Todd McDonald, PHR

Todd McDonald has been in the human resource and training industry for over 20 years. He served as Executive Vice President for American Media Inc., where he worked for 10 years. In his tenure with AMI, he worked in multiple capacities including management of the product development, human resource, training, marketing, and sales areas.

In 1999, Todd left AMI and founded ATW Training & Consulting.

Thought of as being results-oriented, some of McDonald’s other accomplishments include:

• Developing and delivering training programs and speeches to audiences on a national and international basis.
• Creating over 500 off-the-shelf training products including audio, video, print-based and computer-based training programs dealing with subjects such as management, leadership, communications skills, legal issues, customer service and more.
• Authoring two books: one on communication between managers and their employees, I Wish You Would Just… and the other on time management, How to Find 100 Extra Minutes a Day.

McDonald speaks for organizations and groups on topics such as coaching, customer service, change management, time utilization, and leadership.

Max Gage

(Marchelle) Max Gage is a training and development professional in Des Moines, IA, who has been involved in the field for more than 18 years. She started her career at Meredith Corporation, then moved to several other local organizations before starting her own consulting business in 1997.

Gage completed her Master’s degree in Training and Development at Drake University in 1997. She went on to serve as an adjunct instructor in the program for several years.  She has been active in the local chapter of ASTD, where she served on various committees as well as on the Board.  She maintains her membership in the national ASTD.

The majority of Gage's experience has been in the classroom helping others with skill development in leadership, customer service, sales, presentation skills and other related areas. Her focus the last 5 years has been around leadership skills, in particular: coaching and feedback, conflict resolution, goal setting, setting expectations, performance management, dealing with different behavioral styles, generations in the workplace, Situational Leadership II, and team building.  She has worked with local companies as well as businesses around the country. Gage values "customers for life" and strives to meet the needs of each customer through various services.

Trayla Carter

Trayla Carter is a training and development professional who has been involved in the Human Resource and Training field for the past five years. She worked for for several central Iowa organizations helping to unleash the human potential of their companies and individuals. Organizations where she has worked include Principal Financial Group, Wells Fargo and John Deere Credit.

Trayla completed her Bachelor’s degree from the University of Northern Iowa in 2001. Her training experience includes classroom training for a wide variety of participants ranging from non exempt employees to high level executives. She has facilitated training sessions on numerous topics including conflict resolution, values training, change management, and influencing. Her enthusiasm and energy create a classroom that enables learning.

At ATW, Trayla’s focus is on helping staff members and new managers become the best they can be. Her business experience combined with her Human Resources knowledge and training ability make her a strong training presence.

Cathy Belmont

Cathy Belmont's career as an organizational development professional spans 15 years. She is skilled in facilitation, course and program development, blended learning, and talent management practices and programs.

Cathy has a BA from the University of Northern Iowa and a Master's degree in Training and Development from Drake University. She has been active in ASTD and is a past president of the Central Iowa chapter.

Cathy works to create growing, partnering relationships. She has successfully coached and mentored individuals, designed management and leadership development programs supporting company goals, created skill-based career paths for staff, and managed corporate performance management programs. She is dedicated to making a difference while contributing to enterprise-wide strategic and operational impact. 

Judy Palko

Throughout her rewarding career, Judy Palko has focused her positive energy on helping people and organizations enhance their performance to achieve their goals.  With 20 years experience in training and development, human resources, and management, she works to provide people with the framework and tools to make the most of their skills and talents.

Judy’s training programs are grounded in the day-to-day reality of managing teams and projects.  She has covered topics such as leadership development, hiring and orientation processes, performance management, coaching, team building, conflict resolution, time management, and effective communication.  She has also managed corporate programs to further organizational change, develop leaders at every level, and promote employee engagement and accountability.

Judy has both a Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in English from the University of Illinois, and has taught business and technical writing at Iowa State University.  She is a member of the Society of Human Resources Management (SHRM), Central Iowa SHRM, and ASTD.  She has also been active in Central Iowa ASTD and served as chapter president.

Judy believes in the power of possibility to inspire others to reach for better solutions.  Collaborating easily with professionals at any level, from subject matter experts to senior executives, Judy explores creative options, thus encouraging diverse ideas and promoting openness, innovation, and high performance in the workplace—all with the goal of delivering high-quality business results. 

Jenny Lashier

Jenny Lashier is a corporate trainer specializing in business writing training for ATW Training & Consulting. For the past 11 years, Lashier has worked in the training and development field creating and delivering numerous training programs. She writes and presents training programs for public and corporate environments. While her passion is training P.O.W.E.R. Business Writing skills, she also enjoys teaching time management, team building, and meeting effectiveness.

Lashier learned the importance of education and contributing to her community from her parents, two public school teachers. She earned a Bachelor’s of Science degree in Public Relations from Kansas State University.

In addition, she possesses a Master’s degree in Higher Education from Iowa State University; her thesis work focused on students’ transition from college to work. She created a training program called ‘From Backpack to Briefcase’ to assist students in their transition from college students to members of the workforce. Thesis research inspired Lashier to author College Memories 101, a memory journal. She has since authored two more memory journals.

Cassandra R. Halls

Cassandra Halls brings a diverse management background to the ATW Training and Consulting Team.  Halls has spent many years in public administration in Iowa. As City Manager for two cities and as CFO for third Halls was responsible for managing significant budgets, resolving employee issues and overcoming controversy among many other items.

Halls left public employment for the experience of working with a private corporation.  As Vice President of Strategic Accounts for ISGN, a global technology company providing services to the mortgage lending industry, Halls worked with mergers and acquisitions, human resources, client relationships and customer service.

Halls founded 2 THE TOP – Career Advancement Strategies to provide career development services on both an individual and corporate level.  For the individual, Halls has programs available on both a one-on-one basis as well as public sessions to assist with issues that arise related to making a career transition.  For corporations, Halls facilitates training focused on today’s workplace issues such as retention, succession planning, recruiting and development of employee skills.

Halls earned her Bachelor of Arts Degree from William Penn University in Oskaloosa, Iowa, with a major in Public Administration.

Michael Davis

Mike Davis is a training and development professional who has been involved in the training field for the past six years. For eight years he worked for Wells Fargo & Company as an Account Analyst, Assistant Manager, Training and Development Specialist, Learning and Development Consultant, and Learning and Development Manager.

His training and leadership experience started in the US Marines in 1994. There he lead an Assault Amphibian Vehicle (AAV) Section in the 2nd Marine Division at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina. Upon being honorably discharged from the Marines in 1998, he attended the University of Iowa. During his studies in History, he joined the Iowa National Guard. Mike served as a Military Police Team leader for six years including a one-year deployment to Iraq.

Mike's training and development experience includes classroom training, interactive multimedia instruction and design, training needs analysis, training implementation, business line consulting and training evaluation.

Mike is dedicated to showing a measurable impact to success through training. He also enjoys sharing his experiences and listening to others' leadership and management experiences while facilitating training.

Jim Belmont

Jim Belmont is a career business and finance professional with significant experience in industries including financial services, manufacturing, transportation, and energy. He has hands-on understanding and demonstrated success in areas such as process improvement, cost management, business consolidation and integration, staff development, and merger and acquisitions.

Jim has a BSBA in Management and an MBA in Finance from the University of Nebraska. He has developed and lead staff development programs in business analysis, understanding accounting and finance, cost management, process improvement, decision-making, and business simulation, among others.

Jim is dedicated to assisting staff to enhance their business and financial knowledge and to reach higher levels of business acumen. Enabling solid decision-making and improving the contribution of each staff member is a continuing objective, as every employee contributes to the achievement of the company’s objectives and success.

Mark Purcell

Mark is ATW's friendly voice on the phone.  He takes reservations for public sessions and can help match ATW's experienced staff with your company's particular training needs.  Call him today!

Pamela Dykstra

Pam Dykstra is an independent trainer and consultant in central Iowa.  Pam began her career in Learning & Development at Wells Fargo Consumer Credit Group. Today, as an independent contractor, she facilitates a variety of leadership and management programs in corporate and non-profit environments.

Pam has been partnering with ATW Training & Consulting since 2005, facilitating a variety of leadership classes, primarily for the Central Iowa Management Development Program (CIMDP).  She and her husband, Scott, live in Urbandale, IA with their three young children: Drew, Lilyan and Avery.  Pam thoroughly enjoys being involved with the youth of her church helping to lead  a program called Leaders on the Horizon, where she helps a group of young people grow into effective leaders.    

Karen F. Howe

Karen Howe is a human resource professional and training consultant with nearly 30 years of experience. She has held the position of Vice President – Human Resource Director for Home Savings Bank in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, which is now First Union/Wachovia. She most recently was responsible for Human Resources for Six Flags The Great Escape and was a Six Flags International recruiter and trainer – traveling Eastern Europe and Asia. Her background in HR has encompassed managing all areas of human resources, employee relations, EEO/Affirmative Action, Training & Development, as well as, having been responsible for employee and director stock option plans, has developed various corporate policies & procedures, compensation analysis, etc.

Karen taught human resource management at Florida International and St. Thomas Universities. She was responsible for curriculum design for FIU’s training and development certification program offered through the school of business. She was the recipient of the National Excellence Award and Most Distinguished Contributions for HRD (presented by the American Society for Training & Development) – She has presented at National conferences and is a member of the Society for Human Resource Management.

Shawn Meighan

Shawn Meighan is a Training and Development Consultant with over 12 years of experience facilitating programs that raise performance in the workplace.

Shawn has partnered with leading organizations such as Wells Fargo, Allstate, Sears, Sprint, Coastal AMI and the National Guard.  His programs have provided training for more than 4000 people in critical areas including Performance Management, Leadership Development, Human Resources, Sales and Service and Coaching. Shawn has worked in the corporate training departments of Norwest Mortgage and The Des Moines Register.

Before transitioning to a training career, Shawn spent 13 years in sales and management roles with Pepsico, Morton International and Dial Corporation.  His experience with these national companies definitely provides opportunities for real world examples in the classroom.

Shawn lives in Ankeny, IA.  He’s been married 23 years, has 2 daughters in college and a 15 year old son.  He holds a masters degree in Adult Education from Drake University.