The Larsen Group

Reverend Steve Keplinger leads Grace St. Paul’s Episcopal Church community in Tucson.  He is a later-in-life ordained minister, having spent over 20 years in field sales and marketing.  No bones about it, Steve’s other passion is being a loyal-to-the-core, true blue and orange Baltimore Orioles baseball fan.  Over 20 years and a career time ago, Steve wrote The Comeback Kids, the story of the remarkable 1989 turnaround year for the O’s.  , a story seasoned with game-by-game replays, statistics, humor, and lessons of unwavering fan loyalty cheering organizational change amidst popular disbelief.

David Cohen and Stephen Gilliland represent the Energize Your Enterprise education-to-action series being sponsored by BeachFleischman Public Accounting and the Eller College of Management at the University of Arizona, David’s and Steve’s professional bases, respectively.  In its second year, the series was launched to provide a forum for Tucson-based entrepreneurs and established businesses to get practical advice and training to move their business to the next level, as well as create new relationships and joint opportunities.  Topics will include going multi-state, building the right infrastructure for expansion, and “must haves” to secure financing.

Paul DeHart is an industrial management consultant from the newly formed Unity Advisors Group based from Michigan. An electrical engineer at heart, Paul has served in COO, general manager and senior functional line leadership roles in manufacturing companies in the US, Europe and Asia for over 25 years.  UAG, a true group of “having done it, not just talked about doing it” consultants, has launched a feet-solidly-on-the-ground-walking-the-floor plant manager leadership development program.  Their contemporary approach intersects the precepts of strategy, operational performance and leadership through people.

www.unityadvisorsgroup.com       September 14, 2013                    20 minutes

Gary Hirsch is from Vistage International, the world’s leading membership organization for business owners, company presidents and chief executive officers.  With over 17,000 members based in over 300 cities and six countries, Gary leads several small think tanks of Tucson business leaders who once a month collaborate to become better leaders – working on their true “internal challenges” and diving into business challenges.  The Vistage community helps leaders avoid isolation, accommodate change, and hold themselves accountable for the commitments they make.

Ted Larsen and Allan Mardon represent Nighthorses Fine Art and Publishing.  Ted is a career engineer, architect and artisan-turned entrepreneur now publishing specialty books and representing fine art professionals across the US.  Ted and his partner, New York City illustrator-turned-contemporary Western narrative artist Allan Mardon are in the midst of debuting Legend of the Blue Horse, a new painting and children’s book.  The legend was unexpectedly shared with Ted by an aging Crow Elder, grandson of a prominent medicine man from the mid-1800’s.

www.nighthorses.com                             August 24, 2013           20 minutes

Julie Gold is the New York-based songwriter and performing artist best known for Bette Midler’s version of her song “From a Distance.” Julie won the 1991 Grammy for Song of the Year, and the song has been recited into the Congressional Record, recorded internationally in many languages, illustrated as a children’s book, mass-produced in music boxes, and even used as the wake-up call for astronauts in outer space.  Julie performs and gives motivational speeches around the country, and is currently writing songs to teach English to elementary school children all over the world.

Moe Vara is an international strategic interventionist and career empowerment coach from Global Empowering Solutions.  Working as an engineer and construction program manager beforehand, Moe knows well the challenges of leaders on the line, and the necessity for everyone to take charge of their own careers.  He heard his calling to become a coach while navigating his own career shift.  Moe subsequently became certified to help others understand their behavior path to get to the “light bulb moment” to realize what needs to be done.

www.globalempoweringsolutions.com    August 24, 2013           20 minutes

Dr. Stephanie Parker is founder of The Aurora Foundation of Southern Arizona and a 30-year psychologist with organizational development business experience.  Since 2001 The Aurora Foundation has been dedicated to helping women and girls with disabilities to become engaged citizens and leaders through inclusion, more equitable experiences and access to opportunities for employment.  In 2011, Stephanie and her board in collaboration with other partners shifted their focus from being a direct service provider towards an even higher calling, advocacy and policy-formation to achieve disability justice for all people.

www.aurorafoundationaz.org                   August 24, 2013            20 minutes

David Fetterman leads a global research organization known for empowerment evaluations, large scale initiatives to help communities sustainably develop on their own from the inside out.  David’s new book, Empowerment Evaluation in the Digital Villages, retells the story of a $15 million project supported by Hewlett Packard and Stanford University to impact social justice. East Palo Alto, East Baltimore and Native American tribes based in San Diego deployed computers and developed local area networks (technology and human), enabling a ripple effect to benefit their youth, families and disadvantaged communities’ economic and social wellbeing.

Linda Penn is a district director for Junior Achievement of Arizona, a nationwide organization that has been educating K-12 students since 1957 about entrepreneurship, work readiness, and financial literacy. A lawyer, judge and business entrepreneur by background, Linda, her team and counterparts based in Tempe work with a broad network of volunteers to serve over 90,000 students annually. Having worked with troubled youth for years, Linda is passionate about investing early to bring schools, businesses and non-profit social service organizations and communities together to mentor, provide structure and support children and families.

www.jaaz.org                                      August 3, 2013                    20 minutes

Dr. Jean Baruch is the 2003 founder and Executive Director of Beads of Courage, a non-profit dedicated to helping children coping with cancer.  Currently implemented as a standard of care in more than 150 hospitals in six countries, the process of stringing specialized beads on a lanyard after each treatment step supports the psychosocial adjustment of children, while honoring their stories of courge.  Based on research to advance the science of caring, Beads of Courage continues to expand innovate arts-in-nursing programs to affect the full community of support, clinicians experiencing compassion fatigue, as well as families and other caregivers.

www.beadsofcourage.org                 July 27, 2013                           20 minutes

Greg Slamowitz is the founder of Wellness Rebates, a healthcare insurance broker dedicated to providing a unique way to offer wellness solutions to companies without additional costs – investing in the Wellness Movement to enable change. Greg’s new book is a direct reflection of how he has built successful companies through happy and high performing employees: Flip the Pyramid: How any Organization can Create a Workforce that is Engaged, Aligned, Empowered and On Fire. Leaders have to not hog the ball, get off the court and coach their employees onward based on setting a constitutional framework and enabling a tribal culture.

www.gregslamowitz.com                July 20, 2013                           20 minutes

 Aaron McDaniel is a corporate manager, entrepreneur, public speaker and community leader. Recently celebrating his 30^th birthday, Aaron has held leadership roles at AT&T, in addition to being a serial and social entrepreneur. He founded Young Professional’s Edge, a company focused on empowering millennials to succeed in their careers.  Aaron believes in giving back to the community and established a micro-giving foundation that was a 75^th birthday gift to his godmother to support her lifelong quest for equality for all people. Aaron’s second book in a series is The Young Professional’s Guide to Managing: Building, Guiding and Motivating Your Team. His insights transcend age or stage of career.

Kathy Wilson is the executive director of itnGreaterTucson, an independent transportation network of volunteers who go arm-in-arm, door-to-door helping transport elders and those who are visually impaired. Members opt in for a minimal flat rate per month, modest pickup and mileage fees.  Volunteers receive mileage credits to be used for themselves in the future, for their family members either in Tucson or in one of the 28 affiliated networds across the US, or donate credits to a road scholarship program for adults of low income status. Kathy shifted from the hospitality industry to elder care over 20 years ago, earning a PhD in gerontology later in life in 2008.

www.itnGreaterTucson.org           July 20, 2013                           20 minutes

Kim Fay is a Seattle native and taught English in Vietnam for several years, setting the stage for frequent travel to Southeast Asia. She wrote Communion: A Culinary Journey through Vietnam, winner of the World Gourmand Cookbook Awards’ Best Asian Cuisine Book, and edited the To Asia with Love guidebook series. Kim’s first published novel, The Map of Lost Memories, is a 2013 Edgar Prize nominee.  It is a historical mystery of a woman’s search in the 1920’s to reveal the lost history of the Khmer civilization in Cambodia.  In addition to writing, Kim supports teens at the Alexandria House, a transitional home and neighborhood center in Los Angeles.    

Janne Irvine is a highly regarded pianist, musicologist and Jane Austen literary expert. Making Friends with Other Trees and Flowers is Janne’s autobiography of the first 18 years of her life, an inspirational story of how her loss of eye sight by age nine has never gotten in the way of her living life to its fullest. Subtitled “A Story of Low Vision and High Expectations,” Janne relates with humor and honesty how a vivid imagination made it possible for her to understand the blurred images of her world.  And how disability coupled with creativity and a relentless positive attitude can provide chances for boundless fulfillment.

www.janneirvine.com                       July 13, 2013                          20 minutes

Charlie Sheppard is a leadership development consultant and trainer, business school professor, featured public speaker, and founder of Sheppard Partners and KnoNow, a firm involved in measuring the transfer of knowledge within organizations.  His work on “Leadership as a Choice” led to the new book Save Your Drama for Your Mama, a practical guide for eliminating drama in our organizations, teams and lives.  Charlie outlines a roadmap to examine and address the patterns of behavior and thinking, including blind spots in personal perceptions, that lead to drama and the damage that comes of it.

www.saveyourdrama.com                         July 6, 2013                      20 minutes

Mardee Briscoe is affiliated with the Predictive Group, global footprint firm that offers a comprehensive assessment package to organizations to help characterize behaviors – how we go about doing what we do, which can be twice as important as what we do. Their tools provide analytics to power the possibilities of individuals to make the right choices to then drive organizational success. Mardee studied medical administration and nursing in college, had an early career in interior design, and then for ten years was in investor relations for a geologic exploration firm. Today her consulting and training work plays to her diverse interests in business and the talented people who make success happen.

www.predictivegroup.com                        July 6, 2013                       20 minutes

Aaron Eden is on a mission to spark competitive advantage within Tucson’s startup community, as well as shift mindsets within organizations on the precepts of intrapreneurship.  Gangplank Tucson is a new business incubator based downtown, uniting the creative class by providing space and resources without physical or financial barriers.  Innovative ideas flourish as people openly support one another. With a background in information technology, Aaron has been involved in starting 10 businesses, and currently serves as an Innovation Catalyst, a product manager based in human resources, and a university relations leader at Intuit.

www.tucson.gangplankhq.com                 July 6, 2013                       20 minutes