Louisa is a Consultant, Facilitator and Speaker with over 16 years of experience working with organizations with a focus on Leadership Development, Employee Retention and Team Building.  Louisa is passionate about working with leaders to create positive and productive workplaces that promote well-being and productivity.  In November of 2007 she co-founded a project to research and study happiness at work at www.whydidyougo.com.  Her ground-breaking Positive Management series of workshops improve performance while promoting positive management practices for higher levels of employee well-being.

Louisa’s expertise in leadership development designed to attract, improve performance and retain talent make her a much sought after consultant and facilitator. Her clients often praise the dynamic energy she brings to a room and the combination of warmth, humor and focus that helps keep a group engaged and productive long into the afternoon.

In the past, Louisa completed an assignment as Vice-President of HR Solutions for an international recruiting firm and she has worked extensively in corporate transition with organizations such as Right Management and The Right Mountain.  Louisa acted as the technology advisor for the Ontario Disability Support Program and co-founded the FutureSmart program, a 10-month technology program for unemployed women.  Louisa acted as the Director of Education for the Wired Woman Society in Toronto where she was responsible for creating their successful career development curriculum of workshops.  Louisa has also worked with clients such as IBM, Royal Bank, TD Bank, Research In Motion (RIM), Thomson Newspapers and Aventis and has completed international assignments in Australia, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Singapore, UK and The Netherlands.

Louisa is a graduate of the Master of Applied Positive Psychology (MAPP) program at the University of Pennsylvania. The MAPP program is the first masters program in the world that offers in-depth study of thescience of human flourishing led by renowned psychologist, Martin Seligman. Louisa is one of only a few organizational consultants in Canada with this designation. Louisa has completed her Canadian Securities Course, is a certified Insights Practitioner and certified Myers Briggs Practitioner. 

Louisa is currently founding the Canadian Positive Psychology Association due to launch in July 2011.  Louisa co-hosts a weekly radio show called CareerBuzz on CIUT.FM where she interviews a wide range of interesting guests on the topic of‘energizing organizations’.

Shannon M. Polly is a corporate communications trainer, facilitator and coach in Washington DC. She is the founder and President of Accentuate Consulting, LLC. She has worked with executives, managers and partners of such clients as Booz Allen Hamilton, Lehman Brothers, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Deloitte & Touche, Citibank, the United States Olympic Committee, the U.S. Olympic athletes, PNC Bank, JPMorgan Chase, Merrill Lynch and Mackenzie Consulting as well as business students from mainland China, Columbia Business School and Wharton Business School.

She has delivered or co-facilitated programs on Presentation Skills, Negotiation Skills, Presenting Market Based Ideas, Managing Difficult Conversations, New Manager Experience, New Partner Orientation, Authentic Executive Presence and Communication, Collaboration and Creativity. Shannon facilitates workshops on presentation skills and executive presence based on her eleven years of experience as a professional actress, singer and playwright in New York and regional theaters. She received her graduate degree from the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art and a B.A. with honors from Yale University.

Recently, Shannon received her Master in Applied Positive Psychology (MAPP) degree from the University of Pennsylvania. Led by distinguished psychologist Dr. Martin E. P. Seligman, this is the first masters program in the world that presents research on the science of how humans thrive. Shannon uses the empirical research of positive psychology with her organizational clients to foster positive and flourishing workplaces. Shannon created five Positive Management workshops including: Positive Communications and Feedback, Managing Challenging Conversations, Strengths Based Managing, Optimism and Resilience, and Thriving through Change. All of these workshops have been successfully delivered across Canada and the United States. Shannon is currently an assistant instructor in the MAPP program at the University of Pennsylvania. In addition, she has been selected by the Penn Resiliency Program to facilitate resilience workshops for the U.S. Army.