We are
WE VALUE AND APPLY THEORY AND SCIENCE.
WE CREATE EXPERIENCES THAT DRIVE RESULTS.
WE DELIVER WITH PRECISION, CREATIVITY, AND A LOT OF HEART,
BECAUSE THAT IS WHAT DRIVES MEANINGFUL CHANGE AND PROFITABLE GROWTH.
Emily Frieze-Kemeny
FOUNDER & CEO, AROSE GROUP
Emily is the Founder of AROSE Group. Formerly, she was the Head of Organizational Development and Learning at Scholastic. Prior to Scholastic, Emily led Talent and Leadership Development teams at Morgan Stanley, IBM, and Avon. She launched AROSE Group to help even more organizations bridge humanity and profitability for a new era of work, one she calls “The Human Era.” Her experience working within organizations gives her a unique perspective on what works in practice, and a deep commitment to designing and delivering solutions that are tailor-made with high impact for her clients. Emily wears many hats, from leadership and talent strategist, to OD consultant, to coach and advisor to senior executives, to all-around problem-solver. Emily’s favorite hat to wear is helping her clients take performance to the next level with the right solutions and right AROSE practitioners. Emily is also a multi-modality wellness practitioner, which informs her work and her way of being in the world. Emily is also a prominent thought leader, podcast host, and Forbes Councils contributor. When Emily is not working, she is spending time with her family and friends, reading, writing, meditating, traveling the world, and relearning how to play tennis, ski, and watercolor.
Dickens Aubourg
CONSULTANT
Dickens is a business and talent strategist. He was the VP of Product Management at Paycom Software, a fast-growing online payroll and HR technology provider, where he drove strategy and UX design for commercial payroll and HR, learning, and talent SaaS portfolio, and has over two decades of global consulting leadership and digital innovation through engagements as a leader for Ernst & Young, IBM Global Business Services, PwC, and AT&T. He specializes in simplifying talent management to accelerate business outcomes through data and technology. Dickens holds a BS and M.Ed. from the University of South Florida.
Steph Auping
CONSULTANT
Steph has spent her career developing leaders across all major industries and in 25 countries. She was the Director of Leadership Academies for CEB (now Gartner) and was their lead facilitator. Prior to CEB, Steph was an HR leader for a manufacturing company and a consultant for Aon Hewitt and a non-profit employers association, AAIM. She has facilitated transformative outcomes for clients in a range of business topics from strategy to new product design and development to leadership development. Steph loves to facilitate and clients love her impact. Steph holds a Master’s degree in HR Management and is a doctoral candidate in Organization and Management/Leadership. She has been honored as a 2022 Fellow by the Learning Performance Institute (LPI), and she serves on the Women in Leadership mentoring committee for United Way of Greater St. Louis. Steph and her family live outside St. Louis in Missouri wine country.
Brenda Benaim
CONSULTANT | COACH
Brenda is the former Head of Global Leadership and Talent Development at Bloomberg. Prior to Bloomberg, Brenda held organizational and leadership development and learning leader roles at Morgan Stanley, Wix, Amdocs, and IBM. Having lived and worked in multiple countries from Australia to Israel to the U.S., Brenda brings a global mindset and cultural adaptability to her work. She is a passionate leadership development consultant and coach. She believes in the power of leadership to unlock teams and create thriving cultures and business results. Brenda holds a BA from Bond University, as well as a Master’s degree from University of Sydney.
Michele Blackwell
COACH
Michele has partnered with creative entrepreneurs, business leaders, and companies of all sizes to help them craft brand strategies and define business goals. She applies her breadth of expertise as a journalist, visual designer, multimedia producer, and marketing executive. Michele has worked with clients including Disney, Mattel, Target, ABC Cable Network Group, Starz, DIRECTV, and Dolby Laboratories. As an entrepreneur, her clients have included companies and nonprofits such as Lionsgate Entertainment, Revlon, Overbrook Entertainment, The Will and Jada Pinkett-Smith Foundation, and Women In Film. Previously, she was the VP of Marketing for The Picture People. She has also partnered with globally-recognized brands such as LeapFrog, Teleflora, Muzak, and Universal Studios. Based out of Los Angeles, California, Michele is a certified Life Coach through the Life Coaching Training Institute. She has earned her Mindfulness X Practitioner training through Positive Psychology and holds an MBA from Pepperdine University.
Justin Scott Campbell
COACH
Justin is a coach and DEI expert. As a coach and facilitator, he creates spaces for growth and personal development for his clients as people and as leaders. His work is grounded in belonging and navigating bias and prejudice in the workplace. Justin has worked with clients across organizations and industries which include health/wellness, digital marketing, fine arts, entertainment, and technology. Justin is a Professor of English Writing & Literature, and worked as the Director of Learning and Human Development at Allied Path Consulting. Justin holds a Master's Degree in English Language and Literature from Loyola Marymount University, a Bachelor's from Biola University, and is an Associated Certified Coach.
Abigail Charlu
PROGRAM MANAGER
Abigail is a program manager, learning strategist, and OD consultant with over nine years of leading end-to-end learning and leadership development programs. Abby leverages strong skills in research methods, relationship building, project management, marketing, facilitation, and analytics to enable skills development, drive change, and uplevel performance. Abby holds a master’s degree in industrial and organizational psychology and has deep experience supporting global teams across corporate, non-profit, small businesses, and education settings. She is driven by curiosity, collaboration, and impact and is on a mission to equip individuals, teams, and organizations with the skills they need to thrive in this human era of work. When not working, Abby enjoys traveling, playing sports (basketball, softball, pickleball, rugby, running, and yoga to name a few), puzzling, reading, volunteering, and cooking with her husband.
Kari Coffey
PROGRAM MANAGER
Kari is a seasoned program manager, talent strategist, and talent acquisition leader with over 10 years of corporate experience. At IBM, Kari led several global programs, specializing in industries such as technology, oil and gas, automotive, and finance. As IBM’s first Recruiting Scrum Master, she introduced Agile Recruiting across geographies and trained the global Talent Acquisition leadership team in this methodology. Kari developed recruitment strategies for C-suite clients within IBM Software, Cloud, Infrastructure, and Sales groups, delivering over 2,500 hires globally in just 10 months. As a Global Program Manager, she created a foundational learning course to build security knowledge and skills for the enterprise employee population, business partners and Historically Black Colleges & Universities (HBCUs). She also led a global talent redeployment program impacting 3,000 employees annually. As an executive coach, Kari is dedicated to supporting working mothers in balancing career and motherhood, guiding them through transitions like returning to work or maternity leave. Her approach helps clients clarify personal and professional goals to create fulfilling, balanced lives. Kari holds an M.S. in Human Resource Development from Texas A&M University, and a B.S. in Agricultural Leadership & Development. She is also a certified career coach. Kari lives in Texas with her husband and two kids.
Meno Crompton
HEAD OF BUSINESS OPERATIONS
Meno leads business, internal, and strategic operations, while always keeping client needs at the heart of her priorities. Prior to AROSE, she managed multi-million-dollar client portfolios at The Trium Group. She has served clients across various industries including early-stage, venture-backed tech unicorns, Fortune 100 companies, beauty retail, healthcare, nonprofit, and VC and PE firms—at executive and board levels. Meno attributes her global mindset and passion for diversity, equity and inclusion to her formative years in refugee camps after her family fled post-war Vietnam. She holds a Master’s degree in Organizational Development from the University of San Francisco, and currently resides in San Francisco with her partner, two young children, and English bulldog.
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Carolyn Doud
HEAD OF EXECUTIVE SEARCH
Carolyn leads Executive Search for AROSE, bringing over two decades of experience in executive search and in HR senior leadership roles. Her foundation in executive search was built during her 10+ years with Korn Ferry and Russell Reynolds, where she served clients in the consumer, retail, and board practices. Carolyn went on to lead talent acquisition and human resources at ConAgra, Avon Products, and Omnicom's Rapp Digital Agency. Her time in operating companies gives her a hands-on approach, offering real-world insights that drive tangible results. With a specialized focus on the C-Suite, Carolyn has led executive searches for Business Unit Presidents, Chief Executives, and top-tier leaders in Marketing, Commercial & Revenue Growth, Finance, and HR. She also advises clients on Executive Team Succession Planning and Top Team Effectiveness, ensuring leadership continuity and optimal team performance. Carolyn’s clients include private equity firms, their portfolio companies, Global 1000 and Fortune 500 companies, as well as venture-backed start-ups in the consumer sectors. Her expertise spans industries such as packaged goods, luxury and lifestyle brands, travel and hospitality, and consumer services. She is known for her strategic guidance and the practical, actionable programs she develops for her clients.
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Lauren Fernandez
CONSULTANT
Lauren is a leadership and organizational development consultant and coach with over a decade of experience working in fast-growing startup unicorns, to well-established global enterprise companies in the tech sector. She worked for SAP as a Leadership Development Consultant, Chief of Staff, and as Head of People for SAP’s Engineering Academy. In 2018, Lauren co-founded Silicon Valley Apprenticeship Consortium, whose focus is to shift the narrative around employment where employees from diverse backgrounds and stories can become apprentices and will ultimately accelerate into career positions. She then went on to become the Director of Learning and Development at Klaviyo, and most recently, she was the Head of Learning and Development at Flexport. Her expertise spans large scale change transformations, learning and development, individual coaching, team building, employer branding, and the establishment of in-house company academies and universities. Lauren holds a Master’s Degree in Org Development from the University of San Francisco, and a Bachelor’s Degree from UC Santa Cruz. Outside of her professional life, she enjoys reading, traveling the world, and immersing herself in different cultures.
Anika Gakovic, Ph.D.
CONSULTANT | COACH
Anika is an organizational psychologist who has spent her career helping leading organizations develop the skills of their leaders and employees, build incredible cultures, and drive transformational change. Anika was Executive Director for Leadership Edge, JP Morgan Chase’s industry-leading leadership academy. She was also the head of org effectiveness for OppenheimerFunds, a talent executive at New York Life Insurance Company, and the Director of Learning at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. Earlier in her career, Anika was a talent program manager at HSBC Private Bank and UBS Wealth Management. Anika's clients have included Hess Oil and the Chicago Police Department. Anika completed her PhD at the University of Houston, where she also held an adjunct faculty position.
John Galvin
COACH
John is a lifelong problem-solver. He sees solutions where others see insurmountable challenges. This, combined with his passion for driving change, led to a career developing high-performing teams to deliver significant and meaningful strategic projects. He spent 22 years at Intel, where he developed and delivered on multiple enduring strategic plans, including redefining the partner marketing strategy with a $1 billion in annual spending budget. He also led the formation of Education Group, which provides tech solutions for education and grew to over $1 billion in annual revenue. As a strategist, advisor, and coach, John works with senior leaders and teams to identify strategic, interpersonal, and team challenges, while designing lasting solutions to improve performance and results. John blends his leadership and executive coaching experience in order to bring a tremendous amount of empathy and skills to unlock significant change.
Eileen Inglis
EXECUTIVE ASSISTANT
Eileen spent over 39 years at IBM in various administrative and HR roles before retiring in June 2023. During her tenure she supported multiple global and local projects with her exceptional organization and technical skills giving her a broad view into HR and establishing a strong peer network. She thrives on doing what needs to be done to make those around her successful — and therefore play a key role to the AROSE team and clients. When not working, Eileen loves to read, cook and spend time with family.
Anya Kandel
CONSULTANT | COACH
Anya is a strategy and leadership consultant and coach, who has dedicated the past 15 years to working with leaders across a breadth of industries: VC, growth-stage startups, Fortune 500 companies, foundations, and nonprofits. Anya has worked at some of the most prestigious boutique leadership and design firms, including SYPartners and The Trium Group. Anya works with leaders to unlock their genius and establish balance across all dimensions of their life. As a leadership consultant and coach, she draws on her background of business strategy, experience design, and facilitation, and uses collaborative problem-solving techniques and hands-on experiences to build leadership alignment and clarity, thriving cultures, and sustainable ways of working. She strives to foster spaces for equity and belonging, including developing a DE&I Community of Practice, employee resource groups, and dialogues for civic engagement. Anya is a certified Integral Coach, a graduate of University of California, Berkeley, and holds a Masters degree from NYU. When she’s not working, you’ll likely find her somewhere in the world trekking up a mountain, or watching the birds in her backyard.
Corrine Krumenacker
COACH
Corrine spent 20+ years as a human resource leader at IBM coaching and developing global executives and managers. She specializes in elevating leaders and teams to improve their personal and collective impact and effectiveness. Her strengths in coaching, talent management and development, succession planning, strategic business partnership, and organizational design has resulted in true business impact. Corrine’s additional passion for business process improvement led to her receiving three US patents. Corrine is a certified executive coach focused on helping leaders leverage their strengths, move past any self-imposed obstacles, and continue towards discovering and developing strategies to thrive. Corrine received her MBA, summa cum laude, from the Martin J. Whitman School of Management at Syracuse University with a concentration in Human Resources and Organizational Design, and her Bachelor of Business Administration, cum laude, from the University of Notre Dame with a concentration in Marketing. In her free time, Corrine enjoys swimming, watching college sporting events, and spending time with her husband, daughter and friends.
Mike Markovits
CONSULTANT | COACH
Mike is the former head of leadership development, succession, and executive search for IBM and prior to that for GE's Crotonville Leadership Institute, creating industry-leading strategies and programs. Following his corporate career, Mike moved into the non-profit sector as a Partner at Achieve Mission, working with nonprofit organizations and foundations. Mike has been a board member at Literacy Volunteers, Temple Sinai, Metropolitan Lighthouse Charter School, and Moving Traditions, and was President of a small foundation focused on peer counseling skills globally. Mike has also been active in leading anti-racism education programs in his local community of Stamford, CT. Mike has a BA from Oberlin College, a Master’s in Education from Harvard, and an MBA from the Sloan School of Management, MIT.
Meghann McNiff
COACH
Meghann has led a fascinating career. She was a Captain in the U.S. Air Force and a management consultant in global health—working for years in the Middle East—before finding her passion in coaching and leadership development. She is a highly experienced coach with thousands of client-facing hours dedicated to helping clients align their actions, values, and aspirations. As an Organizational Development specialist in various nonprofit organizations focused on health in Afghanistan, she partnered with leadership teams and stakeholders to establish the Organization of Afghan Midwives (OAM) which continues as an independent association representing over 3,000 midwives. As the Senior Program Officer at Management Sciences for Health, she managed a $2M portfolio to design and deploy a Leadership Development Program (LDP) with rural healthcare workers in Malawi, where within six months a district increased family planning coverage per couple from 247 to 2,169. Whenever and wherever possible, you will find Meghann writing!
Valérie Morel
CONSULTANT
Valérie was the head of employee & capability development for Prudential Financial, where she led the transformation of the company’s leadership development strategy. Prior to Prudential, Valérie was the head of Business Transformation & Change Center of Expertise and Divestiture Planning for Bayer North America. Valérie also worked for Capgemini as a consultant in the People & Performance Practice, where she worked with global clients including Warner Bros, Pfizer, and National Grid. Her expertise spans culture transformation, OD, operating models, leadership capability, and team and executive coaching. With experience across industries, countries, for-profit and nonprofit organizations, and an understanding of the diverse cultural norms of engagement, she is a catalyst for senior leaders and their teams to succeed in today’s complex markets. Valérie holds BS and MS degrees from the Lyon Graduate School of Business, and an MA in Social-Organizational Psychology at Columbia. She is fluent in French, German and English.
Darus Ng
CONSULTANT
Darus is an organizational effectiveness consultant who has dedicated 16+ years to transforming individuals, teams, and organizations across mid-size to Fortune 500 companies, with domestic and global teams. Darus was a Senior Principal in Organizational Effectiveness at Slalom Consulting for 6 years. Prior to that, she was a Managing Consultant at IBM in their Strategy & Change practice. And earlier in her career, she was an HR business partner at Citi, and a training and development program manager at Korn Ferry. Darus holds a Master’s Degree in Social Organizational Psychology from Columbia University, and a BA from Northeastern. She currently resides in New York City with her family of five.
Amee Olson
CONSULTANT | COACH
Amee has worked with organizations ranging from Fortune 500s, to founder-led firms, to national nonprofits across technology, healthcare, pharmaceutical, financial services, CPG, and manufacturing industries. She has extensive experience working across cultures having lived and worked outside of the US. She held leadership roles at The Hershey Company, IBM, and West Pharmaceuticals where she was responsible for building and scaling a global talent management function, leading a team of 50 HR professionals, and overseeing the employee experience for 10,000 employees during a period of hypergrowth. She understands firsthand the immense responsibility and privilege that comes with leading teams and the breadth of challenges, opportunities, and complexity that managers face every day. As a coach and advisor to the C-suite, Amee works with individual executives and leadership teams to fuel profitable growth by aligning strategy and goals, shaping organizational culture, and building the leadership capabilities needed for business transformation. Amee is an ACC accredited coach and certified in multiple assessment tools including the Hogan Personality Inventory, The Leadership Architect Suite, Hay Group Leadership Styles and Climate, MBTI, Disc, Polarity Thinking, the Leadership Circle, and Vertical Development. She earned her MBA from the Yale School of Management and a bachelor's degree from Bucknell University.
Julie Overdorff
COACH
Julie has over 15 years experience leading in management consulting, product management and business development. Most recently Julie worked for Plaid as a strategist and business development leader. Prior to Plaid she was a Managing Director at Charles Schwab. She held a number of roles there from Product Management and Social Selling to Product Marketing and Strategy. Her consulting work spanned marketing, sales, go-to-market strategies, investment due diligence, and nonprofit planning. Her clients ranged from Fortune 100 companies to multibillion-dollar institutions across finance, investment management, private equity, pharma/biotech, and philanthropy. Julie is a Certified Professional Co-Active Coach (CPCC) through the Co-Active Training Institute and an Associate Certified Coach (ACC) through the International Coaching Federation. She received her MBA from The Wharton School and her BA, summa cum laude, from The University of Pennsylvania. She is a mom of two wonderful boys.
Tommy Poole
CONSULTANT
Tommy has worked with some of the most highly-acclaimed Fortune 100 companies, the U.S. military and nonprofits. Tommy was the head of executive assessment and development for IBM. He was responsible for designing and deploying IBM’s Senior Executive Assessment Centers to identify and develop the next generation of C-suite executives. He also created IBM’s competency models and global flagship leadership and employee development programs. Tommy has been engaged by the U.S Air Force to assess their leadership teams. Tommy is sought out not just for his experience, knowledge, and skills in leader development, assessment, and coaching, but also for his compassion, pragmatism, and authentic approach that consistently delivers results. Tommy enjoys lake living, kayaking, fishing, skiing, and being immersed in nature. He is married to the joy of his life, and they have two grown children.
Susan Rivers, Ph.D.
COACH
Susan is a trained social psychologist and researcher from Yale University. Her research has been funded by federal agencies, foundations, and philanthropies. She is a renowned expert in emotional intelligence and social-emotional learning and has over two decades of experience co-designing responsive and immersive environments and experiences for deep learning and connection. Susan works with clients to design innovative pathways for integrating social-emotional learning and connection across a range of personal and professional environments. Susan’s most recent work has focused on designing games, including two award-winning games. One of them, iThrive Sim, is a digital role-playing game platform for civics learning and social-emotional skill-building. Susan was a lecturer in the Psychology Department at Skidmore College, and served on the research faculty in Yale's Department of Psychology where she co-founded the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence.
Owen Rogers
COACH
Owen is a seasoned executive coach with 25 years of experience as an executive and founding partner of IDEO, a global design and innovation company. At IDEO, Owen along with the team transformed the world of work through the application of Human Centered Design, Design Thinking, and Design Led Innovation to solve product and organizational design challenges. During his tenure, he expanded the company’s global presence to Asia and pioneered the introduction of key concepts like Brand Experiences, Business Design, and Design for Change to support the transformation of organizations. Owen has advised and coached senior leaders from HBO, Adidas, Microsoft, GAP, Old Navy, Toronto Airport, Starbucks, Mural, Kohls, AAA, TCL, Prudential, Barclays, Chase, Visa, and Amex. Clients describe Owen as insightful, empathetic, and transformative. Owen holds a BA, MA, and Honorary Doctorate in Design, awarded to him for 20 years of service in the design industry. Owen additionally holds an INSEAD executive coaching certificate in System Psychodynamic Coaching. When he’s not working, he loves to spend time with his wife, two sons and his dog, while dreaming up their next big adventure.
Luke Simmering, Ph.D.
CONSULTANT | COACH
Luke holds a Ph.D. in Industrial/Organizational Psychology, and has over 15 years of experience leading talent assessment and development programs for global organizations across multiple industries. Luke was a leadership and talent consultant at companies that include SHL, Walmart, OutMatch HCM, and Assess Systems. He also has extensive training and experience working with family-owned organizations, helping leaders navigate often unique and nuanced dynamics. Luke serves as an adjunct MBA professor and has a passion for leveraging data-driven tools and processes to provide precise analytic insights to clients.
Mihaela Smadilo
CONSULTANT | COACH
Mihaela spent the first half of her career in sales and management consulting before moving into HR leadership roles. She has held a breadth of HR and Talent & Culture roles at IBM, Atlantic Grupa, and Croatian Telekom, as well as across various industries including IT, telco, FMCG, and scaling fintech start-ups. Mihaela has supported clients in large-scale business transformations, guiding them towards dynamic and adaptable organizational systems. Mihaela holds a Master’s degree in Science, Telecommunications and Informatics from the University of Zagreb.
Rose-Anne Uwague
COACH
Rose is a productivity coach who empowers people to achieve sustainable careers and lives. She helps leaders gain clarity and accountability to achieve optimal results. She utilizes proven methods, frameworks and resources that help leaders to thrive, flourish, and reimagine sustainable solutions. Rose was on the management team at the State of New York MTA, training and coaching employees on complex business service issues. Rose holds a Master’s degree in Communications. She loves traveling, learning about new cultures, and spending time with her husband and children. She is an advocate in infant and maternal health.
Maria Billesimo Verrigni
CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER
Maria was the head of senior executive assessment and development for IBM. Throughout her career, she has led succession planning and delivered large-scale, global organization change initiatives and other talent management programs. She partners with leaders who are evolving business and people strategies and driving operational execution excellence. Maria is a leadership and talent strategist, facilitator, and a certified Blue Core Coach. She holds a Master’s degree in Human Resources and Organizational Behavior. She enjoys the outdoors, entertaining on her porch, cooking, HIIT classes, and most recently, golf.
Andrea Weinfurter
CONSULTANT | COACH
Andrea is a strategic advisor and executive coach who is passionate about helping leaders and teams navigate the intersection between business performance and leadership development to step into their full potential and impact - and to do so with courage and intention. Partnering closely with executives across an array of industries, Andrea uses her passion and skills as a seasoned facilitator to create team experiences tailored to address roadblocks and critical needs while also deepening team connectivity and cohesion. Andrea is certified as a New Ventures West Integral Coach and a Gallup Strengths Coach and has applied her expertise through roles at Trium Group, EY, STS, and Spencer Stuart. Andrea holds a Masters in Learning and Organizational Change from Northwestern University and a BA in Sociology from Hamilton College and lives in Sausalito, California.
Nikki Wohlman
CONSULTANT | COACH
Nikki is an Executive Coach and Organizational Learning Specialist who has partnered with leaders in over 10 countries, holding positions at Connemara Consulting, Johnson & Johnson, Discovery Health, Standard Bank and others and has supported leaders in companies such as Microsoft, Investec and Puma. As an Integral Coach, Nikki’s work is designed to bring the whole person into the coaching process and is committed to facilitating space for people that ignites their freshest thinking and connection to meaning and purpose. Nikki holds an MA and BA from the University of Witwatersrand. She is a faculty member of, and holds several certifications from, the internationally-accredited Centre for Coaching at the University of Cape Town Graduate School of Business, as well as an Associate of Virtual Coaching Partners, Tidal, HeartStyles, IPK, GSI and Boldcom, and a credentialed coach through the International Coaching Federation (ICF).