Lead Coaches
Kristen English
Founder & Managing Partner
An Executive Coach, Consultant and Facilitator with 28 years of global experience in leadership, diversity, equity & inclusion, cultural competence, strategy-driven organization redesign, team development and work life balance. Having lived in four countries (US, China, Indonesia & Singapore), worked in 25 countries and traveled in 16 more, Kristen lives a truly multi-cultural life.
​
Kristen received her B.S. Chemical Engineering at Michigan State University and started in manufacturing with Procter & Gamble where she developed her strategic organization development skills through OD assignments in China and Indonesia. She was responsible for learning curriculum design, facilitating the Strategy Deployment System and organization design, based on the model of High Performing Organizations. Since then, she consulted with a broad range of clients, including SThree, Novartis, WestRock, BNP Paribas, Air Products, BCG, Procter & Gamble, Genpact, American Express, Infosys, INSEAD and more.
​
She designed the award-winning cultural competence blended learning solution, Cultures@Work, for Procter & Gamble and rolled it out across the globe. P&G was then awarded Best Global Diversity practice by Diversity Inc.
​
Kristen’s clients say that her inspiring and motivating communication skills, strategic thinking, creativity and group facilitation skills are the strengths they value most in her work.
Gladys Gossett Hankins, Ph.D
Gender, Race/Ethnicity, Racial & Social Justice
An internationally recognized diversity and organizational effectiveness consultant and currently serves as the president of Telora Victor, Inc. a consulting and publishing company she founded in 2000. Prior to this, Gladys had a 26-year management career with Procter & Gamble (P&G) over which time she has several claims-to-fame, namely the first:
-
African American woman hired at P&G’s 2nd oldest location in Kansas City
-
African American woman in the company to be promoted to management and to transfer to other business units.
-
Person to ask for and receive maternity leave of absence
For five years, Gladys was Executive Coach to P&G’s CEO for diversity and inclusion, and he later wrote the foreword to her book on racial and gender diversity - Diversity Blues - How to Shake‘em, (2000). Her recommendation to the CEO led to the creation of the first Global Diversity department with a Vice President at the helm.
She also designed and led company-wide various learning experiences to address racism, discrimination and sexism in the workplace. As a result, the number of African Americans promoted to executive levels dramatically increased and a later CEO said her work on gender helped change the culture of the organization.
Gladys earned her Ph.D. from Union Institute and University in Cincinnati, OH and holds M.B.A. and BS/BA degrees from Rockhurst College in Kansas City, MO. She lives her life by two guiding principles:
-
Anything worth doing is worth doing well, and
-
Anyone who has an audience has a responsibility to teach
Hanan Heakal
Co-Founder & Managing Partner
A globally recognized Diversity, Equity & Inclusion expert with 28 years of experience including Head of DE&I for the India, Central & Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa regions (16,000+ employees). Notable examples of the innovative work she's led include workplace flexibility, paid parental leave, equality-based policies & benefits, and training design and delivery. With her strong financial background, Hanan developed systems for goal-setting and tracking diversity and inclusion progress which were reapplied broadly.
These accomplishments earned her the Procter & Gamble Human Resources Experts Award - a highly selective award to formally recognize professionals who have become subject matter experts in their field, are critical to business continuity, and are recognized and respected for the capability they have built in others.
Hanan's facilitation and speaking experiences span the globe - including the U.S., UK, Switzerland, Belgium, France, Spain, Hungary, Saudi Arabia, Dubai, Bahrain, Egypt, Lebanon, Nigeria, South Africa, Poland, Ukraine, and China. She holds a Master of Science degree in Psychology with a specialization in Psychology of Culture from Walden University and was indicted to The International Honor Society in Psychology (Psi Chi) - one of the largest honor societies in the United States.
Hanan is described by others as smart, fearless, brave, passionate, compassionate, disciplined, empathetic, full of integrity, and big-hearted with a tenacity to move things forward.
Ghada Soliman
Market Research, Corporate Communications & Employee Listening
Ghada has over 25 years of experience in Market Research & Corporate Communications across the Middle East and North Africa. Her areas of expertise include Retail and Consumer Research Operations, Company startups, functional structuring, Change Management and Transformational Leadership in addition to Corporate Reputation Management and Employee Listening.
In her diverse professional journey, she served as a Senior Planning & Research Manager at Majid Al Futtaim-Dubai, Head of Corporate Communications of General Motors Egypt & North Africa, Managing Director of ACNielsen Egypt & North Africa, and Area head of Agency for Middle East Research (AMER).
As an independent consultant, Ghada managed numerous research projects in different Africa and Middle East markets for various strategic local and international clients in key sectors mainly FMCG, Telecom, real estate, Cosmetics & Beauty Care Products, Retail, Electronics & White Goods, Automotive, Hospitality, Media and Advertising, Banking, Tobacco, Oil & Gas as well as Government Services.
She has a Bachelor Degree in Economics & Business Administration from The American University in Cairo, Egypt.
Ghada is a researcher by nature, her growing passion to learn more is the key reason why research is her hobby and joy rather than just a profession. Connecting with people is her most energizing force. She also is a strong believer that any opinion greatly matters.