Our Team
Dr. Kristin Molinaroli understands that winning is not an accident; it is built through leadership, culture, discipline, insight, and resilient human performance.
Dr. Kristin Molinaroli understands that winning is not an accident; it is built through leadership, culture, discipline, insight, and resilient human performance.
Isabella Mahlik, Leadership and Development Intern
From a young age, Isabella has been curious about how and why people interact with each other the way they do. This stems from trips with her mother, a non-profit humanitarian, to different cultures around the world such as Nicaragua, Honduras and Zambia. Today, Isabella is applying that curiosity about human interaction to her studies in Psychology and Business Administration at Loyola University Chicago.
COVID-19 added a new dimension to her studies, as the world adjusted to a virtual reality in the absence of in-person communication. In her role at Avant, Isabella will be applying psych concepts that overlap with the business side of things, in this rapidly adapting tech world. Her passion for organizational psychology, management principles, and motivation through leadership will feed into her project work. She will be supporting research and development, sales and marketing, and operations of the LUMEN app.
Prior to this role, Isabella was a Digital Engagement Intern at US Bank, where she focused on driving digital adoption of mobile banking. She also participated in a national case study competition to engage millennials with credit cards, which her team won.
Isabella was recently inducted into Alpha Sigma Nu, the honor society of Jesuit universities, which recognizes students who distinguish themselves in scholarship, loyalty and service. Isabella will graduate from Loyola in spring 2021 with a BS in Psychology, Business Administration and Economics.
“I find it fascinating to understand people in a deeper way; to know the concepts and theories behind peoples’ actions and behaviors, especially in an organizational setting.”
Dr. Nadya A. Fouad is a Distinguished Professor and Chair of the Department of Educational Psychology at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and faculty member in the Counseling Psychology program. Her professional expertise includes cross-cultural assessment and development, career decision-making, and organizational assessment and program evaluation. She has worked with seasoned leaders in a variety of capacities with a special emphasis in the area of guiding organizations to enable success of women in technical and engineering roles. She has consulted with our firm and has been a key alliance partner since 2003.
She has published widely in the areas of cross-cultural assessment and counseling, and is regarded internationally as an expert in multicultural psychology, as well as has been a keynote speaker on these topics.
Candice McGlen fearlessly questions the status quo in order to develop and implement high-impact HR and talent management solutions.
Her probing approach is based on the early days of her career when she worked with a non-profit NGO that was adept at overcoming obstacles by sidestepping conventional norms in favor of fresh, action-oriented thinking. Since then, she’s applied her NGO experience to the various facets of HR, including meeting the needs of Millennials in the workplace. McGlen regularly conducts training workshops on how the principles and techniques of grass roots movements can be implemented within corporations to create a dynamic culture of engagement.
Not one to sit still, McGlen is the author of Engage Us Now!, a writer and contributor to the Forbes Human Resources Council and a leader in talent development organizations such as the Association of Talent Development (ATD).
Her areas of expertise include talent acquisition, diversity and inclusion, learning and development, change management, design thinking and conflict resolution. When you meet McGlen, be sure to ask her about Transformative Mediation since it’s an alternative approach she regularly utilizes with her clients.
Roger Rinker’s 30+ years of executive-level HR experience have firmly established him as a trusted advisor on matters related to strategic talent management, team performance and organizational culture.
He founded The Rinker Group to serve as an ally to C-suite executives, organizations and HR professionals who are facing talent challenges but don’t have the bandwidth or infrastructure to fully address the needs at hand. His expertise spans numerous industries, including construction, mechanical contracting, technology and safety.
Over the course of his career, Rinker has the distinction of being involved in mergers and acquisitions from all sides. He’s been part of a Fortune 100 leadership team driving a merger and he’s been on the receiving end of a hostile takeover.
Based on those experiences, he developed a unique perspective regarding the impact of culture. He saw first-hand how – for better or worse – a culture can shape itself when there is little or no leadership direction. Subsequently, he developed a method to address the issue of culture cultivation in mergers and acquisitions.
Rinker is proud to say he’s a West Virginia native who obtained his master’s degree in Organizational Communications and bachelor's in Psychology from West Virginia University. He is a speaker, trainer, thought leader and avid golfer.
Olivier Schobbens is the co-founder of The Talent Alliance, and an experienced senior leadership psychologist specializing in the assessment, coaching and development of senior executives. He has assisted multinational companies with the development and delivery of their talent management strategies. He has led a number of significant executive assessment and coaching projects, including the selection and integration of the global management teams in one of the largest M&A deals ever in the financial services sector. He also works with local and international management teams to help them reach a higher level of effectiveness.
Olivier has more than a decade's experience as an executive coach and assessor. Prior to co-founding The Talent Alliance, he was managing director of the Brussels office of an international consultancy in leadership psychology. He spent the early part of his career in human resources at several corporations across diverse industries - ranging from chemicals to software to construction.
Olivier obtained his Master's Degree in Occupational Psychology at the Université Catholique de Louvain in Belgium. Later he graduated from the IEP program at INSEAD (Fontainebleau / Singapore). He gained formal coaching credentials at the renowned Tavistock Institute (London). He is fluent in French, English and Dutch, and works comfortably across industries and global regions, including Europe, the US, Asia and Africa.
For additional biographical information please visit www.talent-alliance.net.
Dr. Robert Irving is a co-founder of The Talent Alliance, and a well-regarded practitioner in the area of senior executive assessment and development. His work focuses on designing and delivering executive assessment projects, selection of senior executive talent, and succession planning to a broad international client base. He also consults with client companies on board performance evaluation methodologies that improve corporate governance. An area of specialization is assisting private equity firms with due diligence and development of human capital.
Experiences prior to co-founding The Talent Alliance include assignments as managing director of the UK business psychology practice for an international consultancy, and director of executive assessment for an international search firm. There he helped establish the firm's executive assessment practice and developed a management asset valuation methodology for clients to assess and develop their top talent. Earlier in his career he worked as a human resources executive which included projects in Iran and Saudi Arabia.
As well as a Ph.D. from Birmingham University, Rob holds a BA in sociology from York University, England specialising in industrial psychology, and an MSc in organisational psychology from London University, England. He has been a visiting speaker on executive assessment at Templeton College, Oxford University and since 2008 a visiting coach on Senior Leadership Development Programmes at IMD, Lausanne.
For additional biographical information please visit www.talent-alliance.net.