OUR FACILITATORS

Heather Robinson, MA

Seattle, Washington, U.S.A.

• Global leadership development
• Coaching
• Team facilitation
• Developmental Mentor of PL Facilitators

PL work
Heather Robinson, MA, has been involved with Personal Leadership since 2003. As a Senior PL Facilitator, she has designed and facilitated a variety of face-to-face and virtual PL training programs that appeal to many different audiences.

For those just beginning their practice, Heather has facilitated the PL Introduction seminars, as well as co-facilitated both the Introduction and Foundations seminars.

For those looking for more in-depth study, Heather worked with Barbara Schaetti to design and facilitate the eight-month virtual course, Personal Leadership: A Year of Living the Practices. They offered the course together for three years, and Heather continues to co-facilitate it with other Senior PL Facilitators. Also with Barbara Schaetti, Heather developed a customized five-month virtual Personal Leadership Foundations course for the Council on International Education Exchange (CIEE). She and Barbara facilitated the course for two years.

With Barbara Schaetti and Dianne Hofner Saphiere, Heather developed the Essential Practice for Intercultural Competence (EPIC). Based on that work, she co-authored the EPIC Toolkit and co-facilitated the five-month virtual EPIC seminars.

Heather also co-developed the Personal Leadership Self-Assessment with Barbara Schaetti, which is used in various PL seminars to enhance participants’ skill at practicing PL.

Other work
As an organization consultant, Heather balances the right amount of elegance, fun and rigor to optimize productivity. For many years, she has coached multinational corporate teams and business leaders toward success in a complex world. A particular area of expertise for Heather is the design of face-to-face, virtual and blended-learning solutions. This includes great skill at training trainers and facilitators to help them achieve optimal effectiveness.

Heather has primarily worked in the corporate sector. She consulted for six years with Microsoft, developing a center of excellence in Bangalore, India. She participated in the rollout of Cisco Systems’ global advanced leadership program. For three years, she served as dean for the Strategic Edge, an executive development program for the major European aerospace companies. Other clients include Boeing, Porsche, Nokia, Hilton Hotels, Bristol-Myers Squibb, PepsiCo, Daimler, Abbott Laboratories, SIEMENS, Robert Bosch, Deutsche Telekom, and Novartis.

Heather has taught at the Summer Institute for Intercultural Communication in Portland, Oregon; the University of Washington International MBA program in Seattle; and the Georgetown/ESADE Global Executive MBA program In Bangalore, India.

Personal background
Born in the United States to Swiss and U.S. parents, Heather was raised on four continents. She has lived in India, the United Kingdom, Turkey, Germany, Switzerland, South Africa, Greece, Israel and Pakistan, and currently resides in the U.S.

She has also worked for short periods of time in Spain, France, Scotland, Portugal, Austria, Italy, Sweden, the Netherlands, Norway and Estonia. Heather works in English, German and Swiss German, and she speaks conversational Hindi/Urdu and basic French and Spanish.

Academic
Heather has a Master’s in Whole Systems Design with an area of concentration in Strategic Planning and Systems Design from Antioch University in Seattle, Washington. She has a BA in Biology with double honors from the University of California in Santa Cruz.

Other work
A devoted amateur, Heather dances in an international women’s traditional dance project.