Jen Akullian, PhD

About JEN

Jen (she/her/hers) is a former psychologist, holding a bachelors degree from the University of Colorado Boulder, masters and doctorate degrees from Indiana University Bloomington, and completed her doctoral internship at LSU New Orleans School of Medicine.

Jen has been applying her training and research in cognitive psychology and human behavior for 14 years, as a psychologist, consultant, coach, educator, advisor, advocate, in recent years supporting Executive Leadership Teams, technical and People team leaders, aspiring and seasoned executive coaches, and teaching faculty.

Jen is a thought leader in neurodiversity and mental health, speaking at events including Kubecon North America and Europe, Grace Hopper, SIGCSE, TAPIA, TechStars FounderCon, PASS Summit, MassTLC Summit, Django Under the Hood, among others. She collaborates with organizations invested in D&I best practices including the Center for Minorities and People with Disabilities in Informal Technology, the Association for Computing Machinery, Massachusetts Technology Leadership Council, and a number of non-profits.

She is grateful for the leaders and organizations she serves, for the trust they put in her to do what she loves.

Lisa Nielsen, MS

Lisa Nielsen, MS, CFN

About Lisa

Lisa (she/her/hers) is a former tech executive, most recently sitting on the ELT at Cribl as SVP of People and Trusted Health as Chief People Officer. As a five time People leader for SaaS tech companies backed by firms such as Sequoia, Battery, Benchmark and Amplify, Lisa has overseen People functions including People Operations, Recruiting, Learning & Development, Partners and Programs, and Places/Employee Experience. Previous to joining start-up tech, Lisa spent 4 years as a management consultant at EY/Capgemini working with the Fortune 500 on large-scale organization change.

Lisa holds a Masters’ degree in Organization Development and a second in Transpersonal Psychology.  She received her coaching certification through the NeuroLeadership group.

Lisa’s personal mission is to create space in which people feel supported and inspired to do their best work and to find that which makes them feel alive. As a coach/ consultant, she excels at facilitating team off-sites, helping teams to achieve new levels of trust and productive cohesion, and coaching CEOs to drive results through the management of their executive team. She also loves working with emerging People leaders as a mentor and strategic thought-partner. 

Lisa has lived as a yoga instructor in Costa Rica, backpacked throughout India, and owned a pie company in Vermont. She is most likely to be spotted on her bike, towing her two young en route to play outside somewhere beautiful.

Charlotte Burns, BA, CPCC

About Charlotte

Charlotte (she/her/hers) is the newest addition to the GCI team. She joins with a background in management consulting.

Charlotte has been a people partner, coach and coachee, most recently an HR Business Partner and leadership coach at Amplitude and Looker.

Charlotte earned her BA in Organizational Studies from the University of Michigan and is a Certified Professional Co-Active Coach (CPCC).

Charlotte has been a Chicagoan, a Californian and a roaming digital nomad. She resides in Grand Rapids, MI with her husband Steve, daughter June and dog Banks. She is learning how to be a mom while building an awe-filled career and life and is an exceptional addition to the GCI team.

 
 

“FAR AND AWAY THE BEST PRIZE THAT LIFE OFFERS IS THE CHANCE TO WORK HARD AT WORK WORTH DOING”
~Theodore Roosevelt