We profoundly shift how your salespeople and leaders think, work, lead and sell.
Over our 40-year award-winning history, we’ve been catalysts in advancing the thinking, behaviour and performance of thousands of sales and leadership teams around the world.
Our mission is to provide transformative organizational solutions and unforgettable personal learning that profoundly shifts the way people think, work and lead.
We’re proud to be recognized as one of Selling Power's Top Sales Training Companies, and as one of Training Industry Inc.'s Watch List companies for Leadership Development and Sales Training and Enablement.
HORN transforms your team, organization, and business results through:
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Better analysis
We efficiently invest more time upfront, across all levels, to understand your reality.
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Better customized solutions
Informed by better analysis, our solutions precisely fit your needs and your team, organization, and business context.
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Better partnerships
Our best-in-industry consultants and facilitators create an exceptional end-to-end experience that delivers proven results and long-standing clients.
What Guides HORN Sales & Leadership Learning?
Leadership & Selling Beliefs
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The best leaders and salespeople influence with high levels of empathy, goal-orientation, personal accountability, and authenticity.
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When we anticipate and address the thoughts of others, those people are more likely to listen to what we're saying.
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We are more influential when we genuinely focus on the mutual benefit of others and ourselves.
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The belief that there is room to grow is the starting point for healthy personal change.
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Great leadership and influence start with self-management.
Sustained Learning Philosophy
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Learning programs must cause permanent and lasting behaviours to be successful.
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The best learning programs are reverse-engineered; defining the desired outcome, then designing lessons that cause it.
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Attitude drives behaviour. The key to training is NOT to simply practice behaviour, but to change underlying thinking patterns and uncover personal obstacles to learning.
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Sustainment of learning occurs throughout a training experience - not just after it.
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Learning solutions require: aligned internal systems, the integration of learning into business processes and communication vehicles, real-life training experiences, multiple touchpoints, on-the-job application tools, and the measurement of behaviour shifts.
The HORN Team
HORN's diverse team consists of experts with hands-on experience in sales, sales management, leadership, human resources, and adult education. We have worked in multiple industries including consumer packaged goods, financial services, healthcare, pharmaceuticals, technology, and telecommunications. This allows us to create results that are practical, real-world and lasting.
Client Partnership Team
Lynne Gallacher
Lynne leads HORN’s sales, marketing and client partnership team. Lynne is passionate about delivering highly relevant, insightful and practical training and consulting solutions that improve our clients’ performance and business results.
During her tenure at HORN, Lynne has led both the Blended Learning Solutions and Organizational Excellence Solutions teams. Lynne leverages more than 15 years of high-level management experience in the consumer packaged goods industry at Kraft Foods and Kimberly-Clark. She has hands-on operational experience in sales, customer marketing, brand management, and corporate strategy and development.
She holds an Honours Bachelor of Arts degree in Business Administration from the Ivey School of Business at the University of Western Ontario, and a certificate in Mergers and Acquisitions from Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University.
Tim Dougan
Tim passionately leads the relationships with HORN’s Financial Services clients. Tim is a deeply experienced learning professional, equipped with many years of business experience with a wide range of companies. He understands business direction and how to improve performance of teams and individuals. He genuinely enjoys helping clients determine areas of performance improvement and is creative in identifying learning solutions that drive lasting behaviour change and achievement of business goals.
Tim’s learning and development expertise is informed by over 20 years of direct experience in the learning field. Prior to HORN, he held several leadership roles at CIBC, consulting positions with IBM serving the Financial Services Sector, as well as facilitation, design, consulting, and front-line roles with TD Canada Trust.
Emily Searle
With more than 8 years of client partnership experience, Emily has collaborated with hundreds of organizations and thousands of leaders around the world on complex challenges. Her work has contributed to the development of many multi-year global programs, offered in multiple languages, which have successfully reached tens of thousands of participants around the world whilst fostering long-term relationships with key clients.
Emily’s experience spans across most industries including: aerospace and defense, the Canadian and US public sector, CPG, engineering, finance and insurance, manufacturing, pharmaceuticals, retail, and telecommunications.
Emily comes from a background in capital markets, innovation, human-centered design, adult learning, leadership development, and change management. She is recognized for delivering comprehensive, meticulous solutions that exceed expectations and developing strong relationships built on trust and collaboration.
Emily holds a Certificate in Design Thinking (Systems Engineering) from Cornell and an Honours Bachelor of Commerce from the University of Ottawa, where she pursued studies in a bilingual French/English capacity. In support of her commitment to continuous improvement, Emily is currently completing a Certificate in Prompt Engineering for ChatGPT to strengthen her understanding of AI Strategy and practical application of Large Language Models (LLMs).
Deena Kruzic
Deena joined HORN’s team as Client Relations Coordinator in 2005. A member of the Sales and Marketing team, Deena manages and supports the execution of HORN’s Sales and Marketing plan and social media initiatives, rekindles client relationships, coordinates all Client Partnership team activities, and oversees critical team processes and systems.
Deena brings with her nearly 25 years of senior administrative expertise within the business services and financial industries.
Global
Facilitation Team
Sean Verhoeven
Sean has over 25 years experience as a corporate facilitator and public speaker. He leads HORN’s facilitation team and ensures that all of HORN’s facilitators hold themselves and their learners accountable in the learning environment. Sean is well known as an energized, dynamic trainer who infuses passion, authenticity, knowledge, and his own professional and personal experience into every delivery.
Sean leverages his prior real world experience in Marketing, Sales and Sales Management with well known brands such as Carling-O’Keefe Breweries, Molson Breweries, and Warner Lambert. He has extensive experience in every major industry vertical and has trained sales and leadership teams across North America, Europe, Asia Pacific and the Middle East.
Graham Kaufmann
Graham is a sought-after facilitator and executive coach and has been with HORN since 2006. Graham is a charismatic and compelling public speaker who inspires audiences through passion, knowledge, and personal experience. He brings to the learning environment a successful track record in senior leadership, particularly in Marketing, Sales and Strategy.
Prior to joining the firm, he accumulated over fifteen years’ experience working with companies in Canada and globally, including Labatt Breweries, Pfizer, Adams Brands and Cadbury Schweppes.
Graham is also a seasoned executive coach. Graham has helped senior executives identify what holds them back in order to build a specific path toward achieving their personal and professional potential. He also coaches athletes in pursuit of achieving their potential.
Andrea Jacks
Andrea is a seasoned, dynamic business leader who is respected for her business acumen and her genuine passion for leadership development and employee engagement. People-focused and values-driven, Andrea draws from her professional and personal experience to support clients as they become more influential and achieve targeted outcomes.
In her 14 years as a high-impact and solutions-focused Regional Director in the hospitality industry, Andrea seamlessly aligned brand culture, business growth, and team development objectives to drive measurable corporate results. She became well-known as a visionary leader who rolled up her sleeves and modeled functional excellence to the multiple layers of management teams reporting to her.
Andrea is a full-time coach. Her academic work focused on business strategy informs her approach as a motivational mentor of future corporate leaders. Andrea is respected in her community for being highly focused, articulate, compassionate, and energetic.
Andrea is a certified coach (PCC) with the International Coaching Federation.
Josette Lapierre
Josette works with organizations to define purpose, drive strategy, and support the purposeful growth of individuals in a healthy, stimulating environment.
Josette is an interim leader, certified facilitator and coach, and project management strategist. When she is not herself leading a team, she facilitates leadership workshops, coaches executives and emerging talent, and mentors people at turning points in their career. Josette believes in collaboration, empowerment, assertiveness and a job so well done it surprises the client.
Josette holds a Professional and Personal Coach (PPCC) certification from Concordia University and a Project Management Professional (PMP®) certification from the Project Management Institute. She earned her bachelor’s degree in Education, certificate in Business Administration, certificate in Educational Technology and certificate in Education Application of Computers from the University of Montreal.
Joe Little
Joe Little is a professional development facilitator, consultant and certified coach. He has trained and/or coached hundreds of engineers, scientists and finance professionals in the art of oral communication, influence, persuasion and emotional intelligence. He helps technical experts make their first leap from their areas of expertise into the world of people and leadership.
Joe has facilitated for global audiences in Canada, US, Latin America, Europe and Asia Pacific, and has served clients from the financial, pharmaceutical, technological, and packaged goods industries. In his coaching and facilitation, he draws on his diverse business experience over the past 11 years, including sales, branch management, and entrepreneurship. Joe has worked extensively with non-native English speakers to develop their confidence and competence in influential, emotionally-intelligent business communication.
Joe has also coached, pro bono, artists, activists and philanthropists at TEDx conferences whose causes he supports. A well-travelled Montreal native and speaker of four languages, Joe brings an intuitive, authentic approach to learning, creating an enriching experience that allows participants to have fun, break through the veneer of “corporate buzzwords”, and enrich each other’s work and lives.
Latin America
Facilitation Team
Valeria Rodriguez Brondo
With a lifelong passion for exploring other countries, continents, and cultures, Valeria always knew her career would be international in scope. She is now based in Paris, but has lived and worked in North America, Latin America, Europe, Africa and Asia.
Valeria is a multilingual (Spanish, Portuguese, English, French and Italian) facilitator and trainer, specializing in organizational culture and intercultural management. She has 15 years of experience in the management of diverse teams, supporting leaders across borders in both the public and private sectors. Her expertise in international facilitation and intercultural integration has helped her in facilitating international negotiations; she has also held positions in project management and international sales.
Organizations Valeria has facilitated for include BNP Paribas, Ikea, Safran, Cgiar, Glencore, UN, OAS, Lyreco, American Tower, and Haines McGregor.
Felipe Navia
Felipe is a seasoned, business-savvy learning and development professional who is passionate about delivering a high quality of service excellence that exceeds personal, team, and client performance metrics.
His extensive training and development experience at Ernst & Young, CESA (Colegio de Estudios Superiores de Administración), and as an independent Training Consultant for several years, has enabled him to hone his skills in leading complex, strategic performance and learning projects and programs.
Felipe has assisted companies across the globe in initiatives such as: strategic project / program management, team-building, leadership development, management, employee performance coaching, and operational best practice development.
Felipe is fluent in Spanish and English.
Client Solutions and Design Team
Fiona Betivoiu
Fiona has over 20 years of experience working as a talent executive and people leader. Her career has specialized in people and talent management, organizational culture, and leadership development.
She has spent most of her career leading North American teams and designing global programs in the Pharma and Financial industries. During her tenure she has built end-to-end talent strategies, led cultural transformation initiatives as well as supported the career paths of business leaders cross-industries.
Fiona specializes in designing learning solutions that support growth and engagement. Her approach is to start with the end in mind, building holistic programs that will have a tangible impact on business results.
Passionate about learning, Fiona has a Certificate in Adult Education and is a Certified Training and Development Professional (CTDP). She holds a Master of Arts from the University of Toronto and Bachelor of Arts from McGill University. Fiona received her designation as a Certified Executive Coach (CEC) through Royal Roads University and is an Associate Certified Coach (ACC) with the International Coaching Federation. Fiona is a certified EQi-2.0 coach.
Carolyn Dougherty
Carolyn is passionate about performance and learning. She is accountable for developing both client relationships and designing needs-based learning solutions. Her customer centricity and commitment to creating impactful, practical, and relevant solutions generate client results. She enjoys helping clients identify performance gaps and developing creative, evidence-based solutions to support the achievement of business objectives.
Carolyn has extensive cross-functional experience in learning and development, particularly in the life sciences/pharmaceutical industry. She has over 25 years experience in commercial roles in sales, marketing, business effectiveness, L&D and leading/coaching teams. Prior to HORN, Carolyn held several roles at Pfizer Canada Inc. and in management consulting, where her focus was on learning strategy and solutions development in global marketing, sales/account management, medical and market/patient access.
Carolyn has a bachelor’s degree in marketing and an MBA. She holds several certifications in learning measurement, adult learning, selling models, change leadership, strategy/execution and is a Six Sigma green belt.
Rhona Berger
Rhona brings a wealth of experience in design, development, and facilitation spanning over 20 years across various industries.
Rhona’s approach to design is centered around curiosity and utilizing her coaching skills. She recognizes the importance of asking insightful questions, actively listening, and continuously learning to develop client solutions that effectively engage, empower, and ultimately contribute to personal, professional, and organizational success.
Rhona’s educational and professional background demonstrates a diverse set of skills and expertise in the areas of business, information technology, adult education, training and development, coaching, organizational development, and management. Rhona has Business and Information Technology Diploma, an Honours Certificate in Adult Education, an Organizational Development Certificate from Queen’s University, is a Certified Training and Development Professional (CTDP), a Certified Professional Co-Active Coach (CPCC), is DISC certified and has a Mini-MBA from the Canadian Management Centre covering essential business topics and management principles.
Melissa Horn
Melissa is a lifelong learner obsessed with the psychology of workplace success. She is laser-focused on practical application, helping to build programs that that elicit the self-discovery it takes for genuine, lasting change.
Melissa’s approach to design is highly “user-centred.” She marries client needs, learner needs, and grounded models for optimal interpersonal dynamics to both inspire and efficiently achieve measurable results.
After earning a BA from the University of Toronto, Melissa cultivated her understanding of and skills in the design and delivery of adult learning programs during six years of postgraduate work at Williams College in Massachusetts and the University of Chicago in Illinois.
Jeff Geady
Jeff provides visual direction to HORN’s core content and front-end design for online programs, and collaborates with the design team to produce course materials that merge efficient and effective understanding with aesthetic pleasure.
Jeff has over 15 years of experience in the eLearning and training space, and holds certificates in Visual Arts and Interactive Multimedia from Niagara College, as well as post-graduate studies in Information Architecture. His passion for interface and information design has resulted in award-winning projects for a client list that includes Microsoft, General Mills, Pfizer, American Eagle Outfitters, CIBC, Labatt, Honeywell, and the Government of Canada.
Operations Team
Lisa Tomassetti
Lisa is responsible for managing the finance and office administration team as well as analyzing the profitability of the business, managing operations, leading pricing strategy, and managing the client contracting process.
Lisa started with HORN in 1994 as an Executive Assistant to Art Horn. She continues in this role, and throughout her years of service, has worked in various capacities at HORN. Lisa has touched every part of the business and has an extensive knowledge of the inner workings of HORN.
Lisa holds a Bachelor of Science from the University of Toronto, and started her career working with the Government, with both the Ministry of Environment and the Ministry of Government Services.
Tanya Lambert
Tanya is a member of the Creative and Instructional Design team, working in the function of Project Services.
She brings to HORN over 15 years of experience in various industries including Leadership, New Media and Sports. Her strong project management background affords her the ability to take on and manage multiple projects with varying priorities and complexities, and strict deadlines. Her passion for details, strong organizational skills, commitment to quality and interest in continuously learning make her an integral part of the team at HORN.
Tanya holds a Bachelor of Commerce degree from Ryerson University.
Nina Eksir
Nina is a dedicated member of the Project Services team. She plays a key role in managing deliverables and day-to-day project details to ensure the highest caliber in the quality of our services.
She brings nearly a decade of experience from the events industry, specifically in large-scale trade shows, consumer events and conferences. Nina delivers intricate knowledge in project management skills and has a deep client-focused nature.
Nina holds a Bachelor of Arts in Fine Art History from the University of Toronto and a Post-Certificate in Adult Education from the University of Cambridge. With her personable and empathic nature, Nina always puts others in the forefront.
Kelly Howarth
Kelly is a member of the Creative and Instructional Design team, working in the function of Project Services.
She brings to HORN over 15 years of experience in various industries including Training, Consulting, IT, Hotels/Resorts, and Hospitality. Her strong project management background affords her the ability to take on and manage multiple projects with varying priorities and complexities, and strict deadlines. Her strong organizational and analytical skills, passion for detail, commitment to quality and interest in continuously learning make her an integral part of the team at HORN.
Kelly holds a Bachelors of Tourism Management from Thompson Rivers University and further completed a Certificate in Project Management (Humber).
Barry Kirkey
Barry is an accomplished, thorough and detail-oriented problem solver and is committed to over-delivering on client expectations – both internally and externally.
He is proficient in Advanced Excel, SharePoint and QuickBooks, and with a wide variety of software applications including Teamwork. Prior to joining HORN Barry worked with Scotiabank and RBC Insurance. Barry received a diploma in Journalism from Durham College. He won the Southern Ontario Newspaper Guild Award in 1998 and was the President’s Honour Roll Journalism Graduate in 1999.