We are a team of business executives who are passionate about real leadership and the impact it can make on the success of an organization. We are recognized for our depth of knowledge, skilled facilitation ability, and engaging and highly dynamic presentation style. We are frequently sought as speakers or program leaders for special events.
Steve Coats
As one of the leading authorities on the Five Practices of Exemplary Leadership®, Steve has taught, coached and consulted with executives and managers in several countries around the world. Steve focuses his work on leadership and team development, personal growth, change, and business strategy. He also has extensive development experience with renowned programs such as Steven Covey’s Principle Centered Leadership and a number of client-specific customized programs. Steve has published several articles, as well as co-authoring the book, There is No Box (Executive Excellence Publishing, 2007).
Steve understands leadership from the inside out, with experience in both Fortune 100 companies and small upstarts. Steve led a National Account Team at telecommunications giant, AT&T, and also co-founded The Leadership Dimension, Inc.
Steve received an MBA from North Texas University and completed an executive program in technology and innovation at the Wharton School.
Driven by a deep commitment to his clients and their success, Steve helps individuals and teams identify and resolve key issues that impede effectiveness in order to achieve remarkable results.
Steve Houchin
Steve’s passion is helping individuals and teams discover the power of leadership. A dynamic, engaging facilitator, he works to develop in senior executives, mid-level managers, and front line supervisors the leadership skills necessary to foster collaborative environments, encouraging associates to commit their best effort and creativity to the organization’s mission. He has delivered experiential-based leadership and team-building programs to all size firms throughout the United States and in several foreign countries.
Steve’s own management experience gives credibility and practicality to his training and consulting. At the Kroger Company for 18 years, he held various management positions including the role of divisional human resources director, in which he was a key member of the executive team responsible for the P&L success of 90 retail stores, warehouse, and transportation fleet. Steve also served as Kroger’s corporate director of management education and development.
Steve earned a Bachelor of Science degree from Ohio State University and completed graduate studies at Central Michigan University.
His love for teaching and modeling leadership behaviors, inspires participants to grow personally and professionally and truly impact the success of their organizations.
Connie Sullivan
Connie joined International Leadership Associates in March of 2003. She has deep experience in sales, training and development, and is an accomplished program facilitator. Along with facilitating ILA workshops, she runs the day-to-day operations of the company.
Prior to coming to ILA, Connie was with Coors Brewing Company. While with Coors, she held positions in field sales, training and develoment for sales and marketing, and also served as plant training manager in Memphis. She is credited with the development and delivery of numerous curriculums, including one that defined, assessed and developed skills required for the sales force. She also led the development of an apprenticeship program for the manufacturing group, and a company diversity awareness program. After Coors, she was with PC On Call, an information technology company in Cincinnati, where she developed and delivered sales training. She also assisted in the develoment of a customer service curriculum. She holds a number of facilitator certifications with a variety of companies. Throughout her career, Connie has successfully worked directly with all levels of management, including executive teams.
Connie thoroughly enjoys the opportunity to share the experience of learning and developing leadership skills and abilities with ILA’s clients. Workshop participants frequently comment about her subject matter knowledge, her genuine belief in the programs she facilitates, and her contagious enthusiasm.
Tom Barley
Tom Barley’s career has spanned from service in the United States Air Force through management assignments at Eastman Kodak Company and Xerox Corporation, to doctoral studies at Cornell University, followed by faculty positions at West Virginia University and University of Pittsburgh. He also was managing partner in his own consulting firm for over 20 years.
Partner Facilitators
Valarie D. Willis
Known for her passion and energy, Valarie has worked with companies in industries including health care, manufacturing, wholesale, retail, technology and finance. Her mission is to guide and provoke orgnaizations to optimize business results through leadership development. Her belief is that each individual can achieve their fullest potential given the tools and opportunity. Throughout her 20+ year work history, Valarie has assumed critical management, leadership and consulting roles of significant scope. She led a major transition for one of her previous companies, and led a fledgling division to profitability.
Valarie is an accomplished speaker, facilitator, consultant and executive coach, focused in the area of leadership, teambuilding and change. She is a Master Facilitator of the Leadership Challenge® Workshop, which is based on the Five Practices of Exemplary Leadership®. Valarie has worked with Fortune 100 companies, small companies, as well as non-profit organizations. Her versatility allows her to work from the factory floor to the boardroom.
Valarie holds an MBA from Xavier University and a B.A. from Wilmington College.
Kim Chesky
Kim has over two decades of experience working with leaders to help them enhance individual, team and organizational effectiveness. His specialty is building partnerships with clients to design and deliver leadership development, coaching, team building, organizational change and organizational effectiveness solutions that increase associate engagement, improve customer satisfaction and enhance performance.
He has developed leaders at all levels in a broad range of organizations from Fortune 50 companies to small not-for-profits. He has practical hands-on experience working with leaders in healthcare, agribusiness, publishing, manufacturing, service, not-for-profit and faith-based organizations. Kim’s evidence-based approach to development is proven to improve leader behaviors and help them build vibrant, engaging workplace cultures that are deeply devoted to enhancing both customer and associate commitment.
Kim earned both his BA in Economics and an MBA from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He taught graduate courses in leadership, strategic planning, marketing, communications and ethics. Kim is a Certified Master facilitator for The Leadership Challenge Workshop, is a Registered Corporate Coach (RCC), certified in PDI 360 feedback tools and is certified in Senn-Delaney’s Leadership and Culture Shaping Workshop.
Beth High
Beth High is president of HighRoad Consulting, a leadership development company. She is also a principal partner with HRCPartners, LLC, a firm specializing in the development of online learning platforms that incorporate social media.
As a leadership development consultant Beth works from a core beliefs that demonstrating exemplary leadership: is possible for anyone, starts with a personal choice, and takes practice. Towards that end she co-authored the Leadercast series with Jim Kouzes and Barry Posner. Beth is a Certified Master Facilitator of The Leadership Challenge®. She has developed several online programs including The Leadership Challenge® Online Workshop and L.I.V.E. Leading in the Virtual Environment®. These programs tap into the potential of online learning communities for practice and professional development. She has a regular presence on her blog OnLeadershipOnline and is working on a book L.I.V.E. Leading in the Virtual Environment®, which will focus on the opportunities and potential for leadership in the virtual space.
Beth is committed to the concept that leadership development is a process, not an event. Her consulting work specializes in the development and implementation of customized programs focused on continuing practice and commitment for leaders. Beth has worked with organizations in many different sectors including SAS (software development), the University of North Carolina (education), UBS (banking), and the Veterans Administration (government). Beth has a compulsion to help maximize the leadership potential in everyone and finds equal opportunity in these arenas to identify and encourage leadership potential.
Angie Chaplin
Angie Chaplin, M.A., C.P.B.A. is a nationally acclaimed speaker, facilitator, consultant and educator with more than a decade of service with nonprofits, businesses, government and higher education. Based in Iowa, Angie brings life to the internationally best-selling content from The Leadership Challenge® and The Student Leadership Challenge® by Jim Kouzes & Barry Posner. Her work is endorsed by the authors, for which she has contributed editorial content included in their publications. As a Pfeiffer Partner, Angie has access to a library of training programs, each customized to meet client needs.
The only Certified Master for The Leadership Challenge® in the Midwest, Angie delivers The Five Practices of Exemplary Leadership through results-driven, high-energy experiences that inspire action for student and adult learners to perform at their personal bests. Additionally, Angie is a certified professional behavior assessment distributor, analyst, facilitator and coach, incorporating the DISC model to guide participants in a greater understanding of themselves and their behavioral tendencies. DISC workshops are custom-designed for teams, sales professionals, and leaders at all levels
Dave Carr
As an experience-based facilitator, David Carr seeks to help leaders with the human side of work and deal effectively with these truths. It’s no longer about earning a living, but rather learning a living. As a life-long learner, David is committed to helping others break phantom rules and move from his/her comfort zone into the learning zone. David is a uniquely qualified experiential facilitator based on his life experiences. His personal leadership development began in Boy Scouts earning his Eagle Scout award. He partnered with his father after receiving a B.A. in psychology from DePauw University, owning and running a profitable distribution business. David took over leadership of this business in 1988.
He has worked with over a 1,000 leaders and teams in developing uncommon leadership, building nurturing communities and creating productive innovation resulting in higher morale, lower turnover, increased productivity and greater ROI. He has worked with Fortune 500 companies, government agencies; educational institutions as well as small family-owned companies and not-for-profits. He joined Montreat College in January 2009 after eight years as Venture Out! Director, Joy Outdoor Education Center, Clarksville, Ohio
Friends of ILA
Jim Kouzes and Barry Posner
Jim and Barry are not just friends, they are the reason we exist as a business. Together they wrote the worldwide best seller, The Leadership Challenge. It was their research and findings that inspired us to start our business several years ago. Much of our work today is still based on the Five Practices of Exemplary Leadership® described in their book.
Jim Kouzes is the chairman emeritus of The Tom Peters Company and an Executive Fellow at the Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship at the Leavey School of Business, Santa Clara University (SCU).
Barry Posner is dean of the Leavey School of Business and Professor of Leadership at Santa Clara University, where he has received numerous teaching and innovation awards.
Jim and Barry continue to be great mentors and coaches for us, and are always there with answers to tough questions and endless encouragement. To learn more about Jim, Barry and their work, please visit TheLeadershipChallenge.com.
Ron Crossland
Ron has been an organizational consultant and educator since 1985, whose range of experience has taught him that regardless of position, individuals’ work matters. He has helped individuals, teams, and organizations develop better leaders, create more innovation, forge better internal and external relationships, and inspire greater performance.
Ron is a writer, an intuitionist, a factoid junkie, and a research synthesizer. Ron blends science and art, data and philosophy, with theory and practicality to achieve an enviable goal for educators: help leaders find practical applications they can use right away as well as prompt them to reconsider their longer term leadership positions and practices.
He is a five-time entrepreneur and has held founding and/or executive positions in the following companies:
- International Leadership Associates (Co-Founder)
- Tom Peters Company (former Vice-Chair)
- Tom Peters Company, Ltd. (current Managing Partner)
- Bluepoint Leadership Development (former Chairman)
He is a speaker for company meetings, industry association events, and other venues. Ron received his BS in Electronic Engineering Technology (1975) and his MBA (1977) from Oklahoma State University. In 2011 OSU’s Spears School of Business recognized him as one of the top fifty MBA graduates of its fifty year history.
Ron is also Co-author of The Leader’s Voice: How Your Communication Can Inspire Action and Get Results! (New York: SelectBooks, 2002, 2008), and The Leadership Experience: From Individual Success to Organizational Significance (New York: SelectBooks, 2007).
