Presenter Biographies

Laurel Beth Geise, Senior V.P. of Corporate Planning, First American Real Estate Information Services, Inc.

Business Background

Laurel has been in the Real Estate Finance Industry for over fifteen years. She spent ten years as an Information Systems Manager supporting mortgage lending systems at large regional banks in New York and Ohio. She joined First American six years ago and is currently the Senior Vice President of Corporate Planning. Her current responsibilities include strategic planning, merger and acquisition activities, agency and industry relations, partnership management and mission critical technology projects. Previously at First American, she held the positions of Vice President of Strategic Technology Planning and Vice President of Corporate Integration.

She has spent the last two years supporting the development and deployment of the MBA Year 2000 Inter-Industry test. She recently spoke at the MBA Annual Convention (6,000 attendees) in Boston about the success of the MBA Y2K Industry test. In addition, Laurel Beth has been the chair of the MBA Technology Tax Service Work Group for the past four years developing X12 standards to enhance electronic data interchange in the industry. She is also a member of the MBA Technology Steering Committee and the National Home Equity Mortgage Association Technology Committee. She is a member of the Association of Professional Mortgage Women (APMW) and the National Association of Female Executives.

Meditation Instruction Background

Laurel has been teaching Meditation classes at the Center for Healing in St. Petersburg, Florida for the last year. The Center for Healing is a leading integrated Health Care facility in the Tampa Bay area offering both traditional and complementary medicines.

Laurel has taught Meditation techniques to students from the age of 12 to 70. She teaches monthly at the Center for Healing in St. Petersburg and has taught weekend classes across the country during the past year. She studied with Dr. Deepak Chopra to obtain her certification to teach meditation. She is currently developing programs for integrating meditation into cancer programs and women’s programs. She is also a guest lecturer and speaker with various groups across the country.

Laurel attended high school at the International School of Geneva, Switzerland. She has a B.A. in Psychology from Bowling Green State University in Ohio and an M.B.A. in Marketing from the University of Buffalo, New York. She is currently pursuing her Doctorate of Ministry in Creation Spirituality with Matthew Fox at the University of Creation Spirituality in Oakland, California.

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Arne Stjernholm Madsen, Ericsson Denmark

Arne Stjernholm Madsen has an education in graphic design and marketing and has been working as an independent consultant since 1986. When his interests turned towards the fusion of creativity and strategy, it was mirrored by one of his customers, Ericsson Denmark. In 1997, this lead to an unusual "marriage", in which Arne is working as a part time business developer at Ericsson. Arne is a member of the exclusive Association of Danish Designers and coordinator of "Danish Institute of Creativity". He has written a number of articles in Danish management and future study magazines. Check www.strategic-innovation.dk.

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Steve Lundin, Ph.D., ChartHouse International

On a journey of learning, Steve is a helpful and entertaining companion. He has spent his life exploring, running (ultra-marathons), laughing, lifting (weights), volunteering (for the physically challenged), growing and always learning, learning, learning.

Steve has been a learning psychologist, marketing director of a large software company, revenues
quadrupled during his tenure, and senior vice president of two national consulting firms. President Gerald Ford appointed him to an executive exchange program in which he managed a section of the Veterans Administration. He has started a successful business, had a significant business failure and consulted with dozens of companies including ATT, IBM, 3M, GE, The St. Paul Cos., Cargill, United Health Care and Citibank.

Steve has always loved teaching. (In FISH! terms, we say he has had a great deal of "schooling.") He has been a professor and dean of business, teaching MBA students since 1982. He leads the Institute for Creativity and Innovation at the University of St. Thomas. For 17 years Steve has chaired the North Central Institute for Management Studies, which brings internationally known business speakers to the Twin Cities for its corporate sponsors. He has addressed groups ranging in size from 15 to 1,500.

In 1996 Steve joined ChartHouse Learning to explore his interests in creativity, leadership, spirituality and change. He helped to frame the FISH! philosophy and craft the FISH! facilitation materials and is a coauthor of FISH! the book, to be published by Hyperion in March 2000. He directed the FireStarter Series with David Whyte and has written two other books based on ChartHouse Learning films: Feedback is a Gift and Personal Accountability.

An experienced facilitator, Steve has a strong belief in the power of the FISH! philosophy to inspire workplaces. His goal as a FISH! facilitator parallels his aim for all of ChartHouse Learning films and services, to create experiences that make the heart sing, spirit soar and mind expand.

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Sylvia Klarer, Manager, Organizational Development & Learning, AlliedSignal Aerospace Canada

Sylvia Klarer has a Bachelor of Arts degree in Social Science and a Master of Business Administration degree from McMaster University, as well as 10 years of experience in the human resources field. As a Management Consultant with Ernst & Young, her focus was to improve organizational effectiveness and to provide in depth human resource consulting services. Currently, Sylvia is the Manager of Organizational Development & Learning at AlliedSignal Aerospace Canada, a supplier of environmental control systems and power conversion and distribution units. AlliedSignal. AlliedSignal, which was recently acquired by Honeywell, is introducing innovative learning processes and tools to ensure that employees are prepared to meet both today and tomorrow's business needs. You can e-mail Sylvia at this address: sylvia.klarer@alliedsignal.com

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Kimberly A. Johnson Corporate Project Consultant, 3M

As part of Corporate Technical Planning & International Technical Operations (CTP & ITO), the corporate staff group for the R&D community, Kim is employed as a Corporate Project Consultant in support of Pacing Plus programs in the area of teams, project management and innovation.

Kim was a founding member of the 3M Project Management Special Interest Group (PMSIG), which is a grass roots organization that connects over 3000 people worldwide to disseminate knowledge about the discipline of project management within 3M and function as a clearinghouse for best practices and knowledge transfer. She is currently involved with a corporate effort to drive 3M towards a learning organization model under the auspices of a new corporate effort titled the Learning Center of Excellence. One of the key areas she is involved in is the implementation of the 3M Project Management/Team collaboration effort across the various functional learning organizations.

In recent years Kim has moved towards the front end of the product life cycle engaging in work around creativity and innovation. Establishing another grass roots effort titled the 3M Grass Roots Innovation Team (GRIT), which was the vision of a former Corporate Scientist, Dave Braun, this organization’s role within 3M is to empower the creative potential of all individuals within the organization, across business units and across career paths. The mission of the organization is to raise the innovation level within 3M.

Outside organizations of which Kim is actively involved are as follows:

• Past President, Minnesota Project Management Institute (PMI)
  
• Past President, PMI National New Product Development/Service Specific Interest Group
  
• Vice President of Specific Interest Groups, Minnesota PMI
  
• Vice President of Marketing, Product Development & Management Association (PDMA)
  
• National Board Member, American Creativity Association (ACA)
  
• Innovation Network and American Creativity Association member
  

• Project Management International
  
• Project World
  
• Frontiers in Project Management
  
• Product Development & Management Association International
  
• International Institute for Research/PDMA Joint Conference
  
• American Productivity and Quality Council (APQC)- Knowledge Management Conference
  
• Minnesota American Society of Quality Control (ASQC)– Creativity Track
  
• St. Thomas University Creative Studies Institute – Spirit in Work Conference
  
• IBM Global Learning Services – IBM Austria Knowledge Management/Innovation Seminar
  
• YMCA Annual Leadership Event – Building & Sustaining a Culture of Innovation
  

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Patti Saathoff, CIGNA HealthCare of Arizona

Patti Saathoff is currently the Director, Organizational Development at CIGNA HealthCare of Arizona. She is responsible for project management for a variety of projects. She facilitates change management within the scope of the strategic plan throughout the company and functions as a coach to Project Managers. She has functioned as a management consultant on a variety of initiatives and has trained multiple staff in the use of Project Management Techniques.

Ms. Saathoff has held a number of administrative and management positions for a variety of companies over the last 15 years. She is experienced in project management, sales, quality and organizational development.

Ms. Saathoff received her Bachelors of Science and her Masters of Science from Arizona State University in Tempe, Arizona.

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