Our Team

Michael is a passionate advocate of facilitative leadership – combining powerful processes to acknowledge and leverage individual/group intelligence to achieve extraordinary results! This belief is based on over 25 years experience in applying facilitative techniques where, in short periods of time, transformational events have occurred. Michael has and continues to compile these techniques in developing core and advanced facilitation training workshops. Over the past 20+ years he has trained thousands of managers and leaders on these core techniques helping them to design and lead more collaborative and productive meetings. Michael’s experiential facilitation workshops guide individuals and teams to collaborate more effectively to achieve outcomes by using simple yet powerful participatory tools.

As a professional facilitator, he has helped organizations embrace change, take accountability, and follow-through on collaboratively developed actions. Michael is the ‘facilitator of record” for several organizations and international think-tanks where he supports strategic planning, decision-making, team development and collaborative problems solving processes. To date, he has edited four best-selling books on facilitation and teaming and has contributed many articles focused on facilitation for national publications. His bi-weekly blog post is followed by 2,000+ readers and is geared to providing facilitators with practical yet easy-to-apply techniques.

Leslie’s unique combination of learning & development and consultative sales, and management experience enables her to work with clients to help them uncover their specific needs for defining success. Overseeing the Facilitation First Delivery team, Leslie will work with you and our staff to design a solution that will deliver excellent results.

Nikita has over 9 years’ of experience supporting office administration in private wealth and not-for-profit organizations. She enjoys being the go to person in the office to solve complex problems.

Dion has many years of office management and bookkeeping experience. Dion handles our day-to-day operations to keep things running smoothly.

Mary has a background in graphic design focused primarily on print media. She is responsible for designing, formatting and customizing all educational and promotional materials

Rita has over 15 years of experience as a Project Manager. As a Certified Professional Facilitator (CPF) and a certified Project Management Professional (PMP), Rita brings her unique blend of project management and professional facilitation experience to the workshops she leads providing great insight and a unique perspective to in-class discussions. Rita’s project clients span many industries: banking and financial services, government, regulatory health, not-for-profit, management consulting, food services, insurance, commercial real estate, and public relations.

Since 2005 Rita has facilitated over 100 sessions with project teams. During that time, she has gained experience with a wide variety of facilitation techniques and processes, adapting to changing situations and the needs of the group. Rita is a strong believer in developing working partnerships by ensuring all parties are fully ‘on-board’ with any meeting process she proposes. When it comes to decision-making, Rita’s meeting designs consistently focus on the clients outcome, helping to identify root causes where applicable and seeking to find solutions that fit within the group’s criteria for achieving consensus.

Kevin specializes in coaching, consulting and the design and delivery of customized workshops aimed at enhancing human resources development. For twenty years he has been helping his clients achieve business results by getting the best from their people. Kevin delivers these results through customized training and problem-solving with teams and individual managers. Clients have included Manulife Financial, National Trust/Scotia Bank, University Health Network, and Nelvana Productions.

Kevin has done doctoral work in Adult Learning and holds Masters degrees in history and public administration as well as extensive knowledge in project management.

Susan Gregory is a meeting facilitator and corporate trainer. She specializes in facilitating sessions that are well structured in order to lead to the results desired by her clients. Susan helps teams to work together by demonstrating how great facilitation can inspire a team to share their ideas, work collaboratively, make good decisions and take ownership of action plans. Susan also shares tools to develop productivity, creativity and problem-solving skills in the workplace. Susan believes that creating a fun and dynamic learning environment enhances the ability of participants to learn and be inspired to apply new business skills following the courses that she leads.

Susan has a strong business background that allows her to relate to professionals working in different industries and at all levels of an organization.Before working in the training industry, Susan worked in various roles in the telecommunications industry in the UK and New Zealand. Susan’s corporate background reflects the ability to relate training to business objectives to increase profits, reduce overheads and streamline processes. Susan has worked extensively with blue-chip companies, government departments and not-for-profit organizations.

Susan is a certified Change Management Professional, an MBTI Certified Practitioner, and a coach certified by the International Coaching Federation. Susan was also trained to deliver Mind Mapping courses by the Buzan Organization, the worldwide authority on Mind Mapping. She also holds a Bachelor of Commerce and Administration from Victoria University, Wellington, New Zealand.

Janelle’s career began in 1985 and she has gained a wealth of practical experience and knowledge in training and consulting. Since 1992 she has been dedicated to training. She has amassed over 2800 days delivering world-class workshops and facilitating high stakes meetings for her clients.

Her clients include an array of Fortune 500 companies, emerging businesses and not-for-profit organizations. She has an Adult Education Diploma with a Major in Marketing in Business Administration and Canadian Sales Professional certification with distinction. Janelle is also a senior facilitator for the Canadian Management Centre.

She has successfully completed the intensive certification process for Facilitation First’s Facilitating Meetings with Ease and Facilitating Through Conflict and has successfully trained both workshops with company President, Michael Goldman. Her reviews have been stellar.

Monica Wagner is a Corporate Consultant with a passion and experience for helping individuals and teams at all levels of management achieve the desired outcomes of their plans and events. Monica brings forward creative and innovative solutions in all her facilitation designs when working with both corporate or non-profit groups.

As well as  with being a Certified Professional Facilitator with the International Association of Facilitators and having provided facilitation expertise for over 12 years, Monica also works to advance knowledge and connections for Farm Credit Canada’s business relationships. She has been involved in the agriculture industry for over 25 years, and in her past role, Monica led online webinars with external speakers, facilitated events, moderated and managed content and collaboration of online networks while also contributing to the strategy and change management of those networks.

Patty Schachter is a Professional Facilitator, a Business Excellence Consultant and a Certified Executive Coach. By combining these finely-honed skills with nearly 30 years of extensive operational and leadership experience, Patty has the unique ability to understand the challenges and issues of leadership today. Her mission is to “help leaders lead.”

She has worked with organizations of every type and size and in nearly every sector. Customer Service, Process Management and Strategic Planning are her three key areas of expertise. It is this extensive and diverse experience that allows Patty to be able to create workshops designed to exceed Clients’ expectations, and it’s her outgoing personality and sense of humour that makes her training sessions so engaging.

Patty was on faculty at the Banff Centre for Leadership for nearly 10 years after taking early retirement from a major International Airline. She has served on several boards and on the External Review Team for the Premier’s Awards for Excellence in Alberta. Currently, she also serves as an Executive Coach for the Government of Alberta.

With more than fifteen years of professional experience, Jorge combines the best of three worlds to effectively help you achieve your organizational goals: business management, adult learning, and professional facilitation. Jorge holds an Executive MBA and a Masters of Education in Adult Learning. He complements his academic background with extensive business and teaching experience. His unique mix of business and adult learning knowledge has allowed him to find personalized solutions for companies challenged by collaboration, learning, and intercultural communication needs.

Jorge’s professional facilitation skills give him the capacity to create innovative and effective solutions when it comes to designing and leading useful and effective training workshops for clients in Vancouver and throughout the Americas.

Internationally recognized as a leader in the facilitation field, Jorge was very proud to be asked to become an Assessor for the International Association of Facilitators. He is fluent in both Spanish and English.

Karen Ryan is one of Facilitation First’s Senior Meeting Facilitators and Corporate Trainers. She has worked extensively in the Oil and Gas and Energy sectors in Calgary in Leadership and Organizational Development roles and consulted for over 25 years. Karen’s consulting and facilitation work has included systemic/strategic management, organizational culture shifts and change initiatives, leadership and team development, organizational problem solving, and continuous improvement processes potential.

Karen supported her organizational consulting work, including assessments of organizational systems and processes, through developing and facilitating innovative workshops based on assessed needs and linked them to each client’s strategic direction. Her unique experience, including work as a counselor and therapist, trainer/facilitator, researcher, administrator and consultant to both the public and private sectors allowed her to build lasting professional relationships. Karen’s consulting work, specifically her work as a coach and mentor, is complimented by her early career years as a practicing therapist and counselor.

Frederick is a bilingual facilitator, Management coach and consultant with over 15 years of experience in the development of high potential individuals, work groups and customer focused organizations. Recognized for his ability to engage people at all levels of the organization, Frederick has mobilized teams and individuals to find concrete solutions that enhance productivity, improve communications and workplace climate.

Frederick has a solid track record in organizational diagnosis and performance assessments, employee and team development program design and facilitation, and workgroup problem-solving. He is a dynamic communicator who offers guidance to executives and managers wishing to transform organizational culture, increase individual and team performance and improve overall employee engagement.