GOOD Network is the regional OD network serving Central Florida from coast to coast

Greater Orlando Organization Development Network

Our 2020 Leadership Team

Meet the team that makes it “all GOOD”! If you are interested in volunteering your time with this high-performing team that follows solid OD practices and leads our organization from “GOOD” to great, please send us an email using our contact form.

Executive Board

Krystena Sterling, President

Krystena has a background in Project Management, Learning and Development and Hospitality Management. She is currently employed at Walt Disney World and also owns a Performance Coaching organization. She is an Industrial Organizational Psychologist and CPLP. In addition she is an adjunct college faculty member for University of Phoenix.

Anita Gabbard, Program VP

Anita Gabbard, Manager of Operations in the Division of Digital Learning at the University of Central Florida (UCF) is responsible for the effective and efficient oversite of operations for both the Center for Distributed Learning and the Office of Institutional Resources. She holds a BA is from Indiana State University in Human Resources Development and MA from St-Mary-of-the-Wood College in Leadership Development.

Les Cowie, Membership VP

Les Cowie is a consultant in experiential learning and spatial computing (AR/VR). He is known for his 7 Step Software application and books compressing the time it takes to capture job content for learning development. He is an active member of 5 professional organizations but considers the GOOD Network to deliver the best value for members.

Margo Hamel, Treasurer

Margo is First VP and Senior Development Manager at SunTrust Bank. She provides business planning, leader/advisor development coaching, and sales management consulting to the Private Wealth Management line of business. Margo has an MBA from Florida Institute of Technology and holds the Registered Corporate Coach designation from the Worldwide Association of Business Coaches.

Vanessa Gomez, Secretary

Vanessa is a Training and Development Specialist at New Season, a healthcare agency devoted to helping people recovering from addiction. In her role, she is responsible for the development and facilitation of training programs in areas of leadership, compliance, and self-empowerment. She is a certified virtual training facilitator and holds an EdM degree in Learning and Instruction from University at Buffalo. Linked In Profile: www.linkedin.com/in/vanessa-gomez-4a83926

Communication Team

Newsletter Editor - Beth Swanson

Carol Emmett, Website Administration

Appointed Directors

Tim Strimel, Communications Director

Tim Strimel is Talent Development Manager for Orlando Utilities Commission with over 10 years experience supporting diverse industries including public utilities, retail energy, hospitality and food service.

Karen Agrait, Community Programs & Events Director

Karen Agrait, Training and Development Manager for Colonial Management Group, has been in the Training and Development industry for the past 15 years. As an Instructional Designer, Facilitator and Leader, her primary focus has been on professional development of employees and rapidly developing solutions to meet the needs of identified performance gaps. Organizational culture and cultivating safe and productive learning environments is a passion for Karen. Through formalized training and just in time coaching, she has been successful in cutting turnover in half and rapidly improving accountability across multiple disciplines. Karen holds a Masters Degree in Instructional design and is Certified Training Director, Franklin Covey Instructor and Virtual Facilitator.

Marissa Carevelis, Hospitality Director

Marissa is a Sr. Manager of Leadership Development and Training at A. Duda & Sons. She has the opportunity to create, lead and execute organizational, team and individual development initiatives for a very diversified workforce. She is passionate about helping people reach their full potential. She holds a Bachelor’s in Business Administration - Finance from the University of Central Florida and an MBA from Rollins College.

Advisory & At Large Board

Kristin Chase

Kristin is the Director of the Organizational Development (OD) department for Universal Parks & Resorts. She has contributed to Universal for almost 15 years through consulting and leading employee feedback surveys, performance and talent management, leadership development and assessment, mentoring, competency model development, employee research, facilitation, and team effectiveness. She is a 2003 graduate of the UCF Masters' program in Industrial/Organizational Psychology. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kristinchase

Vicki Lavendol

Vicki is an Associate Instructor at UCF Rosen College of Hospitality Management. Formerly Vicki was Director of Leadership & Training for Gaylord Palms Resort & Convention Center and Director of Human Resources for Charles Schwab. Vicki was in Human Resources at Walt Disney World and led change at Tupperware. Vicki holds an MHR and an MBA.

Mark Griffiths

Mark is the client partner for Newleaf Training and Development in Florida and Georgia. He is responsible for business development and setting the strategic direction across the Florida and Georgia.

Isabella Johnston

Isabella consults and coaches entrepreneurs and executive leaders with profit and nonprofit organizations in areas of leadership development, team building & communications, intern programs, and organizational growth. Industries/Sectors include: entrepreneurship, tech, nonprofits, legal, accounting/finance, marketing & sales, real estate, art/culture, manufacturing, medical, and game development. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/isabella-johnston-1339546

Carol Emmett

Carol provides executive coaching, training, team building, survey design, facilitation, and instructional design to clients in high tech, hospitality, financial services, and health care industries, and to government on all levels. Carol holds her MA from University of Maryland in Organizational Communication and is a certified executive coach.

Communities of Practice Leaders

Don Knagge, Coaching Group Chair

Don is an Executive Coach with 7th Evolution Coaching & Consulting. He combines his training and love of coaching executives, entrepreneurs, and teams with his three decades of business experience as a corporate executive and entrepreneur in a variety of industries to be a catalyst for transformation in business and in life.

Deborah Novak, Internal Consulting Co-Chair

Deborah Novak, MBA has helped leaders build high-performing sustainable teams for 15 years. She brings depth and breadth of change management strategies, executive coaching and leadership development design and delivery to being the Internal Consulting Co-Chair. She is certified in PROSCI change management, LMAP 360 Senior Executive Assessments and is a certified Marcus Buckingham Standout 2.0 Coach. As part of Florida Hospital, she presented nationally on Team Engagement as a Driver for Patient Experience, Employee Engagement, Retention and Promotion. She thinks strategically and builds strong collaborative client partnerships while delivering tactically. She is currently acting as an Interim Leader at DSN Consulting while she is looking for her next full-time internal opportunity.

Cynthia Barnes, Internal Consulting Co-Chair

Cynthia has twenty-four years of experience in leadership, management, and process improvement. She has a consistent history of providing professional expertise to organizations to assist the organization in documenting their business processes, removing waste, and improving the overall process efficiency without increasing operating costs. Previously, Cynthia served on four different Goodwill boards between 2003 and 2010: (1) Goodwill Industries of Middle Georgia in Macon, Georgia; (2) Goodwill Global Inc. in Bethesda, Maryland; (3) Goodwill Industries International in Rockville, Maryland; and (4) Goodwill Industries of Coastal Empire, Inc. in Savannah, Georgia. She has a BS in Mechanical Engineering and her JD from Florida Coastal School of Law, and is a Six Sigma Black Belt.

Mallory Paul, Advisory Board and Learning & Development CoP Lead

Mallory is a Regional Training Manager for Holiday Inn Club Vacations. She oversees learning and development for all 8 resorts in their Gulf Region and acts as a consultant and liaison to a team of 10 local trainers. She is passionate about personal and professional development and enjoys combining her enthusiasm for training with her love of entertainment. She holds a Bachelor’s in Hospitality Management from the University of Central Florida.

Jonathan Pugh, Leadership Development CoP Chair

Jonathan Pugh is an Organizational Effectiveness and Human Capital consultant with a passion for helping people and organizations improve performance. His client work has often focused on enhancing the effectiveness of senior executives and work teams. He is a strong advocate of building strengths-based organizations and has successfully developed strategies to improve employee engagement and job satisfaction by leveraging the power of strengths-based management practices.