Who We Are

Karen Maxwell Powell

General Manager

Karen Maxwell Powell is a leadership development professional with 25 years of experience in experiential learning and business simulation design and development. She has worked with both domestic and international clients across several industries, including telecommunications, consumer products, technology, retail, and pharmaceuticals. Karen brings business acumen, creativity, and strong interpersonal skills to the delivery of engaging and results-driven learning experiences, including at four programs that have won the prestigious Brandon Hall Award of Excellence. As General Manager of Insight Experience, Karen is responsible for creating a positive organizational culture, shaping client experiences, and delivering financial and operational results.

Previously, Karen was the Product Manager of bain.com at Bain & Company, an assistant professor of business at Bristol Community College, and a Key Account Director at Executive Perspectives. She earned a B.A. in Economics and International Studies and an MBA at Bentley University.

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Amanda Young Hickman

Partner

Amanda Young Hickman, founding partner of Insight Experience, has more than 20 years of experience advising and leading clients on the design and implementation of strategic change initiatives and leadership development experiences. She is an expert facilitator and a seasoned program designer who works in all phases of the learning experience, including design and delivery. 

Amanda believes in the impact a leader has on an organization and its results. She helps clients by developing leaders at all levels to expand their capacity to balance multiple dimensions: the analytical and interpersonal; the short-term and the long-term; and the human and the economic. Amanda has led Insight Experience in pioneering innovations in the business simulation industry, including the development of a platform for scenario-based simulations and a scalable platform that supports simultaneous delivery to hundreds of program participants learning virtually. In addition to her technical innovations, Amanda has created groundbreaking content focused on strategic thinking, leading beyond line of sight and across boundaries, and executive decision-making.

Amanda’s clients have included Amazon, Medtronic, Fidelity, CVS Health, the FAA, Ford, GE, Cisco, and Colgate. Prior to Insight Experience, Amanda was a Vice President of CSC Index, a management consulting arm of Computer Sciences Corporation. Amanda received a B.A. from Princeton University and an MBA from Harvard Business School.

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Nick Noyes

Partner

Nick Noyes is a co-founder and partner of Insight Experience. He has more than 20 years of experience working with clients on education and strategic change initiatives. His work spans many activities, including the design of simulation-based educational programs, executive facilitation, coaching, and action learning initiatives. In addition to the leadership he provides for Insight Experience and its clients, Nick is responsible for the company’s strategy, business development, and marketing efforts.

Nick has significant experience in the design, development, and delivery of business simulations. He is a pioneer in the creation of business simulations that combine the technical and strategic demands of management with the social and interpersonal challenges of leadership. The simulations he has developed have been used to teach strategy, service excellence, marketing, general management, and leadership development. Nick has taught all levels of management and is equally comfortable teaching new managers as he is teaching senior executives.

Nick has many client relationships. His past and present clients include Abbott Laboratories, Agilent, Avery Dennison, BellSouth, Blue Cross Blue Shield, Capital One, Cisco Systems, Kaiser Permanente, General Electric, Ford Motor Corporation, International Paper, PepsiCo, and United Parcel Service. Nick graduated from Williams College with a degree in English. He received his MBA from Harvard Business School.

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Ned Wasniewski

Managing Partner

Ned Wasniewski is a managing partner at Insight Experience where he has led multiple functions, including program facilitation, program management, delivery operations, account management, and business development.

Ned has more than 20 years of experience in the management education business with a singular focus on the development and delivery of simulation-based learning experiences. He has managed several large-scale, global programs for IE’s clients and has worked with clients spanning many industries, including CVS Health, Cisco Systems, eBay, PayPal, Parexel, Medtronic, MITRE, State Street, Blackberry, Perkins, Finning International, Fundação Dom Cabral, UniFirst, Caterpillar, and many Caterpillar dealers.

Having facilitated management education and business simulation-based programs for dozens of companies around the world, Ned has extensive global delivery experience and has taught in Europe, the Middle East, Asia, Australia, Africa, South America, and North America.

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Andrew Weiss

Associate Consultant

Andrew Weiss is an Associate Consultant who works on client design, marketing initiatives, and development projects across various learning experiences. His consulting background includes work in the technology, educational, and medical services industries. Such experiences have allowed him to better master his training, analysis, and interpersonal skills. 

Andrew holds a B.A. in Psychology and an M.S. in Industrial-Organizational Psychology, both from DePaul University. While there, he developed a background in statistical analysis, leadership development, and organizational behaviors. When he is not on the clock, he can be found attending to his bonsai garden. 

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Ashley Perry

Associate Director

Ashley Perry is an Associate Director at Insight Experience. She focuses on program design, facilitation, and business development and specializes in Organizational Leadership Development programs for senior management and executives. Ashley has designed and delivered programs to help promote enterprise thinking, collaboration, business acumen, strategic thinking, communication, and agility. Her client work includes Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts, Kaiser Permanente, Manulife, CVS Health, UniFirst, Parexel, Takeda, Abiomed, Sephora, Benjamin Moore, and many others.

Ashley has a unique and firsthand understanding of how leadership and decision-making influence success in highly competitive and demanding environments; as a former New Zealand Olympic sailing team member, she earned a #1 world ranking and silver medal at the World Championship. She holds a B.A. from the University of Denver and an M.A. in Education from Bar-Ilan University in Israel. Ashley, who is fluent in Hebrew, is a mother of two and an amateur homesteader.

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Bethany Bremer

Associate Consultant

As an Associate Consultant, Bethany Bremer works on unique and exciting projects across the organization. She assists with the design and build of various programs, simulation delivery, and marketing efforts. Prior to joining Insight Experience, Bethany worked in Organizational Development for a private education company, where she designed training and development opportunities for administrators and built leadership development and performance management programs. 

Bethany has a B.S. in Psychology from Grand Valley State University and a master's degree in Industrial Organizational Psychology from the Chicago School of Professional Psychology. She continues to build her facilitation skill set through opportunities here at IE. She is passionate about finding the potential in people and processes and developing that potential for remarkable results. She enjoys hiking, reading, and baking sourdough bagels.

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Bob Lacatena

Senior Software Architect

Bob Lacatena is the software architect for the delivery of Insight Experience's simulations. He is responsibile for the ongoing successful deployment of simulations to facilitators and customers as well as improving the designer, facilitator, and customer experience in all technical facets of the process. He maintains, from an IT perspective, the stability of the business and aspects of IE’s software — with the goal of positioning IE for more rapid, effective, and versatile product development and deployment.

Bob has 50 years of programming experience, 45 of that in a professional capacity. In those years, he served primarily as an independent consultant, business analyst, developer, software architect, and team leader. He was also a staff manager, IT strategist and, most recently, CTO for a successful life sciences company. He has participated in more than two dozen successful software development projects in his career, almost always as the team lead, while at the same time making substantive hands-on contributions in the areas of architecture, coding, documentation, training, and deployment.

Previously, Bob worked at GQ Life Sciences and Scholastic Corporation, and he has acted as a consultant for a host of other companies. He earned his B.S. in Computer Science at Northwestern University. Since then he has engaged in extensive studies of such diverse topics as computer graphics, software syntax, parsing and compilation, sequence search algorithms, neural networks, and machine learning.

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Bruno Krul

Partner - Emeritus

Bruno Krul is the founder and managing partner of Stoan Consult Europe, an Insight Experience strategic partner. Bruno has nearly 20 years of experience in management, executive education, and the delivery of simulation-based programs. He has partnered with IE on dozens of client engagements.

Bruno has extensive experience in the development and delivery of management education and simulation-based programs for the European Market. His fields of expertise include business acumen, finance, leadership, and marketing. His clients include Texas Instruments, United Technologies Europe, Caterpillar, Cisco Systems, Alcatel/Bell, Sara Lee/Douwe Egberts, and Unilever. In addition to teaching to European audiences, Bruno has also facilitated business simulations and programs globally, including  in Asia, Australia, Africa, and the United States.

Prior to his involvement in the management education business, Bruno worked for Digital Equipment Corporation for over two decades. At Digital, Bruno held a variety of executive and management positions. Bruno attended the University of Antwerp and studied Chemistry. He has participated in executive education programs at IMD (Lausanne) and Harvard University (Cambridge, Massachusetts).

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Chris Holliday

Affiliate

Chris Holliday has more than 25 years of experience in business and marketing management and consulting. Currently, she is a professional trainer, facilitator, and coach and has years of experience working with all levels of management in Fortune 100 corporations.

Chris’s delivery work with Insight Experience focuses on leadership development. She has facilitated Strategic Leadership Skills programs at companies such as eBay, Exelon, Mary Kay, Abbott, and GE.

Chris began her career in Business Planning and Analysis with Citigroup. She then moved into marketing, where she continued to use her analytical skills in B2B marketing. Chris next worked as a Brand Manager at Frito-Lay, Inc., working on core brands before moving to new products. Prior to working with Insight Experience, Chris freelanced as a marketing consultant and worked on new product and brand positioning initiatives for Kraft Foods, Sara Lee/Hanes, Campbell’s Soup, Warner-Lambert, Boehringer Ingelheim, James River, and more. She also trains corporate clients in marketing skills.

Chris graduated from DePauw University with a B.A. in Economics and Psychology. She earned an MBA from Northwestern’s Kellogg Graduate School of Business, where she majored in marketing and finance, and a Master in Education from Trinity College Dublin.

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Jean Williams

Affiliate

Jean Williams has more than 20 years of experience in executive and leadership development and management consulting. She is a professional facilitator and a certified executive coach, and she has years of experience designing, developing, and delivering educational programs for executives and senior managers.

Jean’s delivery work with Insight Experience focuses on leadership development, strategy execution, and behavioral observation and coaching. Some of her past and current clients include Cisco Systems, eBay, PayPal, Parexel, Boston Scientific, United Technologies, Blue Cross Blue Shield, CVS, Agilent, and Aerotek.

Prior to working with Insight Experience, Jean was a senior member of the Leadership and Organizational Effectiveness group at Keane Inc. She was responsible for designing and delivering Keane’s leadership programs, and she built a reputation for designing innovative group interactions on a variety of strategic topics. Jean has an MBA from Northwestern’s Kellogg Graduate School of Business.

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Jennifer McKeown

Graphic Design Specialist

Jennifer McKeown brings more than 20 years of experience in graphic design, marketing communications, and print production to Insight Experience. Through the production of high-quality communication pieces designed for students, facilitators, partners, and client management teams, she has focused much of her career on providing successful simulation-based learning experiences to the Fortune 500. 

Jenn received her B.A. in English with a concentration in Professional Communications from the University of Maine.

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Jill Splaine

Business Manager

Jill Splaine is Insight Experience's business manager. She focuses on compliance and accounts within the business and has a major role in budgeting and other general administrative functions. Her background is comprised of different management functions in both law and nonprofit sectors with a central focus on financial operations. 

Jill received a B.A. in Women's Studies with a minor in Nutritional Science from the University of New Hampshire. Additionally, she received her MSFP from Bentley University and holds a graduate certificate in taxation. When she's not elbow-deep in a financial spreadsheet, she enjoys world travel and visiting museums. You can always find her with a sketchbook in one hand, creating drawings of everything she sees. If she's not in a museum, she's dancing, reading, or just enjoying life.

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Julie Danielson

Program and Marketing Associate

Julie Danielson is a Program and Marketing Associate and contributes to the success of Insight Experience’s leadership development programs and marketing projects. She works to ensure all materials and program logistics are prepared and executed, supports lead facilitators in virtual training, and assists the marketing team by copyediting, creating content, and researching publishing opportunities.

Julie received her B.A. from Maryville College, her Master of Science in Information Sciences from the University of Tennessee Knoxville (UT), and a Certificate in Professional Copyediting, Proofreading, and Fact-Checking from NYU. She is fluent in American Sign Language and spent her first career as a sign language interpreter at UT.

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Krista Campbell

Senior Associate Consultant

Krista Campbell is a Senior Associate Consultant who works on both program design and facilitation at Insight Experience. She specializes in Leadership Foundations programs for new managers and individual contributors. Krista has designed programs that promote communication, strategic thinking, and developing people. Beyond work on program design and facilitation, Krista also leads the Marketing Execution team.

Krista earned a B.S. in Business Management and an MBA with a concentration in Leadership, both from Bentley University. While at Bentley, Krista was a four-year member of the varsity women’s volleyball team and is still involved in the volleyball community in the Boston area.

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Kristin Leydig Bryant

Affiliate

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Lana Adkins

Administrative Affiliate

As an administrative affiliate, Lana Adkins helps to create a seamless experience for learners by managing the technical and logistical side of program delivery. She has over 20 years of experience in the educational assessment field and brings this experience and attention to detail to her work at Insight Experience. In addition to helping with program production, she works on copyediting, survey analysis, and data analytics for various projects. In addition to working with Insight Experience, Lana works as a freelance copyeditor and K-12 assessment specialist.

Lana received her B.S. in Biology with a minor in Environmental Science from Middle Tennessee State University.

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Laurel Tyler

Affiliate

Laurel Tyler works with Insight Experience to design and deliver leadership programs to clients worldwide. She has a wealth of experience with clients who address large-scale business, organizational, and system change, while concentrating on high-level team structure and decision-making.

Prior to joining Insight Experience, Laurel was the VP of Finance and Strategy for a medical startup and a Managing Director for Stevenson and Co., a mergers and acquisitions firm specializing in transactions and business unit strategies for corporations and closely held companies. Laurel also spent 10 years at FMC Corporation as Director of Corporate Development. She was responsible for corporate strategy and a wide range of transactions, including acquisitions, divestitures, joint ventures, and marketing agreements. She ran FMC’s internal consulting group, which worked with operating divisions as they addressed new product development, new market opportunities, and significant manufacturing and system initiatives. Laurel’s business experience includes product management, design engineering, project planning, and consulting.

Laurel has an MBA from Harvard Business School and a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Michigan. She has three grown children and a patient husband. She enjoys riding her bike, cross-country skiing, and dinners on the beach near her home in Chicago.

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Leah Carey

Affiliate

Leah Carey is an organizational and leadership development consultant, facilitator, and executive coach. She has more than 30 years of experience working with all levels of management in a breadth of firms and industries. At Insight Experience, Leah focuses on creating programs that accelerate leadership development and improve leadership effectiveness at both the individual and organizational level.

For the last 20 years, Leah has become a trusted partner to senior leadership teams in leading global e-commerce, biotech, consumer goods, and cybersecurity firms. Leah designs and delivers leadership and organizational development initiatives, including strategic planning sessions, leadership skills programs, and executive decision-making workshops. Her coaching work typically extends through the entire senior team, enabling both individual growth and broad organizational impact. Leah’s coaching style is intuitive and candid, helping clients bring awareness and clarity to their personal and professional growth.

Leah holds a B.A. in English from the University of Virginia and is certified by Leadership Circle.

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Leah Levinger

Business Operations Manager

Leah Levinger provides Insight Experience with more than 20 years of accounting and finance experience. Her meticulous attention to finances and operations enabled the company to scale up rapidly during the years of its most active and robust growth. Prior to working with Insight Experience, Leah worked in the technology, real estate, business, service, and hospitality industries. Her breadth of experience was developed through responsibilities for PixelDance Communications, an interactive marketing company; Destination Management, an event planner; New England Financial Resources, a real estate finance company; and Hyatt Hotels. 

Leah holds both B.A. and B.S. degrees from the University of Massachusetts. 

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Leslie Becknell Marx

Affiliate

Leslie Becknell Marx has more than 20 years of experience working in Fortune 100 companies and in the nonprofit sector. After a 15-year career focused on marketing and innovation for IBM, Procter & Gamble, and the Coca-Cola Company, Leslie shifted her attention to learning more about leadership, communication, and ethics. She attended theological school, became an ordained Unitarian Universalist minister, and served a congregation for four years. She is now focused on guiding organizational leaders toward authentic communication, ethical decision-making, and genuine collaboration. At Insight Experience, Leslie works with clients to develop capabilities focused on Organizational Leadership. She brings her experience in business and understanding of personal development to effectively facilitate business simulations and draw out deep learning that connects leadership to real-world results.

Leslie's educational background includes a Master of International Affairs from Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies and a Master of Divinity from Andover Newton Theological School. She spent seven years learning, designing workshops, and teaching with the Center for Authentic Leadership and has presented at the Pegasus Systems Thinking in Action Conference. She is trained in various creativity techniques and has been a trainer at the Creative Problem Solving Institute. Leslie is qualified to administer and interpret the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator and also uses the Enneagram to aid in individual and team understanding.

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Michael Ostrow

Software Architect

Michael Ostrow is a software architect who works to help take the software solutions used by Insight Experience to the next level, leveraging all the sharpest and sleekest new tools and technologies to do so.

Michael is a graduate of Northeastern University and holds a B.S. in Computer Science. When not engrossed in a given code problem, you might find him performing standup comedy at one of Boston’s local venues.

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Paul Smith

IT Specialist / Software Quality Assurance

Paul Smith is an Information Technology professional with 30 years of experience in the field. Paul started his career in the defense industry, working as a Systems Manager for Textron Specialty Vehicles, who made the rocket engine nozzles for the space shuttle out of advanced carbon fiber composite. Paul also worked as a Systems Test Engineer in the telecommunications field with Bay Networks and Nortel Networks, testing carrier class routers. At Insight Experience, Paul works across all departments, and his responsibilities include all IT functions. This includes maintaining the internal network, hardware infrastructure, and phone systems; hardware and software management and installations; and technical support for both internal and external customers. Paul’s responsibilities also include testing all IE software products to ensure that our software meets excellent quality standards before it is released into the field.

Paul holds an associate degree in computer science from Middlesex Community College. When not handling an IT issue or testing software, he is playing his lap steel guitar onstage, working as a professional musician, or hiking in the woods with Jazz, his Alaskan Malamute.

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Rachel Halsall

Affiliate

Rachel Halsall is an Executive Systemic Coach, facilitator, and public speaker who has gained a unique understanding of corporate life across a range of cultures. After gaining a master's degree in International Relations, she started her career at the Japanese Embassy. Rachel has also worked in house at Credit Suisse, Barclays, and Waverton Investment Management in the financial sector and entered the legal sector as Head of Learning for Withersworldwide. 

Since launching her own business in 2012, Rachel designs and delivers training, coaching, and leadership programs for many law firms, incluing Fieldfisher, Shakespeare Martineau, and Mills & Reeve. She is also a keynote speaker and covers a wide range of topics, including networking, confidence, and self-promotion. She now works across multiple sectors, which enables her to see themes across businesses and to facilitate and coach with more depth. She has a direct and punchy coaching style, which has served her well working with senior leaders and teams across sectors. The majority of her work focuses on communication, career development and progression, and managing leadership skills.

Rachel is an ICF-accredited coach. She is certified in Myers-Briggs Step I and is a Practitioner of Systemic Coaching with Coaching Constellations. 

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Sarah Gifford

Business Operations Associate

Sarah Gifford is the Business Operations Associate at Insight Experience. She works with clients and team members to coordinate program scheduling, resource management, and accounts receivable. Additionally, Sarah administers invoice and expense processing and coordinates Insight Experience’s HR functions. Her background is in corporate training — delivery, coordination, design, and development.

Sarah received a B.A. in Social Psychology with a minor in Women’s Studies from Wheaton College. When not working behind the scenes at Insight Experience, you may find her gracing the stage with her local theater group. Sarah also enjoys volunteering in her community, cheering on her children's sports teams, and exploring the beauty and serenity of the Elizabeth Islands on her cruising boat.

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Thaddeus Ward

Affiliate

Thaddeus Ward has more than 30 years of experience in consulting, leadership development, and technology sector leadership. He has spent most of his career at the intersection of culture, technology, and the implementation of multifaceted solutions that drive exceptional results. He has worked extensively in Latin America and led a number of global initiatives. His clients have included Google, Microsoft, HP, Johnson Controls, Pfizer, and Bristol Myers Squibb. Thaddeus's client work with Insight Experience includes Medtronic, Dell, and Caterpillar. In addition to working with Insight Experience, he is an entrepreneur who explores the applications of Web 3.0 technologies.

Thaddeus holds a B.A. from Williams College, a number of professional certifications related to the Salesforce platform, and several certifications for psychometric and coaching instruments. He has a passion for sustainable energy and the communities surrounding endurance sports. He is an active triathlete and open water swimming enthusiast.

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Tim Goodman

Affiliate

Tim has more than 25 years of experience in executive education, management consulting, and information systems development. He leads business simulations and management education programs for senior and high-potential audiences in the areas of leadership development, strategy, finance, business acumen, strategic thinking, and project management. Tim’s client work with Insight Experience includes Amazon, Caterpillar, Curtiss-Wright, Dell, Fluor, Kaiser Permanente, and Parexel. 

In addition to working with Insight Experience, Tim spends his time running his consulting firm, iAlign, which helps companies align their information technology with their strategic objectives and business processes. Tim uses online collaboration and visual documentation tools to help clients explicitly design their business systems and the technology applications they use to support them.

Tim holds a B.A. in Geography-Ecosystems from UCLA and an MBA from the Peter F. Drucker Management Center of the Claremont Graduate School.

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Tom Mazzotta

Senior Application Developer

Tom has been designing and developing business simulations for most of his career. He brings a unique combination of technical and business expertise to Insight Experience and its clients. 

Tom has had the opportunity to design and develop many different business simulations for a wide range of industries, including oil and gas, technology, insurance, financial services, airline, telecommunications, consumer goods, and retail. He's helped to design and develop many "grounds-up" custom simulations and has created various product families that have grown over time to create custom experiences for IE's clients. Tom's vision for IE's simulation products is to provide vehicles for participants to learn and develop new skills in a risk-free environment while, at the same time, making it an enjoyable and memorable experience for both them and facilitators. To that end, Tom focuses his efforts on "making hard things easy" by creating simulations that have the right balance of detail and simplicity. 

Tom graduated from the Catholic University of America with a B.S. in Computer Science Engineering.

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