To read 400-word biographies of our coaches based across the Central & Southern U.S., continue below:
NEIL D. SAMUELS‘s mission is helping leaders flourish by re-discovering their strengths, clarifying their commitments, and fundamentally changing their conversations with themselves, their teams, and their organizations. He believes that conversations characterized by depth and intensity lead to successful, lasting change. His clients value his integrity, passion, and ability to magnify their strengths.
Neil received a bachelor’s degree in geology from Ohio University and a master’s degree in geology from the University of Cincinnati, after which he worked in energy exploration for BP in the U.S. and West Africa. While working for BP, he made a career shift to coaching and consulting, earning a masters degree in organization development from Pepperdine University. Neil has served as an examiner for the Texas Quality Award and was certified as a Total Quality Manager. In addition, he is certified in and applies a number of instruments in his coaching including the VIA Survey of Strengths.
Neil devoted 27 years of his career to Amoco/BP, 10 as a geologist and 17 as an internal consultant. He co-developed a cost-effective, web-based process to be used for 360° feedback throughout BP. He also developed, applied, and trained others in an appreciative-inquiry approach to feedback for use in leadership development. His extensive work with senior leaders and their teams helped create robust strategies with true alignment throughout their organizations. In his final internal role, Neil worked in London for four years as manager of organization development for Europe, leading a team of consultants serving 30,000 employees in 13 countries. During that time, Neil supported senior leaders in every business segment.
Neil founded his own consulting firm in 2006. His clients have included Rolls Royce, Glaxo Smith Kline, Celebrity Cruise Lines, BP, Stantec Engineering, U.S. Geological Survey, International Fluid Power Society, Kimberly Clark, the Naperville Community School District, and Aviva Investors (where he coached the CEO of North America and four of his senior staff). Having worked on six continents, he’s presented and published in the management, education, and organization development fields in the U.S. and U.K.; many of these contributions concern the application of appreciative inquiry in both business and education. Neil also served as adjunct faculty at Pepperdine University’s Graziadio School of Business and Management.
Neil resides in the Chicago area with his wife and teenage son. Always looking for a bridge game, Neil also plays tennis and enjoys bicycling on the prairie paths near his home.
MARILENA BEUSES is an executive coach and leadership consultant specializing in Latin America. She develops corporate leaders who can attain great results and leave a memorable legacy in their companies.
A native of Venezuela, Marilena grew up among expatriate families in the Exxon and Shell oil fields of Venezuela, where her father worked. She holds a bachelors degree from Duquesne University and an MBA from the University of Michigan. During her time as a corporate executive, she continued learning at the Center for Creative Leadership and the Harvard University business executive development program. She is certified in the use of various assessment instruments.
Marilena began her career in the HR department of Petroleos de Venezuela and held various operational roles there for 10 years. After a brief time as a consultant for Hay Management in Philadelphia, she moved to Florida and became a regional HR manager for Pepsi Cola International, responsible for seven countries in Latin America. In 1996, Marilena became Citigroup’s HR Vice President for Latin America, responsible for some 7,000 employees in 23 countries; assisting her were 15 direct reports. She became an independent professional in 2000.
A graduate of Coach University, Marilena is one of the first executive coaches with a Latin American background and interests to be accredited as a Professional Certified Coach. She is also the founder of a Spanish-speaking network of coaches for the International Coach Federation.
Marilena has worked as a coach, facilitator, and leadership consultant for companies in Latin America and elsewhere. She has consulted with the top 25 leaders at Microsoft Latin America and the top 100 leaders at Citigroup. Other clients include Unilever, AstraZeneca, Bombardier, Hewlett Packard, Chevron, Covidien, Ford, Sara Lee, Sony Pictures, MTV, Monsanto, NASA, Nokia, Procter & Gamble, Yahoo, and the United Nations. She is also working with several wealthy family businesses.
Marilena is frequently invited to speak at large professional gatherings such as International ICF conferences in the United States and Europe, the Million Dollar Round Table, Asociacion de Mujeres Ejecutivas Mejicanas, and international HR conferences. At the Wharton Business School in Philadelphia, Marilena also teaches within the Advanced Management program.
In her free time, Marilena enjoys the outdoors. An avid scuba diver, she also enjoys zumba, yoga, long distance cycling, and travel. She is married and the stepmother of four teenagers. A resident of Florida, she is doing her best to master the game of golf.
RITA WUEBBELER is an intercultural corporate trainer, consultant, and coach. She works with individuals and teams to help them maximize their effectiveness in a variety of global business contexts such as international relocation, virtual team performance, and global leadership development. Having lived and worked in not only in her native Germany but also in the U.K., Spain, Luxembourg, and the U.S., she is able to train and coach in German and English; she also has a good command of Spanish.
Rita holds a masters degree in applied linguistics for English and Spanish from Mainz University in Germany. In 1986 she moved from Germany to the U.S. to work as project coordinator in a German-American business incubator firm. In 1990 she founded her own intercultural consulting firm, which designs and conducts team-building workshops, cross-cultural effectiveness training, executive coaching, and business briefings. Her clients have included DaimlerChrysler, Porsche, BMW, Robert Bosch GmbH, AMD, Sematech, Siemens, Solvay Pharmaceuticals, Novartis, Glaxo Wellcome, Roche Diagnostics, UCB Pharmaceuticals, Marriott Hotels, BellSouth International, Turner Construction, Shaw Pittman LLP, Kurt Salmon Associates, Commerzbank AG, and Deutsche Bank.
Rita’s executive coaching practice includes working with (1) leaders of multidisciplinary global drug submission teams as well as production teams in industrial manufacturing companies, (2) executives in the process of starting or ending international job assignments and overcoming personal and professional transition challenges, (3) and top executives engaged in post-merger corporate culture integration processes. She has also worked with female executives who are moving up to global leadership roles, with special emphasis on gender-specific expectations related to their new roles.
Some of Rita’s other professional specialties include on-going global business skills training for European and U.S. based electronics, diagnostics, and automotive supply companies; global team optimization programs for European and U.S. based pharmaceutical companies; teambuilding programs for diverse teams at international law firms and other professional services companies; and global leadership development training for high potentials. In addition, Rita speaks on intercultural topics at universities and international conferences. A recent article that she co-authored focused on the dynamics of dispersed teams and appeared in German Trade, a publication of the German-American Chamber of Commerce.
Rita sees herself as a “cultural bridge person” who enjoys connecting people from different backgrounds with each other. She travels as much as possible and loves writing travelogues for her friends and family from far away destinations.