MEET OUR PRESENTERS:
- Susan Aldrich
- Dr. M. Melinda Holmes
- Lori Klepfer
- Gail Nelson
- Cynthia Parish, MPA
Susan Aldrich
Susan Aldrich uses her high energy and sense of humor to motivate her audiences; she has spent the last 25 years as motivational speaker and trainer. She is well-known for her motivating discussions on time and project management, supervisory skills and team building.
Susan also brings practical knowledge and hands-on experience in manufacturing and distribution. She has worked in the textile and furniture industry in North Carolina, the steel industry in Cleveland and is a certified coach. Susan graduated from Baldwin-Wallace College. She belongs to the American Society for Training and Development.
Dr. M. Melinda Holmes
Dr. Holmes currently provides a variety of consulting services to government and nonprofit organizations. These services include city council retreats, strategic planning, local government charter development assistance, facilitating budget reduction recommendation discussions with city department heads; designing and administering assessment centers for promoting/hiring management personnel. She has facilitated management development workshops at Cleveland State University; presented professional educational sessions for Ohio and West Virginia Municipal Clerks; and co-facilitated Leadership Academies for a mental health organization and a local housing authority. Most recently, she has provided leadership skill-building sessions for Leadership Portage County.
Dr. Holmes worked at Kent State University for 28 years as Assistant Director of the Center for Public Administration and Public Policy. In that capacity she coordinated training, technical assistance, and research to benefit state and local government elected and appointed officials, and boards and staffs of nonprofit organizations. She also was an adjunct faculty member, teaching one graduate course per semester.
Dr. Holmes’ other experiences include directing a neighborhood center; citizen participation planning and activities; and program performance evaluation for the Guilford County (NC) anti-poverty program and High Point (NC) Model City Commission. Later she was appointed Human Resources Coordinator for the City of High Point.
Dr. Holmes holds a bachelors’ degree in English/Education from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro; Master’s in Public Administration; and a doctorate in Organization Development, both from Kent State University.
Dr. Holmes’ professional activities include serving as board member and current president of the Cuyahoga Valley Association for Talent Development. She is also active in the Special Interest Group for Accelerative Learning in Northeast Ohio.
Lori Klepfer
Lori Klepfer founded LJK Consulting in 2001 to address the market need for customized training solutions, including e-learning programs and web-based course development and delivery. LJK Consulting also helps address the “people” side of technology implementations by creating and implementing change management and training strategies.
LJK Consulting is proud to be the training provider for several of their clients’ products and services. Their clients include large, mid-sized, and small companies in Northeast OH that span across several industries, including manufacturing and healthcare.
Ms. Klepfer is a business writing coach and regularly presents workshops about training design and delivery, business writing, consulting, and communications at local, regional, and international conferences. She has received several regional and international awards for the information products she has created.
Prior to founding LJK Consulting, Ms. Klepfer was a training consultant and manager at an IT consulting firm and a boutique training consulting firm.
Ms. Klepfer currently serves as the Immediate Past President/Executive Director of ATD Greater Cleveland and has served in the board in several different capacities over the years. She is also a past president of the Northeast OH Society for Technical Communication (NEO STC). Her memberships include ATD and ATD Greater Cleveland.
Gail Nelson
Gail Nelson’s enthusiasm for helping others learn is obvious in each educational experience she facilitates. She has held a variety of positions in the field of education for over 30 years. Currently, she works in the Office of Field Services at Cleveland State University as a Program Coordinator, where she enjoys supporting students to become teachers.
She spent the first 18 years of her career as a classroom teacher, where her experiences with teaching multiple age ranges taught her how to “flex” her teaching skills. As an adjunct professor for Cuyahoga Community College, Gail taught classes on education, human diversity and child development for 9 years.
In the 9 years Gail worked as a master trainer and early learning specialist for Starting Point Child Care Resource and Referral Agency, she created hundreds of trainings on a wealth of subjects for educators and other trainers. Gail worked with the Ohio Professional Development Network to write the Ohio Core Knowledge and Competencies Instructor Guide and the Ohio Trainer Competencies. Today along with her work at CSU, she continues to work as a trainer for educational facilities including, schools, childcares, libraries and other training facilities.
Gail has a B.S. in elementary education and a Master’s degree in education counseling. Gail is passionate about facilitating learning and is always excited to be able to help others to do the same.
Cynthia Parish, MPA
Cynthia (Cindy) Parish has many years of professional experience as a corporate trainer, instructional developer, consultant, coach, and leader. As Senior Learning and Development Manager, she currently leads a team of Regional Learning and Development Managers, providing learning and talent development services for Airgas (an Air Liquide Company) associates in 24 states. In addition to facilitating professional development courses at Cleveland State, Cynthia previously served as CSU's Manager of Training & Organizational Development in the Human Resources Development and Labor Relations Department and as Director of Business and Management Programs in the Division of Continuing Education.
She has a BA from the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) in Political Science and an MPA (Masters in Public Administration) from California State University, Dominguez Hills (CSUDH). She earned certificates in Human Resources Management, Total Quality Management, and Mediation Skills from California State University, Long Beach (CSULB). At Cleveland State she completed the Six Sigma Green Belt and Social Media for Business Certificate Programs.
Cindy has worked with people and organizations in for profit, government, non-profit, service, distribution, and manufacturing sectors. She facilitates learning on dozens of subjects from customer service to communication to leadership, coaches individuals, senior leaders, and teams.
She has been a long time member of ATD, formerly ASTD, and is an active member of the Human Resources Leadership Group of Northeast Ohio, formerly NOHRPS.