Category Archives: Meetings

ODNet April 14, 2011

Dr. Virginia Trevizo Wells will share her dissertation findings regarding Latinas climbing the corporate ladder.      During this exciting session you will learn:

• The barriers/challenges that women especially Latinas face regarding their upward ascent into competent executives.

• The accelerators that women can utilize to move them upward and forward in their careers.

• Recommendations that corporations can use to attract Latinas and retain them.

• Discover the ideal characteristics and profile of top performing Latinas.

Presenter:     Dr. Virginia Trevizo Wells   is the CEO/President of Organizational Behavior Consulting & Training (OBC&T), a firm that focuses on coaching, consulting, and training top level executives and organizations on leadership development and how to strategically leverage each individual’s talents.  Recently she was hired by the University of Phoenix to teach masters and doctoral students in their new Industrial/Organization Program.  Currently she is teaching Small Business Management at Mountain View College.

Organization Development Education  –  March 10, 2011

Doctors Don and Tammy Ledbetter will take us on an exploration of OD education opportunities.  Learning and improving OD knowledge and skills is an ongoing challenge for OD Practitioners and HR professionals.  They will also discuss (among other things) their innovative approach that uses the internet for team-building.

This is a session not to miss! As business and technology evolve, our approaches to learning must also evolve. Come participate in this dialogue on OD Education with these dynamic thinkers.

Presenter Bio:     Don Ledbetter is the Corporate Director of Management and Organizational Effectiveness with L-3 Communications, a leading provider high technology products for the Department of Defense, Department of Homeland Security. Don has a doctorate in business administration with an emphasis in organizational leadership, and he is now working on his second doctorate in Industrial and Organizational Psychology. He is certified by the Society for Human Resources Management as a Senior Professional in Human Resources (SPHR). He is also a certified Knowledge Manager (CKM).

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When 70%+ Fail – How Do You Make Mergers Work? – 02/10/2011

As we move out of the recession, predictions are that M&A activity is heating up.  But the research data shows that 70 to 85% of mergers and acquisitions fail or at least severely sup-optimize.

•With those odds against you, why do so many organizations eagerly enter into the M&A game?

•Are leaders really “results oriented” when they engage in such risky, unsuccessful approaches?

•And what can we do to change those odds?

•What are the problems with M&A integration that create such lousy results?

•How can we set up and execute mergers and acquisitions so that those problems are prevented and resolved so that the odds are better of achieving positive results?

Join us to explore these and other related questions with a balance of strategic and tactical, theoretical and pragmatic perspectives.

Co-Facilitating:

Nicole Gann, SPHR  (http://www.prescs.org)  is the Vice President of Human Resources and Information Technology at Presbyterian Communities and Services.  Nicole has also had Accounting and Finance under her stewardship in the past.

Located in Dallas, Presbyterian Communities and Services is a faith-based, not-for-profit organization that provides exceptional continuing care retirement communities and leading hospice services.

With her broad competency in several organizational functions and her experience as an organizational development professional and leader, Nicole has acquired and used a solid C-Level, general management perspective.  Additionally she has deftly navigated a messy merger integration process, which gives her a unique insight into this topic.

Peter Jay Sorenson, CMC (http://strategicorganizationdesign.com) is an independent strategic organization design consultant, coach, and social entrepreneur and has recently re-branded his practice under the name “Strategic Organization Design, Inc.”

Pete’s consulting and coaching practice focuses on crafting strategy, intentionally designing organizations (with webs of intangible assets), doing change, and discovering what works.  Pete also designs and facilitates meetings and does executive coaching to support those practice focus points.

As a social entrepreneur Pete works to create economic, social, and cultural self-reliance and sustainability for individuals, families, and organizations in the developing and developed worlds.

The Relationship Between Internal and External O.D. Professionals or Lack Thereof — December 9, 2010

This will be a timely and highly participative program about the experiences and relationships between internal and external Organization Development Consultants. We will begin with Cindi and Gene’s experiences and perspectives as a launch to a more involved conversation that gets everyone into the discussion of the frustrations of each role based on actual experiences. We will then move onto a discussion of how we would like to see that reality change, given the “if only” scenarios.

And finally we shall look into that future for OD Consultants, in the context of

1. •Changing technologies
2. •Reduced Economies
3. •Resistance from within companies.
4. ‣”Why do CEO’s, COO’s and CIO’s always ask me at the last minute to help them clean up their “poop”?
1. -Yet how far are they willing to go? Really committed? Trying to fulfill objectives with false “buy-ins”?
2. -Are money and commitment behind the talk?

Join us in having fun, a challenging conversation and “starting a movement”!!

Facilitators

Cindi Cunningham, Internal Consultant

Cindi is the Organizational Change Management Specialist for the Jetstream program at American Airlines. In this position, Cindi is responsible for working across each of the Business Planning units and IT to ensure that all are introduced to change education. Cindi avails herself as the meeting / session facilitator as needed and works with the individual business units providing support in planning or executing workshops or kickoff sessions. Cindi’s focus is on employee engagement, stakeholder analysis and assessment for the Jetstream program and providing structure around organizational and cultural change for AA as it begins to shift to a new Passenger Services System (PSS).

Cindi received her education in Business Administration/Management from Texas Tech University and the University of Texas at Arlington and has 15 years of prior American Airlines’ experience where she worked with HR and in various management capacities at the Southern Reservations Office. She has broad experience from AMR Information Services’ TeleService Resources, where she served in Manager, Director and Managing Director positions leading Sales Support, Operations, and Client Services as well as Strategic Business Alliances and Development.

Cindi is skilled in organizational assessment, change management, service delivery, abd process re-engineering as well as technology assessment / selection, and honed these skills not only within AMR, but with other travel and hospitality companies including the Inter-Continental Hotels Group, CheapCaribbean.com and Pegasus Solutions Inc.

Gene Ruckle, External Consultant

In addition to his O.D. consulting practice, Gene is the Director of Leading in the 21st Century, a “High Potentials” Corporate Leadership Development Program, which he developed, at the University of Texas at Arlington, College of Business.

“Gene is a valuable catalyst for any organization seeking to make a quantum leap in capability. He facilitated the development of our entire business team to be leaders of change rather than simply managers of events. Bottom line, he enabled our organization to move from the industry cellar in product quality and service to #1 over a four year period. More importantly, the organizational culture was transformed and now positioned for even greater accomplishments. Gene is truly an expert in the heart of organizational change leadership.” (through a customer’s eyes and experience)