Our Experts

Expert Speakers. Experienced Consultants. One Unified Philosophy.

Every Workplace Success Group engagement is led by a senior practitioner with real-world leadership experience. Our experts are aligned around The Five Commitments™ framework while bringing distinct perspectives and areas of expertise.

Whether hired for a keynote or a deeper engagement, we match the right voice to your organization’s needs to spark new thinking and support lasting change.

Karen Hinds

Founder & CEO | Keynote Speaker | Executive Coach

Areas of Expertise: Leadership Under Pressure • Sustainable High Performance • Executive Effectiveness • Leading Without Burnout • Organizational Culture

Speaking Topics:

The Five Commitments to Leading Without Losing You™
Step Boldly Into Your Greatness
Power, Presence, and Impact for Women

Consulting Specialities: C-suite coaching, executive team effectiveness, leadership assessments, strategic retreats.

Background: 25+ years advising senior leaders across Fortune 500 companies, high-growth organizations, and global enterprises. Known for translating complex leadership challenges into practical, actionable frameworks. Karen Hinds is the Founder and CEO of Workplace Success Group, bringing over 25 years of experience advising C-suite leaders, senior teams, and organizations on leadership effectiveness, strategy, and sustainable performance. Her work integrates organizational leadership with whole-person development, drawing from her background as a global consultant, keynote speaker, and author of five books on leadership, workplace success, and professional growth. Originally from St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Karen brings a global and human-centered perspective shaped by her personal leadership journey, including rebuilding her life after a major transition, prioritizing wellness, and designing a leadership practice rooted in purpose, rest, and renewal. She is the creator of The 5 Commitments to Leading Without Losing You™ and the founder of The RENEW Experience™, a transformational leadership and wellness retreat.

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Jay Morris, JD, PhD

Senior Speaker-Consultant | Executive Leadership & Spiritual

Principles Expert

Areas of Expertise: Executive Leadership • Organizational Change Management • Leadership Development • Succession Planning • Spiritual Leadership Principles • Adult Learning • Organizational Design

Speaking Topics:

Applying Spiritual Principles to Executive Leadership
Leading Global Organizational Change: Strategies That Actually Work
Succession Planning That Builds Legacy Leaders
The Masterpiece Within: Discovering Your Leadership Purpose

Consulting Specialities: Global organizational change strategy, leadership development and succession planning, executive coaching (ICF Professional Certified Coach), change management implementation, multicultural leadership, spiritual principles in business leadership

Background: Thirty-five years as vice president, director, manager, and executive coach at Yale New Haven Health, Trinity Health, Merck & Company, Ernst & Young, Allstate Insurance Company, and Lehigh County Agency on Aging. Implemented global organizational change strategies in multiple organizations worldwide with direct responsibility for leadership development, succession planning, and change management. Ph.D. in adult learning and M.A. in organizational design from Loyola University Chicago, J.D. from Woodrow Wilson College of Law, B.A. in sociology from North Carolina Central University. Former adjunct professor at University of New Haven, National Louis University, and University of Pennsylvania. Professional Certified Coach (PCC) by International Coaching Federation. Served twenty-five years as board chairman and deacon in multicultural churches. Lifelong learner who has helped thousands of leaders apply spiritual principles in their professional lives.

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Maria Keckler, PhD

Senior Speaker-Consultant | Healthcare Leadership & Empathy Expert

Areas of Expertise: Healthcare Leadership • Clinician Burnout Prevention • Empathy & Compassion • Narrative Medicine • Behavioral Science • Healthcare Education Transformation

Speaking Topics:

The Power of Pivotal Moments: How Small Strategic Shifts Create Exponential Impact
The Empathy to Compassion Pivot: How to Care Without Burning Out
Story as Transformation Engine: Using Narrative Intelligence to Drive Culture Change

Consulting Specialities: Healthcare culture transformation, burnout prevention programs, leadership development for clinical teams, immersive learning design, empathy training that actually works

Background: Co-founder of Pivotal Empathy, Inc. and the Healthcare EmpathyRx Lab at San Diego State University. PhD in Education from Claremont Graduate University with focus on neuroscience and behavior change. Best-selling author of Bridge Builders: How Superb Communicators Get What They Want in Business and in Life. Featured in Inc., Forbes, and Business Vancouver. Over 20 years of expertise in strategic leadership, communication, and healthcare education. Her work translates insights from neuroscience, narrative medicine, and behavioral science into practical tools that prevent clinician burnout while improving patient outcomes.

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Leida Centeno

Senior Speaker–Consultant | Licensed Therapist & Leadership

Development Expert

Areas of Expertise: Trauma-Informed Leadership • Emotional Intelligence • Resilience & Stress Regulation • Values-Based Leadership • Burnout Prevention • Psychological Safety • Personal Growth for Professional Impact • Organizational Well-Being • Life & Career Transitions

Speaking Topics:

From Trauma to Transformation: Building Resilient Leadership
Values-Based Leadership: Leading with Clarity and Purpose
Taking Ownership of Your Healing: Personal Growth for Professional Impact
Creating Environments Where Everyone Can Thrive
Custom presentations tailored to your organization’s leadership, wellness, and culture priorities

Consulting Specialities: Leadership and executive coaching through a trauma-informed lens, resilience and burnout prevention programs, emotional regulation and stress management for leaders, psychological safety and trust-building, support for leaders navigating personal and professional transitions, and integration of mental health principles into leadership development initiatives

Background: Leida Centeno is a licensed therapist, speaker, and leadership development consultant specializing in the intersection of mental health, leadership, and organizational effectiveness. Known for her ability to create psychologically safe, high-trust spaces, Leida helps leaders address the unseen barriers that limit performance—unresolved trauma, chronic stress, and misalignment with core values—so they can lead with resilience, clarity, and sustainable impact.

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Dr. John Christenson

Senior Consultant, Analytics Specialist

Areas of Expertise: Human–AI Interaction • Social Psychology of Technology • Algorithm Aversion & AI Anxiety • Identity Threat • Trust in AI Systems • Communication Science • Behavioral Research Translation

Speaking Topics:

Human Meets Machine: Trust, Identity, and Anxiety in an AI-Driven World
Why People Resist Algorithms—and How Leaders Can Respond
Designing Human-Centered AI: Lessons from Social Psychology and Communication Science
From Research to Reality: Applying Behavioral Science to AI Adoption and Culture Change

Consulting Specialities: Human-centered AI strategy, organizational readiness for AI adoption, trust-building in AI-enabled workplaces, research-informed diagnostics, data-driven insights on engagement, retention, wellness, and belonging

Background: Associate Professor in the Department of Communication at the University of Connecticut, with affiliations in UConn’s Cognitive Science Program and the Institute for Collaboration on Health, Intervention, and Policy. He holds a PhD from the University of Southern California and completed postdoctoral training at the University of Pennsylvania. His research focuses on the social and psychological dynamics of human–AI interaction, including algorithm aversion, identity threat, and AI-related anxiety, and has been supported by the National Institutes of Health, the Department of Defense, and Cigna. He has held research appointments at the National Cancer Institute, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the Institute for Creative Technologies, and the RAND Corporation, and is a co-founder of Yellowbrick, a boutique consulting firm that helps organizations apply data-driven insights to talent development, engagement, retention, wellness, and belonging.

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V. Vanessa Williams

Senior Speaker-Consultant | Executive Leadership & Operations Expert

Areas of Expertise: Executive Leadership • Operational Excellence • Financial Services Leadership • Talent Development • Customer Experience • Cross-Functional Collaboration • Breaking Through Career Barriers

Speaking Topics:

Leading Through the Trenches: Real-World Strategies for Breaking Through Career Barriers
From Insight to Impact: Turning Leadership Development Into Business Results
The Trusted Advisor Advantage: Building Partnerships That Drive Performance
Custom presentations tailored to your organization's specific challenges and outcomes

Consulting Specialities: Executive coaching for CEOs and senior leaders, board advisory, operational strategy, talent development, customer experience transformation, leadership effectiveness across global teams

Background: Founder and CEO of Leading Edge Consulting, LLC. 25+ years leading service, relationship management, productivity, and talent development at Fortune 500 financial services institutions including Prudential Retirement, Sun Life Financial, Aetna, and Kaiser Permanente. Led large client segments in the US and internationally, bringing enterprise-wide perspective and high business acumen to organizational challenges. MS in Management from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, BS from Virginia State University, Professional Certified Coach. Serves on corporate and non-profit boards nationwide. Known for integrity, results orientation, and ability to form trusted advisor partnerships with leaders at all levels.

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Dr. Matt Connell

Senior Speaker-Consultant | Education, Workforce Development & Organizational Growth Expert

Areas of Expertise: Data-Informed Organizational Diagnostics • Talent & Workforce Analytics • Educational Leadership • Workforce & Economic Development • Employee Engagement & Retention • Small Business Mentorship • Entrepreneurship Education • Organizational Growth

Speaking Topics:

Education as an Economic Engine: Developing Talent Where Opportunity Is Scarce
Leadership That Builds Opportunity: Strengthening Pathways for Growth and Mobility
From Barriers to Breakthroughs: Designing Education and Business Ecosystems for Sustainable Growth

Background: Dr. Matt Connell is an innovative educator and organizational leader serving as an Instructor of Business at Goodwin University. He holds a Doctor of Education in Educational Leadership and an MBA, and is widely recognized for mentoring entrepreneurs and supporting small business growth. He is a co-founder of Yellowbrick, where his work focuses on translating data insights into practical strategies that help organizations grow people, strengthen culture, and improve performance.

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