Special Advisors
Pamela Armstrong, Ph.D.
Pamela is a licensed psychologist and innovator. She has worked in a variety of clinical settings with children, adolescents, adults, couples and families. Pamela is a Kolbe Certified Consultant and applies Kolbe Wisdom in her practice areas. She also consults with teams in college and mental health settings.
John H. Barr, B.S.
John Barr is President and Co-founder of Transformation Through Leadership. A retired Xerox executive and a Kolbe Consultant, John’s current work is in the area of leadership, strategy development, and change management. For the past twelve years he has performed executive consulting and coaching across a broad array of business sectors including manufacturing, education, health care and service industries. He has helped his clients develop quality systems, leading change and performance improvement initiatives, systems thinking and the development of learning organizations. His experience in assessing organizational dynamics using the Kolbe TM concepts enables him to help senior management team understand their unique talents. John has worked with Xerox, Honeywell, Sanafi Aventis, National Health Service UK, GE Medical, Merrill Lynch Credit Corporation, Exxon Mobile, Vaillant GmbH, AMP, PECO Energy, and Yazaki and others. John is a Board Member of Highland Hospital and has served as adjunct professor and lecturer at several colleges and universities.
Diane DeBacker, B.A., M.A., Ph.D.
Diane is the Associate Superintendent for the Shawnee Heights school district in Tecumseh, Kansas. She is responsible for certified personnel, the mentor teacher program, the New Teacher’s Academy, and the Shawnee Heights Kansas Academy of Leadership in Technology. Prior to joining Shawnee Heights, Diane served as Interim Deputy Commissioner of Learning Services at the Kansas State Department of Education (KSDE). She also spent three years as Director of School Improvement and Accreditation for the Department. Prior to joining KSDE, Diane was principal of Washburn Rural Alternative High School in the Auburn-Washburn USD 437 school district. She has also served as a high school assistant principal, district curriculum facilitator, director of a statewide curriculum center, adjunct professor at Washburn University and Kansas State University, a classroom teacher, and a board of education member.
Marilyn Kourilsky, Ph.D.
Marilyn Kourilsky is a professor of education and social entrepreneurship and Director of the Institute for the Study of Educational Entrepreneurship (ISEE) at the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA). For several years, Dr. Kourilsky was the founding Vice President of the Institute of Entrepreneurship Education at the Kauffman Foundation, where she managed an extensive portfolio of grants and created nationally implemented educational programs. She created the widely acclaimed Mini-Society® and KinderEconomy featured in various media including the front page of The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, The Chicago Tribune, the Today Show, Bloomberg News, and Good Morning America. Dr. Kourilsky’s extensive published record spans numerous articles and 19 books. Dr. Kourilsky has received numerous awards including the UCLA Campus-Wide Distinguished Teaching Award, the Greenfield Applied Research Award, the National Freedom Foundation Award for Excellence in Economic Education, The EUCLAN Award for Innovation in Teacher Education, The John C. Schramm National Leadership Award in Economic Education and the Henry H. Villard Research Award. Dr. Kourilsky has served as president and executive director of the California Council on Economic Education, president of the Society of Economic Educators, and Faculty Chair of the Graduate School of Education and Information Studies. She currently serves as co-editor of the International Journal of Entrepreneurship Education.
Sharon Flanagan-Hyde, B.A., M.A.
As the President of Flanagan-Hyde Solutions, LLC, Sharon has provided a high level of consulting services in a number of fields including project planning; quantitative and qualitative research design, fielding, and analysis; focus group moderation and reporting; training of guided discussion facilitators and recorders; technical and consumer writing; facilitation of meetings, retreats, and team planning sessions; and policy analysis. Sharon serves as the Director of Development for Arizona Town Hall and Principal Investigator for St. Luke’s Health Initiatives’ Arizona Health Futures research on “Pathways in Community Behavioral Health”. She has authored and co-authored a number of papers focusing on health issues.
Bret Louckes
Cathy McKee, B.S.
Cathy, now retired, was Senior Vice President & Director of Communication, Customer and Community Services at General Dynamics C4 Systems (GDC4S) and member of its Leadership Staff, Chair of the GDC4S Communication Council and Chair of the GDC4S Crisis Preparedness Committee.
Cathy is a recognized expert in the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award & Criteria, specializing in the Leadership Category 1.0 / Public Responsibility & Citizenship. She also served as the Business Process Owner for all aspects of preventive action, risk mitigation & opportunity management and environment, health and safety. As a member of the Executive Committee of the Worldwide EHS Council, Cathy has shared responsibility for corporate-wide policies, plans, standards, audits and certifications. She led the remediation efforts at the North Indian Bend Wash Superfund Site.
Cathy serves on and is a member Emeritus of several local and national boards and committees. She is also active in women’s forums, healthcare and education.
Cathy has received numerous recognitions, including Phoenix Business Journal Leader & Legend, National Forest Foundation Leadership Award, Arizona NCCJ Humanitarian Award, Jobs for Arizona’s Graduates Business Leader Award, ASU College of Public Programs Distinguished Achievement Award, American Society of Safety Professionals Arizona Executive of the Year, Arizona Girl Scouts World of the Future Award, Arizona YWCA Corporate Woman of the Year, Jobs for America’s Graduates Distinguished Achievement Award, IWF Woman Who Made a Difference Award, and Arizona Visionary Award for Community Service. She has been consistently named one of the Top 100 Women in Arizona and one of the 10 most influential businesswomen in Phoenix.
Doug Oleson, B.S., M.S., Ph.D.
Doug is retired President & CEO of the Battelle Memorial Institute. At his retirement in 2002, Battelle was a $2.5B international research organization of over 15,000 technical professionals engaged worldwide in technology development, integration & commercialization. With Battelle since 1967, he also served as Executive Vice President & Chief Operating Officer, and Director of Battelle’s Pacific Northwest Division in Richland, WA. Before joining Battelle, Doug was a research engineer at Boeing Aircraft Company. In his retirement, Doug has remained active in K-12 education reform. Currently he serves on Governor Napolitano’s P-20 Council, redefining the vision for pre-school to post-secondary education in AZ. Doug is also a member of the Board of Directors of Goodrich Corporation.
Jerry Porras
Jerry Porras is the former Fred H. Merrill Professor of Organizational Behavior and Change at Stanford University Graduate School of Business. He is the author of Stream Analysis and co-author of Built to Last – Successful Habits of Visionary Companies. He is also the co-inventor of stream analysis computer software, used for organizational change diagnosis. He is active in and is the former director of Stanford’s Executive Program in Organizational Change. Previously he held positions at General Electric and Lockheed.
David Prince