The Larsen Group

Starr Cochran has been a certified financial advisor and independent tax accountant since 1984.  With a lifelong passion for teaching, Starr decided to shift her business in 2006 to concentrate on writing, workshops, coaching and income tax returns.  Her new book, the first in a trilogy, is The Bread and Butter Chronicle: A Novel Approach to Learning about Personal Finance.  It is a self-help novel which draws readers into the world of four women who face different financial challenges.  Starr is tapping into non-traditional avenues through which to educate and entertain the public in area often overcome by difficult communication (or miscommunication), intellectual challenge, confusion and even intimidation.

www.starrcochran.com                        December 29, 2012                        20 minutes

Doris Young Boyer is an expert on global protocol, corporate etiquette and business behavior. Through public speaking, consulting and coaching under the banner of A Sense of Grace, Doris helps clients avoid unintentional and preventable mistakes that can derail a business meeting, client negotiations, building a team or advancing a career.  Her expertise was shaped by years as a human resources executive and internal international consultant in Africa, the Middle East, Europe and Japan. Co-author of Mastering the Art of Success, Doris explains how EtiQuettePower, courtesy, respect and kindness, are core to confident, successful interactions.

www.senseofgrace.com                      December 22, 2012                        20 minutes

David Zenoff has advised more than 90 organizations in over 30 countries in the past 45 years, companies ranging from multinationals to start-ups, and not-for-profit organizations. Working with senior executives and boards of directors, he focuses on organizational renewal and development, initiating major changes, and strategy formulation.  David’s ninth book, The Soul of the Organization: How to Ignite Employee Engagement and Productivity at Every Level, distills five key ingredients of soul, a term he coined from extensive study and interviews within 11 respected organizations.  David’s book is a manifestation of his life purpose, to bring hope to others to excel at what they are gifted to do and become.

www.souloftheorganization.com        December 22, 2012                        20 minutes

Les Parrott is a clinical psychologist and co-founder with his wife, Leslie, of the Center for Relationship Development at Seattle Pacific University. An author of several New York Times bestsellers, his latest is You’re Stronger Than You Think: The Power to Do What You Feel You Can’t.  Les outlines a counterintuitive approach backed by research to overcome hardship by leveraging the mind, and in unexpected ways tapping into the power of the heart and soul. Les considers himself a pilgrim – not a proclaimer – authentically offering to others what has come to work well based on his own life mistakes and learnings.  

www.lesandleslie.com                       December 15, 2012                         20 minutes

www.strongerbook.com

Gary Schwartz is CEO of Impact Mobile based in Toronto, Canada.  He is a pathfinder in the world of how cell phones are not just shaping communication, but also prompting major shifts in shopping behaviors. Gary’s new book, Fast Shopper, Slow Store, outlines the challenges facing traditional shopping mall stores and the “path to purchase” in the new digital world changing with the advent of the consumer’s real time access to data through their mobile phones. In his first book, The Great Impulse Economy, Gary detailed how mobile commerce is turning retail marketing, data security and consumer payment models upside down.

www.impactmobile.com                    December 15, 2012                         20 minutes

Shari Turpin is the founder of the specialty boutique Pearls by Shari in Jackson Hole, Wyoming.  For over 20 years she has produced jewelry with pearls from around the world at the center of her designs, elements where no two are exactly alike.  Her creations are recognized for their simplicity and timeless elegance, naturally appropriate for every occasion, and items that have adorned women of all ages, stages of life, and cultures. Shari enjoys being connected one-to-one with her clients and understanding their unique stories, whether this results in the purchase of a standard item or a custom project to complement their lifestyle. 

www.pearlsbyshari.com                     December 15, 2012                         20 minutes

Ora Shtull helps executives enhance their leadership presence – the ability to engage, connect, and influence in the workplace – to advance and thrive within their organizations. Ora is a featured speaker and has taught business communication at NYU Stern School of Business.  Her new book is The Glass Elevator: A Guide to Leadership Presence for Women on the Rise provides a roadmap for individuals to hone their communication skills.  The proceeds benefit the non-profit Dress for Success, a nationwide network of women helping women be successful through professional clothing donations and career skills workshops.

www.oracoaching.com                     December 8, 2012                              20 minutes

Patti Caldwell is Executive Director of Our Family Services, a non-profit committed to helping the Tucson community become a better place to live, grow up, and grow older.  Patti’s team of over 100 employees and an active corps of volunteers serve homeless children, youth and families.  With resources of over $5 million, they provide emergency shelter, transitional or affordable housing, counseling, mediation, and community-based education and prevention.  They also help older or disabled people continue to live safely and with dignity in their own homes.  For higher impact, Our Family Services merged with New Beginnings during 2012.

www.ourfamilyservices.org               December 8, 2102                              20 minutes

Fred Garcia is the President of Logos Consulting Group and Executive Director of the Logos Institute for Crisis Management & Executive Leadership, dedicated to helping firms prepare for, manage through, and recover from reputation-threatening events.  Fred’s new book is The Power of Communication: Skills to Build Trust, Inspire Loyalty, and Lead Effectively.  He believes the higher one goes in a company, non-profit, or government agency the more success is measured in winning the hearts and minds of people, rather than in the mere mastery of a technical skill.

Debra Paterson leads Human Resources for Wells Fargo Community Banking.  She has built her 32-year career in financial services by navigating via a self-styled blueprint of line operations and staff assignments, a lattice of opportunities that involved upward mobility as well as lateral moves.  Her first mentor advised her to learn all levels and functions of a business, to which she added constantly honing collaboration skills and knowing when to slow down, professionally and personally, to then go fast.  Banking is a changing industry, ripe with options.    

Nancy McGaw is the Deputy Director of the Business and Society Program at The Aspen Institute.  Based in New York City, Nancy leads the First Movers Fellowship Program, an innovation lab for exceptional business professionals – social intrapreneurs – who have demonstrated an ability and passion for imagining new products, services, and business models that achieve profitable business growth and lasting, positive social impacts. Following a successful career in corporate banking, Nancy shifted to non-profit work before joining The Aspen Institute in 2000 to have an impact on corporate leadership and management education.

www.aspeninstitute.org/firstmovers       November 24, 2012                        20 minutes

Lisa Rehurek is Miss Simplicity and the creator of the S.I.M.P.L.E. Productivity System.  Lisa started her business as speaker, trainer and business mentor in 2009, following 20 years in corporate America HR services, healthcare, and restaurant/hotel management, non-profit event planning, and starting or turning around small businesses.  She is on a mission to help people learn how to focus on the most valuable aspects of their lives and businesses via prioritization, systemization, and monetization.  It all starts with asking “what are you driving towards?”

Abbott Taylor is the versatile creative genius behind Abbott Taylor Jewelers, known for custom pieces executed with state-of-the-art craftsmanship – if you can imagine it, Abbott can make it. Now in his 40^th year as an independent jeweler, Abbott continues to evolve the techniques and technology behind the structure of his jewelry through experimentation and adaptation.  He is also a talented musician coming full circle from high school rock band days to recently collaborating with musicians from across Tucson to create a special CD to benefit the Zambian Children’s Fund. 

Kathe Padilla has been an organizer and social advocate since her youth.  She volunteered for a movement that helped refugees flee Central America to find safe refuge in theU.S. and Canada, and created a non-profit to provide food for Tucson's poor.  Since 1999, Kathe has been tirelessly dedicated to bringing a new life to children impacted by the tragedy of the AIDS epidemic in Africa.  The Zambian Children’s Fund has built a caring, loving community where every child is provided food, shelter, clothing, medical care, education and skills so they can become healthy, productive members of Zambian society. 

Marcy Alstott has done business coast-to-coast and across four continents as a high technology global supply chain leader.  Based in San Francisco, Ops Trak Consulting helps clients tie together the disciplines of operations (procurement, logistics, multi-tier manufacturing, and quality) for successful new product development.  An engineer by academic training, Marcy has a keen eye backed up by experience to fix the immediate holes in processes plus engage suppliers and partners at a high level to set expectations for future change – an unusual business transformation approach that is a blend of simultaneous tactical and strategic execution.

Judy Suke is a motivational humorist, college professor, corporate trainer and author from Ontario, Canada.  President of Triangle Seminars which is a speaker’s bureau of seasoned motivational and subject-matter expert presenters, Judy is herself a popular speaker at conferences and corporate events, on a mission to bring humor and hope to people around the world. She believes that laughter has the power to heal the body, sooth the soul, lift the spirit, and give us energy particular during times of personal career and organizational change.

www.triangleseminars.com                  October 13, 2012                      20 minutes

Tom and Charlotte Bell own and operate the ZZ Cattle Company in Tucson.  With Tom being a retired professor, researcher and veterinarian, and Charlotte moving from rodeo performing to with Tom raising her three sons and volunteering for Habitat for Humanity, their story is truly one of going from success to significance. They have traveled to the Mustang region of Western Nepal 13 times in ten years and invested their own funds to build a school for Tibetan refugee children. The final three weeks of the journey is by horseback, traveling between canyons deeper than the Grand Canyon and ascending to altitudes of 17,000 feet. The Bell’s commitment has inspired other international groups to add buildings and supplies for the village.

tomcharbell AT msn.com                     October 13, 2012                      20 minutes