Strategic Partners
Mary Ann Somerville
Mary Ann is an international consultant, executive coach and seminar leader, specializing in the fields of leadership, communication and managing difficult conversations. She is a consultant with Triad Consulting Group and Mobius Executive Leadership. She is also a curriculum consultant for Insight Seminars. For the last eight years she has conducted Managing Difficult Conversations courses for a variety of corporate clients including Honda, HP, Xilinx, Genentech, CIBC, BP, Conoco Phillips, and PwC.
In her practice as an executive coach, she is known for compassionate and intelligent interventions, assisting her clients to transform old mindsets and behaviors into dynamic leadership strategies, learning how to communicate effectively and build strong strategic alliances. She has been a consultant to individuals and corporations in Europe, Australia, Canada, South America, Asia and Russia as well as the United States.
Ms. Somerville has been the Director of Training and International Enrollment Director for Insight Seminars. As the Director of Training, she designed programs and trained facilitators in Europe, the USA, Australia and South America. From 1978 to 1984 she worked as a Director of Insight Seminars on the East Coast of the United States, opening and managing offices in Boston, Philadelphia, New York, Washington, D.C. and Miami.
Ms. Somerville has developed and delivered programs for Americorps volunteers, the Executive Board of the 4-H National Council and the Drucker Foundation. She co-founded and designed the Gift of the Heart Seminar. Ms. Somerville also co-founded one of the first Parent Cooperative Schools in the United States.
Ms. Somerville holds a B.A. in Psychology and a Masters in Theology. She is a Certified Master Coach with the Behavioral Coaching Institute, ICC, a Master Practitioner of NLP and a member of the Neurobusiness Group. She is also member of the Creating We Institute, providing research and education for leaders in best practices of generative collaboration. She lives in Santa Barbara, where she is currently working on her first book.
Whitaker H. Raymond
‘Whit’ Raymond is a high impact advisor and strategic leadership coach to senior executives and teams. He has worked with a diverse group of large and small corporations for over 20 years and is a master facilitator of executive groups and projects where consensus, shared focus and collective commitment are necessary to enable organizations to reach higher levels of functioning and achieve stretch objectives.
His talents are in the following areas: Whit assists executives in translating organizational and leadership needs into effective solutions, and then organizes innovative leadership programs and initiatives that engage leaders collectively in implementing those solutions. He also develops the leadership at multiple levels while working on strategically important organizational and business projects. He is a skilled facilitator of large and small groups, a coach to individuals and teams, and designer and deliverer of highly engaging training programs. Whit is trained and certified in a number of instruments that he uses selectively with individuals and groups to provide specific kinds of insight and perspective so they may function more effectively.
Most recently, Whit served as Director of Organization Development at Merrill Lynch in both the corporate and retail units. Whit advised senior executives on strategic solutions to critical organizational needs and often served as a confidante and coach. He implemented leadership initiatives in sales, marketing, technology, operations, finance, risk management and new product development, through both executive teams and cross-functional collaborative initiatives. He also designed and delivered numerous top-rated management and leadership development programs. Last, he led the firm’s executive coaching program, which included the selection and coordination of external coaches, development of a standard process and comprehensive in-house tracking system, and the education and training of human resources professionals in how to effectively manage coaching engagements.
Prior to Merrill Lynch, Whit was a partner of LodeStar Associates, Inc., providing leadership, team and strategic organizational development, and executive coaching, to both large and medium-sized corporations. His clients included ABB Asea Brown Boveri; Cummins Engine Company; Fidelity; GE Capital, General Electric; IBM; Johnson & Johnson; Kodak; and US Healthcare, among others. Earlier in his career, Whit was Vice President and one of two thought-leaders at the Princeton Center for Leadership Training, a non-profit training firm, where he directed business development, project design and training, and managed an internal staff and external network of select coaches and trainers. Before this, he was employed as Senior Organizational Effectiveness consultant at Cummins Engine Company.
Whit holds a BA degree from Bowdoin College where he played on two ECAC championship hockey teams. He received his M.Ed. at Lesley University, where he focused on group dynamics and leadership. Whit lives in Jersey City, NJ.
