medications for nervous system disorders, and in over 20 years has worked in both large and small companies, including a four-person startup consulting company.

Dr. Suzanne Koven is an assistant professor at the Harvard Medical School and has practiced primary care internal medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston for over 20 years.  Her specialties include weight and stress management, women’s health, and mind-body medicine.  Suzanne also holds a masters degree in nonfiction writing, and given her passion for storytelling was delighted to contribute to the new “Chicken Soup for the Soul” series.  Her book is Say Hello to a Better Body, and she encourages how small mindset changes can lead to big results.

Dr. Jeff Brown is an instructor at Harvard Medical School, the psychologist for the Boston Marathon medical team, and is on Runner’s World magazine’s scientific team. An author of two earlier books on the competitive edge and strategies of winners, Jeff is a champion of cognitive-behavioral psychology.  He helps individuals apply research-based strategies to fine tune their brains and optimize life.  Jeff’s “Chicken Soup for the Soul” book is entitled Say Goodbye to Stress: Manage Your Problems, Big and Small, Every Day. 

Dr. Marie Pasinski is a staff neurologist at Massachusetts General Hospital and a faculty member at Harvard Medical School.  Her special interests include dementia prevention and the effects of exercise, diet, and socialization on the brain.  A champion of adopting a brain-healthy lifestyle, Marie’s contribution to the “Chicken Soup for the Soul” series is entitled Boost Your Brain Power:  You Can Improve and Energize Your Brain at Any Age.  Marie encourages us to regularly learn something new that brings us happiness, as she did taking piano lessons at age 40.

Michelle Tillis Lederman is author of The 11 Laws of Likability and founder of Executive Essentials, a training company that provides communications and leadership programs, as well as executive coaching services.  Michelle believes real relationships lead to real results and specializes in teaching people how to communicate with confidence, clarity, and connection.  People do business with people they like, people who are authentic, down-to-earth and convert conversations into genuine, meaningful relationships that lead to win-win situations for everyone. 

Dr. Anita McGahan of the Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto is recognized as a master teacher, researcher and developer of contemporary courses to expand the relevance and influence of graduate business education.  Pursuing a long-standing interest in the inception of new industries, particularly in global health, Anita works in partnership with colleagues from a multitude of disciplines, universities and companies around the globe.  She is known for emphasizing entrepreneurship and social innovation in the public interest, innovative collaborations between public and private organizations.

Paul Hill is president of Toronto-based ADV Advance Technical Services, an international job search and placement company. An expert in how to tap into the hidden job market, Paul’s new book offers pragmatic, actionable advice – Panic Free Job Search: Unleash the Power of the Web and Social Networking to get Hired.  Paul is dedicated to guiding and educating professionals to be proactive by adopting professional Internet branding best practices (with tips and tricks along the way.)  What made you successful in the past, may not necessarily catch employers’ attention in this day and age, in absence of first hand referrals based on relationship trust.

Jim Owen is the founder and Chief Inspiration Officer for The Center for Cowboy Ethics, a non-profit foundation to help spread the message that “we can all be heroes in our own lives.”  After a successful 35-year business career in financial services, Jim reinvented himself as an author, film producer and social innovator to inspire business professionals, educators and youth.  Spurred by his life-long interest in Western history and lore, Jim distilled the unwritten Code of the West into “Ten Principles to Live By.”  His most recent book, The Try, and companion documentary film are targeted to tackle the issue an entire generation is facing:  What does it take to succeed in America today?

David Marquet is a retired US Naval officer who commanded the nuclear submarine USS Sante Fe, an organization at the onset dogged by low morale, poor performance, and the worst employee retention in the fleet.  David’s new book, Turn the Ship Around: How to Create Leadership at Every Level, chronicles how he and his team broke from traditional leadership stereotypes and approaches to create a model of engagement and innovation to which everyone could contribute.  Rather than one leader and 134 followers, David created 135 leaders.

Mark Rossi is a bronze sculptor who has produced over 600 unique pieces since the mid-1970’s – life size outdoor self-inspired and commissioned works of animals and people of the West for personal, gallery, museum and national park collections.  A resident of Tucson, Mark has deep family roots in history, nature and wildlife.  His father was a painter and museum director in Oklahoma and his mother’s family is of Apache, Pueblo and Spanish decent. Mark believes chaos is the first impression offered by the natural world, where beauty is Mother Nature’s grandmother.

Dr. Vanya Moreno is an animal behavioralist whose PhD research was on the song choice of juvenile zebra finches.  A native of California, she has also rehabilitated sea lions and harbor seals. Vanya founded Animal Magnetism in Tucson over 15 years ago, a practice dedicated to helping owners of dogs and cats better connect with their best friends.  She advises veterinary practices and offers puppy obedience classes, one-on-one consultations, and rattlesnake and poisonous toad avoidance training (for pets AND their owners!)

Dr. Lorraine Morales is the acting President of PIMA Community College, a Tucson-based institution that serves over 74,000 students. A non-traditional student who earned her GED in 1976 before pursuing bachelors, masters and doctoral studies, Lorraine career shifted from university leadership roles to the community college sector.  With an eye on developing the community through learning, in addition to meeting students wherever they are in their learning journey, Lorraine has her hands on the steering wheel of quite a challenging change agenda.

Dr. Amy Edmondson of the Harvard Business School believes “teaming” is a dynamic activity – a verb, not a noun –to enable organizational change.  Her new book, Teaming: How Organizations Learn, Innovate and Compete in the Knowledge Economy, emphasizes activities that comprise collaborative work across boundaries, rather than on stable team structures. Educated in organizational behavior, psychology, engineering and design, Amy's research is informed by first-hand experience consulting in manufacturing, healthcare and research agencies, and serving as Chief Engineer for noted architect and inventor Buckminster Fuller.

Wendell Summerville is a double career juggler, approaching 20 years as an automotive engineering leader at General Motors in Detroit, Michigan, AND being a solopreneur photographer.  He believes his technical engineering responsibilities in test, validation, design and systems integration have informed his photography, just as his artistic photography spanning portraiture to cityscapes to nature, black and white and color, has acutely enhanced his ability to see and resolve problems in very creative ways – in and outside the box.

Pam Hale is an author, life coach, spiritual director, photographer and pilot.  Her business, Through a Different Lens, offers powerful, practical tools and experiences that focus vision, creativity, and wisdom to help people flourish and thrive.  Flying Lesson: How To Be The Pilot of Your Own Life is her new multi-layered memoir and self-help guide based on her story of pursuing a private pilot’s license later in life.  The book is accented with beautiful aerial photographs and is an inspirational manual for leading, living and loving.

Dr. Moshe Milevsky is a finance and mathematics professor from York University in Toronto and author of nine books and over 200 magazine articles on sound financial planning. If you ever wondered what the point of all that high school mathematics was, Moshe feels it so that you can figure out how to retire while you can still enjoy your money!  His new book is The 7 Most Important Equations for Your Retirement, the intriguing history of seven people (dating back to the 1200’s) who set the future in motion on how we evaluate investment decisions.

Thom Cope is a 40-year veteran employment lawyer from Udall Law Firm and lecturer at The University of Phoenix.  In this day and age of changing technology, communication norms, and regretfully organization and employee distress, an emerging hot topic in employment circles is the use or misuse of social media by employees to criticize their employers, and subsequent employer action.  The National Labor Relations Board is tasked with enforcing employee rights in the workplace, yet the rules of engagement in this space are not so obvious and changing fast.

Joan Michelson is the creator, executive producer and host of Green Connections Radio based in Washington, DC.  An award-winning, creative business and communications leader, Joan has pioneered, launched and reinvigorated businesses and non-profits. In addition to being a reporter and adjunct professor, Joan recently turned her attention to giving further voice and spotlighting the passions of expert women leaders in the expanding green economy.  Her mantra – Live green, work green, earn green.

Breck Seiniger founded Seiniger Law Offices in Boise, Idaho, in the 1970’s to become an advocate to help those who cannot do so for themselves.  The practice successfully focuses on personal injury, workmen’s compensation, and employment law.  With a lifelong interest in computers, technology, and business innovation, Breck’s team continues to leverage the internet to their advantage, getting a command of the facts while searching out the best objective standards from which to negotiate.  They take on difficult cases where the odds are often not in the clients’ favor.

Beth Maynard Green has been a spiritual teacher, intuitive counselor, composer and workshop leader since 1980. She is the author of five books, including Living with Reality: Who We Are, What We Could Be, How We Get There, and is kicking off the Vortex of Change Campaign in August, a gathering of energy to support transformation beyond our capacity to achieve alone.  Her recent book is God’s Little Aphorisms: One-Liners from The Source, such as “You can’t clean the air over one house in Los Angeles.”  Beth is all about change and our co-creating a more cooperative society.

Renee Kreager initially considered a career as a psychologist or an attorney, but her first waitressing job led her to realize a calling to make people’s days better, a source of pride to meet or exceed expectations. Expecting her first child in 2002, Renee’s understanding of food forever changed and she realized she had a responsibility to create health for her son and family.  Coupled with her husband Steve’s experience in pizza, Renee’s Organic Oven opened in 2005 to bring pure foods to the table, and influence healthy lifestyle change in the Tucson community.

Jill Palmenberg is the founder of Oxalis, a clinical operations consulting practice with special focus on cancer drug trials.  Growing up on a farm and passionate about 4H, Jill started her career in agriculture in cutting edge tissue and plant genome research.  Out of necessity tied to her husband’s career progression, she segued into the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industry in safety and quality control.  In truth, Jill’s years of working in laboratories and project management have equipped her well to continue to learn in this fast changing environment.