Betty J. Harvey
President

An intuitive ability to build trust and connect with people quickly has always been Betty’s signature strength. Add to this a genuine passion for people, and Betty’s career path ultimately led her to executive coaching. Whether working with groups or individuals, Betty’s emphasis is on growth and renewal – translated into business terms, this means Betty helps to builds teams and develops leaders.

Before becoming a coach, Betty worked in sales, marketing, and management for the staffing industry. It was here she first identified the factors that make some workers more effective than others – and began to actively seek ways to set people up for success, rather than just placing them in a position. The results were dramatic: in two years, Betty quadrupled an agency’s volume of business, then moved on to open her own staffing business.

During the years she worked in staffing and outplacement, Betty often dealt with people who had hit a plateau, or were dissatisfied with their current jobs. She found she had a knack for “coaching” individuals through transitions to successful new beginnings.

In 1994, Betty discovered the Birkman Method, an assessment tool that analyzes a person’s behavior, motivations, and occupational history, in order to enhance interpersonal and career success. It was so helpful to her in her own life that she began using it regularly while coaching individuals and teams. Betty holds an advanced certification in the Birkman Method and is a certified coach through the Hudson Institute in Santa Barbara, California.

Betty currently holds leadership roles in several civic and business organizations. Her personal interests also reflect the themes of growth and renewal; they include travel, gardening, and astronomy.

James L. Anderson
Senior consultant

After serving as an Army officer and attending Harvard Business School, Jim worked in the financial services industry. He held positions at every level of management, from first-line supervisor to CFO, before going into consulting. Jim now specializes in leadership development, team building, and change management. He has more than 25 years experience as management consultant, general manager, and human resources executive.

Jim is a skilled coach and facilitator who has worked with individuals, teams, and organizations, in environments from start-up businesses to Fortune 500 companies. He was a vice president and senior consultant at Turknett, a regional consulting firm. In this assignment, Jim worked both with executives and managers one-on-one and with teams to improve performance and results by defining, planning and implementing change. His work included career counseling, executive coaching, and developing high performance teams. In addition, Jim was responsible for training new consultants.

As a speaker and author, Jim has addressed a wide range of topics, including strategic visioning, the manager as coach and mentor, career planning and development, employee retention, internal consulting, performance management, communication planning, and effective selection of managers.

Jim received an MBA in Finance from Harvard Business School, where he was a Loomis-Sayles Fellow. He received his BSBA from Michigan Technological University, Phi Kappa Phi. He is also a graduate of the Stonier School of Banking. An ROTC Distinguished Military Graduate, Mr. Anderson served two years in the U.S. Army as a Lieutenant and was awarded the Army Commendation Medal.

Donna Landau Sylvan, Ph.D.
Senior consultant

Donna is an organizational psychologist who collaborates with business leaders to create high-performance organizations. She has 20 years experience as a consultant and human resources manager. Her experience includes the fields of organizational effectiveness, change management, leadership development, and training. Donna has advised senior leaders working in finance, engineering, human resources, telecommunications, and information technology.

In various consulting projects, Donna has helped redesign an organization to make it more customer focused. She has also helped management teams create and manage the change process; designed and facilitated assessment systems that provided developmental feedback to management and staff; coached executives toward improved performance; and designed and delivered workshops to help managers better understand their leadership style and its impact on others.

As a human resource manager at the Southern Company, she demonstrated her ability to create and build effective teams and organizations. She was a key member of the leadership team that created Southern Company’s corporate university. She led project teams of over 60 managers and technical experts to create internationally recognized training programs.

Donna’s credentials include a Ph.D. in Organizational Psychology from Georgia State University and an undergraduate degree in psychology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She is a licensed psychologist and a member of the American Psychological Association, the Society for Industrial/Organizational Psychology, Human Resources Leadership Forum, and the Atlanta Society for Applied Psychology.