A leader in business and sales strategy, coaching and training, Deb’s passion for people and progress help her work with business owners to generate significant, predictable & sustainable growth year after year. She spent her first 25 years in the trade show industry and now focuses on growing and developing sales teams across many industries. As a 30-year entrepreneur and business owner, Deb understands first-hand the struggles and obstacles of growing a business.

Over the years, Deb has surrounded herself with growth minded entrepreneurs. Deb was one of the founding member of DePaul University’s Women in Entrepreneurship Institute and is a 20 year member of the Entrepreneurs Organization, serving most recently as the President of EO Chicago.

While Deb lives in the Chicagoland area, she is open to traveling anywhere the wind blows her.

Sarah’s passion is bringing out the best in her clients, so they can achieve their goals and transform their lives to be extraordinary. Sarah has the unique ability to engage Forums quickly in a deeply meaningful way, to understand the group dynamics and facilitate positive transformation. She has the insight to ask the right questions with impeccable timing to empower Forum members to be open to the 5%. For Sarah, it is the intersection of passion, strengths, values, and engagement that makes facilitation so much fun. She helps Forum members discover this intersection in their lives, relationships, and businesses. Sarah has the ability to see clearly and inspire groups to align, focus, and rally around a common purpose.

Drawing her professional experience as a Master Certified Coach (MCC) with the International Coaching Federation to high level leaders and 23 year background as a mental health therapist, Sarah is leveraging her expert knowledge in relationship dynamics, healthy communication, and emotional intelligence to establish her niche in the coaching world. In addition to being a MCC, Sarah is a Board Certified Coach and certified to administer multiple assessments in leadership, personality and emotional intelligence. Whether it’s in the corporate sector, an entrepreneurial business or the life of a Forum, Sarah has a unique skill set which is ideal for developing group dynamics, creating healthy communication, illuminating strengths and fostering deep levels of trust. In particular, Sarah loves working with high powered, mature and spousal Forums to expand and deepen the value of their Forum experience through retreat programs that focus on Forum health, life balance, teamwork, leadership, communication, relationships, transitions and legacy. She supports this by establishing a safe, confidential environment and utilizing Forum 2.0® techniques such as Role Play, Debate, Brainstorming, Cloaking, Walk in My Shoes and Six Thinking Hats.

When she isn’t busy helping others imagine and achieve their ideal future, Sarah absolutely loves being with her family and close friends, being active outdoors, tandem cycling with her husband, cooking delicious foods, and traveling.

Because he is passionate about helping leaders engage their organizations to achieve higher performance, Ron became a ForumSherpa Certified Facilitator. His corporate retreats energize and strengthen teams, and his strategic planning sessions lead to clear actions and measurable results. Ron also enjoys working with peer groups to maximize their Forum experience.

Using concepts from his Amazon bestselling book, From Presentation to Standing Ovation, Ron has helped executives, entrepreneurs, and leaders present better than Steve Jobs.

Ron received his MBA from the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management and an HBA from the University of Waterloo. He is the President of the Toronto Chapter of the Canadian Association of Professional Speakers (CAPS), and a member of the Global Speakers Federation. Ron is the co-founder of the annual Toronto Entrepreneurs of Passion and Purpose (TEPP) Awards, as well as the Share, Love, Celebrate annual charity fundraiser. When he’s not working, Ron loves traveling the world and experiencing other cultures.

Effie has been an active member of the Entrepreneurs’ Organization (EO) since 2016, serving on the EO Seattle Board of Directors as both Forum Chair and Learning Chair. She recently joined the EO US West Bridge Board where she serves as Forum Chair. Effie is actively participating in her second Forum and previously served as Forum moderator.

Effie’s wide background of military service in the Israel Defense Forces, a career as an independent lawyer, and working in the financial services industry led her to be the co-founder of a successful tax and accounting firm based in Seattle. A 12-year journey of entrepreneurship led Effie to build a corporate infrastructure from the ground up, as well as continuously refining organizational systems, processes, and workflow to scale up and support rapid growth while maximizing ROI.

Effie was recognized throughout her career for superior leadership and communications skills, including the ability to rapidly build trust with internal/external audiences and create cultures that inspire high levels of morale, engagement, and retention.

After she successfully exited the business she co-founded, Effie now splits her time traveling the world, helping fellow entrepreneurs, volunteering in her community, and raising a family of four children with her husband of 20 years in the gorgeous Pacific Northwest.

Maureen Schantz has been a ForumSherpa Certified Facilitator since 2012. Maureen is a motivator and excels at providing Forum structure, implementing creativity, accountability in presentations and improving take home value during monthly meetings. 

Maureen was a member of the Entrepreneurs’ Organization (EO) for over ten years and still participates in a weekly accountability group. In addition to her own Forum and Moderator experience, Maureen has served EO DC as Accelerator president and Mentorship Chair. 

Maureen is the owner of Alternative Health Associates, a wellness center and day spa with multiple locations, based in Old Town, Alexandria, VA. She has an MA in exercise science from George Washington University, holds numerous health certifications and is an expert trainer in her industry. Maureen leads a staff of twenty-five people and is currently expanding her company thru vertical markets and acquisitions. She likes to implement accountability, organization, life balance, creativity and fun by using Forum 2.0® tools, and she has applied them successfully in her own business. Forum 2.0® has enabled her to develop her own leadership team to a point where she could cut her work hours by more than 50%, spend less time working IN the business and focus more strategically working ON her business. 

Maureen is married to Ken and is the proud mother of two adult daughters, Leia and Serenna. She is an avid pickleball player, president of her local book club and mentors teens in entrepreneurism and goal setting. She loves international travel and spending time with friends and family. 

Testimonials from prior retreats: 

• “We were all amazed at the depth and vulnerability that showed up in the space under Maureen’s guidance and care.” 
• “We have a strong forum group, but I am amazed at how much tighter we have gotten because of this process. Great job, Maureen!” 
• “Many thanks to Maureen for helping us create such a brilliant foundation for our ongoing relationships.” 
• “The survey question ‘Facilitator ability to adjust and adapt content as needed’ was really fantastic. Maureen gets 11 out of 10!” 
• “Maureen was excellent. This was our first time using a facilitator and now I understand the value.” 
• “I didn’t realize how much we needed a facilitated retreat until we were in the middle of it. We learned some new Forum 2.0 presentation styles that will deliver much greater value to our Forum moving forward. Our forum was getting stale but now we’re re-energized!” 
• “I loved how Maureen was able to shoot straight with our group and uncover issues that we didn’t all know even existed within our group. She helped us save a few members and probably the whole forum by helping us address some root issues that could potentially dismantle the group.” 

Matthew is a sought-after speaker, writer, and consultant who has facilitated retreats for hundreds of CEOs, written extensively on business and leadership, and has delivered keynote addresses at leading business conferences and TED events.

Beyond his firsthand experience as a CEO, Matthew brings 15 years of facilitation experience. He has a unique ability to normalize discomfort and encourage teams to bring their full selves to the work, which in turn, enables them to access experience, insights and connections they haven’t yet attained in Forum. 

Trained in EOS, Matthew has mastered a suite of 20+ tools and processes designed to support leadership teams and Forums toward building alignment and vision, healthy teams and cultures, and traction toward their goals.

Matthew writes on leadership, innovation and purpose-driven entrepreneurship for publications such as the Huffington Post, The Guardian of London and the Stanford Social Innovation Review as well as being a contributor to Forbes. 

He has earned a master’s degree in Leadership and Management from the SIT Graduate Institute. He has also founded, and for 7 years, served as CEO of Mycelium; a startup incubator for purpose driven entrepreneurs.

Mark is a professional Coach and Forum 2.0® Certified Facilitator. An Entrepreneurs’ Organization (EO) Member for over a decade, Mark has served two terms as the President of the South Florida Chapter. He uses his experience to help Forums improve alignment and maximize their Forum experience. His expertise includes the popular Forum Boost retreat that helps Forums build a pipeline of high-quality presentations by streamlining their monthly update, coaching, and presentation processes. Mark works with individuals, EO and YPO Member and Spousal Forums and Corporate teams to inspire them to dig deeper and reach higher.

Mark begins each retreat with in-depth planning involving the retreat planner and Forum Moderator. He sends a pre-retreat survey to all Forum Members to ensure the retreat is custom designed to ensure expectations are met and exceeded. He also provides a custom workbook of exercises to each attendee. Mark’s goal is to engage the Forum and help them reach deeper levels of personal and business growth. His Bringing Your Core Values Alive and Goal Achievement retreats are always rated highly for take away value.

Mark helps mature Forums derive greater value from their Forum experience through Forum 2.0® technology. This includes the techniques of Walk in My Shoes, Debate, Brainstorming, Six Thinking Hats, and Cloaking. These tools help Forum members achieve the maximum level of experience sharing while maintaining the safe and confidential environment of trust and respect, crucial to a successful Forum.

The founder and CEO of Breakthrough Coaching, an international personal and business coaching company, Mark is the author of four books, including his latest publication: Breakthrough the Insanity: Embrace Positive Change in Business & Life. He believes that every success story is a tale of constant adaptation, revision, and change and that embracing positive change is the key to your success in business and life. According to Mark, “You never change things by fighting the existing reality. When you accept change, learn from it, and become all the better for experiencing it, change is no longer the enemy. It becomes your teacher.”

Mark is based in Miami, where his local knowledge helps Forums access the best retreat experiences in South Florida. He is also an avid global traveler and enjoys working with Forums in the location of their choice.

Shoby believes wholeheartedly that all people have potential that often is waiting to be identified, nurtured and developed; and he loves listening to real people with real life stories over fiction any day.

Over the last 25 years, Shoby has gained valuable insights in the technology management and consulting industry both as a solutions consultant, executive, entrepreneur, and by helping to establish and lead several nonprofit organizations. He served clients across multiple industries often blending software, hardware and services to provide business solutions. Having successfully exited his technology business recently, Shoby is excited to invest more time and energy into his primary passion which is to help others grow and achieve their potential. He loves this simple but powerful statement attributed to St. Jerome. “Good, better, best, never let it rest, until your good is better, and your better best.”

Throughout his career, Shoby has co-founded two successful companies and two non-profit organizations. He enjoys working with CEOs, business owners, forums, and nonprofit leadership teams. But his greatest joy is being husband to his beautiful and resourceful wife, Dolly, and his amazing children, Hannah (26), Sarah (22) and Jonathan (16).

As a Marine sitting in his M60A-2 tank waiting to cross the minefield into Kuwait in 1991, Joe realized life was fleeting and it needed balance to be fully enjoyed. Over his nearly 30 years since, he’s been the co-owner of a 210+ unit Franchise company, started several other businesses, selling several, and from 2015-2019 was leading the $240MM Franchising division for California Closets.

Recently leaving his Corporate roles and purchasing the California Closets Franchise in the Gulf Coast, he focuses his time on family, work and friends. Joe enjoyed helping form the Kuyahoora Valley Foundation, along with childhood friends, to give back to their community, which has given over $500,000 to date.

Some of Joe’s skills outside of business operations and ownership involve mentoring Veterans as a former Chair of the VetFran Committee within the International Franchise Association Foundation. Joe also teaches the skills of Coaching, Goal Setting, Priority Management and being the Brand Advocate within FirstService Brands, helping publish a Harvard Business School case study focusing on Customer Loyalty.

Having participated in multiple Forums and working Flight Groups over the years, Joe joined ForumSherpa in 2019 and has worked with YPO, EO and other organizations around their culture, meeting structure, and making the most out of their time and investment. He has a wife of 21 years and a teenage daughter he loves deeply and splits his time between Atlanta and New Orleans.