Team

Kathleen Brucher COO Kathleen Brucher has had a long and distinguished career in the world of Finance that has traversed a wide array of skills areas including team management, venture funding, analytical financial strategy and forecasting, contract negotiations, project management, and technology implementation. Her investment experience also includes specialized research in the retail e-commerce arena. Her life mission is to utilize these skills to effect change within companies to become environmentally sustainable while being financially successful. After graduating from the University of Colorado with dual degrees in marketing and finance, Kathleen began her career at Morgan Stanley in retail sales. Two years later, she was recruited by Hambrecht & Quist to work in Institutional Sales where she covered some of the largest mutual funds. As her talents blossomed, Kathleen was invited to join a colleague to act as vice president and portfolio manager at an aggressive growth hedge fund called Glovsky-Brown Capital Management. It was here, that she honed her financial acumen by analyzing the feasibility of future economic growth of individual companies. In 1999, Kathleen joined the Netkitchen, an Internet strategy and design firm, where she served as the chief financial officer and chief operations officer. She spent the next four years consulting with Fortune 500 companies including Applied Materials, IBM, Electronic Arts, and VISA. During that time, she also managed a team of forty-five employees and opened up a London office to meet the needs of the growing clientele. In 2003, Kathleen rejoined Morgan Stanley in their elite Ultra High Net worth division, where she managed the largest team in the country with over $16 Billion in assets and whose financial advisors are annually listed in the top 20 of Barron’s Top 100 Financial Advisors. Kathleen utilized efficient frontier analytics to implement asset allocations for foundations, endowments, and clients including Silicon Valley Entrepreneurs, top executives of Fortune 500 Companies and venture capital investors. It was at this time, that Kathleen realized that she needed to work like many of these clients whose primary focus was integrating alternative resources into better corporate business models. (Help develop) She currently is a founding member of the Ahuma Institute and is an extreme skier, avid hiker and tentative scuba diver.

Mary Earle Chase Development Director Mary Earle Chase is a professional coach and workshop leader whose life work has been dedicated to inspiring and empowering people in their personal lives, in their work, and in their service to humanity and the planet. Her life is informed by a spiritual perspective gained from a lifelong study of religion, metaphysics, meditation, and paths to higher consciousness. Mary has coached and trained many executives, managers, and entrepreneurs as well as individuals and couples. She has developed and led personal growth workshops and has provided leadership and management training for small businesses, corporations, and non-profits. Prior to becoming a coach and consultant, Mary worked as an educator, therapist, writer, and media producer whose projects include two PBS documentaries and an Academy Award nominated short film. She began her writing career by launching a periodical on ending world hunger that was circulated to more than 1.6 million households. She is the co-author of two books, The Trimtab Factor with Neal Rogin and Harold Willens and Fifty and Fabulous with Zia Wesley-Hosford, and is the author of Waiting for Baby: One Couple’s Journey Through Infertility to Adoption. Mary graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Duke University and received her Masters in Teaching from Harvard University. She received coaching certification and leadership training from the Coaches Training Institute and is a member of the International Coach Federation.

Verland Beard Operations Director In my previous life in this body I was doing what I thought I was supposed to be doing. I received a BBA in Business Administration at Texas A&I University. I worked in all aspects of the business world, from salesman at Xerox Corporation to a successful business owner and manager. I worked as Production Manager for Talk Radio Network where we produced Coast to Coast AM with Art Bell which became the third largest talk show in the nation. I became a husband and father for 33 years. I was enjoying a good life and working very hard to do it. Then my wife died. I learned that life is short and you better enjoy it today. I made a conscience decision to start doing what I desired to do instead of what I “should.” To my amazement things started happening that I never could have imagined. Everything I wanted seemed to be coming to me. A friend of mine even made a statement that I will always remember; “How come magical things happen every time you are around?” Then I happened into a Power Manifestation seminar with Zen. Everything she said was exactly what I had been doing. I knew then that I wanted to work with her and teach Manifestation to others. And the rest, as they say, is history.

John-Erik Omland Freelance Strategic Internet Consultant email: John-Erik @ JEOWebProductions dot com As technical strategist, multimedia programmer, and software designer for Studio North, Omland brings more than 15 years' programming, Web and multimedia development experience to the team. His skills range from software designer, pre-Windows, low-level graphics programming, to modern multimedia, Web-based applications and search engine ranking techniques. Omland uses state-of-the-art techniques and technology in everything he does, whether it is programming Web sites, HTML e-mails, online surveys, interface design, or custom applications. He also provides the back-end technical know-how to get clients' Web sites highly ranked in search engines, integrate with online credit card processing, and other features such as online surveys and targeted e-mailing campaigns. Omland has worked on diverse engineering projects including programming various PC products such as Sargon IV, a computer chess game; integrating multi-processor computer projects such as imaging PC to Wang main fame; designing innovative "next generation" product enhancements such as Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing; and managing software development teams. More recent projects include programming a multimedia educational CD-ROM for Dole Foods, which integrates flash, audio, Director and QuickTime technologies. This disc tracks the players progress and rewards points for completing sections and accomplishing goals in variety of interactive games, while subtly using behavior modification to promote health conscious habits. Omland has written several portions of a PHP and mySQL database program for an online employee review system. Features include report generation, session tracking and analysis, feedback and e-mail messaging to coordinate both employer and employee pre-review and post-review documentation and process. Unique features of this software include handling both party's input and responsibilities throughout the process. Omland earned his BSEE at Rochester Institute of Technology. He is a certified NLP Master practitioner, bodywork practitioner and teaches Tai Chi.