About Us

Laurie is dedicated to helping clients achieve organizational success by enabling them to discover and release their human potential. She brings a unique ability to build deep and trusting relationships, which enables her to help clients achieve meaningful results.

As an executive coach, she is passionate about personal development and supports others on their journey toward growth. Strategic planning, organizational assessment, change management, leadership and team development, coaching, talent management, restructuring, and culture development are a few of Laurie’s areas of expertise.

Over her career, she has developed a number of signature programs that specialize in building self-awareness and emotional intelligence skills in physicians, C-Suite leaders, executives, and front-line leaders to enable them to achieve success on their chosen career paths. These programs include The Conscious Physician, The Conscious Leader, The Conscious Executive, The Conscious Coach, and Women in Medicine.

More than 20 years of experience helping others on their journey toward excellence.

Published author on the topics of fear in the workplace, emotional intelligence, organizational development, strategy, and coaching. Her articles can be found on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/laurie-cure/

Recognized expert on the topic of fear in the workplace.

Her book, “Leading Without Fear: The Fine Line between Fear and Accountability” is a recognized resource for guiding leaders and teams to success by promoting healthy leadership behaviors.

Doctorate degree in industrial and organizational psychology

Master of business administration degree

Teaches at the university level and delivers seminars and lectures on topics of organizational psychology and personal development.

Meta Coach for Daniel Goleman Method of Emotional Intelligence

Laurie lives in Colorado with her husband and has two grown children.

Gail Gumminger is the Executive Director at Innovative Connections, Inc., where she leads with a deep commitment to helping individuals and organizations realize their full potential.

With more than 25 years of experience mentoring leaders and delivering leadership development experiences in both classroom and real-time settings, Gail is passionate about fostering opportunities where people can learn, grow, and thrive. Her approach is grounded in cultivating positive energy, building trust, and empowering others to bring their best selves to their work and relationships.

Recognized for her strategic insight and relational leadership, Gail has a proven track record of understanding complex business needs, developing effective strategies, and guiding transformative change. She is known for her ability to coach and mentor leaders, build high-performing teams, and create organizational cultures that support strategic direction and sustain long-term success.

Gail’s professional background spans both the public and private sectors, with much of her career devoted to healthcare, encompassing leadership roles in both human and veterinary medicine. This unique blend of experience gives her a broad and balanced perspective on organizational dynamics, leadership challenges, and the inherent complexities facing every leader today.

Gail holds a bachelor’s degree in liberal arts and a master’s degree in public administration. Outside of work, she finds joy in spending quality time with her family and friends, cheering on her favorite sports teams, and embracing the many outdoor adventures Colorado has to offer.

Gail loves spending time with her family, coaching youth sports teams, and she enjoys all the outdoor activities Colorado has to offer.

Kailey is a highly motivated professional with a passion for developing and facilitating meaningful learning experiences that connect people in a new way and enable transformational change. Throughout her career, she has developed expertise in organizational growth, planning and strategy, communications, culture development, and guest experience.

Kailey’s intuitive ability to develop strong relationships and connect on a deeper level allows her to effectively create and sustain successful teams; and her unique perspective enables her to help others achieve their goals in an environment of inclusion, commitment, and motivation.

Experience working on executive teams during high growth periods, while demonstrating strong leadership skills during significant changes.

Expertise in modeling and growing desired culture, improving efficiencies, and developing and implementing strategies.

Kailey’s leadership experience has allowed her to lead large teams through significant growth projects, building people skills and ensuring strong client experiences.

She continues her leadership development journey through a variety of assessment, training, and coaching opportunities.

Bachelor’s Degree in dietetics

In her spare time, Kailey enjoys reading, cooking, traveling and spending time with her friends and family. But, her most favorite thing is spending time with her husband and dog in the Colorado sunshine.

Jacqueline is committed to using high-quality data and analytics to inform organizational policy, practices, and decision-making. Focusing on improving organizational effectiveness, promoting individual health and wellbeing, and enhancing equity and justice in organizations, she aims to engage various stakeholders through purposeful data communication and empirically based problem-solving.

Partners with various organizational clients, collecting, and analyzing data to translate back to stakeholders

Technical training including survey design, scale development and validation, multivariate statistics, factor analysis, and advanced statistical modeling techniques

Doctor of Philosophy – Industrial and Organizational Psychology

Master of Science – Industrial and Organizational Psychology

Bachelor of Arts – Psychology and Business

Jacqueline lives in Colorado. She enjoys backpacking, traveling, attending live music and theater events, and spending time with her dog.

As a leadership coach, Reta’s passion is partnering with growth-oriented professionals and leaders who are focused on elevating their business and leadership impact.
Through her strong interpersonal skills and business experience in executive leadership roles, she is able to understand the challenges executives and leaders face in the workplace. Her depth of experience includes financial services, insurance, professional services, and legal industries in both executive roles and as
a corporate board director. This expertise combined with her specialized coach training in emotional intelligence has shaped her outcomes-focused coaching philosophy. She partners with clients to support their growth and any needed shifts as they work toward achieving their objectives and goals.

More than 30 years of experience in business within diverse industries and in progressive leadership roles

Has held progressive senior executive positions, most recently as a Canadian President of a Fortune 500 company in insurance and financial services and as a COO of a leading regional law firm

Has been a corporate board director of over 12 years with a diverse national organization and past board chair member of Allstate Canada Group’s insurance company boards. Also, she is an appointed board director of Quinte Health Care, a system of four rural hospitals in Ontario Canada, and a chair of its Quality
Committee.

Reta holds a master’s degree in business administration, Emotional Intelligence Coaching Certification from Goleman EI, Institute of Corporate Directors designation and a management studies diploma.

Some would say at the top of Reta’s list of hobbies is working, but she enjoys a fire outdoors at night, reading, and her animals. She is Canadian and moved from the suburbs outside of Toronto to a small rural property on Lake Ontario in Ontario, Canada.

With a passion for connecting people and organizations to new ideas, resources, and opportunities, Beth thrives on working with individuals, teams, and companies who are continuously striving to be stronger, better, and healthier.

Beth is skilled in working with leaders to create ambitious goals and to develop the culture and systems needed to align the workforce to achieve them. She brings her energy, enthusiasm, and global perspective to her work and her clients.

More than 20 years as an executive leader and professional coach in government, retail, manufacturing and healthcare.

Beth has a master’s degree in organizational development and a bachelor’s in communication.

She was certified by the Coaches Training Institute in 2005 and is also credentialed through the International Coaching Federation.

Beth lives in Virginia with her husband and two children. Prior to joining Innovative Connections, Beth and her family took a year to travel the world.

Throughout her career as a physician and healthcare executive, Mystie gleaned first-hand knowledge into the rapidly changing healthcare environment. With a unique perspective on what drives and what depletes physicians, she brings unique insight and talent to the consulting team.

While creating and teaching content for Banner’s internal physician leadership development program, Mystie discovered her passion for coaching and mentoring physicians to help them reach their personal and professional goals.

As a result, she became a certified internal coach and has since devoted herself to helping others deepen their levels of engagement, productivity, and satisfaction. With a master of business administration degree, Mystie’s depth of knowledge extends into business and education where she provides, instruction, coaching, mentorship, and facilitation for business executives, leaders, and faculty. Her innate ability to connect and understand, and her passion for helping others achieve their highest potential makes Mystie an ideal coach for leaders in any industry who wish to advance their careers and attain personal fulfillment.

More than 20 years as a physician and in leadership roles in the not-for-profit healthcare and hospital settings.

Served as CEO for Banner Medical Group and was responsible for all aspects of performance in a multi-specialty medical group comprised of 1,100 physicians, 300 advanced practice providers, and 3,500 employees covering six states.

Coordinated Banner Advanced Leadership Program for Physicians providing content input and leading the course “Transforming Healthcare.”

Doctor of Medicine degree

Master of business administration degree

Bachelor’s degree in biology

Internal Coach Certification from the Hudson Institutes of Coaching, 2014

Just Culture Certification for Healthcare, 2015

Mystie is married with four kids, three grandkids, and three dogs. In her spare time, she enjoys vegetable gardening, crocheting, and traveling with her husband.

Julie is an influential and innovative healthcare executive with a passion for providing compassionate, high-quality, accessible healthcare in a cost-effective model. Having spent her entire career in healthcare, she knows both the patient care side and the business side of the industry. She is a value-driven, ethical leader that focuses on building collaborative relationships and providing a positive and inclusive work environment that promotes engagement in the mission of the organization.

Julie naturally builds relationships and is comfortable resolving the most complex issues, including human resources, legal, financial, and operational challenges. She has an innate ability to motivate staff to peak performance.

More than 30 years of healthcare experience in progressive leadership roles.

Expertise in analyzing needs and forecasting organizational and system goals. She uses insights and a team approach to drive organizational improvements, performance, and outcomes through the reduction of variability and the implementation of best practices.

Master of Science degree in healthcare administration, summa cum laude

Bachelor of Science in Nursing, summa cum laude

Associate’s degree in the applied science of nursing

Julie, a Colorado native, is married and has three grown sons. She and her husband enjoy traveling and most outdoor adventures such as motorcycle riding, fishing, camping, and horseback riding. She lives on 80 acres and has a variety of animals to keep her busy.

Paula’s natural curiosity and penchant for asking introspective questions combined with her passion for helping others learn and grow make her an outstanding executive coach and organizational development specialist. Her strong interpersonal communication skills, strategic vision, and ability to embrace diverse ideas and concepts enable her to connect deeply with the individuals, teams, and organizations she works with.

She has extensive experience in teaching, coaching, and traveling internationally, and working with multiple layers of employees globally. Paula is known for asking thought-provoking questions to allow individuals and class participants space and time to reflect internally and strategically.

More than 40 years of business experience in the federal government and Fortune 500 organizations

More than 22 years of experience in Organizational Development and human behavior

Strong background in IT, Marketing, and HR functional areas

Certified in multiple psychometrics and NLI brain-based coaching

Developed and taught leadership development training in over 15 countries around the world; as well as setting up training operations on an expat in Pune India

Bachelor’s degree in Social Sciences

Master’s degree in Education with a focus on Adult Education and Multicultural Diversity

Paula enjoys bicycling, international and domestic travel, listening to music, and giving back to her community. She lives in Bluffton, South Carolina, and is married to Jimmy.

Jolinda is a motivated self-starter with experience working in fast-paced environments that demand strong organizational, technical, and interpersonal skills. She has a passion for creating lasting impact through talent, technology, and training. She masterfully partners with executive leadership on employee relations, assessments, and professional development. Jolinda’s expert guidance goes beyond training and handbooks to help strengthen diversity, equity, and inclusion programs within organizations. She has a deep understanding of internal audits, administrative technology, talent acquisition, onboarding, and offboarding. Her gift for incorporating a modern, holistic approach to organizational balance, through her training as a licensed yoga and meditation coach, has enabled her to support corporate clients in a different and meaningful way.

Designed programs aimed to retain top talent, while contributing up to 400% increase in revenue.

Served as a founding Board member for Heroes for Students, an organization that works to rally the community around schools.

Member of the Multicultural Advisory Board for ONE Community, an organization dedicated to diversity and inclusion.

Speaks English, Spanish, and Portuguese.

Certified Emergenetics Associate by Emergenetics International.

Bachelor’s degree in Communications, with an emphasis in Public Relations.

Bachelor of Arts, Behavioral Sciences, Education

Jolinda is a proud global citizen with residency in both the US (Arizona) and Portugal (the Silver Coast). She travels back and forth with her husband and two children as they continue their pursuit of dual citizenship. At home, she can be found in the kitchen, where she enjoys telling stories through food. Jolinda spends her free time in nature, visiting historical sites, meditating with monks, and traveling the world with friends and family.

Alison integrates executive coaching services, leadership development consulting, and creative team building into her work with corporate executives, high-potential leaders, and management teams to achieve organizational success and personal effectiveness through one-to-one and team coaching. She is one of the first executive coaches in the world with a culturally diverse background to focus on emotionally intelligent, heart-centered, courageous leadership.

She is passionate about partnering with people to develop their integrated capabilities for sustainable optimal effectiveness, performance, and fulfillment. Because she is dedicated to building strong, long-term relationships, Alison immerses herself deeply in customer-focused, collaborative, and compassionate coaching engagements. She leads by example and has a consistent track record of achieving results for clients by translating the big picture into workable solutions.

More than 25 years of leadership and business experience and a culturally diverse, international background

Featured trainer, speaker, and facilitator for talent development conferences, retreats, workshops, and seminars in the Pacific Northwest, Canada, and Hawaii

Bachelor of Arts degree in Social Psychology, Magna Cum Laude

Certified Daniel Golman EI Coach

Professional certifications, workshops and seminars, and conferences, highlights include:
Tools for Developing Successful Executives (Center for Creative Leadership), The Birkman Method®, The Change Cycle™, LeadershipWorks

Alison enjoys reading, movies, self-development, integrated wellbeing including meditation, yoga, and dance, and daily walks in nature with her golden retriever and family. Her passions also include traveling and learning about other cultures, mentoring female university students interested in leadership roles, and savoring good food with friends and loved ones.

Jill is an energetic and experienced leader with an innate ability to build trust and connections as a foundation for engaging teams and guiding progress and development. She is a passionate thought partner, with extensive experience working with C-Suite teams to tackle the complexities of organizational change, strategic planning, and growth. Jill has more than 25 years working in Human Resources in a wide variety of industries, including healthcare, manufacturing, higher education, nonprofits and commercial real estate and development.

Her career has centered around creating people strategies, facilitating teams, and coaching leaders to cultivate inclusivity, employee engagement, and high performing company cultures.

25+ yrs of HR experience including executive level leadership experience as well as generalist experience including total rewards, performance management, recruitment and selection, employee relations, strategic planning, employee engagement, leader coaching and development, learning and development etc., group facilitation, change management

Passionate about cExperience working in nonprofits, healthcare, higher education, and for profit

Bachelor’s degree in organizational development and human resources

SHRM-SCP certified

Spending time with her family is Jill’s top priority, preferably while on a beach or enjoying the beautiful outdoors!

Kristen is on a mission to revolutionize the leadership and team experience to be playful and creative with mutual trust, growth, and catalytic results. She is committed to ensuring that every leader and the people they serve live a fully engaged and integrated whole life. Kristen’s passion is offering dynamic, life-changing outdoor experiences for leaders and their teams.

Kristen uses metaphor and wilderness experiences in her coaching of teams and individuals to help create powerful personal growth and results. Her expeditionary and experiential methods evoke personal transformation, team, and leadership development as well as organization experience strategy.

Kristen brings her experiences as a health care administrator, emergency nurse, expeditionary learning instructor, and organization development professional into her executive coaching. Her focus is on empowering leaders and their teams toward full integration of energy, authentic connections, and expeditious results.

Doctorate degree in philosophy, human and organizational development focused on professional coaching. Her dissertation was on the power of using metaphors in coaching to evoke lasting transformation.

Master’s degree in nursing education

Master’s degree in human and organization systems

Professional Certified Coach, International Coach Federation (ICF)

Kristen is an enthusiastic mother of five children and is passionate about revolutionizing the leadership experience to living and leading with energy, connection and results.

With more than three decades of experience in education, Stacey is committed to cultivating authentic partnerships with leaders and organizations striving for racially equitable futures. Using her vast experience, her approach to transformational coaching revolves around equity-centered community design and healing-centered engagement. Grounded in design-based problem solving, racial consciousness, and healing practices, Stacey collaborates closely with clients to drive meaningful change.

She believes in the humanity of all people, recognizing that our lived experiences profoundly shape our beliefs, behaviors, and the ways we navigate the world.

More than 30 years of experience in the field of education serving in the capacity of school social worker, Educational Equity Coordinator, and Director of Inclusive Excellence.

Partnered with individuals, nonprofits, and organizations to foster racial consciousness, facilitate racial reconciliation and healing, and implement restorative practices.

Established spaces for Black professional women to explore joy as a tool for combating racialized stress and trauma.

Master’s degree in social work

Bachelor’s degree in child development

Completed training in the Courageous Conversations about Race protocol and Cognitive Coaching

Serves on the Board of Directors for Resilient Futures

Stacey and her husband are the proud parents of four children and four grandchildren. She lives in Colorado and enjoys traveling, mentoring youth, and spending time with her amazing grandchildren.

Rich’s twenty-five years of traveling the world and working with thousands of leaders and teams have given him profound insights into what it means to be a true leader. His work is guided by the understanding that becoming a true leader isn’t about acquiring new skills but rather it’s a process of discovering a deeper understanding of oneself and putting that insight into action. With the belief that leadership is ultimately an act of service to those we lead, Rich leverages his expert facilitation skills to help leaders embrace a service-oriented mindset. He emphasizes the importance of connecting human to human, rather than simply role to role, fostering genuine and impactful relationships.

Throughout his career, Rich has designed and delivered leadership development programs for some of the world’s largest and most innovative organizations. He specializes in creating transformative development journeys that integrate individual assessments, real-world experiences, and coaching to drive sustainable growth.

Expertise spanning a variety of industries in both the public and private sectors.

Global experience working with leaders and teams across North and South America, Europe, and Asia, equipping them to achieve impactful, lasting results.

Master of Arts, Holistic Health Education

Bachelor of Science, Mechanical Engineering

Adjunct Faculty at the Center for Creative Leadership

Selected assessment certifications and qualifications: CCL’s Benchmarks 360 assessment suite, Leadership Circle Profile; Hogan Assessments, MBTI, FIRO-B, WorkPlace Big 5

Individual and Group Coach for emerging construction leaders: Focus: 18-month leadership program, 2022 – Present

BuildOn Leadership Team Coaching – Designed and delivered annual executive team retreats, 2012 – Present

Rich lives in the California wine country with his husband, John, and their dog Ray.

Barb’s passion for writing and designing creative, eye-catching communications and marketing materials has fueled her career as a successful entrepreneur. Over the years, she has built lasting relationships with clients ranging from healthcare organizations to high-tech corporations and everything in between. As a result, she understands the intricacies of working with the unique personalities of a diverse clientele.

Through her education in public relations and writing, and a career’s worth of experience in graphic design, she ensures the continued excellence of promotional materials that help clients achieve their business goals.

More than 25 years of experience helping successfully promote individuals and organizations by sharing her strategic planning, writing, graphic design, and public relations expertise

Bachelor’s degree in journalism and public relations

Completed additional coursework and training in graphic design

Barb lives in Colorado with her husband, four children, and two dogs. She finds her greatest joy taking time out to play in the Rocky Mountains with her family. She also enjoys cooking, baking, writing, and reading.

Kayla has a passion for interacting with and getting to know people from all
around the world. Resulting from her understanding and compassion for
humanity, she has an innate ability to connect on a deeper level and build
dynamic, strong, and lasting relationships. Additionally, her attention to detail
and ability to coordinate multiple details for complex events ensures outstanding
results and fabulous customer service. Kayla’s technical savy makes her an
essential asset to help support people and make a difference behind the scenes.
She believes in life-long learning and enjoys listening to and learning from the
wisdom of others.

Kayla holds a bachelor’s degree in English Literature with a minor in history from
Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO.

Kayla loves history and reading. She has a passion for animals and has four beautiful fur
babies. She’s an aspiring author of young adult fantasy.

Hannah has a passion for people and writing. She especially enjoys the opportunity to apply her skills in writing, her knowledge of IO psychology, and her interest in relationship dynamics to create information and materials that will be helpful for people. She is motivated by the reward of knowing her work can be used to guide businesses to grow and change.

Hannah chose industrial/organizational psychology as her career path because of her exposure to leadership development growing up. She was able to experience what the work looked like as well as its value. More recently, she has found herself drawn to other areas like diversity and inclusion, team development, and organizational climate/culture where she seeks to continually grow her knowledge and experience.

Researches and develops content for organizational development programs and custom programs for clients

Unearths and incorporates relevant scientific research into materials

Facilitator and teaching assistant under faculty supervision at Colorado State University

Bachelor’s degree in industrial and organizational psychology, honors student

Minor in Business Administration

Hannah has a passion for literature and enjoys reading and writing in her free time. She also loves traveling and tries to experience new places as much as she can. Being from Colorado, she enjoys being outdoors and is an avid snowboarder.

Christy is an integral coach, facilitator, and teacher devoted to personal development and self-discovery. Guided by core values of authenticity, love, integrity, and possibility, she believes each individual holds untapped potential that can be awakened through reflection, observation, and intentional practice. Her empathy, and calming presence empowers others to discover their unique strengths.

A student and practitioner with the Enneagram, Christy has studied with Russ
Hudson (founder of the Enneagram Institute and co-author of The Wisdom of the Enneagram) and is an experienced essence circle facilitator with Russ Hudson programs. In addition to being a student of Fourth Way, Diamond Approach, and ancient wisdom teachings, Christy is a certified integral coach and a certified yoga and meditation teacher.

Her rare ability to bring clarity and compassion to any situation, and her deep
commitment to helping others succeed makes her a powerful partner on any
personal or professional journey.

• Named one of the 25 Most Admired Leaders of 2020 and 2018 by the Greater
Phoenix Business Journal

• 2014 Public Sector Athena by the Greater Phoenix Chamber of Commerce

• Top 25 CEO’s by the Phoenix Business Journal

• 50 Most Powerful Women Business Leaders by Arizona Business Magazine

• 20 Women Who Will Shape The Valley by 2020 by the Arizona Republic

• Master’s degree in social work

• Accredited Certified Integral Coach

• Certified Meditation Teacher and Practitioner

• Certified Yoga Teacher (200)

In her spare time, Christy enjoys hiking, cooking, writing, and reading, and spending time with her husband, her niece and nephew, and her cats, Poppy and Gracie.

Doris brings more than 20 years of executive experience in human resources and leadership development. She is passionate about creating inclusive cultures where individuals feel seen, heard, and valued. Known for her ability to foster strong, trust-based relationships, she partners with leaders to build collaborative teams and drive meaningful, measurable results.

As a former Senior Vice President and Chief Human Resources Officer for a 13,000-employee healthcare system, Doris has led through complexity, change, and crisis — including navigating organizational transition and guiding teams through the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic. Her career spans executive HR leadership across corporate, hospital, and physician group settings.

Doris is skilled at helping leaders thrive in matrixed environments, navigate competing priorities, and align strategic goals with the human side of business. She emphasizes purpose-driven leadership, respectful candor, and inclusive practices that create a strong sense of belonging across teams.

Currently, Doris consults with education systems, private industry, and nonprofit boards. She holds a master’s degree in Human Resources Management and a bachelor’s degree in Child Psychology.

Outside of work, Doris is an active community volunteer and enjoys spending time with family and friends.