As founder and president of The Hart Solution, LLC and now The HumanVantage® Consulting Group Melissa L. Hart has over 20 years of direct human resources and organizational development experience in both the private and public sector environments. What is your HumanVantage® Point? The HumanVantage® Consulting Group is Your Advantage Partner for Achieving Organizational,Team and Individual Excellence.

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Melissa L. Hart has worked for several Fortune 50 companies, specifically in the chemical and aerospace industries, and has held various senior, executive level human resources and organizational development positions with Dow Industries, AlliedSignal / Honeywell International, and Cytec Industries. She has had extensive experience in large scale change management initiatives, many involving mergers and acquisitions, global systems/process transformations, as well as complete talent top-grading agendas. Most of her work and passions center in the areas of management development, executive coaching, change leadership, talent management systems, and leader & team effectiveness. Having had accountability for over 40+ global locations over her broad career, she can appreciate the many challenges leaders face today as they manage others in a virtual and ever-changing business environment.

Encouraging and enthusiastic in her approach, her greatest gift is her ability to identify the source of the issue and partner with clients to define the best possible approach and creative solutions. She has the ability to work at all levels of an organization, from shop floor to senior executives, alike. By focusing on the positives and helping others understand individual styles and capabilities, Melissa has helped organizations fuel that positive energy into real business results and sustained performance.

With a strong manufacturing and international business background, she also has direct experience operating within different cultures, as well as in demanding labor/union relations settings and can appreciate the challenges in trying to drive change and effectiveness in these particular environments. She has proven that by effectively partnering with managers and engaging employees at all levels in the change process we increase our probability of success.

Prior to her corporate tenure, Melissa also served as an Academic Advisor at the University of Illinois where she guided young adults to help them diagnose their development needs, realize their potential, and further refine their educational and career interests.

Originally from Decatur, Illinois, Melissa graduated from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign with a Bachelor of Science degree in Industrial- Organizational Psychology and a Masters Degree in Human Resources Management and Employee Relations. She is certified in administering and offering feedback on the Bar-On Emotional Intelligence Inventory, Kolbe Index and Insights Style Inventory to mention a few. She also has additional experience in Appreciative Inquiry, facilitating dialogue, and conducting large group interventions. She is a member of the International Coaching Federation (ICF), Chandler Chamber of Commerce, and the Society for Human Resources Management (SHRM).

A strong community advocate, Melissa serves on the Board of Directors of Breakthrough Learning Center (BLC), a non-profit educational entity which focuses on alternative learning strategies for children and adults with special needs.

She remains active in her local community and schools and resides with her family in Arizona.

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ASSOCIATE PROVIDER

Patti M. Thorn, Ph.D.

As an independent education consultant with The Hart Solution, LLC, Patti M. Thorn is an educator and education researcher with over 20 years of experience in academic contexts ranging from elementary school to community college and university settings. She earned a BS in Microbiology from Oregon State University, a MS in Biology from The University of Dayton, and a PhD in Science Education from the University of Texas at Austin.

Patti’s areas of expertise include application of contemporary learning and motivation theories to improve learner engagement, achievement, and success, and educational change processes. Her research is among the first to document and portray the dramatic change experiences of college science instructors learning to supplement their traditional didactic lectures with opportunities for student active learning. Her research and views on educational change have been highlighted in the National Teaching and Learning Forum (“The High Risks of Improving Teaching”). Patti was awarded the Proctor & Gamble Professional Opportunity Award for Meritorious Research in 2002.

Before working as an education consultant, Patti held administrative leadership, faculty development, educational researcher, and program director appointments at the University of Texas at Austin and Arizona State University. She has taught scientific research methods, seminar, and lecture courses for undergraduate students, teaching methods courses for beginning graduate teaching assistants, and learning strategies courses for undergraduate students. She has also worked with the non-profit, Biological Sciences Curriculum Study group to develop, write, and site test national science standards-aligned curriculum and develop competency-aligned assessments. Patti’s career in education builds on an early career in environmental project management, scientific research and laboratory management, and quality assurance.

Patti’s approach to educational consulting is unique and results in the creation of “evidence-based teaching and learning systems”. She utilizes a collaborative, partnership model to help clients:

• design innovative teaching and learning programs;
• identify educator and student needs and create professional development workshops;
• establish and support faculty and student learning communities;
• support educators through one-on-one instructional coaching to enhance student motivation and learning;
• support educators learning to implement action research and scholarship of teaching and learning projects;
• integrate purposeful instructional technology into classroom teaching;
• align curriculum with educational goals, competencies and assessment; and
• create data collection and evaluation systems to monitor impact and continuously improve teaching and learning programs.

Patti is a public member of the Higher Learning Commission’s Accreditation Review Council with the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools (2006- 2010). She holds professional affiliation with the Professional and Organizational Development Network, the American Institute of Biological Sciences, the American Association for Microbiology, the American Educational Research Association, the American Physiology Society, and the National Association for Research in Science Teaching. Within the Arizona community, she volunteers her time to Arizona Swimming as a Stroke and Turn Judge and helping K-12 instructors connect with university scientists.

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