Jenna is a relationship builder focused on growth and people. She enjoys getting to know an individual’s story to better understand who they are. By getting to know the whole person, she uses her life and work experience in Professional Development, Sports, and Marketing to help others see their full potential. Jenna graduated from Missouri State University with a Bachelor’s in Entertainment Management and then pursued her MBA with a certificate in leadership. She currently serves on the DEI board for Big Brothers Big Sisters of Kansas City and loves feeding her growth mindset with new activities, learning opportunities, and interactions with people. |
Kelly is a learning professional for a large bank in Kansas City. Kelly has more than 15 years of experience in the learning and development space. His professional background includes roles in media, instructional design, eLearning development, performance support and IT. In his spare time, he enjoys spending time with his family, hunting for antiques and physical fitness. |
Mike is an Instructional Designer/Multimedia Developer at Terracon with over 15 years of experience. He earned a BFA in Graphic Design from the University of Kansas and a MSEd in Instructional Design and Technology from Emporia State University. At Terracon he works on a collaborative team to design and develop engaging and innovative training to support the company's service lines. |
For Shawn Reid (he/his/him), nothing is more satisfying than the lightbulb moment – witnessing concepts click into comprehension. Though he started his career in sports journalism, once he was introduced to the Learning and Development world, he was hooked. After more than a decade in the L&D sphere in a variety of roles, Shawn is currently a Learning Content Designer at Husch Blackwell; this allows him to experience both his L&D loves – facilitating training, and creating informative, creative learning products. Despite leaving behind his sports-writing career, watching, reading about, and chatting about sports – especially the Chiefs and Royals – remains a favorite pastime for Shawn. And as a parent of kids aging from six to seven, he has acquired a new love – good coffee with an extra shot of espresso! |
Jeff fell into learning and development many years ago after finding a passion in people development as he grew within leadership positions. He is a talent development professional of 15 years and loves creating learning experiences because of the opportunity to make a difference in people's lives through education and skill enhancement. As the Talent Development Manager at CrossFirst Bank, Jeff oversees the learning and development initiatives and he’s also a certified CliftonStrengths coach where he has an opportunity every day to continue building on the culture within a strengths-based organization. Though he has been a member of ATDKC for several years, this is Jeff’s first year joining the board and serves as the Director of Events. |
Jennifer is an enthusiastic talent development practitioner with Golden Egg Talent Development. For the last 30 years, she has served in a variety of talent development leadership roles in higher education, banking, pharma, insurance and the restaurant industries. She often says, “doing this for a living is a true labor of love.” She’s also a proud Veteran of the US Air Force. A KC native who is happy to be home, Jennifer joined the ATDKC chapter in 2022 after being an active member of the St. Louis chapter for 6 years. She loves serving our chapter as the SIG Director and is committed to supporting the work our talented SIG Leaders are doing to provide value to our ATDKC members. Jennifer is a true-crime nerd and loves to read, exercise, cook and spend time with her husband and two grown children, but she doesn’t like any of them to talk to her in the morning until she’s on her second cup of coffee! |
Theresa Spilker is the Manager of Learning and Development at TreviPay, a B2B payment solutions company. With 16 years of experience in the learning and development field, she brings a wealth of knowledge and expertise to her role. In her free time, Theresa enjoys staying active by running, practicing yoga, and working out at the gym. She is also a devoted parent and can often be found cheering on her three children at their football, basketball, and volleyball games. Theresa is a graduate of Kansas State University and a diehard Wildcat fan. She is married to her husband Nick and values the importance of work-life balance, finding time to prioritize both her career and her personal life. |
Jana Meyers is the Director of Talent Management and Organizational Effectiveness at H&R Block. Her passion is for helping organizations create the conditions for developing, retaining and growing talent through effective listening, change management, and team dynamics. In her role as Director Membership, Jana is focused on creating value for our members and connecting them with other amazing professionals. A lifelong learner, she holds degrees in business, finance and Adult Learning. She is an adjunct faculty member at Baker University, and teaches Management and Leadership. Outside of work, she enjoys time with her fur baby Heidi and her two nephews, connecting with friends, traveling, reading, and classic movies. |
Sarah Sullivan is the Director of School of Innovative Professional and Graduate Studies at Avila University. She works closely with subject matter experts to solidify best practices of instructional design and online learning by instilling consistency, engagement, and interaction in all courses. Her passion is to design courses that are highly engaging. Sarah enjoys learning new concepts and passing her knowledge on to others. As the Director of University Outreach for ATD, Sarah promotes the chapter to the Kansas City-area community via local colleges and universities and student engagement within the chapter. |
Cindy Pollock has been in the talent development and instructional design game for over 23 years. She does it because she loves seeing people learn. When they have an “a-ha” because of something she wrote, she knows why she does what she does. Cindy earned her B.S. in Journalism from Oklahoma State University (Go Pokes). Her career in instructional design started when her first boss said, “Hey, someone should write this down.” Her experience includes facilitation, talent development, curriculum design, knowledge management design, and trying to get people to make podcasts a true learning vehicle. When she isn’t working, she likes to watch her talented husband and daughter do all things musical theatre. This is Cindy’s first time on the board. She has been an ATD member for years, so she is excited to be a part of the Finance Team and work with so many wonderful people. It allows her to “geek-out” over learning constantly! |
Prasad is a seasoned executive from the life sciences industry with 20+ years of varied operational experience across the globe. Prasad is an engineer by training, and has spent most of his career informing and leading high performance teams. His passion for people and deep industry experience in hiring, coaching, developing, evaluating (and also in letting go) professionals across cultures and countries got him interested in the science and accessibility of professional development. Since 2021, Prasad is pursuing his passion of democratizing and individualizing professional development with cool science and capability technologies with his start-up, PB JAM. PB JAM is a force multiplier for people leaders, TD, and HR in providing individualized, verifiable, and sustainable professional development for the modern workplace at scale. Prasad likes ATD-KC for its community of like-minded and welcoming professionals. When not working on PB JAM or ATD-KC, you can find Prasad playing Capoeira, reading, cooking, and playing with his younger son and an adorable yellow lab named Lucy. Prasad |
Dr. Katie Ervinis the CEO of Catalyst Development focusing on intentional leadership skill building and organizational health. Throughout her career, she has established a reputation as a transformational leader driven by challenge, undeterred by obstacles, and committed to furthering standards of excellence. Her expertise encompasses all aspects of organizational development by harnessing team strengths to improve overall performance. With every organization, her goal is to build consensus, promote transparency and influence positive change. Her work in developing strong leaders and teams focusing on critical career skill building to develop strong cultures and grow organizations. Katie is also a certified Working Genius facilitator. She received her Bachelor of Science in Sociology with a minor in Psychology from Pittsburg State University, a Master of Technology in Human Resources Development from Indiana State University, and a Doctorate in Education with an emphasis in Adult Education from Kansas State University. Her area of research is workplace motivation based on self-determination theory and the impact of an employee’s perception of their organization’s support. Her research shows that if we meet an employee’s basic needs of competence, relatedness, and autonomy they will be more efficient, happier at work, highly engaged, and more likely to stay with the organization. In her free time, she loves spending time with her amazing husband traveling and playing golf. She has two “adult” children she loves cooking homemade meals when they are home and overall spoiling them! |
Sally Koppy MSEd, CPTD® is a Training Development Manager at Optum, a subsidiary of UnitedHealth Group. She has a Master of Science in Education, with an emphasis in Adult Education and Needs Assessment. In addition, she has a Bachelor of Arts in Organizational Management with an Associates in Human Resource Management. Sally is an accomplished professional with 20 years of experience providing professional talent development, leadership and management development, institutional advancement, and program development. Sally currently serves as the Chapter Historian. She has served on the board since 2011 as President, VP of Finance, and VP of Programs. She also served on the ATD National Advisor for Chapters board from 2016 to 2018. Sally says, "ATDKC has provided me with an incredible network of talent development professionals and learning opportunities. I am committed to the chapter. I intend to continue leading, energizing, and engaging the chapter’s members and board of directors." Sally married her childhood sweetheart and has three daughters and eight grandchildren. Sally enjoys travel, hiking, camping, and motorcycling in her free time. |