Edward Silva
President 

President and Founder of Organizational Learning Solutions, Inc., since 1998. He is the former Senior Vice President for HRDQ Consulting, and today he represents their products as a segment of the offerings of OLS. He was also Senior Vice President for The Fair, Inc., a specialty retail store in the Southwest.

Ed also has experience as a Management Training Specialist for Gimbels Department Store, Philadelphia, as well as private school teacher. He has 20 years experience as an external consultant facilitating training programs to corporations and organizations in North America, South America, Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia.

Ed holds a B.A. degree from the University of Massachusetts at Lowell and has done graduate work in educational design at Temple University in Philadelphia. Ed received the Outstanding Leadership award from the Beaumont, Texas Chamber of Commerce. He also received the National Association of Community Leaders Award.Ed is a member of Leadership Houston

Ed.Silva@ols1.com

Stefanie Heiter
Senior Consultant

Stefanie Heiter is among the nation's leading thinkers and consultants in the human side of virtual work. She provides expertise in such areas as leadership and team development for those located in the same place and virtually.

Stefanie's clients include many of today's leading businesses, such as Microsoft, Teradyne, United Technologies, and Verizon. She has improved each of these firms' ability to thrive in today's virtual world by reducing, targeting, and/or improving their use of all virtual communications with customers, vendors, employees, and the public.

Stefanie has a Bachelor's degree in Psychology from Clark University and a Master of Science in Organization and Management from Antioch University.

Stefanie.Heiter@ols1.com

Sonia St. Charles
Senior Consultant

Sonia St. Charles has over 25 years of experience as a business leader, human resources executive, and professional facilitator. Her management background provides her with the insight to effectively coach her clients, because she understands the issues that today’s leaders face.

Most recently she served as Chief Executive Officer & Founder of Davenport Group, one of the country’s fastest-growing data protection solutions vendors. Prior to developing Davenport Group, St. Charles was a senior vice president for Deluxe Corporation. Before that she held executive leadership roles at PaperDirect, TRC, The Entrepreneurs Consulting Group and Resort Condominiums International (RCI). She also founded and was president of St. Charles & Associates, a human resources and organizational development consulting firm.

She graduated from the University of Tennessee with a bachelor’s degree in business and completed post-graduate work at Harvard University. Her facilitation clients include MBNA, Abbott Laboratories, Exxon, Texaco, American Express, IBM, California Closets, Delta Airlines, Williams Sonoma, Farm Credit Services, Sheraton Hotels, Chevron, and Phillips.

Sonia.Stcharles@ols1.com

Mary Cloud
Senior Consultant

Mary Cloud has more than 30 years of experience in the management of communications, publications, and services in the space exploration, research, academic, and non-profit sectors. Her background includes providing multi-site supervision of adult learning programs and classroom teaching in public and private schools and at Houston Community College.

Mary is a good listener who can help clients assess workplace environments and identify problem areas. Her knowledge of available resources enables her to customize existing programs to meet unique requirements.

As an experienced conference planner and communicator, she is expert at helping clients plan and implement successful workshops and programs utilizing creative, research-based materials.

A native Houstonian, Mary has a Master’s degree in Communications from the University of Kentucky and a Bachelor’s degree in English from Georgetown College.

Mary.Cloud@ols1.com

Vince Whelan
Senior Consultant

Vince Whelan is Managing Director of the human resources consulting firm of Whelan Global Associates LLC, which specializes in providing the human resources expertise required to expand into broader domestic or international markets.

He has over 30 years of global experience in compensation and benefits plan design and implementation, staffing, selection and placement of key personnel, international and local company regulations development and implementation, expatriate management and policy design and implementation, human resources process and administration design and implementation and organizational effectiveness and strategic human resources planning.

Prior to establishing WGA, Vince was a senior human resources executive for a number of multinational companies including Halliburton, BJ Services, Great Lakes Chemical, PowerWell Services, Nowsco Well Services, EGL Freight and Western Company of North America. His experience encompasses a variety of industries including oilfield services, manufacturing and transportation. Vince has an MA in organizational management and a BBA.

Vince.Whelan@ols1.com

Peter Watson

Senior Consultant

Toronto, Canada

Peter has over 25 years experience working in the discipline of organizational effectiveness.  For nearly 20 years Peter was responsible for organization development at Fairmont Hotels & Resorts, a large, Canadian based, luxury hotel company operating 50 hotels in 8 countries.  As the company expanded, Peter played a pivotal role in going into newly acquired hotels, assessing the culture and then implementing necessary organizational change to ensure business objectives were achieved.

Peter's focus is on strategic talent management.  He has assisted service driven organizations achieve their business targets through the alignment of Human Resource training and practices. 

Peter's expertise has helped build solid, long-term business relationship with his clients.  Whether assisting companies in the identification and implementation of key business objectives, facilitating sessions with senior management or working with front line employees in the delivery of a brand promise, Peter lives by his personal mission of "Making a difference in someone's life, each and every day".

Peter.Watson@ols1.com

Jeffrey Jewett
Business Development Consultant

Jeff has over 8 years experience in varying industries including IT, government, oil and gas, healthcare, recreation, hospitality, and education. As a business development consultant, Jeff’s primary focus will be working in a “business to business” role assisting organizations in identifying and addressing their learning and organizational development needs. He will also deliver OLS services, workshops and seminars. Jeff has a strong desire for enhancing communication and relationships that lead to better, more effective business solutions.

He has a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology from the University of Alaska at Anchorage.

Jeffrey.Jewett@ols1.com

Markku Kauppinen
President, Extended DISC, North America - Partner

Markku oversees the North American operations of Extended DISC. He is the founder of Extended DISC, North America, Inc., and introduced Extended DISC assessments to the United States in 1997. He plays an active role in product development by focusing on the practical applications of the assessment tools.

Markku is also very involved in the education of Extended DISC users, and he has worked with clients such as Nokia, Halliburton, Sumitoma Bakelite, Entergy, and Tricon Restaurants International in the United States, Europe, Asia, and Latin America. He also worked with the New Orleans Small Business Development Center and consulted with small businesses in management, operational, human resources, finance, and marketing issues. Markku was born in Helsinki, Finland, and immigrated to the United States in 1984.

He has a Bachelor's degree in Management Marketing and an M.B.A. in Finance; he was the valedictorian in both of his collegiate graduating classes.