Our Story

Set your sights on the destination and the journey.

Founded nearly 30 years ago on the principles that to this day drive our firm, we’re proud of where we find ourselves – a small business with a best-in-class reputation for customized workplace solutions for leaders and teams. But we’re also proud of where we’ve been. Our trip through the last three decades has included the zigs and zags of any journey: significant growth and service expansion, burgeoning talent and trying transitions. 

New divisions, contract awards, lessons learned. But through the changes and beyond each milestone, the trail blazes have remained the same: the living of our values, a commitment to service, a kindness at our core, an appreciation for differences, a culture that promotes the pursuit of passion, and simply – but fundamentally – fun.

Our Team

We deliver with a team of partners – not simply providers, and their experience across years and industries helps strike the careful balance between listening and guidance. Our clients rely on this seasoned expertise—the muscle-memory and sheer capability of those who have traversed this terrain and know how to approach the murkiest, muddiest landscapes. 

Executive Team

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Robb Heaton

Robb believes his career track at CI has been essential to helping our firm deliver solid support and wise counsel to our clients, and he says helping clients overcome obstacles and get results is one of the best parts of his job.
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President
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Cindy Wilberding

As our Chief Operating Officer, Cindy focuses on providing maximum impact for our clients. She does so using the expertise she’s gained from a Georgetown MBA, served as an Army officer, and over two decades of management consulting.
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Partner and Chief Operating Officer
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Todd Reisler

Todd has been with CI International for over 19 years, using his financial and organizational expertise to help maintain a strong foundation for our staff and clients. He counts being a trusted advisor and team player as his most important skills.
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Partner and Chief Financial Officer

Consulting

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Jeff Way

A native of Pennsylvania, Jeff is a veteran of the Coast Guard, a graduate of the Coast Guard Academy, and holds an MBA from Golden Gate University. He served as the Quality Advisor to the Commandant of the Coast Guard and feels the position prepared him well for his role at CI. "It really taught me how government works and the challenges inherent in Washington DC," he says.
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Regional Vice President and Acting Director of Consulting
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Kim Douglass

Kim has extensive experience in the public, corporate, and non-profit sectors, with top-level federal experience as Director of White House Management in the White House and later as a Deputy Chief of Staff at GSA.
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Deputy Director of Consulting
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Alex Carlin

Alex is a graduate of the University of Virginia and grew up in Leesburg. He is an expert in business development, strategic consulting, and communications, specifically copywriting and editing.
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Associate Consultant
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Colleen McCauley Shannon

Colleen has provided human capital management, change management / communication, and organizational development services to private sector, non-profit, and government clients for over 20 years. This includes designing, launching, and assessing organizational-level programs to drive employee performance, engagement, and development.
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Senior Consultant
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Daniel Shannon

Daniel joined CI International in 2021 as a member of the consulting team, with a background in economics. In his role on the consulting team, Daniel primarily helps clients align their strategic priorities and analyze and visualize data to help make it more digestible for clients.
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Associate Consultant
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Jeff Wyatt

Jeff is a seasoned consultant with two decades of fire service experience and a decade of impactful organizational leadership. An Air Force veteran, he holds two MS degrees from the University of Denver in Leadership and Organizations, and Environmental Policy and Management. Jeff is renowned for developing strategies and solutions that prioritize values and a people-focused approach. He fosters environments where shared values flourish, ensuring the collaborative and sustainable success of organizations.
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Senior Consultant
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Kristin Poe Moody

Kristin is a native of Maryland and proud graduate of the University of Maryland at College Park. After time spent as a Design student in Paris, France and an Artist and Marketing Executive in New York City, she obtained her MBA (with a concentration in Consulting and Entrepreneurship) from Kenan-Flagler Business School at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
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Principal Consultant
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Laura Jackson

Laura helps our clients create an environment that encourages every employee to continually expand their leadership potential. With over 20 years of administration, organizing, and management experience, and a background in team-building, recruiting, and interpersonal development, she’s an expert in helping leaders reach their organizational goals.
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Principal Consultant
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Mike Ibay

Raised in California, Mike holds degrees from UC San Diego and UCLA. He served in budget and administration at the Federal Reserve and had served as a consultant to federal agencies for 16 years before joining CI. He is an expert in project management, process improvement and consultative leadership, and is also known as a creative thinker who is results-oriented.
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Senior Consultant
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Terri Harrell

Terri has 28 years of consulting experience in designing, implementing, and evaluating strategic human capital solutions to improve individual and organizational performance. She specializes in projects related to organizational improvement and complex change initiatives, such as agency-wide culture change, talent management, organizational development, strategic human capital planning, employee engagement, and competency-based leadership development programs.
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Principal Consultant

learning & development

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Heath Harding

Dr. Heath Harding has spent most of his professional career shaping, developing, and guiding leaders to reach their full potential and impact. His passion for developing and teaching leadership skills has its roots in his rural Midwest upbringing. “I grew up in a rural community in Kansas where people helped each other with a cup of sugar, sharing farm implements, and fixing a fence,” he said. “Community service has been a part of my life since the beginning.”
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Director of Learning and Development

Kathleen Barba

Kathleen is an experienced consultant, trainer and facilitator and executive coach. She has expertise in leadership development, workshop and webinar training, meeting facilitation, teambuilding, and course design and development. She especially enjoys designing and leading long-term, comprehensive leadership development programs for our clients.
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Deputy Director of Training
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Billy Raddell

Billy graduated from Arapahoe High School in Centennial, Colorado and went on to study at Colorado State University and the University of Denver. He provides skilled support and encouragement to our team members and clients, connecting easily with participants in our training sessions.
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Consultant
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Fancy Mills

Fancy Mills Knebel has over twenty years of organizational development experience that spans consulting, facilitation, and human resource development. As a consultant, she has advised, trained and certified thousands of leaders including executives, managers, analysts, technicians, and corporate trainers around the world in virtual and classroom environments.
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Senior Consultant
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Jenni Tibbs

Jenni has earned a Bachelors in Psychology, and provides crucial support to CI consultants and clients. She credits her previous position as an Agent Services Coordinator with helping her build strong time management and interpersonal skills.
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Consultant and Project Coordinator
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Margaret Walthall

As a principal consultant, Margaret said she’s now doing work she loves.
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Principal Consultant
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Michele Jones

Coming soon
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Senior Consultant
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Patrice French

Doctor French leverages her knowledge and expertise to help clients enhance individual leadership skills, improve teams, and increase organizational effectiveness. She earned her BS and MS in Social Work from Texas Christian University and the University of Michigan, respectively. She holds a Ph.D. in Educational Human Resource Development from Texas A&M University.
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Senior Consultant
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Staci Taustine

Staci Taustine is a passionate facilitator, thought partner, and coach with more than 14  years of experience training educators, policymakers, and organizational leaders across the public and private sectors. Staci brings a people-first approach leveraging leadership development tools, dialogue, and little experiments to help teams work more productively, collaboratively, and sustainably across lines of difference.
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Senior Consultant

Coaching

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Shelly Heath-Watson

Shelly brings more than 25 years of experience in developing and leading large-scale nationwide educational initiatives, leadership and volunteer development programs, and marketing and communications campaigns to her work at CI International. Her career spans the academic, non-profit, public, and private sectors, including serving as the Director of Disability Support Services for the American University and the National Director of Community Programs for the American Diabetes Association.
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Director, Coaching Programs & Services
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Lorena Cohan

Lorena holds degrees from Emory University (International Studies) and Columbia University (International Affairs), as well as an Executive Certificate in Leadership Coaching from Georgetown University. She is an expert in leadership development, program development, training and coaching, and describes herself as a bicultural and bilingual “connector, convener, and collaborator.”
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Coaching Programs Coordinator

Melissa Wallace

Melissa comes to us from the health care sector, having served in human resources at Life Care centers of America. Prior to that she coordinated care for hundreds of seniors and caregivers at Home Instead Senior Care, and now uses her scheduling savvy, excellent communication and project management skills to keep our executive coaching activities on a smooth track.
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Executive Coaching Program Coordinator

Client Solutions

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Fred Richardson

As Principal for Strategic Accounts at CI International, Fred is responsible for directing business development efforts in new and emerging areas. His other roles include delivering client support services in CI International’s key service areas of training, consulting and coaching.
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Principal - Strategic Accounts
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Jackson Wallace

Jackson joined CI International in early 2024 as a Client Solutions Consultant. In his role, Jackson supports the business development division with inside sales support, research and development, proposal writing, and data and project management. He comes to CI from a background in higher education, particularly university admissions and enrollment services.
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Client Solutions Consultant
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Wally Welgraven

Few environments build a stronger customer service ethic than the restaurant industry, which is where Wally began his management career. A native of Minnesota and a graduate of the University of South Dakota with a Bachelors in Psychology, his skill set includes strong consultative leadership and culture development abilities, as well as expertise in customer engagement and relationship development.
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Client Solutions Manager

CI Operations

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Becky Gershon

A Denver area native, Becky has served at CI as a financial analyst since 2007. She has expertise in project management, business process improvement, project finance, and describes herself as "minutiae-minded."
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Financial Analyst
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Rachel Gershon

Rachel is a Magna Cum Laude graduate of Biola University, where she finished her degree in Communication Studies in three years. She’s a time and project management expert and is known as something of a jack of all trades who performs well under pressure.
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Senior Project Coordinator

SPOTLIGHT

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Jackson Wallace

Growth Outside his Comfort Zone

Over the last few years, you probably would’ve found Jackson Wallace hanging around the Nashville restaurant scene or going on runs around the campus of his beloved alma mater, Belmont University.

“Nashville is such an awesome city,” Jackson said. “Any chance we get, my wife and I are exploring the city’s food and restaurant scene. That’s our go-to activity.”

A college graduate in 2021, Jackson chose to stay in higher education and begin his career in admissions and recruiting at Belmont. He was tasked with working with prospective students and building relationships with their families. It was a role Jackson found both rewarding and an opportunity for growth.

“In my time at Belmont working in admissions, it’s a very public facing position within the university,” he said. “You’re the front door and the first face that a student and a family encounter when they step foot on campus.”

Open to New Challenges and Opportunities

It was through this time of pushing his comfort zone that Jackson realized he had the abilities that led him to CI.

“I was ready to make an industry shift and an opportunity opened at CI,” Jackson said. “I think a lot of the sales, customer service, and relationship building that I experienced during my time in higher ed felt like they translated well to a place like CI that was focused on leadership development, account management, and client relationships.”

An Eagle Scout in his hometown of Littleton, Colorado, Jackson learned to see challenges as a chance to gain new skills. Today, he sees his role with CI like a Swiss Army Knife.

Embracing early career change

In his new role with CI, Jackson helps the business development team with everything from simple transactional proposals to assisting with account management.  He also assists with opportunity maintenance, opportunity searching, and exploring research projects.

For Jackson, it’s the culture of CI and the team’s commitment to succeeding together that’s made the greatest impression on him early in his time with the company.

“The people are unbelievable, and the culture is just fantastic,” said Jackson. “Right off the bat, I have no doubt that every person here is equally invested in the success of their own projects as they are with the company and the success of each of their colleague’s growth and professional development.”

“It’s a great challenge and it’s really fun. I’ve just been blown away so far, the support that I’ve had, and I’m excited that it’s all going up from here,” he added.

working with us

Regardless of route, and no matter the map, the journey with CI always starts with listening. We then guide and advise our clients through their operational, leadership, and personnel challenges – exploring each organization’s unique blend of personalities, culture, constraints, and mission. And often alongside us are the dozens of independent experts and partner organizations who provide crucial support and advice along the way.