Our Team

ANESE CAVANAUGH 

CEO + Strategic Advisor

Founder of The IEP Method® and The Positive Energy Workplace Initiative™

Anese Cavanaugh is the CEO of Active Choices, Inc., creator of the IEP Method® (Intentional Energetic Presence®) and the Positive Energy Workplace Initiative™ and a strategist and advisor to leaders and organizations around the world. She is devoted to helping organizations support their people so they are able to show up and bring their best selves to the table, create significant impact in their lives, and create (authentic) positive energy workplaces and cultures. Anese is a keynote speaker and author of CONTAGIOUS CULTURE: Show Up, Set the Tone, and Intentionally Create an Organization That Thrives (McGraw-Hill, 2015), CONTAGIOUS YOU: Unlock Your Power to Influence, Lead, and Create the Impact You Want (McGraw-Hill, 2019), and THE LEADER YOU WILL BE: An Invitation (a leadership storybook).

As a leading voice on intention, energy, and presence in leadership and culture, she helps people unlock greater leadership potential, collaborate more inspiringly, create more openly, intuit more bravely, and lead more joyfully and effectively. She holds a degree in Kinesiology as well as multiple credentials in coaching, training, facilitation, and relationship systems that support her in bringing a breadth of knowledge to clients in order to meet them where they’re at and best pair the team with the optimally fit engagements.

Top innovators and executives in companies including Ford Motor Company, IDEO, Zingerman’s, Cooper, GM Financial, Vistaprint, 15Five, Fitbit, Vivayic, Kaiser Permanente, BNY Mellon, and others have engaged with Active Choices to strengthen team health, maximize leadership impact, and optimize company culture. In addition to appearing in publications like Harvard Business Review, The Huffington Post, CEO.com, Forbes, the NY Times, and others, Anese writes a column, “Showing Up” on Inc.com, blogs regularly for subscribers of ActiveChoices.com, and speaks on stages (in person and virtually) around the world. Learn more about Anese here.

ACI OPERATIONS + CLIENT SUCCESS TEAM

SANDY MARTINI

Director of Finance + Online Operations

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JENNY WILEY

Director of Programming + Community Growth

Jacob Cavanaugh Data Science & Research Specialist

JACOB CAVANAUGH

Data Science + Research Specialist

ACI FACULTY + PROGRAM IMPLEMENTATION TEAM

Our training team is a collaborative group of certified coaches, facilitators, strategists, teachers, thought leaders, practitioners, and therapists, with a breadth of experience in healthcare, corporate, military, education, design, finance, tech, and many other industries.

We work together to create the co-designed outcomes you and your organization need and desire.

Laura

Laura Lundin, PCC

Leadership Coach + Trainer

 Laura specializes in communications and transformational leadership development for high-performing executives and the co-creation of compassionate, inclusive workplace cultures. Her approach is grounded in the belief that each of us possesses a unique greatness and desire to contribute that, when aligned with our environment, leads to incredible results in business and social impact.

Laura brings 20 years of national and international corporate experience in communications, marketing, and social responsibility to her client engagements. A sought-after advisor to the C-Suite and Board of Directors, she has created functions and built teams in large, highly matrixed organizations and nimble start-ups.

She originated the national Social Impact and Strategic Partnerships function at the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association where she generated measurable public health outcomes and brand visibility. She leveraged her compassionate, values-driven management style to create and lead a cross-functional, multi-generational team that won several internal and external awards for excellence.

Laura spent the first 5 years of her career in Nagoya, Japan, where she served as lead communications associate to the CEO of Oak Lawn Marketing (now Shop Japan), a global product marketing company. She is fluent in conversational Japanese language and business culture.

KELLY POPPAW, PT, DPT, CIMT, CIDN, IEP-C

Physical Therapist + Leadership Coach + Trainer

Kelly has spent much of her life and career working on self-development and personal growth. She believes the skills she has gained as a physical therapist and teacher are far better utilized because she has worked so hard at knowing herself. Devoted to ongoing awareness and master, she continuously engages in her own personal and leadership growth and development via training, coaching, and reading. She coaches leaders one-on-one and mentors her staff as a Clinic Director at Probility Physical Therapy. She is proud to say above anything else that has enriched their bottom line, it is their strong culture and staff’s sense of purpose and ability to live and operate by their core values. Her skill in building culture was developed at Eastern Michigan University where she was a NCAA Division-I athlete and captain of the women’s soccer team, winning national recognition for most-improved team.

Her public speaking background includes auditioning at TEDx and keynoting two international healthcare symposiums alongside luminaries Brené Brown and Daniel Pink. As a writer, she contributes to the C-Suite column for the National Business Education Association on leadership topics including the true value of core values and its effect on a company’s bottom line.

KAREN MAIER

Executive Advisor + Coach

Karen is an organizational and leadership executive advisor and coach for world-class C-suite executives and their teams. With more than 30 years of global HR experience as an Executive and Chief People Officer across diverse industries, she is an expert in engaging diverse leaders and teams, building organizational and leadership capability, and co-creating organizational and leadership transformations. Karen demonstrates the courage to tackle the most challenging situations in fast-paced, high-stake environments while elevating leaders and team to achieve lasting results.

Karen has a bachelor’s degree in Psychology and Business, studied Organizational Behavior and Leadership, and holds a variety of certifications: Professional Coach, Master Practitioner in Energy Leadership, Executive Strategic HR, EQ-i, The Five Behaviors, MBTI, and Project Management. Tag line: I help C-suite executives and their teams go from ‘hair on fire’ mode to root cause and the lasting individual, team, and organizational transformation that powers business growth.

MICHELLE REMBERT, ACC, CPCC

Coach + Speaker + Trainer

 Michelle is an ICF credentialed coach, speaker, and trainer, who partners with her clients to maximize their personal and professional potential. By creating self-awareness, uncovering blind spots, and tapping into their inner wisdom, Michelle helps them to find their unique solutions and strategies so that they can live better and lead better!

Drawing on more than 30 years in healthcare and non-profit leadership, Michelle’s unique background, coupled with her experience as a professional coach, makes her well-prepared and uniquely qualified to support individuals, teams, and organizations in a variety of settings. Throughout her career, Michelle has held several leadership positions and has been a business owner, so she speaks from experience, as well as years of her own personal and professional development.

As a lead facilitator and mentor coach for Grand View University’s Certificate in Coaching, Mentoring & Leadership, she specializes in designing, planning, and facilitating workshops for emerging and seasoned leaders. 

Michelle has received specialty training in C-IQ® Conversational Intelligence, mindfulness-based stress reduction, and workplace wellbeing, including compassion fatigue and resiliency. Michelle is a Certified Professional Co-Active Coach (CPCC) through Co-Active Training Institute (CTI) and an ICF Associate Certified Coach (ACC). She is a licensed facilitator for Corporate Coach U’s The Coaching Clinic® and the PCSI® -Personal Coaching Styles Inventory.

ACI SUPPORT TEAM

AMY RICHARDSON

Operations + Customer Support

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PAYTON PRATHER

Operations + Marketing Specialist

JENNIFER PROUHET

Events Specialist