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Karen Switzer-Howse is
Founder and Principal of
Quest’ar Pathways,
a Canadian company offering executive and personal effectiveness
consulting, coaching, and facilitation in leadership development, communication effectiveness,
workplace relationships, dealing with change, stress management and
work/life balance.
Karen specializes in
assisting people to thrive by
creating the “vital connections” necessary for getting ‘unstuck’ and
creating more meaningful success in their personal and professional
lives. Karen uses the insight she has gained in the private,
public and not for profit sectors to assist leaders to
re-vitalize their workplaces and re-energize their people by
re-igniting their passion for their work. Working with Karen, you'll
discover how to integrate your knowing with your doing
so that you can be the leader you want to be, and
develop successful, productive, collaborative working relationships
with others. And not least of all - you'll re-discover how to have
fun doing it!
Originally an environmental biologist, Karen's communication and
interpersonal skills helped her evolve through many multi-faceted
career opportunities, working in England, Canada and the U.S.. Her
career encompasses work in the private, public and not-for-profit
sectors, including research, adult education, public advocacy,
policy development, facilitation, fundraising, organizational and
Board development, public relations, seminar and workshop
development and presentation, as well as business and alliance
development and marketing. Karen uses the knowledge gained from
working with a wide variety of professional and technical people to
help professional people like yourself increase your thrivability
As
Executive Director of a national not-for-profit, she worked with
senior executives and government leaders and understands how both
business and government operates. She has extensive experience
working with industry and governments in developing working
alliances and collaborations. A key initiative resulted in increased
corporate participation as well as increasing sponsorship and
membership by 30% in one year.
As a “Business Development Specialist” in the
Federal government she was instrumental in the development of
research collaborations between government labs, private industry
and others, including one project worth more than $3 million over 2
years.
Since 1998 she has operated her own business and coached business
owners and sector leaders on how to improve their bottom line by
creating great work environments. She has successfully coached
senior professionals in transition to leadership roles and
professionals and business owners creating highly productive
workplaces. One rapidly growing business redesigned itself from the
ground up with Karen’s help and implemented a participatory
management style which has resulted in additional hires and a 48%
increase in business, with much improved employee morale.
Ms.
Switzer-Howse is an Alumnus of the University of Guelph, Coaching
and Leadership International Inc., The Coaching Clinic™ and B\Coach
Systems L.L.C.. She is a member of LeadU, CoachVille and the International
Coach Federation, and certified as a national seminar leader
specializing in stress and conflict management, interpersonal skills
and communication. She is a past Board Member of the Ottawa Chapters of
both the Canadian Association of Professional Speakers and the International Society for Performance Improvement.
A
believer in life-long learning, she recently graduated from the
B\Coach Performance Leadership Program after having completed both
the core B\Coach Coach2 Program and the B\Coach Master Business Coach Program.
She is working towards
certification as a Business Coach as well as a Performance
Leadership Coach. She is currently enrolled
in ongoing developmental programs at Leadership University (LeadU) and is Director of the
Mentorship Program for B\Coach Systems L.L.C..
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