our Leadership Team
Timothy J. G. Edris MSOL
Jeanine F. Blackburn Ph.D
Francois Guilleux Ph.D
Katherine Sikma MA, MS
Timothy J. G. Edris
"I am really interested in helping leaders become more effective in their abilities to create the future of their organization. The intersection of organizational success and leadership effectiveness is the type of development we are after."
Timothy Edris is a team and leadership development specialist. He has over 24 years of experience designing and implementing corporate and university training programs ranging from 10-person team-building sessions to 120-person managerial leadership programs. Tim is the principal consultant at Emerging Leaders Institute as well as a consultant with the Maue Center. He has a deep passion to develop leaders who will transform the world around them.
He has a Master's of Science of Organizational Leadership as well as many certifications in various OD tools and instruments. Tim is a coach who knows how to develop the potential of the people he mentors. He has coached Presidents/CEO's down through middle managers. He has a knack for creative design and the execution of organizational learning experiences, which are memorable, and help transfer learning to rising leaders’ hearts and minds. Tim also has the ability to uncover the truth about the culture of an organization’s leadership that illuminates the way to healthy leader development. In addition to highly creative means of program design, he has taught in more traditional settings at the collegiate level and other adult environments for over 12 years.
Tim resides in Beaver Falls, PA. He is bi-lingual in sign language and English. In his spare time, he wrangles the busy schedules of his two little girls, plays over-40 soccer, and likes to sing.
Jeanine F. Blackburn Ph.D
Jeanine F. Blackburn Ph.D
Dr. Jeanine Blackburn is a learning & development manager who has 20+ years of consumer package goods experience and has over a decade of experience designing, developing and implementing corporate training programs for entry level to upper management associates. She has also designed competency models to help organizations to identify core competencies for their associates.
Jeanine has a Ph.D in Instructional Management & Leadership from Robert Morris University, an M.S. in Human Resource Management with a concentration in Training & Development from LaRoche College and a B.S. in Business Administration from Point Park University. In addition, she has certifications in various OD tools and instruments including Lean/Six Sigma.
She has done extensive research on the theory of andragogy and differentiated instruction. Her published dissertation “Differentiated Learning Modules for Corporate Training Based on Learning Styles”, focused on the benefits of customizing training based on employees learning styles. She has interviewed numerous training professionals throughout the United States to obtain information along with her research results to support her theory that individuals learn best when training is differentiated to meet the learners’ needs.
Jeanine is married to Russell Blackburn Jr. and resides in Kennedy Township, PA. In her spare time she helps mentor high school students, enjoys scrapbooking and spending time with her family.
Francois Guilleux Ph.D
Francois is a leadership educator at heart. He believes that catalytic growth can occur when individuals connect deeply to a learning moment. Using innovative experiential designs and facilitation, Francois offers individuals and teams creative opportunities to grow their effectiveness and gain new perspectives on themselves and their organizations.
Specializing in adaptive leadership, adult development, and team interventions, Francois has spent the last 20 years focused on serving internal and external partners going through change efforts in the corporate, non-profit and Higher Education sectors. Francois co-founded a graduate program for experiential educators at Westminster College. He has taught or co-taught leadership and organizational change courses at Harvard University, Teachers College Columbia University, and the University of Pittsburgh where he is currently an adjunct professor. His research focuses on adult development and leadership education. He recently contributed a chapter in the book Social Justice Leadership for a Global World on the dispositions that facilitate leaders to learn from their failures. Francois’ love for leadership education and the outdoors converge in his deep resume of guiding people on wilderness expeditions as powerful classrooms for leadership growth.
Francois holds a master’s degree in education from Harvard University and a Ph.D. from the University of Pittsburgh where he was involved in the radical redesign of the Principal Certificate Program. Francois utilizes powerful tools for those leaders ready to take a deeper dive into their development. He is a trained practitioner with the Leadership Circle Profile™, the Immunity to Change™ process, Core Communication™ and the Subject-Object Interview.
In his free time, Francois can be found with his wife, dust-covered in the midst of renovating a home from the 1890’s in the East End of Pittsburgh or sharing time with his children as they discover the world.
Tom Bohinc
Tom holds a commitment and talent that evoke innovation and achievement – including the capabilities of self-awareness, leadership, collaboration. To Tom, you can give substance to an idea and build performance toward your goal - or you can undermine or under-serve them. When the factors are right, the resulting energy and speed are remarkable experiences.
With thirty plus years executive experience in global corporate, consulting and start-up settings, he founded Auorm and is the Managing Principal. Tom is also the Board Chairman for the not-for-profit organization Welcome Johnny and Jane Home, a volunteer organization with a mission for citizens to listen and vets and their families to express their experience in military service.
Tom’s consulting focus is Executive Coaching, Leadership, Creative Collaboration, Agility and Program Performance in product teams and operational teams.Tom has a Masters of Business from Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland. He lives in both Palm Springs and Newport Beach California.
Katherine Sikma MA, MS
Katherine Sikma MA, MS
Katherine has over 15 years of experience developing leaders and facilitating groups. She loves collaborating with other to find creative solutions to complex problems. She is interested in change management, team dynamics, and fostering healthy workplace cultures.
Over her 15 years working in the education and nonprofit sectors, she gained experience in curriculum design, onboarding, group facilitation, and organizational communication. She has designed and led transformational training and experiences for groups and teams ranging from 3-300, and she has a proven track record of identifying and equipping leaders.
She holds a Bachelor’s in Communication from Calvin College, and Master’s degrees in Leadership and Higher Education from Duquesne University and Geneva College. Katherine has completed various other trainings and certifications in group communication, StrengthsFinder, Myers-Briggs, MCore, and the Enneagram.
Katherine lives in Pittsburgh’s North Side. She is invested in her community, where she has been serving as the inspector of elections since 2014. In her spare time, she enjoys photography, exploring the city, and listening to podcasts about politics, science, and true crime.
Seth T. Hufford
“In a world full of complex challenges in both our workplaces and communities, it is essential that people employ collaborative strategies to create the change they seek.” ∼ Seth
Seth combines his unique mix of professional experiences to build individual and organizational capacity in three distinct areas:
policy & advocacy, leadership development, and strategic thinking. He believes that by increasing the capability of individuals and strategically addressing organizational issues, we create better-functioning relationships, workplaces, and communities. Working across the business, government, and nonprofit sectors, Seth has engaged diverse groups of people from community activists to business executives. He has facilitated teams both large and small to tackle complex challenges, address inter-personal dynamics, and produce results.
In addition to working with Emerging Leaders Insitute, Seth is the Managing Partner at The People Group -- A consulting practice that works at the intersection of public policy and leadership development. Prior to launching The People Group
LLC, Seth led strategic and organizational development initiatives for the Allegheny County Controller’s office in Pittsburgh, PA, managed global executive education programs at Carnegie Mellon University’s Tepper School of Business, directed Coro’s Leadership New York program, and facilitated Leadership Pittsburgh’s Leadership Development Initiative. He also gained valuable work experience at a
countywide Chamber of Commerce and at the Philadelphia office of Booz Allen Hamilton,
a worldwide management consulting company.
Seth holds a Master of Public Policy and Management from the University of Pittsburgh, and a Bachelor of Arts from Dickinson College. Other than his professional pursuits, Seth enjoys spending time with his wife, two sons, and good friends, talking public policy and politics, listening to music or seeing live shows, watching and playing international football, and exploring the urban fabric of cities.