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Our Team
The success of our company is a direct reflection of the collective efforts of our team. We believe in modeling what we advocate. Each member of our team is personally responsible for adhering to the highest professional standards and quality of performance. We take enormous pride in our work and in the quality of how we deliver our services to you.
Leslie J. Kagan, Principal
 Leslie is a creative strategist and facilitator with an acute sensitivity to the emotional undercurrents that influence organizational behavior. Under Leslie's leadership, Kagan Associates has helped clients successfully break through strategic and visionary challenges with complex planning, organizational, and interpersonal dimensions. Her strengths lie in her ability to deal with difficult or highly sensitive issues, including situations of charged conflict, in a constructive and compassionate manner.
Leslie has encouraged many organizations to achieve new levels of performance by supporting the unique talents and energies of their people in achieving organizational goals. She skillfully integrates the "softer" and "harder" sides of business into seamless solutions that fit organically with the many facets of organizational life. Whether working in the private or public sector, she is universally praised for her caring heart, intuitive insights, and commitment to success that she brings to her clients. In recognition of these talents, she was named Entrepreneur of the Year in 2001 by New England Women In Real Estate.
Leslie maintains a healthy perspective in her organizational consulting practice by also volunteering with HealthCare Dimensions Hospice, an affiliate of Dana Farber Cancer Institute, to which she brings her training as an interfaith chaplain, and with Caring Canines, a program to take registered therapy dogs to visit nursing homes, hospitals, schools and assisted living facilities with their handlers as a community service. She also serves on the Board of Directors of the Chaplaincy Institute for the Arts and Interfaith Ministries in Berkeley, California.
Leslie holds a B.A. from Simmons College, an M.Ed. from Boston University, and an M.B.A. from Northeastern University, graduating first in her class. She is certified in the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator® (MBTI®), the Kolbe Pure Instinct System®, the Emotional Competency Inventory1 (ECI), and the Life Styles InventoryTM (LSI).
Erin Miller, Associate
 Erin Miller is the newest member of the Kagan Associates consulting team, to which she adds her excellent writing, graphic arts, and organizational skills.
Erin comes to Kagan Associates with more than ten years of experience with both for-profit and non-profit organizations. This experience, combined with her gift for organization and detail, make Erin an ideal point of contact for all client-related administrative questions or concerns. Her responsibilities also include client management, support services, and general office operations.
A graduate of Skidmore College, with a BS in Studio Art, Erin is a practicing artist who sees her artistic training as highly relevant to what it takes to be successful in business. She notes, “We had to learn to present our ideas clearly, become creative problem solvers, work in collaboration with others, and participate in critiques by offering and accepting constructive criticism. These are many of the skills needed to be successful in business!”
Erin is a founding member of the Bigzanda Gallery in Gloucester, and enjoys kayaking and surfing.
Affiliate Consultants
Patricia A. Brady, Senior Consultant
 Patricia Brady is a dynamic, down-to-earth professional with the demeanor, experience, and knowledge to help individuals and organizations advance their business and professional goals in concrete and practical ways.
The wisdom and skill Patricia brings to her work with clients were developed during a career spanning twenty years in leadership roles, both in higher education administration and in government. A recipient of a prestigious “Infinite Mile” award at MIT, she was recognized for problem-solving and leadership in her role as Senior Project Director for the Executive Vice President, a position from which she retired in 2006. Her many accomplishments at MIT include directing a multi-year project that resulted in the successful implementation of competency-based human resources practices for administrative and support staff; and conceptualizing and directing a multi-party review of MIT’s central information systems departments that led to more strategic planning and improved client services. Straightforward, empathetic, and sincere, Patricia is committed to helping her clients develop better-functioning organizations, enabled by strong leadership and competent staff.
Patricia holds a Bachelor of Science in Management and Finance, summa cum laude, from the University of Massachusetts and a Master of Science degree from MIT. She has professional certification to design competency models for specific and generic roles, to conduct behavioral-event interviews, and to administer the Emotional Competency Inventory (ECI) for leadership development. Patricia serves on the Board of Directors of a community bank and teaches in her parish’s religious education program. For fun, she paddles a canoe, whacks a golf ball, and turns cartwheels occasionally (but not all at the same time).
Karen Nell Smith, Senior Consultan t
Karen Nell Smith (Walking in the Way) is a highly skilled facilitator who specializes in facilitating groups through situations of conflict. Karen Nell brings to Kagan Associates clients a realistic, positive approach to consulting. Her strengths lie in working with groups to identify issues quickly, establish healthy dialogue, gain consensus, set goals, and develop strategies that move the group to action with a new understanding of organizational leadership, communication, and collaboration. A management consultant since 1981, Karen Nell has focused her corporate work on professional service organizations, particularly in law, real estate, and finance.
In 2001, Karen Nell co-created "Walking in the Way," a program of conflict transformation and peace-building for congregations and other communities of faith throughout New England. Karen Nell received her undergraduate degree from Mary Washington College, and holds a Master of Divinity from Andover Newton Theological School. She is currently pursuing her doctorate at Hartford Seminary, with an emphasis on ministries of peace.
Robert Coulam, Research Specialist
Robert (Bob) Coulam (Simmons College) is an expert in research methods and analysis. He acts as a resource to Kagan Associates on certain client engagements that require more specialized techniques to reach confident results, e.g., special survey instruments or sampling techniques. With more than 25 years as a researcher and policy analyst, Bob brings extensive experience in working with clients to design methods to collect and analyze data. He is a graduate of Harvard College and Harvard Law School, and has a Ph.D. from the Kennedy School of Government.
Dudley-Do-Rite and Gabrielle, Canine Consultants
Dudley and Gabby are registered therapy dogs who assure the "lighter side" of Kagan Associates, affording consultants and clients alike comic relief and stress reduction as needed.
They are also acclaimed members of the Children's Hospital Dog Show cast and serve as regular visiting "canine therapists" at local nursing homes and transitional homes for children.
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