Instructor Bio’s
Our instructors include University of St. Thomas faculty and staff, distinguished scholars, field experts, experienced innovators, and learning coaches.
Dr. Susan Alexander
Dr. Susan Alexander is an economist with specialization in international economics. With a distinguished academic career spanning 25 years at the University of St. Thomas, she is a tenured faculty member in the College of Arts and Sciences, Department of Economics. In addition to her faculty appointment, Dr. Alexander also has held several significant academic and administrative appointments ranging from interim Vice President for Academic Affairs to her current role as Executive Advisor to the University President and Affirmative Action Officer.
Edna Comedy
Edna Comedy is a human resource professional and management consultant with more than 25 years of experience in the field with particular expertise in strategic planning and leadership, organizational development and employee and labor relations. She gained the majority of her professional experience while working in higher education and leading HR operations for some prestigious public and private institutions. Her current role is Associate Vice President for Human Resources at the University of St. Thomas. Having earned her SPHR designation—which is the highest certification in her field, Ms. Comedy also holds BSBA and MBA degrees and is currently pursuing her Doctorate in Educational Leadership through the College of Applied and Professional Studies at the University of St. Thomas. She is a member of the Society for Human Resource Management, Twin Cities Human Resource Association, WorldAtWork, and Minnesota College and University Professional Association. Ms. Comedy also serves on local and national boards.
Phyllis Karasov
Phyllis Karasov is an attorney and partner in the law firm of Moore, Costello & Hart, PLLP. She received her B.A. degree from the University of Rochester and her J.D. degree from Emory University. She has served on the faculties of several continuing legal education programs and also has written several legal articles on labor and employment law. Ms. Karasov’s practice areas include education law, labor and employment law and business law. Ms. Karasov has been rated as “A-V” by Martindale-Hubbell, named as a Minnesota Leading Attorney by Leading American Attorneys and a Super Lawyer by the Minnesota Journal of Law and Politics. She has been recognized as one of the “Top 40 Employment Attorneys in Minnesota” by Minneapolis St. Paul Magazine, Twin Cities Business and Minnesota Law and Politics and as one of the “Top 100 Women Super Lawyers” by Minnesota Law and Politics.
Ernest L. Owens, Jr.
Ed.D., MBA, BSIE, CPM, PMP, Six Sigma Black Belt teaches strategic, operations, and project management, plus six sigma quality. He is the Lead Faculty for Project Management for the Center of Business Excellence at the University of St Thomas. His 22 years of industry experience come from Unisys as director of strategic planning, IBM as a cost engineer, Massachusetts General Hospital as a research engineer, Johnson and Johnson s as an industrial engineer. Dr. Owens is full-time tenured faculty in the University of St. Thomas College of Business teaching in the Executive MBA, MBA and Undergraduate programs. His doctorate is in leadership from UST. He also has a consulting practice called Planning On Purpose Turning Vision into Action focused on Professionals Practicing Project Management (P3M) and Strategic Planning.
He has been an adjunct faculty member in operations management at the Carlson School of Management, University of Minnesota, Visiting Professor in leadership at University of Caen (France) and adjunct faculty in operations and strategic management at the University of Wisconsin River Falls College of Business and Economics. Dr. Owens has also served as the Chair of the Minnesota Governor s Workforce Development Council for six years and is a recipient of the Eleven Who Care Award from Channel 11. He has consulted/taught at Aspen Research, Fargo Electronics, NRG, Tennant Corp, Mayo Clinic, Piper Jaffray, USBanks, Imation, Opportunities Industrialization Centers of America (OIC) and many other organizations.
Dianne Moore
Dianne has over 30 years experience in leadership and business development, working globally with organizations and individuals who want to increase their impact and effectiveness. Dianne partners with her clients in a variety of ways:
- Helping them align strategies, structure and business processes to fit the marketplace,
- Working with teams to identify and implement actions that take performance to a higher level, and
- Coaching individuals to develop leadership skills to gain influence, increase personal accountability, and create meaning through a more fully integrated life.
Dianne held senior organization development and human resource assignments in the 20 years she worked for 3M. She also served on the operating committee of Imation, a 3M spin-off, as Director of Organization and Talent Development, helping with culture transformation and change plans. She has a background in sales and marketing, as well as extensive human resource experience.
Dianne holds an undergraduate degree in education from Iowa State and a Masters of Science from Cal State Fullerton. Dianne co-authored a book on business leadership, entitled Source Book - a Guide for Business Leadership and created an extensive training/intervention program to develop organizational business acumen while aligning an enterprise for quick results.
Clients include 3M, The Pentagon, NBC, Astra Zeneca, United Health Group, Gallo Wines, Protein Design Labs, Davita, and Wells Fargo.
Barbara Tuckner, Ph.D.
An organizational development consultant and has worked with corporations, government agencies, non-profits, and schools on issues related to leadership, management, teaming, and gender. She was previously associate director of the Bush Educational Leaders Program, an innovative leadership program at the University of Minnesota. She currently instructs for the Center for Business Excellence and the Educational Leadership and Executive MBA Programs at the University of St. Thomas; and Integrative Learning Corporation in Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia. She earned a B.S. and a M.A. in Education from the University of Minnesota and her Ed. D. at the University of St. Thomas.
Linda Hutchinson
Linda is a national keynote speaker, adult educator, consultant and author with over 30 years of professional experience designing and delivering educational programs for large and small corporations, non-profit organizations, and professional associations. Linda is currently adjunct faculty for the College of St. Catherine, (St. Paul, MN) and the College of St. Scholastica (St. Cloud campus). Prior to starting her own company in 1992, she was a professional educator for Hazelden and Wilder Foundation. Besides Laugh and Live: Reclaiming Our Sense of Humor, Linda co-authored an anthology, Teaching Human Dignity: Social Change Lessons for Everyteacher with Miriam Wasserman, 1978.
Dr. Dean Russell
Dr. Dean Russell is an Organizational Effectiveness Consultant with Employers Association, Inc. He is also the former Quality Director of a medical device company with revenues of 350 million annually.
Dr. Russell has earned a Bachelor of Science Degree in Management, a Bachelor of Arts in Business, a Masters of Arts Degree in Human Resources Development and a Doctor of Philosophy in Business Administration degree focusing on Quality Systems. He has served as adjunct faculty for four years at Limestone College, Southern Wesleyan College, and Haywood Community College instructing courses in Business Administration and Human Resource Management. He has focused his career on organizational change, quality and leadership issues.
Tim Beyer
An empathically engaged psychologist, trainer, and consultant, Dr. Tim Beyer is co-founder of the Center for Courageous Living (www.cfcliving.com ) in Minneapolis. Dr. Beyer has been providing counseling and consulting for over 10 years and his passion lies in helping others clarify and achieve their personal and professional goals, and ultimately realize their best life. He completed his doctoral work in Educational Psychology at the University of Minnesota here in Minneapolis.
In addition to his private practice, Dr. Beyer works part-time here at the University of St. Thomas on the Minneapolis campus. At UST, he works with graduate and professional students to support their academic, professional, and personal success. He provides consultation, training, and outreach presentations to faculty, staff, and the broader campus community. Dr. Beyer has previously worked in business settings as a consultant providing psychological assessment for selection as well as professional development. He enjoys helping others learn more about themselves and the strengths and passions that make them unique.
Larry Bourgerie
Larry Bourgerie is currently an Independent Consultant. He most recently was HR Director at TCF National Bank, and has also been at HealthPartners, Inc. and The Pillsbury Company. He consults in organizational and employee development, with a client list including Park Nicollet foundation, Children’s Museum of Minnesota, University of St. Thomas, State of Minnesota, University of Minnesota, Novartis, ADC, and Grand Met. He earned his B.A. in Business and his Master of Arts in Industrial Relations from the University of Minnesota Carlson School of Management. He has SPHR certification from the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), and is active in local and national chapters of SHRM, and a past president of Twin Cities Human Resource Association. He teaches HR Management, of Organizational Development & Change, and Employee Performance & Development at UST.
Barb Krantz Taylor
Barb Krantz Taylor, MA, is an Associate with the Bailey Consulting Group, Inc. (BCG, Inc.), a Minneapolis-based firm specializing in consulting and training services relating to career, team, talent, and leadership development. The Bailey Consulting Group offers customized design and delivery of workshops as well as individual coaching and team building interventions. BCG, Inc. clients include both large and small organizations representing a range of industries such as financial services, social services, health care, high technology, higher education, and human resources consulting.
Barb is a licensed psychologist with over 20 years of experience. Barb’s specialties include individual and group career development, talent management, leadership coaching, employee engagement, emotional intelligence, and team-building. Her passion is to partner with individuals, teams and organizations as they recognize their natural talents, inner gifts, and purpose. This process of discovery leads individuals and teams to fully engage with their work (and each other) and perform at their peak. Barb is also an experienced ‘leisure’ counselor, coaching individuals and teams to find a sense of ‘play’ as they simultaneously reach their career/work goals.
In addition to private sector organizations, Barb has worked extensively in higher education and the non-profit world and holds an Adjunct Faculty position in the Career Development/Human Resource Development department at St. Thomas University in Minneapolis/St Paul.
Pete Ronza
Pete is the Compensation and Benefits Manager at the University of St. Thomas. He has a Master’s Degree in HR/IR from the University of Minnesota, and holds a Certified Compensation Professional (CCP) designation from WorldatWork and a Senior Professional in Human Resources (SPHR) designation from the Society for Human Resources Management. Pete has spent 19 years as a human resources professional in public, private and consulting environments. He has been called upon to provide FLSA guidance and compliance assistance in a wide variety of operating environments.
Jerilynn Sushko
M.B.A., M.A., President of her own corporate training and management consulting company specializing in a variety of business education areas. She teaches credit and noncredit classes at several institutions of higher education in the Twin Cities.
Ben Shank
Owner of Writing Consultants, Inc., has taught writing and written professionally since 1975. His experience has been broad and varied. In the field of journalism, Ben has worked as a newspaper writer and editor. In the corporate world, he has also written and edited company newsletters. In the academic sphere, Ben has written for technical journals at colleges and universities, including the University of Minnesota. At the same time, Ben's poetry and short fiction have been published. His skill in written communications has been complemented by his experiences as a stage writer and performer in the United States and Europe. He is also an accomplished magician. Ben is well known as an outstanding writing instructor in a corporate setting. He has also conducted writing workshops for teachers and students in both parochial and public school writing programs. In recent years, he has also taught frequent workshops in interpersonal communication skills. Ben's background includes an undergraduate degree in communications, graduate training in industrial relations and ethics, and a master's degree in psychology. In addition to his writing and teaching career, Ben also maintains a private psychology practice in Minneapolis.
