Meet Our Team

Our talented team of professionals . . .

About Laura Belsten

Dr. Laura Belsten is the founder and president of CEO Partnership, Denver's premier executive coaching and leadership development firm. Laura enjoys a reputation among executive coaches nationally for her confidentiality, integrity, keen insights, client satisfaction, and leading-edge coaching expertise.

Laura works with intelligent, high-achieving, over-worked executives, managers and leaders to navigate the whitewater conditions and rocky shoals of life in the world of business today. With her background in communication, management and leadership, Laura helps executives with their influencing and negotiating skills, conflict management, team-building, political and organizational savvy, emotional and social intelligence, decision-making and problem-solving skills, as well as their strategic, critical and visionary thinking - all aspects of what makes up today's successful executive.

She helps her clients translate their vision into action, build exceptional teams and high-performing organizations, lead change and manage transitions, improve employee competence and commitment, build a healthy, respectful and fulfilling workplace, improve executives' abilities to coach and develop emerging leaders as well as work with difficult individuals (supervisors, peers and direct reports), and implement lasting improvements in their own performance and business results.

With 25 years in management and leadership positions, including senior line and staff management positions in small, medium and large organizations, Laura is a gifted executive coach and consultant who understands first-hand the challenges her clients face. In addition to relevant, in-the-trenches executive experience, Laura's educational background rounds out her unique expertise in coaching. She holds a Ph.D. from the University of Denver in leadership, communication, teams, emotional intelligence and conflict management. Her Master's and Bachelor's degrees are from the University of Colorado.

In addition, Laura has completed specialized executive and organizational coaching training through three national coaching institutions, and holds the highest coaching credential awarded by the International Coach Federation, the Master Certified Coach (MCC). She is also a professionally trained mediator.

She is qualified and/or certified to use a wide variety of business assessment and psychological instruments in her coaching practice, including Myers Briggs, DiSC, various 360 tools, FIRO-B, emotional intelligence tools (the ECI, the EQ-i and the EQ Map), the Watson Glaser Critical Thinking instrument, the Conflict Lens, and many more.

On the faculty at the University of Denver since 1990, Laura's popular courses in leadership, communication, coaching, emotional intelligence and conflict management have sold out for over 17 years.

She is Immediate Past President of the Denver Coach Federation, and a member of the International Coach Federation. She is the author of the best-selling Coaching Emotional Intelligence and has developed one of the nation's leading emotional intelligence tests, the Emotional Intelligence Profile.

Laura and her husband reside in Denver, Colorado. She has two grown sons.

Amy E. Kelsall, Ph.D.

Executive Coach & Counselor

Dr. Kelsall specializes in communication effectiveness, conflict management and valuing differences as they related to strategic personal and professional growth, health, change and balance.  She is effective in providing safe, creative and open, yet challenging environments for individual and organizational assessment and change. 

Amy’s background includes experience in marketing, sales and business initiatives for hospital community relations, physician education, worker’s compensation programs, and clients with special needs.  She has group facilitation and individual coaching experience within business organizations and market segments, including aerospace, technology, manufacturing and law.  Amy is certified in medication practice and is trained in the use of the Personal Profile System and is a certified trainer of the Enneagram.

Amy’s doctorate is in Human Communication from the University of Denver.  She has also completed a two-year post-graduate program in counseling (with a systems and solution focus).

Gene Drumm

Organizational Consultant and Advisor

For over 20 years, Gene Drumm  has helped clients throughout the world, and across industries, to successfully implement their priority business plans, so that sustainable results are achieved. He has accomplished this by creating alignment of the organization’s culture and infrastructure with its strategy.

Gene has held a variety of leadership positions, including Senior Director of Organization Change Management with Fujitsu America; Organizational Development Director with Microsoft; and Senior Partner of Vector Group Inc. and co-founder and Director of Vector Europe Business Consultants.

He has been involved in a number of large-scale change projects including M&A integration, total quality management, concurrent product development, and reengineering efforts, as well as leadership and culture change initiatives. He headed up a significant portion of the data collection and interpretation effort and report preparation  for the cultural due diligence aspect of the HP/Compaq combination – arguably the most successful integrations of that size in the industry. In addition, Gene is a skilled coach and mentor.

Gene is often an invited speaker on such topics as leadership, performance management, and organizational change at national and international events as well as local and regional conferences. He has twice received the President's Award from the International Society for Performance Improvement, in recognition of his contributions to the field.

Bill Grout

Executive, Business & Life Coach

Bill Grout is a business and life coach, whose specialty is to help clients gain confidence, get more satisfying results and find joy in both their personal and professional lives.   He works with already successful people—company managers and directors as well as entrepreneurs. His clients report lower stress, more satisfying careers, better relationships at work and at home, and higher levels of self-acceptance.

For Bill, coaching is his passion and his calling. He became a coach when he suddenly realized many years ago that he was living in a self-imposed box of old, comfortable habits. He began a process of self-discovery and transformation through risk-taking, consciously doing things that he would previously have avoided like public speaking, taking up improv comedy, changing jobs, speaking up for himself, and embracing conflict instead of avoiding it.  He became a certified coach, joined the International Coach Federation, and launched his coaching career career in 2002. Since then his clients have included Microsoft, Gambro BCT, Experian, Leonard Rice Engineers, Action Interest Media, and the City of Lakewood, among others.

Prior to becoming a coach, Bill had a 25-year career as a senior executive in the publishing industry, working for Ziff-Davis, Times Mirror Magazines and Time Warner. He was editor-in-chief of SKIING Magazine and editor-in-chief of Mountain Sports Press, a book publishing unit of Time Warner that he founded. He has over two decades of experience in corporate management, years of personal-development training, and a commitment to a life that includes loving relationships, career success and vigorous health.

Brenda J. Wagenknecht-Ivey, Ph.D.

Organizational Consultant

Dr. Wagenknecht-Ivey has special expertise in organizational development and behavior, organizational change and improvement, and high performance teams.  Her work focuses on helping organizations, leaders, and teams of all types achieve their visions and goals, seize new opportunities, and create and implement practical and effective responses to widespread change and ongoing challenges.

Over the past 20 years, Brenda has developed keen diagnostic, assessment, intervention, and delivery skills, and has acquired a national reputation as a skilled change agent, strategic planner, facilitator, and researcher. She uses a variety of tools including 360-degree feedback assessments, organizational climate surveys, customer satisfaction surveys, and other team building resources in her work. 

Dr. Wagenknecht-Ivey consults with a variety of private, public, and non-profit organizations such as the Michigan Pharmacists Association, U.S. Sprint, Samsonite, the Massachusetts Department of Public Health and the California Judicial Council.

Dr. Wagenknecht-Ivey holds a Ph.D. in Organizational/Human Communications from the University of Denver, a Master’s Degree from Michigan State University, and a Bachelor’s Degree from Western Michigan University.  She has published numerous articles and guidebooks on strategic planning, executive leadership, managing change, and continuous quality improvement.

Sandy Blaha

Organizational Consultant & Coach

Sandy Blaha is an exit planning expert specializing in leadership succession. She has provided transition consulting, leadership and organizational development consulting, implementation support and executive coaching to executives nationwide since 1994.

Sandy has led hundreds of companies through the process of leadership development and succession, guiding the transition of power, authority and responsibility by coaching owners and top talent within the firms. Her work includes talent management, executive development, organizational effectiveness, transition planning, and leadership and team effectiveness.

Her work has helped executives successfully leverage their roles to their highest and best uses, create effective management teams, and develop exit strategies, plan for retirement, and insure their companies’ legacies.

Sandy holds a Bachelor of Science degree in education from Ohio University, and a Master of Arts degree in communication and leadership from the University of Northern Colorado. She is the author of Passing the Torch: A Toolkit for Leadership Development and Transition, Stepping Stones: 5 Essential Steps for Transition Success Toolkit, and Exit Planning: The Leadership Succession Challenge.  Both publications include how-to information that quickly advances management team effectiveness and individual and company performance.

Virg Setzer

Executive Coach & Organizational Consultant

Virg has 35 years of business experience across multiple industries – Manufacturing, Supply Chain, Business Process Outsourcing, Services, Health Care, and Energy.

He has a comprehensive background in Executive Coaching, Organizational Development, Operations, and Human Resources, and has held senior leadership roles with Ariba, Inc., a Global Spend Management business, Alliente, Inc., a Global Procurement Outsourcing company, Johns Manville Corporation, a Global Building Materials manufacturing business, and Russell Stover Candies, Inc., a confectionary manufacturer.

He has experience across North America, Europe, and China.  He is experienced at Corporate, Group, Division, and Plant levels.

Virg has multiple strengths, with a strong focus on Performance Improvement, Organizational Effectiveness, and Customer Satisfaction.

Carol A. Nadlonek

Organizational Consultant

Carol Nadlonek is an organizational consultant with over 20 years of experience in management development, leadership programs, coaching, performance management, teambuilding, cultural change and communication. Her corporate experience is primarily with high tech and telecommunications businesses. Her extensive background in experiential learning, cultural change, organizational development and adult learning has resulted in creative and productive learning solutions and interventions.

In addition to her consulting background, Carol brings an additional 15 years corporate management experience in sales, human resources, training and development and call center management. She possesses an in-depth understanding of culture, challenges and business issues.

Carols masters degree is from the University of Denver in Organizational Leadership, with additional education and training from a variety of other sources. She is certified as a Gallup Strengths Performance Coach and also in tools such as Insights, MBTI, Drexler-Sibbet Team Performance Model, Emotional Intelligence Quotient, Lominger Career Architect and Inscapes DiSC.

Carols style in working with individuals and organizations is energetic, innovative, solution-oriented and customer focused. She has built a reputation for achieving results and building relationships upon trust, integrity and respect.

Bob Slade

Robert’s professional experience spans 25 years in the fields of psychology, human resources management, organizational development and corporate coaching. He is an organization development consultant, with specific expertise in executive coaching, emotional intelligence in the workplace, leadership development, and managing difficult business conversations. His work includes designing team interventions, managing organizational change initiatives, and conducting management training programs.  

Robert has held executive-level positions at Hewlett Packard Company, Poudre Valley Health System, and New Belgium Brewing Company, all in Fort Collins, Colo., and has held management and professional level positions in city government and small start-up organizations. He co-owned and managed the largest privately owned employee assistance program in Colorado.

Currently, Robert is an adjunct staff member with Mountain States Employers Council in Denver, where he teaches Interpersonal Mastery as part of a year-long executive leadership program. He also serves as a faculty member for the University of Colorado’s graduate school of business and the University of Washington’s Pacific Coast Banking School, and an instructor and executive coach with the federal government’s Western Management Development Center in Aurora, Colorado. 

Robert holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Colorado State University and a Master of Clinical Social Work degree from the University of Denver.