Leadership Highlight Archives - Powerhouse Planning

LEADERSHIP SPOTLIGHT

Celebrating 50 Years of FPSPI with Executive Director April Michele

By: Heatherlynn Akins

Future Problem Solving Program International (FPSPI) will celebrate its 50^th anniversary in 2024. Dr. E. Paul Torrance founded FPSPI in 1974 based on activities he and his wife Pansy introduced, and it has grown to an internationally beloved problem-solving program for students grades 4 through 12. We recently sat down with FPSPI Executive Director April Michele to discuss what makes FPSPI so successful and find out how they’re planning to celebrate 50 years of equipping problem-solving, ethical leaders.

Ms. Michele began her own career in education teaching elementary school and gifted education. While teaching, she was introduced to the benefits of Future Problem Solving and leading students to competition success. In 2012, she had the opportunity to serve FPSPI in an official capacity, and she hasn’t looked back. From developing curriculum and coordinating competition materials to serving in her current role as executive director, April has thoroughly enjoyed her time and experiences as part of a student-driven organization designed to promote students as leaders. “Our students inspire me and drive my work!” she says. This passion is clearly present in the challenging curriculum the FPSPI team has continued to develop during her time with the organization.

“I’ve taken my background in advanced curriculum studies, highly engaging learning techniques, and pedagogy and strategies for critical and creative thinking and applied them to the principles of FPSPI, along with [working with] an amazing, passionate team. I’m constantly amazed by the students in our program, and they’re the reason we’ve been around for 50 years,” Michele says. Which is why when it came time to think about how to commemorate 50 years of guiding and molding students to become creative, critical thinkers who can adapt and improvise well, FPSPI thought the best way to celebrate would be to create a program designed to reach even more students worldwide.

(more…)

Jessica Bertsch2023-10-01T22:51:22-04:00October 1st, 2023|Leadership Highlight, PowerTips e-newsletter|

LEADERSHIP SPOTLIGHT

Growing Community with Liza Rodewald of Instant Teams

By: Carolyn Rawson

Co-founded by software engineer Liza Rodewald in 2016, Instant Teams’ talent marketplace has consistently grown and facilitated more than 5,000 direct hires. Beyond their remarkable success, we wanted to know more about the launch of their new app, Twelve Million Plus, and how it’s designed to support the military spouse community.

Liza Rodewald was busy writing government software when she met and married her husband, an active-duty Army officer. Immediately enveloped in military life, she found herself surrounded by fellow military spouses wanting to know how she remained so gainfully employed. For most military families, moves are frequent, making it challenging for dependents to find and maintain jobs.

Approaching her, they would often ask, “How are you working from home? What are you doing? I’ve been struggling with getting a job for so many years . . .”

Liza sympathized, admiring their tenacity. “I love the fact that military spouses build community,” she says. “They are productive with their time, they are appreciative of opportunities, they want to keep [those opportunities], and they’re going to perform.”

(more…)

Jessica Bertsch2023-07-03T09:21:04-04:00July 1st, 2023|Leadership Highlight, PowerTips e-newsletter|

LEADERSHIP SPOTLIGHT

Megan Biddix—Event Facilitator Extraordinaire

By: Heatherlynn Akins

When Megan Biddix first joined West Monroe five years ago, she came from a varied professional background. Having worked for an international travel company just out of college, where she paired leadership with teams, Megan also spent time as a teacher and coordinated events for the leading foster care provider in Illinois before landing at West Monroe. Though she started with internal events facilitation at West Monroe, she quickly transitioned to marketing and working with top-level clients coordinating, strategizing, and executing different styles of events, including West Monroe’s annual marquee events.

West Monroe is a national management and technology consulting firm headquartered in Chicago that helps clients “adopt, adapt, and use digital technologies differently and more effectively as it relates to what really matters within their specific industry.” Unlike other firms, they bring together multidisciplinary experts who have experience working together to deliver solutions for their clients. Megan is aligned to the Chicago headquarters of West Monroe, where she works to ensure high-quality, highly effective client-facing events are planned and executed.

West Monroe makes Megan feel like a valued member of the team, with keen insight into how to provide career equity, professional growth, and rewarding connections. “It’s exciting to be onsite with clients,” Megan says. “It’s personally rewarding to know you’ve created a seamless event for someone to simply arrive and enjoy, especially if you’ve created a space for busy people to leave feeling refreshed, educated, and connected.”

(more…)

Jessica Bertsch2023-04-04T10:05:11-04:00March 9th, 2023|Leadership Highlight, PowerTips e-newsletter|