About Us

Hamish Blackman

Hamish’s career extends for more than 30 years focusing on advising organizations on factors impacting productivity, morale, and work dynamics. As a trained mediator and frequent industry speaker, Hamish has brought his deep expertise to the corporate sector as well as to departments and programs at dozens of colleges and universities across the US. Hamish has developed and delivered a vast array of programming and tools that address transformational change management, responding to loss, a drug free workplace, violence prevention, mergers, takeovers and transitions, constructive confrontation and growing leaders and managers.

Prior to joining Breakthrough Collaboration, Hamish served in many positions, including as President of The Wellness Corporation.

Laura Althoff

Laura is a passionate organizational development consultant who strategically leverages capacity and supports transitions, by engaging and empowering the people involved. An expert facilitator, Laura is known for asking the right questions and the right time in order to move an idea or project ahead.

Laura has extensive experience in coaching and change management, in large and small, public and private organizations; from higher education to health care; public libraries to technology. Her creative problem-solving abilities, ease with uncertainty, and approach to identifying possibilities are reinforced by a career of building business partner relationships in diverse settings. She is committed to organizational missions that promote expression, creativity and service; in forging new and unexpected partnerships; and in the intersection of technology, connection and creativity.

Laura holds a BA from Mount Holyoke College and Masters in Social Work from Columbia University. A trained mediator, licensed clinical social worker, and graduate of the Agile Coaching Institute, she is also a life-long choral singer.

Aviva Luz Argote

Aviva’s practice draws on 18 years in the nonprofit and public sectors facilitating group processes, creating generative workplace cultures and building relationships among diverse stakeholders. Routinely recognized for her aptitude and fluency in group facilitation and public speaking, Aviva’s passions center on inspiring professional and personal resilience, modeling authentic leadership, and developing cross-cultural competency.

Aviva’s professional experience has focused on higher education administration, social sector leadership and bringing voice to historically marginalized communities, including work with the RAND Corporation, Los Angeles County, and Coro leadership centers.

Most recently, Aviva directed Harvard University’s Hauser Center for Nonprofit Organizations where she managed global civil society research teams, and taught courses on transformational leadership, collaborative team design, nonprofit finance and fundraising.

Tony Blackman

Tony brings over 30 years of experience in education and business. Through his consulting work and leadership roles, he has provided guidance to educational institutions and other non-profits in leadership change and transition, governance, strategic planning, culture change and the development of adaptive and authentic leadership. He is a trained facilitator and mediator who is passionate about helping organizations rethink what it takes to be successful and sustainable in this century and to consider profound implications for the way we learn, work, and lead.

His leadership roles have included: Headmaster, Sutton Park School, an international K-12 school in Dublin, Ireland; Interim and Associate Head of the Pingree School in South Hamilton, Massachusetts; Executive Director of the Gloucester Community Arts Charter School; as well as Assistant Head for Advancement and Director of Admissions of the Walnut Hill School for the Arts in Natick, Massachusetts; as well as the Marketing Director for two international companies in Boston.

A native of Boston, Tony holds a Masters Degree in Administration and Social Policy from Harvard Graduate School of Education and a Bachelor’s degree in History and Political Science from Boston College.

Tim Carlson

Tim is a creative thinker and doer who works closely with creators, business, academic and organizational leaders, and change agents to incubate, challenge and advance new concepts, products, services, organizational designs and untraditional offerings. Creativity, innovation and the power of transformation sit at the center of his work and leverage design methods to allow for deep understanding, ideation, creative strategy building, activation of ideas, evaluation and evolution of plan. This methodology is effectively used to better understand “the customer”, deliver new experiences for internal and external stakeholders and design/execute and bring to life, innovative organizational ideas, strategies and offerings.

Throughout his career, Tim has worked with more than 200 brands – large and small – in both the for-profit, academic and non-profit sectors including clients such as: Agfa/Monotype, Arbella Insurance Group, Atlantic Broadband, Avaya Communications, Dartmouth College, Grubb & Ellis, Harvard Medical School, The John F. Kennedy Library and Foundation, Lucent Technology, MIT, Polaroid Graphics Imaging, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Wellesley College, Whole Foods, and Universal Music Group.

Tim is an award-winning designer and has a business degree in finance and marketing from Boston University and is a frequent speaker within the business and design communities, including the American Marketing Association, AIGA, Seybold, and the Massachusetts Entrepreneur Program.

David Curuso

David Curuso, PhD, is an educator, organizational change consultant, Zen priest and academic leader.

Over the course of his career, David held multiple positions in academia – faculty and administrative appointments – including President of Antioch University New England, Vice President for Academic Affairs at Worcester State University, and multiple appointments and roles at the University of Hartford, University of Rhode Island, Purdue University, and Indiana State University.

He has researched and published widely with a focus in the field of human development, child and youth development, and early childhood education. Dr. Caruso served on the boards of the New Hampshire College and University Council and Campus Compact for New Hampshire, chaired the Governance Committee at the University of Hartford Magnet School, and served on the editorial boards of “Early Education and Development”, “Child and Youth Care Forum”, and “Infant Mental Health Journal”. He currently serves on the Leadership Council for Boundless Way Zen and in 1995, was awarded the American Council on Education Fellowship,

Dr. Caruso is married to Sara Hunt, an early childhood special educator, and has five children. He is a long time Buddhist meditation practitioner and is an ordained Zen priest. In his spare time, he enjoys studying political history, hiking and exploring wilderness, gardening, and photography. He is also a musician and currently sings with the Wise Guys, a Men’s A cappella group.

Elise Foster

Elise is a practitioner and international speaker with more than 15 years of education and organizational development experience. As a former engineer, she brings her systems engineering mindset to bear as she invites leaders to bring out the best in everyone around them. Her work has spanned multiple industries including bio-tech, energy, and higher education and represents a diverse client base including AT&T, Macy’s, University of Cincinnati, Masonite International, Gwinnett County Public Schools, Cummins, Inc., Arizona State University, Harvard university and Indiana University.

She is the co-author of The Multiplier Effect: Tapping the Genius Inside Our Schools and a leadership coach who enables leaders to unlock their potential and achieve even greater success. She is known for designing and delivering engaging and impactful workshops and keynotes for both education and business leaders.

She currently serves on the board of the Growth Edge Network and is the co-chair of the Cincinnati Harvard Club Schools Committee, as well a volunteer with her daughter’s Girl Scout troop. She has also served on the advisory board for the Virginia Tech Center for the Enhancement of Engineering Diversity (VT CEED), and the Lilly Endowment Scholarship Selection Committee for Bartholomew County.

She holds Bachelors and Masters degrees in Engineering from Virginia Tech and a Masters in Education from Harvard University. In 2013 she qualified and ran the Boston Marathon.

Craig Hardimon

Craig brings over 35 years of educational leadership experience, fostering inclusive school cultures and cultivating respectful community relationships. During his career, Craig has served as a special educator, an assistant principal, a principal, and a human resources director supporting students, educators, and families in both urban and suburban settings. As an educational leader, Craig has developed professional development opportunities that have advanced professional learning among administrators, teachers, and service providers, improving their professional knowledge, competency, skills and effectiveness.

Recognizing that unresolved issues can impede progress and mutual understanding, Craig has helped organizations facilitate a wide range of difficult conversations, recognizing that communication, valuing individual contributions, and developing and maintaining respect for each stakeholder drives positive resolutions and outcomes.

Craig holds a Bachelor’s Degree in History and Art from Ripon College, a Master’s Degree in Education (Special Education: Severe and Profound) from Howard University, a Master’s Degree in Education (Special Education: Moderate) from the University of Massachusetts: Amherst, and Administrative licensure from Lesley University.

Andy Kang

Andy is a licensed independent therapist in private practice with Boston Professionals Counseling, LLC. He completed his clinical training at the Boston College Graduate School of Social Work. Prior to becoming a therapist, he was a counselor of a different kind, practicing law for ten years in Boston in the areas of complex commercial litigation and employment law. Andy now treats professionals, addressing the barriers to wellbeing with an aim of de-stigmatizing mental health care and helping individuals, couples and families in need. Andy is an Adjunct Professor at the Boston College Graduate School of Social Work, teaching courses in Substance Abuse and Diversity. Andy has spoken extensively at law firms, law schools, professional and trade organizations, on a variety of topics relating to work-life balance and substance abuse. He is a member in good standing of the Massachusetts Bar, and the National Association of Social Workers.

Paul Kimmerling

Paul is a program designer, master trainer and facilitator, who helps organizations and individuals boost their performance through customized programming, facilitated events, experiential workshops, and coaching. Paul’s dynamic approach creates an engaging environment for discovery and transformation. He blends powerful techniques (“Play”, Innovation Games, Six Hats Thinking, CPSI methods) with his own insights to generate innovative ideas and practical methods for success.

His current clients include Bombora, the leading provider of intent data for B2B marketers; Kyriba, the global leader in cloud treasury solutions; Analytic Partners, an international marketing consulting firm; and Clever Devices, a worldwide provider of mass transit technology. As a co-founder and Training Director of the Holistic Performance Group, Paul has developed programs for Time Inc. and SUNY New Paltz; as a faculty member at the American Management Association (AMA) he has worked with such leading organizations as the NYC MTA, Mitsubishi Financial, Wounded Warriors, EY (Ernst & Young), and he authored, “Mindfulness: A Building Block of Emotional Intelligence” for the online AMA Playbook. As consultant to Balancing Life’s Issues, has worked with the organizations including Council on Foreign Affairs, Anthem Health, GlaxoSmithKline, and Verizon.

Beyond his corporate work, Paul leads workshops in Contemplative Photography that incorporate exercises based on mindfulness and imaginative play to boost awareness and creative vision.

Lyle Kirtman

Lyle has been a management consultant for more than 30 years. He has provided executive coaching, executive search, organizational development, strategic planning and conflict management services to over 700 organizations in the public and private sector. He is a recognized leader nationally in providing research based leadership assessments for hiring and leadership development with a strong focus on the development of leaders in education.

He is also an established author on leadership through his publications including: Leadership and Teams: The Missing Piece of the Educational Reform Puzzle; Leadership: Key Competencies for Whole System Change (co-written with Michael Fullan); Coherent School Leadership: Forging Clarity from Complexity (co-written with Michael Fullan); and Stop the Endless Debates Time to Move to Action: Aligning Policy to Best Practices (co-written with David Driscoll)

Paul Spector

Paul has extensive experience in organizational diagnosis, group facilitation, leadership development, and project design. Paul’s expertise includes helping clients transform critical insights into effective action while creating an environment supportive to positive change. This includes aiding clients to identify, understand and prioritize the core organizational issues that need to be resolved. He has consistently helped organizations benefit from increased individual commitment to achieve greater effectiveness. Paul has worked across the public and private sector, community groups, non-profit organizations, and institutions of higher education.

Prior to joining Breakthrough Collaboration, Paul was founder and principal of Spector Associates, and the managing partner at Good Work Associates, a leader in executive coaching, strategic planning, and organization culture assessments. Paul has also served as a City Counselor for the city of Northampton, Massachusetts. Paul’s clients have included the Education Development Center, Albany Law School, University of Richmond, Centre College and Vassar College.

Sarah Staley

Sarah is a coach and consultant with over 15 years of experience in education and non-profit leadership.  Sarah’s focus has been on continuous improvement of structures and systems, leadership development, and cultural change to support and expand excellence, engagement, and inclusion in education.

Sarah’s professional experience includes a teaching background with the Teach for America organization, managing leadership development and action research projects for the Hauser Center for Nonprofit Organizations at the Harvard Kennedy School, and nearly 10 years of training and consulting work with Harvard University’s Center for Workplace Development. Sarah currently serves as the Associate Director of Talent Management and Development at Wellesley College, where she leads a team of human resources professionals focused on strategic recruitment and retention, employee and organizational development, and labor and employee relations.

Sarah received her Ed.M in Education Policy and Management from the Harvard Graduate School of Education and her B.A. from Brown University, where she studied Public Policy, American Institutions, and Women’s Leadership. Sarah holds a Graduate Certificate in Executive Coaching from William James College.

Kim Whelan

Kim Whelan is a mediator, facilitator and trainer who is dedicated to helping individuals and organizations deal productively with difficult conversations so they can develop their own solutions to complex challenges. With years of mediation experience and training, she helps people identify their interests (rather than get stuck on their positions) and she empowers them to generate their own options that create holistic solutions.

Kim has an eclectic business background with experience in strategic planning, financial analysis, business development, strategic staffing and management consulting. This experience has deepened her analytical skills related to process and organization. She also brings a deep appreciation for both the financial and human issues effecting decision-making and strategy development. She is equally happy working one to one or presenting to a crowd. Kim believes she is effective at creating trust and energy for her clients to explore options and contemplate change because she brings to her work a unique combination of authentic curiosity, compassion, comfort with numbers, and a healthy dose of optimism.

Kim holds a BA from Middlebury College and an MBA from Harvard Business School. Her passions include watching dance and playing women’s ice hockey.