Forum

Andre Alphonso, Managing Director, India.

André Alphonso joined The Forum Corporation in 1995 after working 20 years in human resource and organisational development in the public sector and such private-sector industries as manufacturing and information technology.  With clients such as Sydney Water, Humes, Prime Computer, and Unisys, he has worked extensively across the Asia Pacific region.

André’s work with Forum encompasses business development, consulting, designing/developing learning solutions, delivering classroom training, facilitating engagements, and helping organizations improve their sales, service, management and leadership capabilities.  In November 2008 André took responsibility for establishing Forum’s business in the Indian sub-continent.  Based in Delhi, he speaks English.

 

Tom Atkinson, Ph.D., Director of Customer Research

With more than 25 years of experience helping companies achieve measurable business results through learning, Tom Atkinson focuses on assessing performance gaps, applying principles of workplace learning, and tracking results.  As a researcher, he has conducted groundbreaking studies on such topics as how to increase sales and service effectiveness; how to prepare leaders to drive growth; how to enable companies to execute with speed; and how to create a high-performance organizational climate.  Tom’s findings, which have been published in the Harvard Business Review, are the foundation for many of Forum’s learning programs.

As a consultant, Tom has helped companies diagnose their people’s learning needs and implement programs to improve their people’s performance.  He has served more than 100 client organizations, including Fortune 500 companies in such industries as consumer products, energy, financial services, government, high technology, travel, manufacturing, pharmaceuticals, health care, and professional services.

Tom holds three degrees in Psychology:  a B.A. from the University of Connecticut, an M.A. from Fairleigh Dickinson University, and a Ph.D. from Boston College.  He is active in the community of families affected by autism.

Jeffrey Baker, Vice President and Practice Leader – Sales Effectiveness

Jeffrey Baker is a vice president and practice leader for the sales effectiveness practice within The Forum Corporation.  He directs research efforts, new product and service development, and market positioning.  Jeffrey recently completed a major research effort into how sales people engage senior level decision-makers, and developed a new Forum sales skills training program based on findings from this research.   His previous research projects included investigating the impact of the 2008-2010 recession on buyer behavior and effective strategies for selling in that challenging environment.  Jeffrey has spent most of his career selling and leading sales teams, as well as managing customer care operations.

Steve Barry, Marketing Director, Americas

Over his 7 years with Forum, Steve’s time has been split between the area of leadership research and development, and marketing.  He has developed new leadership capabilities, tailored existing products to meet client needs, and authored white papers on the subject.  He was also actively involved in Forum’s major research efforts, including the most recent research on Strategic Speed.   Steve then moved from R&D to Marketing to bring the insights from our research to our clients and external audiences.

Steve earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Psychology and a Master of Science in Industrial/Organizational Psychology.  Steve works out of the Boston office.

Michael Collins, Vice President and Executive Consultant

In his role as Executive Consultant, Michael specializes in sales and leadership learning solutions in a variety of industries.

 

Jocelyn R. Davis, Executive Vice President, Research and Development

Jocelyn leads Forum’s global R&D function. She is responsible for Forum’s strategies for creating and leveraging intellectual property–including original research, learningware, consulting and coaching tools, assessments, and all other core content.  Jocelyn is an author of Forum’s upcoming book, Strategic Speed.  Jocelyn also provides design advice on client projects, working with clients such as Eli Lilly,  Bausch & Lomb, Coca Cola, Agilent, Microsoft, BankOne, Walt Disney, and Nike.

In the past decade Jocelyn’s teams have doubled the size of Forum’s library with innovative learning curricula and consulting protocols, including the Strategy Execution Suite, Leading Change, Leading Innovation, Leading Across Boundaries, Achieving Service Excellence, Sales Through Service, Leading Effective Sales Teams, Strategic Account Management, Senior-Level Selling, and Consultative Skills. In addition to personally designing and writing many of these Forum courses, Jocelyn co-authored the research reports “Blended Learning Strategy” and “Principles of Workplace Learning,” which offer new strategies and tools for improving performance in the workplace.   Over the years she has evolved Forum’s products and capabilities to make them more flexible, broader-ranging, and more attuned to client needs.

As a consultant with the Forum Corporation of Canada, Jocelyn previously led projects in the design and development of client-specific learning solutions, working with clients such as The Toronto Star, KPMG, MCI, GE Capital, and Unilever.

Jocelyn is the recipient of numerous awards including three of Forum’s Corporate Excellence Awards, a Forum Manager of the Year Award, and two Human Resource Executive Training Products Awards for sales and teaming courses.  She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy with high honors from Swarthmore College and a Master of Arts in Philosophy from the University of Pittsburgh.

 

Michelle DelRosario, Design Consultant

In October 2011, Michelle joined Forum Corporation as a design consultant. In her role, she is responsible for providing insight, advice and learning design expertise to our clients and potential clients by working in close partnership with Sales and Delivery.  Michelle also teaches leadership and human resources courses in the Graduate College of Professional Studies at Northeastern University.

Prior to joining Forum, in 2006, Michelle founded TrainingMade (www.trainingmade.com), to provide an alternative to traditional training design and development for business trainers, HR professionals and consultants.  Michelle has also held the position of Head of Human Resources for TIBCO Software, the leading maker of software integration and as Manager of Employee & Organizational Development at Keane, Inc, a billion dollar IT consulting company.  Michelle is recognized for her facilitation and design skills. In her many years of effective leadership, Michelle has pioneered efforts for HR globally, creating cutting edge development and training programs, managing recruiting, developing innovative tools and processes to maximize employee productivity.   Michelle holds a BS in Business Administration from Northeastern University and a MS in Human Resource Management from Emmanuel College. She is certified in Training and Development from Boston University

 

Maggie Walsh, Ph.D., Vice President and Practice Lead – Leadership

Maggie leads Forum’s leadership development practice, providing thought leadership and working closely with internal practitioners and clients to continually refresh Forum’s understanding of real leadership issues and needs.  Over the years, Maggie has played a role in developing a number of Forum’s leadership and sales capabilities.

With two decades of client experience, Maggie continues to work with leaders at all organizational levels in a variety of industries, ensuring that learning is firmly tied to business results.  Her practice evidences her strong belief that people in organizations learn best in the context of real work—whether in or outside the classroom.

Prior to joining Forum, Maggie headed up learning product development for the Strategic Development division of a Fortune 40 health-care company and also served as director of Product Development and senior consultant for a training and development consulting company.  Her private-sector experience involves such industries as consumer products, financial services, oil and gas, pharmaceuticals, medical-device manufacturing, professional services, high-tech, insurance, entertainment, contract research, and advertising.

In the public sector, Maggie has done extensive consulting on strategic and organizational change initiatives.  At the Texas Department of Health, for example, she worked with the organization’s commissioner and top leadership team to build consensus on a department-wide redesign.  Various other state agencies and Austin-area non-profit organizations have also tapped Maggie’s expertise in implementing strategic initiatives.

Maggie earned a Ph.D. in Cognitive Psychology from the University of Texas at Austin, where she also taught undergraduate Psychology, designed and managed research initiatives, and published peer-reviewed research papers in scientific journals. Maggie works out of Austin, Texas.