Sarah Van Lieshout - VP Membership (Email)

Sarah’s passion to help others reach their potential through learning started as an elementary teacher.  She enjoyed collaborating with teams to develop curriculum and design experiences that create a culture for learning.  From there, she fell in love with mentoring new teachers and developed coaching skills as an Instructional Coach.  As an Instructional Coach, Sarah helped others improve their results through the use of strength based coaching strategies and data reflection.

In recent years, Sarah has transferred these skills to her current role as a Learning and Development Specialist at LPi. She is focused on designing top notch onboarding experiences for new employees while partnering with business leaders. She is also committed to helping teams achieve their goals through training and development opportunities.  

Kari Bogdan - VP Professional Development (Email)

Kari Bogdan has nearly 30 years of experience in the training and development industry.  Her expertise is design and development of engaging online education, instructor-led training, and curriculum development.  She has worked in a variety of industries with a focus on health care over the past 10 years. Her experience also includes over 9 years as a video and multimedia producer.

Kari has served on the Board of Directors as President for Imagination Theater (Chicago, IL), and volunteered for several other non-profits over the years. She is also a member of the Milwaukee Chapter of the Women Leaders Association. 

Kari holds a Master’s Degree in Adult Education from Capella University and Bachelor of Science Degree in Radio-TV-Film from the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh.

Yolonda Evans - VP Professional Development (Email)

Yolonda Evans has over 15 years of experience as a trainer, certified change practitioner and specializing in leadership development including components of leading and creating a diverse, equitable and inclusive organization.  She has held several leadership roles in both the public sector supporting talent development initiatives (all levels of the organization), enterprise alignment and organizational effectiveness efforts. As a facilitator of change, she developed and led several workshops on Change Management, Emotional Intelligence, and transformational leadership.  She has several years of experience working at various levels in the private sector, specifically insurance operations and knowledge management consulting with Northwestern Mutual and Molina Healthcare (managed care/government operations).  She has over 15 years as an experienced senior trainer, several years of experience leading cross-functional teams and leading/facilitating strategic planning efforts.  Ms. Evans is a committed change practitioner and leader with extensive experience using Lean Six-Sigma methodologies combined with organizational change management strategies to promote successful sustainable change.

Ms. Evans started private consulting (DBA as Project T.I.M.E*) in late 2018 for small non-profits and small businesses in southeastern Wisconsin on employee engagement (diversity & inclusion), hiring practices, onboarding/job training, and change management business strategies.  She also has an annual commitment as a recurring guest-lecturer at Loyola University on leadership development and change management. 

*Project T.I.M.E stands for Transforming Initiative to Motivate and Empower

Tom Dybro - VP Sponsorship (Email)

Tom Dybro has over 25 years of experience in human performance consulting, coaching, and facilitation within financial technology services, health care/medical technology, and more recently, the manufacturing industry. He has a proven track record of support to leadership executives, teams, managers and individuals. Tom increases organizational effectiveness using tools and techniques that enhance communication, engagement and strategic direction. Dybro is certified in the ADKAR Prosci Change Management methodology as well as an Accredited Insights Discovery facilitator. Dybro is a contributing author to the book Chained to the Desk – A Guidebook for Workaholics by Bryan Robinson.

Tom is currently at Manitou Group in learning and development. As a world leader in the handling, aerial work platform and earth moving sectors, Manitou Group’s mission is to improve working conditions, safety and performance around the world, while protecting people and their environment. An active member in ATD Chicago and Milwaukee's ATD SEWI Chapter, Dybro enjoys giving back and is a mentor within ATD Chicago chapter and has coached students in a high-school based business skills development program called Launch. Tom and his wife have three children.

Patrick Aleshire - VP Marketing and Communications (Email)  

Patrick is an energetic trainer with 9+ years’ experience in an education setting. Previous experience as an elementary teacher lead him to pivot his career into the talent development space. Starting his training career as a training specialist in manufacturing, he has additional experience in the entertainment industry as a training and development specialist at Potawatomi Hotel & Casino in Milwaukee. Most recently, Patrick began a role at Milwaukee County, as a development & training specialist while acting as a liaison between county departments and focusing his efforts on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. 

Patrick first got involved with SEWI-ATD after attending the summer social in 2019. He quickly decided he wanted be more involved with the organization, which lead him to join the Sponsorship Committee in 2020. Always looking for ways to enhance not only his career but also at-home life, within the last two years, Patrick has learned to play guitar and re-discovered his love of reading.

Lora Haines - VP Community Relations  (Email)

Lora Haines is a high-energy, world-class facilitator, keynote speaker, and instructional design expert. She has over fourteen years of experience in learning and development at world-class organizations like Walt Disney and Microsoft.  Lora is currently a Director of Learning and Development at JB Training Solutions, a learning and  development company that offers dynamic in-person and virtual soft-skill training across all stages of the employee life-cycle. She has designed and developed several of JB Training’s most popular workshops.

Lora is also a certified coach who is passionate about helping professionals reach their highest career aspirations. Lora knows a thing or two about how to keep the modern workforce engaged: she focused her Master’s thesis on effectively retaining high-performing early career professionals. Lora co-led the Organizational Developmen PDN in 2021 and is thrilled to join the board in 2022!

Christine Hass - VP Special Projects (Email)

Christine Hass is the Sr. Director of Learning Strategy for the Client Experience Organization at Northwestern Mutual.  Prior to this role, she served in a Talent Management lead capacity at Northwestern Mutual, and also at Hewlett Packard Enterprise in Dallas, TX.  She has a long history of work in the learning and development, talent management and HR strategy space, having spent her early and mid-career at companies like Motorola and Walmart Technology.

Christine did her undergraduate studies in Business Management with an HR concentration.  She holds her SPHR certificate, as well as certificates in Caliper and Birkman assessments.  In addition, she holds two behavioral change management certifications through AIM and Prosci.

For 30 years, her focus has been on people and innovation in the context of transformation.  Business continues to move at an accelerated pace, and change is the norm.  It is important to take the time to know our people, while still moving quickly and nimbly to meet the ever-changing demands of the business landscape.  Learning solutions are no exception – her advice?  Listen closely to the needs of your stakeholders; always ask “why,” “what if,” and explore necessary outcomes/consequences of not leaning in; keep it simple when you can; innovate as often as possible.

Tami Martin - VP Digital Experience (Email)

Tami Martin is an HR Leader with a proven record of adding value through developing and implementing programs and tools that enhance employee success and support organizational change. She is an experienced people, program, and project manager with a background spanning the financial, insurance, retail, real estate, education, healthcare, and non-profit sectors.

Tami has a bachelor’s in Business Administration in Human Resource Management and a Master’s in Business Administration from the University of Wisconsin Milwaukee. She has her SHRM-SCP and is certified by Prosci in Change Management. She worked at the BMO Institute for Learning as a Talent Development Consultant and in Workforce Development as VP and Project Manager of Strategic Initiatives for Technology & Operations and Corporate Areas for a combined 10 years. She also worked at Northwestern Mutual in their corporate D/I area and at Tri City National Bank in the role of VP of Professional Development.  Tami is currently the manager of Team Member Development at Advocate Aurora Healthcare.