WH Professional Services: Who We Are

About Our Staff

Karen Toole, EdD, EMBA, Principal

Taking a holistic approach in working with her clients and making knowledge transfer a top priority, Karen Toole puts her 18+ years of experience and postgraduate education to work for both organizational and individual success. She offers practical, cost effective and seamless coaching, human resources and organizational effectiveness products and solutions, giving her clients the tools to achieve current and future growth. Karen has partnered with clients facing varying challenges—from training and development for over 130,000 civil service employees—to personalized executive leadership coaching. She has brought her skills to such diverse industries as aerospace manufacturing, pharmaceuticals, government, telecommunications, and retail, working with best-in-class organizations including AlliedSignal, Honeywell International, Schering-Plough, Limited Brands, Lucent Technologies, Alberto Culver, and Johnson & Johnson Healthcare Systems.

Karen’s areas of expertise include: Executive Coaching; Organization Effectiveness & Design; HR Performance Development; Change Management; Onboarding & New Manager Assimilation; Performance Management Development & Training; Talent Management & Succession Planning; Competency Development & Deployment. Her certifications include: Senior Professional in Human Resources Certification; Global Professional in Human Resources Certification; Six-Sigma Greenbelt Certification; TCI Team Coaching; and Lominger Certifications in Leadership and Interview Architect.

Karen holds a doctorate in Training and Organization Development, a Master’s in Labor and Industrial Relations, and a Bachelor’s in Labor Studies from Rutgers University. She also earned an Executive MBA in General Management from the Fox School of Business at Temple University.

Karen is a member of the Healthcare Businesswomen’s Association, International Coaching Federation, Organization Design Forum, OD Network, Organizational Dynamics Exchange Forum, SHRM.

Ann Whitmore, JD

Ann Whitmore is an insightful, powerful and compassionate coach and consultant with multi-dimensional professional experience. Her strengths include an ability to put people at ease, build trust, and quickly identify the root cause of an issue that effectively moves clients into action. The result, clients establish a new course of action and realize their goals. Her coaching clients include executives and managers at the World Bank, the Environmental Protection Agency, the City of Seattle, and an international health agency, and lawyers in the public and private sector.

Ann holds a jurist doctorate from the Stetson University College of Law, M.S. in Education from Western Oregon State College, and a B.A. from the University of California Irvine. She also a Certified Professional Coach.

Sara Roberge Deely, EdD

Sara Roberge Deely has more than 20 years experience in the field of organizational training and development. She has served in the U.S. Army as a Captain managing logistical operations for a division of 14,000 individuals. While earning her undergraduate degree at the University of Maine on an academic scholarship, she also served in the Maine National Guard as a cadet where she learned advanced management processes.

After leaving the U.S. Army, Sara earned her doctoral degree in psychometric assessment. Sara’s core capabilities are survey design and construction, psychometric assessment development, organizational behavior, training and development and accelerated learning processes.

Sara has experience in academia serving as an assistant professor of psychology at the Richard Stockton College of New Jersey teaching Educational Psychology, Introduction to Psychology and Social Psychology.

Sara accepted an invitation extended by Penn State to lecture on “Adult Student Learning” and “Adjustment to the Learning Environment.” She has also lectured on “Accelerated Workplace Learning” at the International Conference of Let Me Learn in Malta.

Sara holds a doctoral degree from Rutgers University in Adult Learning and Organizational Development, a master’s degree in educational administration from Rowan University and a bachelor’s degree in education/psychology from the University of Maine at Orono.

Sara is a member of Kappa Delta Pi, a national honor fraternity in education, and the American Society of Training and Development (ASTD).

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