Our Team

Meet the People Behind Our People-to-People Training

When you work with MOHR Retail training programs, you’re also working with a dynamic team of consultants, designers, facilitators, and project managers, all of whom come from the world of retail.

Get to know the team that makes it all happen.

Interested in joining our team? Contact us to learn about available opportunities. Leadership experience in a national retail organization (e.g., DM/RVP Senior Store Operations, or Talent Development experience) is a huge plus and a value our clients count from us.

Mary Beth Garcia
Owner & CEO

Michael Patrick
Founder, Executive Advisor & Senior Consultant

Alexis Abssy
Director Client Engagement, Operations and Support

Matt Brown
Vice President, Business Development & Client Success

Mary Beth has worked with a variety of retail and hospitality clients as a strategic partner, delivering leadership, communications, retail programs, consulting, and executive coaching for such diverse companies as Academy Sports and Outdoors, Altar’d State, Advanced Auto Parts, Bvlgari, Cardinal Health, Compass Group, Darden Restaurants Inc., Dollar Tree Stores, Family Dollar, Foot Locker Group, Haggar Clothing, King Ranch, LVMH, Michaels, Saks Department Store Group, SMCP, Southeast Grocers, TBC, Ulta Beauty, and Whole Foods Market. Prior to her consulting work, Mary Beth spent more than 20 years in retail management and operations for companies such as Macys, g.Briggs, The Bombay Company, and Sunglass Hut International, holding numerous leadership positions in sales, store, district, and regional management and corporate communications, training, and operations. Based in Miami, FL, Mary Beth served on the Executive Advisory Board for the University of Florida’s Retail Education and Research Department from 2003-2014 and is a long-standing member of ISA: The Association of Learning Providers. She holds an A.A. Degree in Retail Management and Fashion Merchandising from Bauder College.

Michael comes from the retail industry and has experienced MOHR’s brand and impact as a client, owner, and now as Master Facilitator and company consulting resource. He has seen and created impact for hundreds of retail operations through the store leadership, sales & service, multiunit leadership, and negotiation programs. Because of his deep experience, Michael plays multiple roles for MOHR Retail. In addition to facilitating MOHR Retail training programs, he offers executive-level coaching in one-on-one sessions dealing with critical strategic issues such as succession strategies and executive team development.

Currently Michael serves as Account Manager and Master Facilitator for the Tire Industry Association with over 13,000 members. He also works as an Instructional Designer on MOHR Retail’s broader program development. His design expertise is steeped in Observational Learning principles which is one of the most highly validated adult learning designs.

Alexis came to MOHR with several years of retail management experience, working for the Herb Chambers Company, one of the largest auto dealership groups in New England, and TJX Companies, home office of the global multi-billion-dollar off-price retailer. She has been with MOHR Retail for over 9 years supporting clients operationally before, during, and after custom and packaged training programs and projects. Alexis is the DiSC personal style indicator and Axonify, daily reinforcement App administrator for MOHR Retail in addition to her client support and success role. She is the wind beneath our $ales in driving success for all our Client Engagements.

Matt is a results-oriented leader with a record of contributing positive results and a reputation for great energy and enthusiasm throughout his 30 years in retail. His journey started as a seasonal team member and for the last 10 years was a Zone Vice President at Michaels Arts & Crafts. He has a passion for teaching and sharing his operational knowledge and expertise with team members at all levels. Matt’s first engagement with MOHR Retail was as a client while at Michaels helping him build and empower an even more effective and successful team. Matt has also held additional roles such as Vice President of Operations - Retail Engineering and Optimization and Director of District Manager Development. Most recently, Matt and his wife Meredith have opened a martial arts school in Tyler, TX where they saw a need and opportunity to support the youth in their local community by helping to empower their lives through the martial arts.

Joyce Hayes
Controller

Nemanya Pavlovic
vCTO

Marla Lepore
Director in Marketing

Amy Diaz
Senior Special Projects Manager

Joyce is your go-to when you have questions about billing, payments, or shipping and handling. She’ll also get you the documents or accurate invoice copies you need for easy processing of payments. Joyce is a graduate of Long Island University majoring in Finance and is a Certified Public Accountant. Joyce resides in Neptune Township, NJ with her husband Marty live in Fort Lauderdale, FL , close to the MOHR Retail corporate office, and the year round warmth and sunshine.

Nemanya has over 23 years of professional IT experience as owner of Apogee Consulting LLC, as well as virtual Chief Technology Officer for MOHR retail for over 10 years. Nemanya is a well-rounded and extremely capable IT consultant with expertise in IT infrastructure for a start-up, to converting an Access database into a web/mobile based one for a VIP client in the music business. He has performed most IT jobs from the mundane to the insane to ensure technology services replacement/synergy are accomplished. He has worked with Bertelsmann Music Group and has attended and helped with the technology production of the Grammy awards presentation for several years. Nemanya is based in New Jersey with his wife and partner Daisy.

Marla has more than two decades of experience as a marketing, PR, and communications consultant in the learning and development industry. Over the course of her career, she has planned, developed, and executed marketing communications strategy for a variety of training, research, and performance improvement businesses. She works with the media to provide expert sources on retail training and development issues and has written and ghostwritten numerous articles for industry publications. A graduate of Tulane University in New Orleans, Marla lives in Nashville and is an active member of Nashville’s writers’ collective, The Porch. In addition to her marketing work, she is a freelance writer who writes the Muck Rack Daily newsletter, a digest of journalism focused on the trending topics of the day.

Amy is an experienced project leader with a passion for creating work plans and project schedules. She has a positive, can-do attitude and focusses on improving processes for better productivity and overall company growth. Amy prides herself in understanding client needs by actively listening, asking clarifying questions and developing processes that fit each customer through clear, precise communication. She swears it's her superpower. She has a diverse background with over 10+ years as an Operations and Logistics Manager for a local Miami, Fl importing/exporting company before she moved to New York City to work as the Director of Operations and Project Manager for a swimwear manufacturer with experience in design, overseas production, retail and licensing for brands such as Hot Topic, Victoria’s Secret, PacSun and Jessica Simpson. After 12 years she moved back to Florida to be closer to family and is excited to join our team.

Matthew Castano
Videographer/Editor

Anita Johnson
Senior Consultant

Cindy Herman
Senior Consultant

Kristine Pérez Foley
Senior Consultant

Matthew is a videographer and photographer. His passion for capturing life's most candid moments and exploring various methods of storytelling through visual media brings him constant joy. At MOHR Retail, Matthew assumes the role of a video editor. In this capacity, he analyzes and enhances footage, seamlessly combines different shots, and infuses vitality into the finished videos. It's a challenging yet gratifying role that allows him to apply his creative skills to contribute to a broader vision. When he's not working, Matthew can be found traveling to new destinations to seek inspiration for his art or experimenting with his camera to uncover innovative ways to bring photographs to life.

Anita Johnson is a seasoned facilitator with a passion for developing effective and engaged leaders. Her enthusiasm, business expertise, and passion create informative and open learning environments that ignite and nurture leaders at all levels. With over 15 years in corporate HR/learning leadership roles, Anita has the ability to pull from store to executive boardroom experience to bring the powerful MOHR Retail learning design alive for each leader. Anita has succeeded in leadership roles with several organizations including The North Face, Old Navy, Gap Inc, Ulta Inc, and Altard State. She is thrilled to provide hands-on content to elevate the skillset of your teams.

Cindy is an enthusiastic and seasoned consultant and facilitator, working in partnership with leaders and teams to deliver high-impact, pragmatic results. She has over 25 years’ experience in developing leaders, building high performance teams, and creating customer service excellence. Cindy grew up working in a retail/ service business and has held roles in senior management, marketing and human resources in corporate and entrepreneurial companies. She works with leaders and teams across all levels and functions, in diverse, global cultures. Her experience includes a wide spectrum of industries including retail, consumer goods, hospitality, healthcare, communications, food and beverage and financial services. Cindy’s authenticity and commitment to excellence inspires and supports clients to gain powerful tools, practical skills, and reach new levels of effectiveness.

Kristine is an experienced leadership development professional with a specialization in diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI). Her expertise in leadership content, instructional design, group facilitation and executive coaching have enabled her to lead several large global training initiatives for fortune 100 & 500 companies. Her prior work experience includes holding leadership positions in the automotive and retail banking industry and serving as world languages department leader and Spanish teacher for a large public school system in New York. As a consultant she has worked with The UPS Store, Bath & Body Works, and Walmart. Kristine is an ICF credentialed coach (PCC) and ICF registered mentor coach and enjoys working with aspiring coaches to discover their authentic coaching style within the ICF core competencies.

Leesa Wallace
Senior Consultant

Lisa Gallo
Producer

Paul Briley
Senior Consultant, Executive Coach

Scott Keva James
Producer

Leesa has over 20 years of experience heading leadership, organization, and development functions in both Fortune 100 and start-up organizations. As a consultant, she has worked with retailers such as Delta Faucets, Louis Vuitton-Moet Hennessy, Ace Hardware, and Michaels to help them build the interpersonal skills that drive results. Her focus is always on bringing practical, realistic, integrated approaches to help elevate individual, team, and leadership performance by connecting the dots between business goals and employee behavior. Prior to her experience in the leadership development world, Leesa worked in public education. Most notably, she was an English teaching consultant for the Japanese Ministry of Education and, during her stay, authored a short textbook, “Japan and America: Questions You Ask.”

For over 20 years, Lisa has enjoyed making the Pacific Northwest her home. Her professional career spans a variety of chapters, including a focus on corporate training, program design, development, delivery, and virtual production. Lisa has worked from the ground floor up with virtual facilitator trainer courses, as well as designing and delivering a virtual producer course. What Lisa is known for is her ability to help participants master features of technology with ease, encouraging clients to elevate their learning experience through full participation and use of virtual platform tools.

Paul leverages his 25+ years of experience in learning, leadership, consulting and coaching to help you bring your vision to life. His career was built on consultative thought leadership focused on creating impact on people, culture and results.

Throughout his career, Paul has helped people get moving. He’s known for helping people assess their current state, define goals and outcomes, then build plans and move to action. His consultative approach helps build custom solutions based on your unique needs and experiences.

Paul has worked for large, multi-unit organizations, as well as consulting with business leaders and stakeholders within their own organizations. His experience on the front lines of organizations provides a unique perspective and ability to see challenges and solutions from the customer's point of view. Paul now helps people get off the comma™ through his consulting, coaching and organizing practices. He also has over 10 years experience in volunteer board membership & leadership.

Paul builds relationships based on a sense of purpose, action-orientation and having fun in the process. Paul holds a Master's in Business Administration, is an International Coaching Federation (ICF) certified coach (ACC), and a Certified Professional in Talent Development (CPTD). He loves heights, travel, animals, physical activity and is stretching himself this year by saying “yes” to things that scare the heck out of him.

Learn more about Paul: linktree

Scott Keva James is a virtual technical producer, visual artist, educator, and live event producer. His artwork includes interactive installation work and live visual performance. In the world of live events, he has creative-directed multi-media stage shows and implemented complex, immersive environments. Since 2020 he has been providing technical assistance and support for virtual instruction and facilitation. Scott is based in Seattle.

Susan Newhouse
Senior Consultant

Kristina Landis
Senior Instructional Designer/Consultant

Laurel Moad
Senior Design Consultant

Kathryn S. Wolfson
Senior Design Consultant

A dynamic facilitator who harnesses the power of human connection, Susan applies principles of creative problem solving, Design Thinking, Multiple Intelligences Theory, and improv to disrupt ordinary thinking and create breakthroughs for leaders, teams, and organizations. For the past 20 years, she has led hundreds of sessions for Fortune 500 companies and designed facilitation training programs that she has delivered around the globe. Susan studied improv at Josephine Forsberg’s Players Workshop of the Second City and has received certifications in LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY® Methods and FourSight™ Creative Thinking System. She also teaches at several international creativity conferences, including the Creative Problem Solving Institute, EPIC International Summit, and ACRE/EDU in South Africa.

Kristina is an accomplished talent and operations leader with 30 years of experience in the retail industry. She has a proven track record of developing and implementing strategies that drive results through people. Her core competencies include organization and leadership development, talent acquisition, succession and workforce planning, culture and engagement, coaching, strategic planning, change management, and retail operations. In her most recent role as Director of Talent at West Marine, Kristina focused on building sustainable people strategies to drive employee performance and support organizational growth. Prior to West Marine, Kristina held various leadership roles at Michaels, Family Dollar, and The Bombay Company. Having led the talent function through and post-pandemic, Kristina has first-hand experience creating programs and processes that maximize the evolving employee value proposition. She is excited to partner with her clients to identify and execute innovative solutions that optimize how they attract, develop, and retain top talent. Kristina shares her talents with MOHR Retail clients through her expert facilitation, instructional design, and client success leadership skills. Kristina is based in Dallas-Fort Worth, TX. She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Business Administration and German from Murray State University and is a Master Certified MOHR Facilitator.

Laurel has over 25 years’ experience in retail multiunit senior leadership as a divisional vice president or regional vice president for retailers including L Brands, Kay Bee Toys, Laura Ashley, Eddie Bauer, and Gymboree. Throughout her retail career, she has led talent initiatives that have elevated talent selection, retention, and development across each organization. In her role at MOHR Retail, Laurel serves as a strategic business partner to clients, providing talent strategy and talent development-related solutions that change behavior and measurably impact business results. Drawing on her strong retail experience and background, she has delivered leadership, communication, negotiation, and other retail solutions to companies such as Albertsons, Bebe, Claire’s, Disney Stores, Gymboree, Jewel/Osco, Oshkosh B’Gosh, PetsMart, and The Picture People. In addition to her consulting work, she is a director on the board of the River Corridor Foundation of St. Charles, IL, a non-profit that supports and advocates for projects that will enhance the downtown riverfront environment as a destination for cultural, educational, and economic opportunities that are accessible for all. Laurel resides in a suburb of Chicago, IL.

Kathryn has more than 30 years’ experience in retail industry training and course development. For clients such as Hermes, Estee Lauder, Toys R Us, MarMaxx, Polo Ralph Lauren, and New Balance Retail, she has trained in leadership, management, negotiation, technical, and operations skills. Her corporate experience includes Assistant Buyer and Training Coordinator for Rich’s (div. of Federated Stores) and Corporate Director of Training for Saks Fifth Avenue. Kathryn develops and continually updates the MOHR Retail’s core programs as well as custom program modules. A graduate of Smith College, she lives in New York City and has taught in New York University’s continuing education program.

“The MOHR Retail team has been a pleasure to work with over the years. They truly understand the day-to-day challenges of the ever-changing retail environment. I certainly appreciate their partnership in our training and development efforts for our retail district managers and store managers at James Avery.”

Marilyn Price, Vice President of Retail Operations | James Avery

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Our Team

Meet the People Behind Our People-to-People Training

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Our Team

Meet the People Behind Our People-to-People Training

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Stay Retail-Ready

Latest Posts

4 Issues Shaping the Future of Retail Leadership

Feb 17, 2025

Where Have all the Retail Managers Gone?

Jan 21, 2025

Contact