Trese Black

Practice Manager

Trese Black brings a wealth of experience working with clients and managing office operations to overseeing the near- and long-term office operations of the company and ensuring our operations run smoothly and efficiently. She works in close partnership with our clients to ensure their interactions with the firm are valuable and timely.

Mickey Connolly

Founder and CEO

Mickey Connolly believes passionately that any group is potentially smarter than its individual members and that there are communication principles and methods that can unlock that intelligence and cause coordinated, accelerated success.

Mickey has worked with over 100,000 managers, educators, and negotiators to resolve conflict, improve relationships, and accelerate achievement. Conversant associates have worked in 400 organizations in 90 countries to achieve mission-critical goals ahead of time and under budget. Connolly and Richard Rianoshek are co-authors of The Communication Catalyst: the fast (but not stupid) track to value.

Dana Dupuis

Vice President of Client Solutions

Dana Dupuis is responsible for client relations as well as developing the strategic tactics and teams to fulfill business initiatives. She likes to tell clients that she works for them, and always makes sure that our promises are met and exceeded.

Dana brings an extensive knowledge of sales management from her experience in a broad range of industries, from fashion/textiles, to travel, to high tech. Her previous successes in these industries, while measurable in annual sales, have been immeasurable in her ability to develop teams that share a common vision as well as strategically align them to attain the next level of success.

David Goldsmith

Chief Operating Officer

David Goldsmith is a global consultant known for his business acumen in the areas of corporate strategy, operational efficiency, intellectual property, and personnel development. David is responsible for ensuring our work is appropriately represented in the market and gains the traction necessary to increase the impact of conversations at work.

David is a successful entrepreneur, a pioneer of the personal coaching industry in the US, and is known as the father of coaching in Japan. David has a B.S. in business communications from Cornell, is a Master Certified Coach, and a founding member of the International Coach Federation.

Bob Johnson

Senior Partner

Bob Johnson has more than 30 years of experience as a business executive, consultant, and executive coach. He has worked with numerous business teams to accelerate breakthrough business transformation, build organizational vision and alignment, create the organizational and people capability to win in the marketplace, and develop and implement large-scale change. Bob’s credibility, presence, and experience helps him partner with executives to improve their performance, effectiveness, and capability. Bob's diverse clients have included Miller Brewing Company, Maersk, Humana, Wynn Las Vegas, GAP, Kimberly-Clark, and Coca-Cola as well as more than two decades of experience as an HR leader and executive at Hewlett-Packard.

Bob has an M.B.A. and a M.A. in higher education administration from Michigan State University and a B.S. in political science from Drake University.

Jim Motroni

Senior Partner

Jim Motroni has more than two decades of corporate experience, including 12 years in the banking industry with his last position as Vice President of Seafirst Bank (now Bank of America) responsible for the performance of 72 Seattle area branches. He served as President of SportsMind, a 55-person training company; was a Designer and Master Trainer for TEC, The Executive Committee (an international organization of CEOs, now Vistage); and has worked with over 40 companies to develop their Vision and Strategic Plans. Jim serves on boards of directors of four corporations, affording him the opportunity to develop strategy and make decisions at the highest levels.

Jim holds an M.B.A. from the University of California, Berkeley, with an emphasis in marketing and finance and a degree in economics from the University of California, Santa Barbara.

Richard Rianoshek, Ph.D.

Co-Founder

Richard Rianoshek is the co-founder of Conversant. He is a social psychologist, whose work over the past 20 years has focused on leadership, collaboration, and high-performance execution in complex systems. Prior to co-founding Conversant, he was a professor of management at John Jay College, where he was selected as an Exchange Scholar to the British Staff Command and Leadership College at Bramshill. He also taught management at the University of Colorado's Graduate School of Public Affairs. Prior to his teaching career, Richard served as Aspen's chief of police and was appointed by Governors Lamm and Romer to the Colorado Peace Officer's Standards and Training Board. A partial list of clients includes Hewlett-Packard, Coca-Cola, Ball Aerospace & Technologies, Capital One, Gulf States Paper, Tektronix, AT&T, Levi Strauss, and the FBI. He is also the co-author of The Communication Catalyst with Mickey Connolly.

Sheryl Shapiro

Project Manager

Sheryl Shapiro is Conversant's go-to-person for getting things done. She manages programs and fulfillment, supports the staff, maintains the website, and troubleshoots technical and logistical problems. Sheryl has a B.A. in Journalism from the University of Wyoming.

Jennifer Simpson

Vice President of Consulting Services

Jennifer Simpson has dedicated her life and career to improving lives, strengthening communities, and adding value to organizations. A dynamic leader, Jennifer has an impressive track record of engaging multiple stakeholders to produce results and accelerate business success. Jennifer is author or editor of two books and multiple journal articles and book chapters. Her varied background includes more than fifteen years of experience working in and with organizations across the private, public, corporate, and not-for-profit sectors to create more meaningful and effective ways of living and working together and more than a decade of teaching university courses in communication and leadership disciplines.

Jennifer holds a B.S. in communication and psychology from Syracuse University, and an M.S. and Ph.D. in Organizational Communication from the University of Colorado at Boulder where she retains an adjunct faculty appointment.