Board of Directors
President - Pete Nielsen
As Leadership and Organizational Development Consultant for Performance Contracting Inc. (PCI), Pete is focused on company-wide talent management, building and delivering learning and development tools and strategies to enable leaders to execute organizational strategy. Prior to joining PCI, Pete led the global training and development function for several large companies in industries ranging from civil engineering and equipment finance to retail and transportation services. Pete began his career consulting in leadership and organizational development. With a bachelor’s degree from Bethel University, Pete has also completed graduate level coursework in industrial/organizational psychology at New York University and in human resources management at the University of Kansas. He is an expert in communications, management skills and personal effectiveness. Past President - Claudia Mills
With over 20 years of experience in the learning and development field, Claudia is currently an Organizational Development Specialist at Terracon Consulting. Her role includes learning and development programs for company-wide leadership and initiatives to drive and inspire employee engagement. Over her career, she has worked in the mutual fund industry, pediatric health care, and engineering. Claudia has an M.A. in Human Resources with a concentration in Training and Development and a B.A. in Sociology. She is a Development Dimensions International (DDI) certified facilitator and Success Profiles analyst. Claudia is a Certified Professional in Learning and Performance (CPLP) after completing the certification in May 2016. She is a member of both the national and the Kansas City chapter of the Association for Talent Development. Outside of work, Claudia enjoys spending time with her family playing board games, attending musical theater performances of her daughters and giving back to the community. |
President Elect - Shannon Swift
Shannon Swift has been in the field of training and development for over 25 years. Currently, she is an Organizational Development Consultant at Lockton Companies. Her role includes designing and delivering Lockton’s leadership programs, building talent acquisition tools and training, managing the assessments used for hiring and coaching, and competency identification and career development. What she enjoys most about her role at Lockton is not only helping Lockton’s associates grow, but also establishing the infrastructure necessary for Lockton to grow exponentially in the coming years. She has held training and development roles at Empower Retirement (formerly J.P. Morgan), Infinium, H&R Block Financial Advisors, and American Century Investments. Shannon earned a bachelor’s degree in music-vocal performance from Rice University and a Masters of Education degree with a focus on adult learning from Park University. She is an ATD National member and has been a member of ATDKC off and on throughout most of her career. Outside of work, Shannon enjoys spending time with her family, watching birds, collecting vintage clothing, reading, and dabbling in the arts. |
VP of Marketing & Communications - Christy Rogers
A degree in education from Kansas State University has supported her career path that included time educating students in a high school classroom, teaching for ExecuTrain, a nationwide technology training company and opening the doors of Training Umbrella in January 2011. Christy served as the ATDKC President in 2016 and enjoys investing her time in the learning and development world. She enjoys summer weekends at the lake, reading and discovering new walking trails. |
Christy Rogers is the founder and lead instructor at Training Umbrella, a company that specializes in teaching Microsoft and Google Applications along with providing computer lab and event space rentals. She has been involved in the planning and training of multiple software migrations in the Kansas City area and across the United States. Christy is a Google Certified Individual and Microsoft Office Specialist. She believes that "Knowing the technology is not the same as knowing how to teach it.”Director of Social Media - Mike Edwards
Mike has held various positions within the military from jeep driver to instructor. It was while serving as an instructor and coach that sparked Mike’s interest in the learning profession. In addition to his bachelor’s degree in Humanities, Mike’s academic background includes a master degree in International Relations and a doctorate in Educational Leadership. |
Roland “Mike” Edwards currently serves as the Training Officer in the Kansas City District office of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Prior to assuming those duties, Mike spent 3 years as an instructor and curriculum developer with the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. Mike began his professional career when enlisted in the U.S. Army while still in college. Mike’s military career allowed him to live and work in far flung locales such as Germany, Korea, Kuwait, Angola and Iraq. VP of Programs & Events- Heidi Matthews
Heidi Matthews is Training Manager for Terracon Consultants Inc., a national professional services firm headquartered in Olathe, Kan. Heidi has more than 20 years of experience in the learning and development field. Her professional background includes roles in management, instructional design, eLearning development, and facilitation building effective training and performance support tools. A former VP of Marketing & Communications of the Association for Talent Development (ATD) Kansas City chapter, she is also a member of the eLearning Guild. Heidi earned a Bachelor of Arts in Secondary Education, Social Studies from Purdue University. Outside of work, she spends time reading, doing art related activities, watching soccer, curling, and spending time with her friends and family. |
VP of Membership - Amy Swaminathan
Amy is fueled by the joy she gets from knowing that what she does makes a difference and has an impact on the growth and development of others. Her leadership role on the ATD KC board as VP of Membership provides the same joy. She oversees ATD KC membership strategy and programs that impact membership growth and engagement. Over the past 19 years, Amy has made an impact and grown her career experience in instructional design, training program management and leadership training with local companies such as H&R Block, Payless, Sprint Connect, LLC (joint venture) and Sprint on the Talent Development team. Amy earned her B.S. in Communication Management from Missouri State University. She is a certified Development Dimensions International (DDI) leadership facilitator and skilled instructional designer. She loves spending time with her family and friends. She’s an advocate for the elderly and would love to spend more time making an impact helping the elderly by helping families navigate challenging health care choices and financial safeguards. Director of Member Outreach- Michael Henry Michael Henry has been producing and teaching online courses for over 25 years as an eLearning Producer with Point-Productions, a company specializing in educational multimedia presentations for webinars and corporate online training. As Associate Director for Instructional Development at The University of Kansas Edwards Campus, he was responsible for the online course development team and integrating educational technology in traditional classrooms. With over 20 years experience in television production, he has taught production, produced corporate training videos and Instructional Television Programming for PBS affiliates. As an instructor, Michael facilitates online courses at UMKC, in Computer Mediated Communications, Organizational Communications, Public Relations and Instructional Design. His research interests focus on the role of media selection, second language acquisition and social presence in mediated instruction. |
VP of Finance - Nibal Henderson
Nibal’s core mission and calling is to help people. She helps people in her role as mother, wife, sister, daughter, and friend. She shares her messages of transformation through her speaking and coaching. As a certified life and business coach, she works with clients to discover their goals and to build a roadmap to reach them. She helps clients navigate the path from dreams to reality. She loves to teach and speaks to audiences about the importance of having a growth mindset and the role of self-talk in achieving success. Nibal was born and raised in Kuwait to Palestinian Christian parents. She spent the first 13 years of her life in the Middle East until her family immigrated to America when she was 13 years old and she landed in Houston, Texas. She likes to think of herself as a Palestinian-Texan – it’s her own little category that the census bureau has yet to acknowledge! Nibal attended Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas where she studied Psychology and Political Science. Nibal is married to her best friend, Drew, and together they have three children. |
Nibal currently serves as the Director of Training at New Directions Behavioral Health where she is focused on talent development, training strategy and delivery, as well as building out a leadership development program for this fast growing company.Association Executive - Lori MaherLori Maher is the owner of Maher Group, LLC, an association management and consulting firm. |