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The Leaders that Build World-Leading Culture

Meet our team of experts on human capital strategy.

Jason Richmond team member

Jason Richmond

CEO and Chief Culture Officer

Jason is one of the foremost authorities on building, growing, and igniting organizational culture. He brings his vast experience developing Fortune 100 companies into his Leadership Development Journey framework.

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Laura Nortz

Senior Vice President and Culture Strategist

Laura is an expert researcher and internationally recognized leadership coach that works with organizational leaders to design custom solutions for each organization’s unique cultural needs and growth goals.

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Leo Bottary

Culture Strategist, Peernovation Specialist

Leo is the founder and managing partner of Peernovation, LLC, and co-founder of The One Advantage. Leo is an award-winning author of three books, including Peernovation: What Peer Advisory Groups Can Teach Us About Building High Performing Teams (2020).

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Mike Richardson

Culture Strategist, Agility Specialist

Mike brings unique insights from the real world—as a Petroleum Engineer on offshore oil and gas drilling rigs, leader of the aerospace division of a British public company, and as a longtime CEO and Key Executive peer advisory group Chair and Speaker for Vistage Worldwide.

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Nikki Vescovi

Culture Strategist

Nikki is an internationally experienced and skilled trainer with a passion for neuro-linguistic programming (NLP), and the art of breaking down communication barriers in order to foster stronger communication.

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Jennifer Cassidy

Culture Strategist

Jennifer has been training top global brands since the dawn of this century and brings her experience with clients like Starbucks, Pfizer, Cisco, World Bank, the US Army, and more, into training at Ideal Outcomes.

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Steve Thomas

Culture Strategist

Steve is passionate about impacting the quality of life of others by adding value through coaching, speaking and mentoring. Currently, he partners with organizations to solve business issues by developing their greatest asset, PEOPLE, through Dale Carnegie programs.

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Alejandra Baker

Culture Strategist

Alejandra is a dynamic bilingual (English – Spanish) Corporate Trainer and Learning Consultant with over 15 years of experience working in multicultural environments, designing and facilitating programs that impact the productivity and performance of her clients.

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Brett Potts

Culture Strategist, Business Growth Specialist

Brett is a business owner and licensed investment banker specializing in organic and inorganic corporate growth. His work includes strategy consulting, sales psychology, financial analysis, performance analysis and forecasting, applied through practical and engaging corporate training.

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Bill Bertolet

Culture Strategist, Business Growth Specialist

Bill has 25+ years’ experience in the performance improvement industry supporting clients in multiple industries by helping them implement growth strategies. Key performance improvement areas include Sales, Leadership, Customer Relations, Team Building and Presentation Effectiveness. 

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Karen Kimsey-Sward

Culture Consultant

Karen has over 25 years of experience working with a wide range of organizations helping them to move to the “next level” of performance. She’s known for her strategic yet practical approach to working with leaders at all levels to drive revenue growth, operational excellence and employee engagement. 

sheila mcveigh team member

Sheila McVeigh

Coach and Master Trainer

Sheila helps clients challenge the status quo and get comfortable with the uncomfortable. She’s a powerful change agent that has conducted professional development training for the likes of Google and Red Bull.

nick schmitt team member

Nick Schmitt

Creative Director

Nicholas is our resident creator. With extensive design experience, he transforms written words and spoken values into transformative change plans that act as owner’s manuals for the companies that Ideal Outcomes serves.

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Barbara Gold

Senior eLearning and Content Director

Barbara is our team’s learning technologist with an affinity for online program design. She leverages the latest software and tools to develop engaging programs that drive real behavioral change for clients. 

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Sarah Techau

Senior Instructional Designer

Sarah is a passionate and articulate curriculum, assessment, and instructional design professional with over 20 years of experience in corporate and non-profit environments, across multiple industries. 

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Nirakar Thakur

Instructional Designer

Nirakar is a seasoned educator, creative enthusiast, instructional designer, and lifelong learner who thrives on fostering human development and enhancing the learning experience.

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Malcolm Nicholl

Communications Strategist

Malcolm leads Ideal Outcomes’ communications across all platforms creating content and social media strategy. A former award-winning international journalist, his career included a two-year stint as Belfast bureau chief for London’s Daily Mirror.

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“My passion is to share what I’ve discovered during my long career working with incredible leaders around the world. My mission is to apply the lessons I’ve learned to my life, my team members’ lives, and my clients’ business challenges. I believe you don’t learn if you remain stationary. This is why I continue to dedicate my life and career to never-ending continuous improvement.”

Jason is an in-demand keynote speaker, widely recognized as a noted authority on helping companies build strong, sustained revenue growth by empowering their employees and developing energizing office cultures.

During his career of more than twenty years, Jason has assisted companies of all sizes in a wide variety of industries. He has not only worked closely with established Fortune 100 companies to create Leadership Development Journeys, but also provided thought leadership and innovative consulting services to a range of mid-size firms. And he has guided numerous start-ups to build solid foundations that have enabled them to become noted industry leaders.

Jason has become a valued resource for many organizations, helping them implement talent development paths, culture maps, succession plans, and learning strategies. He has captured best practices from successful organizations and integrated them into the core principles that form the foundation of Ideal Outcomes.

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“I specialize in uniting teams and establishing leaders within different companies. My passion for helping people grow is what drives me, and my ability to bring out the best in employees has led me on a path to change people’s lives and the organizations they serve for the better.” This is why I continue to dedicate my life and career to never-ending continuous improvement.”

Laura Nortz engages with key stakeholders to design solutions that result in consistent skills, behaviors, and language among teams to ultimately create a unified and energized organizational culture.

In addition, she takes a primary role researching and developing leadership trainings, formal presentations, coaching and customer service with companies of all sizes. Laura has worked closely with leadership teams in a wide variety of industries in countries throughout the world that include Italy, Germany, the UK, Sweden, the Philippines, China, Australia, Canada, and the US and British Virgin Islands.

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Leo Bottary is the founder and managing partner of Peernovation, LLC and co-founder of The One Advantage. An award-winning author of three books, including Peernovation: What Peer Advisory Groups Can Teach Us About Building High Performing Teams (2020), he is also a keynote speaker, workshop facilitator, adjunct professor for Rutgers University, Advisory Board Member/Opinion Columnist for CEOWORLD magazine, and co-host of The One Advantage podcast.
lives and the organizations they serve for the better.” This is why I continue to dedicate my life and career to never-ending continuous improvement.

Leo’s first book, which he co-authored with former Vistage CEO Leon Shapiro, The Power of Peers: How the Company You Keep Drives Leadership Growth & Success (2016), explored how and why formal peer groups for CEOs and business leaders are so effective. His second book, What Anyone Can Do: How Surrounding Yourself with the Right People Will Drive Change, Opportunity, and Personal Growth (2018), examined the power of enlisting and engaging the complete circle of the people who surround us in both formal and informal settings.

Prior to teaching at Rutgers, Leo was an adjunct professor at Seton Hall University, where he led graduate-level online and on-campus learning teams studying leadership and strategic communication. In April 2015, he was named adjunct teacher of the year for Seton Hall’s College of Communication and the Arts.
Earlier in his career, Leo served in senior leadership positions at Mullen and Hill & Knowlton, where he was also director of client service for the US. In the mid-1990s, he founded a public relations agency that a leading trade publication hailed as a regional powerhouse, new media pioneer, and great place to work.
Leo earned a BA from Jacksonville University, an MA in Strategic Communication and Leadership from Seton Hall, and completed his doctoral coursework at Northeastern.

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Mike brings unique insights from the real world – as a Petroleum Engineer on offshore oil and gas drilling rigs, leader of the aerospace division of a British public company, and as a longtime CEO and Key Executive peer advisory group Chair and Speaker for Vistage Worldwide.
His first book, Wheel$pin: The Agile Executive’s Manifesto (2011) asked the question, “why, despite all of our investments in our businesses (you name it, we do it), do we still experience a lot more wheel$pin than we should?” Which can cost us a $fortune! The answer: Agility, or rather a lack of agility. His second book, The 5 Roles of Everyday Agile Leaders: Cracking the Agility Code (to be released in 2022) asks the question, “Why, despite all of the Agile inspiration and insights we are now surrounded by, does Enterprise Agility remain as elusive as it has ever been for most leaders?” The answer: an unbroken agility code.

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“My passion is connecting people with each other to bring success for everyone involved. I love the challenge of breaking down barriers, building communication, and helping people find a passion for what they do. As a lifelong learner, I help individuals and organizations kindle their internal spark.”

Nikki has 36 years of industry experience in 24 countries including Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, China and Russia. A dynamic global speaker, trainer, and coach she assists clients build and sustain cultures that create alignment and trust impacting productivity, engagement and bottom-line results. A lifelong learner, she utilizes NLP (Neuro-linguistic Programming) skills to help individuals make immediate and impactful changes in their professional and personal lives.

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“My motivation has always been to serve—my country and its partners, clients, class members, leaders, and teams. My diverse professional background–sales, military, state and federal government employee, business owner and leader make me a uniquely-qualified trainer.”

Jennifer has more than 20 years expertise in training executives, managers, supervisors, senior military officers and their civilian counterparts. She became a certified Dale Carnegie® trainer in 2000 and continued to deliver training during her 20-year military career. Her clients include AAA, Discover, Lockheed Martin, Northrup Grumman, Starbucks, Pfizer, Cisco, the World Bank, D.C. government and many federal government agencies.

A retired Air Force colonel, Jennifer served as a Public Relations Officer, training general officers and senior Department of Defense civilians to develop and deliver messages to Congress, national and international news media and the public. As a consultant she created strategic and tactical communication plans and developed a training and coaching program for the Saudi Arabian Military Office of Defense.

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Steve is passionate about impacting the quality of life of others by adding value through coaching, speaking and mentoring. Currently, he partners with organizations to solve business issues by developing their greatest asset, PEOPLE, through Dale Carnegie programs. In addition, he is the co-host of The 411 on Leadership Podcast which airs live on LinkedIn/YouTube/FB on Mondays (10am PST) – https://sitchradio.com/shows/the-411-on-leadership-podcast/

Steve earned his Masters’ Degree in Human Services Counseling with an Executive Leadership concentration from Liberty University. Described by a Dale Carnegie Master Trainer* as “extremely supportive, coupled with authenticity” and a “true leader”, Steve recognizes the importance of ongoing professional development. This is invaluable as he impacts corporate culture through both consultation and facilitation of development solutions for various organizations, teams and individual clients.

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Alejandra Baker is a dynamic bilingual (English – Spanish) Corporate Trainer and Learning Consultant with over 15 years of experience working in multicultural environments, designing and facilitating programs that impact the productivity and performance of her clients.

Alejandra is experienced in helping companies develop an Innovative culture. She co-founded with her father The Innovation Way, a Mexican company specialized in Innovation Training and co-developed a proprietary methodology called “Generating Breakthrough Ideas: How to Recognize and Seize Opportunities for Disruptive Innovation”, providing services to leading Mexican companies such as Cerveceria Cuauhtemoc, Cemex, Tequila Cuervo, Hylsa as well as to small and medium sized businesses through Mexico’s National Council of Science and Technology.

When she moved to the US, her passion to develop herself and bring out the best in others lead her to become certified in the Dale Carnegie Programs to develop human relations, communications & leadership skills.

Alejandra is an Advocate for Human rights and she also serves as Program Director for the i-5 Freedom Network, an Anti Human Trafficking Organization in Southern California.

She holds a Master of Science in Management from the London School of Economics and Political Science, with specialization in Knowledge Management; and a BS in International Business from the ITESM, in Mexico.

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Brett is an Investment Banker, Entrepreneur, a trainer and coach, and previously was a Fortune 500 Executive and U.S. Navy Officer.

Brett is the Founder of Coast Practical, Inc. and is a Partner (Investment Banker) at NewCap Partners in Los Angeles. Through this work, he leads Acquisitions and Capital Raise transactions. Throughout his business career, he has served as COO, CFO, and CEO as well as in many Board roles in a wide variety of organizations.

Brett’s expertise lies in navigating organizations through challenging times, whether this means dramatic revenue growth, a sale of the business itself, a capital raise, or a performance turnaround. Given this experience, he is quick with an occasionally funny and sometimes pertinent business story. Brett also volunteered his organizational development talent as a member on the Board of Trustees of the United States Naval Academy Alumni Association. He is a Servant Leader.

Brett has been a Corporate Trainer and Executive Coach since 2008. He is honored to have worked with several thousand participants, who have gone on to achieve impressive results for their organizations. He is Multi-Course Certified, helping companies and individuals within those companies develop and achieve their potential through improved Leadership, Sales, and Presentations. Previously, he helped U.S. Navy Captains launch Tomahawk missiles at bad guys worldwide. Most importantly, the people Brett has worked with most closely, from one of the five presidents of The Irvine Company to the Cal Tech-educated Executive Vice President at Siemens, to the recent High School graduate selling billiards tables, all agree on one thing, “Brett cares about you personally and wants you to win on your own terms.”

Previously, Brett was a turnaround General Manager at Cintas Corporation, where his team’s set safety, sales growth, customer satisfaction, and profitability records for the company, and an Officer in the United States Navy. He has consulted with many companies, including Intel Corporation, Experian, and AAA.
Brett holds an International M.B.A. from the University of Southern California (USC), an M.S. in Information Technology from the University of San Diego (USD), and a B.S. in Engineering from the United States Naval Academy (USNA).

Brett loves spending time with his young family in his adopted hometown of Huntington Beach, CA. He is a passionate outdoorsman and a former U.S. Navy Officer.

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Bill Bertolet has 25+ years’ experience in the performance improvement industry supporting clients in multiple industries by helping them implement growth strategies. Key performance improvement areas include Sales, Leadership, Customer Relations, Team Building and Presentation Effectiveness. Companies include Morgan Stanley, Merrill Lynch, BlackRock, Ace Hardware, Navistar, Simplex Grinnell, Microsoft, AT&T, etc. One common thing all these companies experience when working with Bill is that the return on investment always funds the professional services provided. Bill resides in Wyomissing PA. 

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Karen Kimsey-Sward has over 25 years of experience working with a wide range of organizations helping them to move to the “next level” of performance. She’s known for her strategic yet practical approach to working with leaders at all levels to drive revenue growth, operational excellence and employee engagement. Karen brings a unique perspective to clients as a business owner who has been through all stages of a company’s life; from its founding through the various levels of growth.

Karen is Chief Operating Officer for Dale Carnegie Chicago. She is providing leadership, management and vision to create and sustain employee/customer engagement while ensuring profitable growth.

Previously, Karen was a Vice President of Franchising for the Americas with Dale Carnegie & Associates and worked with franchisees in all areas of their business. She provided leadership to identify opportunities, developed growth plans, recruited top talent, and executed marketing/sales strategies and training. She and her team served as internal business coaches to franchisees.

Prior to joining Dale Carnegie & Associates, Karen was co-founder and principal of Performance Potential Inc, a management consulting firm.
Karen was also an Executive Vice President/COO for FTR, a performance improvement company in Chicago. Over the years she held a variety of roles including: top producing salesperson, sales manager, business/sales coach, consultant and COO. She played a critical role in helping this organization achieve significant growth to become one of the top performance improvement companies in the Financial Services Industry.
Over the years, Karen has served on various Boards and is currently a Board Member for the SBAC.
Karen received her Bachelor of Business Administration/Marketing from Marshall University.

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“As a Certified Master Trainer at Ideal Outcomes, I play an active role developing long-term vision for my clients and identifying future goals for my team. I push individuals to feel comfortable doing uncomfortable things in order to bring out a client’s true potential while challenging my team in ways that provokes creative thinking.”

Sheila McVeigh has been in the business performance improvement field for 24 years. She is a licensed and certified multi-course Dale Carnegie® Trainer. She is also a certified Master Trainer, licensed to lead the certification process to license trainers for Dale Carnegie programs.

Sheila has conducted customized training for over 300 organizations that include AAA, Campbell Soup, Carrier, Comcast, conEdison, Department of Defense, Discover Financial, Experian, EP Henry, Google, HouseMaster, Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley, Motorola, Paychex, Red Bull, ShopRite Supermarkets, and many others.

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“As a designer, I have the opportunity to bring ideas to life. Turning the vision of clients into deliverables each day is a challenge I love to undertake. I strive to make sure that each project meets the high standards set by Ideal Outcomes.”

Nicholas Schmitt has 10 years of professional experience. Proficient in Adobe Indesign and Illustrator he works closely with instructional designers and clients to design and develop programs. Nick has had a lifelong passion for digital art and design and has created branding compliant custom program and engagement material for hundreds of clients of all sizes and industries bringing a fine attention to detail to every project.

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“I love exploring new technologies that will draw learners in and inspire them to build fresh knowledge and skills. I specialize in developing creative, fun eLearning that incorporates scenarios, games, and simulations and invites learners to be active participants.”

As a learning and development consultant, Barbara continues to provide online solutions for real-world problems.

With her extensive background in healthcare, financial, and other industries, Barbara also streamlines our marketing efforts and makes them more effective by identifying and implementing the best solutions in different areas of our business, such as website design and email and social media marketing.

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A passionate and articulate curriculum, assessment, and instructional design professional with over 20 years of experience in corporate and non-profit environments, across multiple industries (software, medical device, pharma, legal services, manufacturing, mental health, etc.). Over 5 years curriculum, assessment, and instructional design experience in academia, focused specifically on creating online curricula, assessment strategies, and instructional content at the Master’s and PhD levels in business, technology, education, and psychology disciplines.

Core competencies: Managing the strategic and the detailed, focusing on both quality and efficiency, engineering and implementing processes, and simplifying complexity
Specialties: Outcomes-based curriculum and instructional design, instructional content development, project management, train the trainer programs, assessment instrument design, learning outcome analytics, template design, media storyboarding/scriptwriting, editing, and technical writing.

Awards: CHEA’s Outstanding Institutional Practice in Student Learning Outcomes, WCET’s Innovative Uses of Educational Technology, and IMS Global Learning Consortium’s Best Outcomes-Based Learning Solution and Outstanding Use of Technology in Support of Learning

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Nirakar’s journey has been marked by an unwavering commitment to crafting meaningful and impactful learning experiences for both the corporate and educational settings. 

 

In all of his endeavors, he adheres to the powerful belief that “You can do anything you set your mind to.” This unwavering commitment drives Nirakar to give his all to every project he
undertakes, ensuring that it leaves a lasting and positive impact.

 

 

His journey is marked not only by his professional accomplishments but also by his enthusiasm for creativity,
learning, and the great outdoors.

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Malcolm leads Ideal Outcomes’ communications across all platforms creating content and social media strategy.
A former award-winning international journalist, his career included a
two-year stint as Belfast bureau chief for London’s Daily Mirror.

He has authored or co-authored seven books published in nine languages by international giants such as Random House, Bantam Doubleday Dell, Ballantine Books, and St. Martin’s Press.

Malcolm has also ghostwritten more than thirty books specializing in business and entrepreneurship, education, memoirs, and health and wellness. He has collaborated with owners of billion-dollar companies and startups, scientists, doctors, nutritionists and academics—and individuals with remarkable life stories.

In a separate career as an entrepreneur, he helped build a billion-dollar business and created innovative marketing concepts combining direct response television and direct sales.

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