July 10, 2016

The LCA Team

LCA operates with a small full-time staff and engages a select group of Associate Consultants on a project basis.  LCA Associates are members of the firm’s trusted team because of their unique consulting or technical experience, skills, and abilities to work with clients and translate complex issues or challenges into on target solutions.

The process support for many of LCA’s engagements requires far more skill than meeting facilitation alone.  A facilitator’s role includes the management of the agenda, time and member participation. LCA Consultants utilize facilitation as one tool among many to achieve the desired process outputs.

Typically, the LCA team of professional organization and management consultants:

  • Challenge the group’s thinking.
  • Offer best practices.
  • Make connections that the client or participants may not see.
  • Synthesize, analyze, and sort information “real-time”.
  • Observe, facilitate and if necessary, address group dynamics.
  • Coach on leadership techniques and interpersonal effectiveness.
  • Provide candid observations, feedback, and recommendations to leadership offline.
  • Recommend content solutions and not just process suggestions.
  • Produce draft materials at various intervals for client consideration and further development.

LCA’s vision is to earn client’s long-term trust with meaningful relationships and value-added services.

The firm recognizes that while challenges may be similar, each client is unique and deserves a tailored consulting approach to achieve their desired results.

 

Full-Time Staff

Lynne Carbone

Screenshot 2016-07-10 16.33.49Lynne Carbone is President and owner of Lynne Carbone & Associates, Inc. an Organization and Management Consulting firm located in Bethesda, Maryland. The firm was established in 1989 and serves a diversity of clients in the public, private and not for profit sectors.  LCA, Inc. is best known for its work in strategic and annual planning, customized conference design and facilitation, organizational diagnosis and change, team development and executive coaching.  The firm has extensive experience supporting leaders of federal agencies and has a reputation for delivering high quality organizational and management services before, during and after a client event.

Prior to establishing the consulting company, Lynne Carbone worked in the federal government for three different agencies “on the inside” as a management analyst performing an array of organization and management consulting services.  Ms. Carbone was recruited to the federal sector directly from American University’s MPA program into the highly competitive Presidential Management Intern Program.  From there she enjoyed 10 years of rewarding federal service.  Prior to federal service, while attending graduate school, Ms. Carbone taught middle school Spanish in Montgomery County, Maryland.  She has a BA in Spanish and Secondary Education from American University and is also bilingual. As a commitment to her alma mater, Lynne serves as a guest lecturer in American University’s Kogod School of Business for graduates and undergraduates.

Lynne Carbone is passionate about people and the roles they play in organizations.  She is known for her energetic presence in any room.  Her enthusiasm and experience provide an atmosphere for turning problems and challenges into opportunities. Drawing from more than 30 years of experience, she has developed a unique approach in helping organizations and individual clients work with their members, clients, and partners to address current and emerging strategic challenges successfully. The firm’s consulting and group facilitation methods are based on a highly collaborative and structured model which promotes meaningful engagement and leads to consensus-based decisions and tangible “on the ground” actions.

The LCA track record of high performance and success are directly linked to the owner’s commitment to exceed each client’s expectations and deliver tangible and value-added service and support throughout engagements.  Most recently, Ms. Carbone was recognized and made an Honorary Commander for the 78th Air Refueling Squadron, US Air Force for the work she did in strategic planning and team development.  She was also inducted in 2014-2015 by the National Association of Professional Women into the VIP Woman of the Year Circle

 

David Bidwell

David Bidwell joined LCA in May 2013 as a Strategy and Management Consultant. He has earned an MBA from Americanbidwell_headshot University, as well certifications in a number of other areas, including facilitation, Myers-Briggs Type Indicator administration, and I-Nexus strategy execution software.

While at LCA, David has been Lynne Carbone’s principle partner in designing and delivering strategic planning, organizational change, and team development engagements to a variety of federal agencies, trade associations, professional societies, and private sector companies. David performs the majority of the firm’s data collection and analysis (including employee and stakeholder input) which culminates in reports designed to aid in the strategic planning process and ultimate decision making. He is also the author of LCA’s quarterly “Emerging Trends” document which provides a scan of global, national, and industry specific trends which may impact clients in the long term.

Prior to joining LCA, David was an entrepreneur and small business owner, as Co-Founder and CFO of ReefCam, LLC. The company broadcast and sold live HD video streams from coral reefs around the world directly to users via mobile apps, television, and the web. ReefCam also licensed its feeds to a number of high profile customers including National Geographic, Animal Planet, and Oceana. David sold his stake in the company after connecting with LCA where he was drawn to strategic planning and the prospect of facing new challenges across diverse industries.

 

Rebecca Christoff

christoff_headshotThe latest addition to the LCA full-time team is Rebecca Christoff who joined the firm in August 2015 as a Program and Administrative Associate. Rebecca earned a B.S. in Biology from George Mason University and came to LCA highly recommended by close friend, Dr. Joseph Geraci.  Ms. Christoff performed research, data analysis, and document editing for Dr. Geraci.  Her work at LCA focuses on program design, customized program materials development, data analysis, and on-site computer support and office management.

 

Associate Consultants

Laurie Allen

allen_headshotLaurie has over 20 years of experience in the federal government as a biologist, manager and Senior Executive for large, complex natural resource organizations.  Innovative budgeting, communications and strategy, underpinned with sound science, data and information, have been the cornerstone of her success in building, sustaining and marketing programs that are nimble, effective, and performance oriented.  She led organizational change in many areas of NOAA and USGS from regional and local programs to national and international in scope. She was recruited to LCA as an Associate in September 2014 expressly to bring the federal executive’s “real-life” experiences to the firm’s consulting practice.

Her leadership and management of programs and organizations includes varied experience in strategic planning and organizational change. She was the first to develop and gain support for an organizational change that brought together fishery regulatory decision makers, biologists and scientists early in the policy process so that all concerns could be considered before final decisions were made, minimizing last minute surprises that had plagued stakeholders. Simple concept; big impact.

Later, as Office Director of a national program, Office of Protected Resources (OPR), she was the Senior Executive responsible for programming, planning, growth and execution of both the science and management components of the $150 million OPR budget.  OPR has both domestic and international responsibilities.  Her approach for the OPR component of a NOAA wide strategic plan became the model for other Offices because it was built on a clear set of requirements and linked to performance. Her science training provides a unique foundation for applying analytical tools and solutions to organizational challenges. Her underlying approach is to develop a strategy and vision, conduct thorough analyses, build support and motivate a competent team to get the job done.

Success in program development goes beyond the need to adopt multiple strategies with partnerships in complex environments. It requires effective communications laterally and horizontally.  As USGS Senior Science Advisor for Program Development, she was responsible for growing research programs in a cooperative research program with science investments nationwide. The diverse underfunded research portfolio demanded she strategize ways to leverage appropriated funding, reimbursable sources, public and private, and coordinate wildlife research planning and budgeting across multiple Agency organizational levels and develop innovative budget initiatives with nontraditional partners to seize new opportunities.

Laurie’s facilitation skills have been honed on controversial natural resource conflicts as well as through formal facilitation training.  She has often been called on to mediate particularly difficult, politically charged issues where Agency science and management were at odds.  Her leadership resulted in the Department of Commerce Bronze Medal for exemplary efforts to conserve harbor porpoise.

Her most recent work made the USGS the leader in wildlife and alternative energy solutions.  Responding to a growing demand for alternative energy, she developed a new visible, credible research program forging collaborations among, non- governmental organizations, scientists, industry and capabilities at multiple science centers that would not have emerged organically.  This resulted in unprecedented funding opportunities.  She accomplished this by understanding how to use requirements processes to build a case that identifies and clearly links needs with the delivery of products and services. Her experience has been with a proven track record of “hands on” leadership success in strategy development, analysis, facilitation, communication and implementation which are foundational to successful organizational change.

 

Mary E. Gross, Psy.D., M.B.A., M.A.

gross_headshot

Dr. Gross has more than 20 years of experience in the financial services industry, working in the areas of human resources and finance.  Her experience includes consulting to business leaders on strategy, team effectiveness, and individual development needs; facilitating organizational effectiveness interventions; and designing and delivering leadership development programs based on adult learning principles.  She has also lead major change initiatives for integrating resources as a result of mergers and acquisitions, creating succession management processes, and implementing new performance management and development systems.

Dr. Gross has spent more than 20 years in the financial services industry, working as a human resource and business professional.

Eleanor Lyons, M.Ed.

lyons_headshotEleanor Lyons is a training and Organization effectiveness professional with over 15 years experience in leadership development, team effectiveness, change management and facilitation.  She has provided coaching, consulting and design services to numerous clients.  In her coaching assignments, Ms. Lyons has worked with all levels of management, helping them to create development plans, improve performance, resolve conflict, and receive feedback.  She uses 360° assessments, Start, Stop and Continue, Personality/Communication Styles, and New Leader Integration processes to accelerate leader development.  Ms. Lyons is known for her consultative approach and intense focus on achieving specific outcomes for her clients.  She has a passion for facilitating interventions that drive positive behavior change in leaders and their organizations.

 

Philip Heller, Ph.D., M.S.

heller_headshotDr. Philip Heller has 30 years of experience in managing change and developing leaders in government, community agencies, education and medical centers.  He has led change projects involving strategic planning, restructuring positions and improving performance processes. He has coached managers and teams to respond effectively to sensitive conflicts, role coordination and critical performance issues at the individual, team and inter-agency level.  Dr. Heller assists senior leaders to reach decisions on high-profile expenditures and agency policies.

 

Sara Raley, Ph.D

raley_headshotSara Raley earned her PhD in Sociology from the University of Maryland with an emphasis on demography and gender, work, and family. Sara is an Associate Professor of Sociology at McDaniel College in Maryland, and has been published in the American Journal of SociologyAnnual Review of Sociology, and the Journal of Marriage and Family, as well as more than dozen other journals and books for her demographic research and work on social inequalities. She brings a unique quantitative expertise to the LCA team, and has led a number of Diversity Training sessions and workshops for NOAA.

Michael S. Bykowski

bykowski_headshotMr. Bykowski has more than 18 years of experience providing documentation, logistical, and meeting/event support to a wide variety of clients both within and outside the government, and more than 10 years as a Project Manager.  He has served as CSI’s Project Manager for tasks in support of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), U.S. Air Force (USAF), U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), National Institutes of Health (NIH), U.S. Public Health Service (USPHS), Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONCHIT), North American Association of Central Cancer Registries (NAACCR), American College of Surgeons (ACoS), and others.  In this capacity, he has planned tasks; prepared workplans; developed/tracked/ monitored budgets; managed and evaluated teams of staff, subcontractors, consultants; filed progress reports, etc.  As President of Consolidated Solutions and Innovations (CSI), Mr. Bykowski can provide the technical, logistical, and managerial support as well as commit the degree of the company’s resources necessary to partner with Lynne Carbone & Associates and provide high-quality support to the International Trade Administration.