Outstanding Instruction

Rebecca Armacost, M.A.

Rebecca Armacost is a senior faculty member and executive coach for the Leadership Development Institute at Eckerd College and serves as program manager for the Leadership Development Program, which is offered in partnership with the Center for Creative Leadership. With over 25 years of experience as an executive and senior leader in Global Human Resource Management and Organizational Development, Rebecca has passion and experience in organizational change initiatives including conflict transformation, leadership, corporate culture and diversity. As a board certified coach, she has had an active coaching practice through her company, Amani Consulting, coaching executive level clients in many Fortune 50 – 500 companies, small start-up companies, and multi-national charities. Rebecca holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology from Furman University and a Master’s Degree in Organizational Development and Design from Fielding Graduate University.

Joseph D. Carella, Psy.D.

Joe is the Customized Solutions Consultant and a Lead Instructor at the Eckerd College Leadership Development Institute (LDI) as well as a licensed clinical psychologist with over 20 years of experience in the practice of psychotherapy. He has extensive experience as a psychotherapist, executive coach, instructor and group facilitator, and is currently an independent practitioner in St. Petersburg. Joe was the Director of Eckerd College’s Counseling & Health Services as well as an adjunct member of the psychology faculty from 1995 to 2005. Additionally, Joe works with professional, collegiate and amateur athletes and has served as a facilitator for the NFL Rookie Symposium since 2004. Joe earned his B.A. from Fairfield University, his Psy.D. from Nova University and completed his post doctoral fellowship at the University of Rochester.

Margaret Cooley, M.A.

Margaret Cooley is the Director of the Leadership Development Institute (LDI) and has been a senior faculty member since 1986.  She oversees the open-enrollment programs including the Leadership Development Program (LDP)^®, Maximizing Your Leadership Potential (MLP), Mastering Conflict Dynamics (MCD) and Lasting Leadership (LLP).  With extensive experience in organizational consulting and seminar design, Margaret has special interests in conflict resolution, leadership and gender, emotional intelligence and the assessment of factors associated with executive success.  She has coached hundreds of mid-level to C-suite executives from prestigious organizations and has conducted countless high-impact, interactive training events aimed at improving leadership effectiveness, enhancing self-awareness and building high-performance teams.  Margaret received her degrees from Rhodes College and the University of Chicago.

Maggie W. Dunn, DBA

Maggie Dunn is the Coaching Talent Lead and Executive Coach at Eckerd College’s Leadership Development Institute. Maggie has over 20 years of Human Resource leadership experience in Fortune 500 companies. Prior to establishing her consulting practice, HR Leadership Solutions, she was on Motorola’s HR leadership team with overall talent management responsibility for international business units at every stage of the business life-cycle. She has worked extensively with business leaders across the U.S., Latin America, Asia and Europe.  Before joining Motorola, Maggie was with McDonnell Douglas Corporation (now part of Boeing) where she established the company’s first Career Resource Center and provided strategic acquisition integration support.  Maggie is a member of the Management Faculty for Nova Southeastern University’s Wayne Huizenga College of Business and Entrepreneurship. She teaches leadership and HR courses in the MBA program. Dr. Dunn earned her Doctorate in Business Administration from Nova Southeastern University.  Her dissertation is titled “The Impact of Leadership on Employees’ Commitment to the Organization: An International Perspective.”  She earned her Masters degree in Education with a concentration in Human Resource Development and her Bachelors in Psychology from the American University in Washington, D.C.

Cheryl Bonini Ellis, MBA

Cheryl Ellis is a senior faculty member and executive coach at Eckerd College’s Leadership Development Institute. As a former senior executive turned entrepreneur, Cheryl has helped countless leaders achieve greater success. She is a Certified High-Performance Coach, specializing in helping growth-minded business owners and executives build cohesive high-performing teams. She is a Founding Member of John Maxwell’s Team of Coaches, Trainers and Speakers, and a Certified Facilitator for 5 Behaviors of a Cohesive Teamä, Everything DiSCä, Productive Conflictä, and PXT Selectä. She is the author of Becoming Deliberate: Changing the Game of Leadership from the Inside Out, with a BS in Business from Skidmore College and an MBA from Syracuse University, who resides in St Petersburg, FL.

Lawrence W. Hamilton, MPA, Ed.S., SPHR

Lawrence W. Hamilton has been an executive coach and faculty member with the Leadership Development Institute at Eckerd College since 2008 and has had a distinguished career as a Human Resources executive Lawrence began his career at Bristol-Myers Squibb and most recently was a corporate officer and member of the Executive Committee at Tech Data Corporation, a $20+ billion worldwide technology distributor. Lawrence joined Tech Data in 1993 and was named Worldwide Senior Vice President of Human Resources in 1996. He departed Tech Data in 2006 to pursue his board membership and HR consulting interests, and has been affiliated with the Leadership Development Institute since 2008. He presently serves on the boards of both a privately held and a publicly held company. Lawrence holds an MPA from the University of Alabama and an Ed.S. from The George Washington University.

Peter Hammerschmidt, Ph.D.

Peter is a Professor of Economics and has been a member of the Eckerd College faculty since 1977. He has served as a lead instructor at LDI since 1984. He makes frequent public presentations on economics, leadership, decision-making and creative problem-solving styles. His research interests and publications include Male/Female Management Diversity, Leadership traits and Creative Problem Solving styles and team effectiveness. In 1984, he was the recipient of the Robert A. Staub Distinguished Professor of the Year Award.  He is a graduate of Colorado State University.

Ashley Potts, Ph.D.

Dr. Ashley Potts is a faculty member and executive coach at the Leadership Development Institute (LDI) and serves as the program manager for the Maximizing Your Leadership Potential program, which is offered in partnership with the Center for Creative Leadership. Through her roles at LDI, Ashley has worked with leaders from a variety of corporations, nonprofits, government agencies, and universities. Ashley sees her work in leadership development as a way to empower leaders with research-based tools that can transform both their personal and professional lives. Ashley’s doctorate is in Philosophy (ethics and moral psychology, specifically) and her master’s is in Mental Health Counseling. Her research focuses on understanding the kinds of practical skillsets that enable leaders to become more courageous, resilient, and virtuous. Ashley has several years of experience as a university instructor teaching courses on topics such as professional ethics, ethical leadership, motivation, cultivating character strengths, and meaningful work. In addition, Ashley has also worked in various mental health settings including substance use hospitals, university centers, and private practice. In addition to her work at LDI, Ashley belongs to a private counseling practice in Saint Petersburg, Florida.

Monty H. Stepura

Monty is a senior faculty member, LDP host, executive coach and group facilitator at the Eckerd College Leadership Development Institute (LDI). Monty has over 30 years of executive leadership experience in the financial services, technology and consulting sectors of the Fortune 500. Prior to her external consulting career, she was the head of Fidelity Investment’s Executive Coaching & Assessment Practice. During her 13 years at Fidelity, Monty served as the head of talent management for multiple global business units and corporate functions within the firm. She also ran executive development, succession management, and global mobility initiatives for Fidelity’s Top 200 executives. Before joining Fidelity, Monty was with Marsh & McLennan where she provided strategic development initiatives for senior executives, high potential leaders and women in leadership roles across the globe. Monty earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in Developmental Psychology from the University of Florida and was selected during her 10 years at AT&T to complete in-residence executive development programs in Strategic Human Resources Leadership at Columbia University and the University of Michigan.

Holly Tompson, Ph.D.

Julia Welch, Ph.D.

Julia Welch is a senior faculty member and executive coach at Eckerd College’s Leadership Development Institute. She has also worked as a moderator for Harvard Business Publishing’s corporate training programs. Before her work in leadership development, she taught management at Suffolk University, the University of Houston, and Eckerd College. She has presented at numerous conferences and published research in such areas as employee motivation, compensation, challenges faced by fast-growth companies, multicultural diversity, and work-life balance. Julia holds a Ph.D. in Organizational Behavior from the University of Michigan and a bachelor’s degree in Economics from Eckerd College. She is a Board Certified Coach through the Center for Credentialing and Education.

For the 17th year in a row, the Financial Times ranks CCL as one of the world’s Top 10 executive education providers in the 2018 survey of executive education! CCL remains the only institution among 85 in the survey focused exclusively on leadership development.

12 Challenges Facing New Managers

White Paper
by Center for Creative Leadership

@EckerdExecEd