Board of Directors Bios

ACPI New England Board of Directors 2011-2012

President - Rita B. Allen is the President of Rita B. Allen Associates, a provider of career management consulting and coaching services for individuals and organizations representing a variety of industries including high technology, biotechnology, financial services, professional services, medical devices/pharmaceuticals, academia, healthcare and retail/consumer products. With over twenty five years human resources experience, her specialty areas include a variety of talent management offerings including executive coaching, leadership development, management training and career development. Previously, she held roles as Vice President of Marketing and Search Services with Gatti & Associates, and human resources positions with C.R. Bard, Inc., BTU International and Unitrode Corporation. Rita holds an MS in Leadership and a BS in Business Administration from Northeastern University where she is also an adjunct Lecturer. Rita also serves on the Board of Directors of The Boston Club and is an active member of various professional associations, a frequent speaker at local events, and the author of several articles. She was voted one of the top ten executive coaches by Women’s Boston Business Journal, is certified in many assessment tools and is fluent in Armenian.

At-Large - Deborah Burkholder is the founder/CEO of getAppia.com. Appia is an information management system which gives professionals a central hub for their career portfolio, storing and managing information about their work history, achievements, and work samples.  Before founding Appia, Deborah was an HR strategist and business consultant.  She designed recruitment and employee engagement practices for corporations and nonprofit/academic organizations.  A local SHRM Board member and chair of the Workforce Readiness committee, she is also AIRS certified in Internet and Social Sourcing Recruitment. 

Chair, Marketing - Ed Evarts is the practice leader at Evarts Coaching, a leadership development organization focused on coaching mid- to senior-level leaders and their teams in business environments.   With over twenty-five years of innovative leadership and management experience, Ed possesses the ability to build awareness, create action, and deliver results.  He has partnered with key leaders in biotechnology, business-to-business services, financial services, healthcare, and government services.  Ed has held leadership roles at the (former) Federated Department Stores, (former) May Department Stores, and Iron Mountain.  He holds a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from the University of Arkansas and received a Certificate in Applied Project Management from Boston University.  Ed is a certified coach with the International Coach Federation and President-Elect for the New England Chapter of the International Coach Federation.  Ed is also a volunteer student mentor in the Wakefield Adult Mentors (WAM) program and a volunteer coach for the Coaching for Leadership and Teamwork Program (CLTP) at Babson College.

Chair, Programs - Richard (Rick) Koonce is a certified executive coach who has worked with executives and teams in the United States, Asia, India, Europe, Latin America and the Middle East.  His robust approach to executive coaching and team development is based on his extensive experience as an organizational consultant, and as a keen observer of organizational culture and leadership behavior for many years.  As a senior consultant to IBM Business Consulting, PricewaterhouseCoopers, and other consulting firms for over 15 years, Rick developed deep expertise in business transformation, change leadership, team building and organizational communications – topics often at the core of his executive coaching work today.  He has also written extensively on leadership and teambuilding topics, and is author or co-author of five books, including Career Power (Amacom) and Growing Leaders (ASTD, 2000.)  Rick is a graduate of the AT&T National Sales School and holds a Leadership Coaching certificate from Georgetown University’s Center for Professional Development.   He is a Master Coach Supervisor for the Massachusetts School of Professional Psychology.

Secretary - Milton Kornfeld, Ph.D is a former graduate school dean. During 30+ years in higher education he taught at Boston, Northeastern and Brandeis Universities and was a dean at Boston University and at Brandeis University.   As the Associate Dean for Graduate Education at Brandeis University, Milt created programs affecting the academic lives of 800 M.A. and Ph.D. students each year.  He oversaw admissions procedures and academic policies governing students and worked closely with them to successfully apply for Fulbright, DAAD and other fellowships. His career as an administrator was founded on strong mentoring and a consistent commitment to helping students achieve their goals.  He knows what it takes to get into and to complete a graduate program.  Milt is currently a Writing Consultant to graduate students at Harvard University's Divinity School, has presented workshops on graduate school admissions and dissertation completion at Boston University, Framingham State College, Olin College, Simmons College, Wellesley College, the College Art Association, and has helped students from UCal Berkeley, Brown, Brandeis, Columbia and Harvard University to complete their Ph.D. dissertations.  He has also published a book on graduate admissions, Applying to Graduate School: Assessing and Choosing Programs.

Chair, Membership - Sarah Mann has more than 20 years of experience in marketing, operations and human resources. She has worked in high-tech, retail, business services and professional services. Currently, Sarah works for ADP where she is the Director of Human Resources for the Northeast Service Center. In this role Sarah is able to apply her diverse work experiences with her passion for career management to help employees maximize their potential and deliver business outcomes.

Treasurer - Mike Martuza owner of FranNet of New England, is a highly skilled and motivated professional who has over 20 years of consulting, coaching, business management, corporate, and business ownership experience. Prior to starting FranNet of New England, Mike’s career path allowed him to experience businesses from many perspectives.  Early in his career Mike spent more than a decade as an executive for several Fortune 500 and start-up high-technology companies.  In that capacity, he developed extensive experience in identifying and evaluating potential business opportunities and successfully starting new companies. During the NASDAQ crash of 2000, Mike was downsized and, as a result, decided he wanted to be in control of his own professional destiny.  Mike owned the New York State franchising rights to ActionCoach, a multi-national business coaching & training company and launched the franchise in New York where he built a foundation for exceptional growth through the creation of highly successful marketing, franchisee recruitment, and support strategies. Being a part of a franchise system was a key factor in Mike’s accomplishments as a fledgling entrepreneur.  After receiving a generous, unsolicited offer for the ActionCoach business, he sold it and spent the next 3 years founding and running the Internet start-up TestExchange. Deciding that he missed the franchise industry, Mike left TestExchange and joined FranNet as owner of FranNet New England where he guides other aspiring entrepreneurs seeking the same personal and financial success that he enjoys as a franchise owner.

At-Large - Paula Parnagian is president of World View Services, an organizational and educational consulting firm, specializing in Diversity, Conflict, and Strategic Change.  With over 30 years’ experience,  Paula has a passion for creating peaceful and prosperous environment, helping her clients to get over it…… so that they can get on with it!   A former secondary math teacher and international software executive, Paula founded World View Services in 1990.   Since that time, she has provided coaching, facilitation, training, consulting, mediation, and speaking services to a wide spectrum of public and private institutions, corporations, and schools throughout Massachusetts, New England and the world.   Recognized as a thought leader in the fields of conflict, diversity and inclusion, Paula is an expert for the Ask the HR Expert column on Boston.com, an adjunct instructor for Cornell University, president of Citizens for Public Schools, and has been the co-creator and leader of numerous professional and civic boards and initiatives, including Boston CityWide Dialogues.

At-Large - Carole Sacino Founder & CEO of Turning Point Institute, a company providing solutions when the goal is to Engage, Commit and Motivate individuals and teams toward a common purpose (objective) with results from the inside out!   She has spent 20 plus years in the publishing/media industry in multiple sales and senior executive level leadership positions driving business and change.  A strong passion and purpose for mentoring, coaching, discovering and developing the high potentials “athletes” in the industry with a specific focus on cultivating women leaders. Carole is an Author and Speaker on Savvy Leadership Strategies for Women, Creator of the PALM Principles©, a Certified Professional Coach, Master Practitioner in Energy Leadership and Emotional Intelligence and Motivation Factor ® Alliance Partner. Carole Sacino 617-299-1198 www.turningpointinstitute.com