FRANCIS CHOLLE
Founder & CEO
Francis Cholle is an international business consultant, best-selling author, and engaging speaker. He helps companies rethink business in ways that conventional strategic management cannot. His clients are major, mid-size, emerging firms, including global powerhouses across a wide variety of industries such as beauty, luxury, pharmaceuticals, communications, media, and information technology.
Francis’ unique approach helps companies understand and leverage the power of intuition and instinct, thereby impacting people and culture, which are keys to innovation and success in today’s global economy. His original proven model, the Intuitive Compass®, enables clients to foster the innovations that are critical to long-term success.
In his most recent book, The Intuitive Compass (Wiley Jossey-Bass, 2011) he details his groundbreaking perspective on decision-making and describes how his model has helped clients reach unparalleled levels of achievement in their industries. Among other case studies, the book describes Francis’ work with Ralph Lauren Fragrances on the development and launch of their record-breaking Big Pony Collection for Men, which added hundreds of millions of dollars in sales revenue, and contributed to the revival of the iconic Ralph Lauren brand in the global fragrance industry.
Francis is a graduate of Europe’s leading business school, the HEC School of Management in Paris. He is also accredited by the Creative Problem Solving Institute to offer leadership assessments, and is credentialed to administer the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator.
Francis’ studies beyond the business world have profoundly influenced the development of his consulting practice and his approach to working with CEOs and senior executives. He studied theater at the Lee Strasberg Theater Institute and music and opera at the Robert Abramson Dalcroze Institute and the Juilliard School. He has directed cutting-edge plays and has performed the entire repertoire of Mozart’s baritone roles. After studying with Sivananda Kutir in Uttarkashi, India, he was credentialed to teach hatha yoga. He is also credentialed in clinical psychology through the Tomatis Center in Paris and New York.
Francis first demonstrated his talent for engineering turnarounds at the age of 24 when he took a leadership role at Paris art book publisher Editions Hazan. The operational and cultural strategies he implemented there doubled the company’s size and made it the most profitable French publisher in any category. This experience is what initially inspired Francis to delve deeply into the study of innovation management.
Francis’ clients include Alcatel-Lucent, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Chantelle, Cordis, Johnson & Johnson, Estée Lauder, Firmenich, Hachette, Lagardère Unlimited, L’Oreal, Louis Vuitton, Matrix, Maybelline, McKinsey, Ralph Lauren Fragrances, Richemont, and Siemens.
In recent years Francis has taught a popular course at HEC Paris, called “Intuitive Intelligence and Innovative Leadership”. He is on the faculty of the School of Visual Arts in New York City and has lectured on Intuitive Intelligence at The University of Pennsylvania Wharton School, the Columbia University Graduate School of Business, NYU Stern School of Business, the Fashion Institute of Technology, the ESCP-EAP executive MBA program in Europe, on iTunesU, and at TEDx.
Francis’ first book, L’Intelligence Intuitive, published in France in 2007, was a best seller. Since then, he has regularly written articles in the French business press. In 2008, he contributed to L’Art du Management (“The Art of Management”), a book edited by Bernard Ramanantsoa, director general of HEC Group in Paris.
Born and raised in Paris, Francis has also lived in Germany and Italy and has traveled extensively worldwide. A French-American dual citizen, he divides his time between Los Angeles, New York, and Paris.
NADINE KREISBERGER
Business Development Director
Nadine Kreisberger combines her wide network and large array of experiences in business, international affairs, psychology, and the media to help The Human Company expanded its operations in the United States as well as in Europe and Asia.
Nadine supervises business development through strategic alliances at the highest level, with a focus specifically on Silicon Valley innovators and CEOs.
Born and raised in Paris, Nadine earned a Master’s degree from HEC School of Management, Europe’s premier business school. In parallel, she graduated from the Sorbonne University with a Master’s degree in international relations and history.
In 1998, Nadine moved to New York City, working in publishing and website development before co-founding and launching Andante, a pioneering classical music website, internet portal, and record label. For five years, she oversaw business development and marketing for the innovative company, which became the world’s leading online classical music presence.
During her years in New York City, Nadine became interested in Jungian psychology as well as teachings from a variety of non-Western traditions, which led her to move to Mongolia in 2004.
There, she served as advisor to Mongolia’s leading and most respected female politician, Dr. S. Oyun, who served as Vice Speaker of Parliament, Foreign Affairs Ministers, and is currently Environment Minister. As her right hand, Nadine worked on issues of development, infrastructure, foreign aid, international affairs and constituency management.
In early 2006, Nadine moved to India in order to pursue her exploration of diverse societies and traditions. Based in New Delhi, she developed both a counseling practice (from classical therapy to executive coaching), and a media career. She launched a highly celebrated and widely read weekly interview column in one of India’s leading English dailies, Indian Express. She also anchored hour-long morning programs on Doordarshan, India’s public television channel. Both in print and on TV, she held in-depth conversations with decision makers and trendsetters, from business, politics, civil society and the arts.
After more than six intense and rich years in India, Nadine decided to join The Human Company and is now based in California.
CHERYL HELLER
Senior Consultant
Cheryl Heller is a communication designer, writer and creative business strategist who has helped multi-national corporations, start ups and non-profit organizations grow. She is the founder of Heller Communication Design, founding Chair of the new MFA Program in Design for Social Innovation at the School of Visual Arts in New York and Board Chair of PopTech, a laboratory for disruptive innovation focused on technology and social change.
She has led transformational initiatives with major corporations such as Ford, American Express, Reebok, Mariott International, Cemex, Gap, Bayer Corporation, Seventh Generation, L’Oreal, Hearst and Sappi, non-profits such as WWF, Audubon, IDE, Concern Worldwide and the Girl Scouts of America. She created the Ideas that Matter program for Sappi in 1999, which has since become their marquee program, and has given over $10 million to designers working for the public good. She also advised Paul Polak and the Cooper Hewitt National Design Museum on the exhibit, “Design for the Other 90%.”
Cheryl has been a core faculty member for the PopTech Social Innovation and Science Fellows, mentoring the most exciting social entrepreneurs in the world as they create and scale new models for solving issues around poverty, water, health care, energy and conservation, often through the use of technology.
She is the National Director of Leadership Education for AIGA, the professional association for design, and has written a book for them on the best process for preserving innovation within organizations. She currently writes for NextBillion and the Unreasonable Institute.
Cheryl has been profiled through articles in the New York Times, the Boston Globe, BusinessWeek, Graphis, and Communication Arts, and is the recipient of countless awards from national and international creative competitions. Her work is included in the Library of Congress permanent collection, and has been published in numerous books on design and creativity. Cheryl is also the recipient of a Matrix Award for Women in Communication, and has been nominated twice for the Cooper Hewitt National Design Awards for Communication Design.
Aishani Gupta
Strategy Advisor, Consultant
Aishani works as a Strategy and Innovation Consultant advising startups and corporate clients on go-to-market strategy and product innovation. Aishani has been actively involved with the Human Company working on various strategy projects leading go-to-market research and collaborating on innovation strategy. She also helped launch the SQUIRCLE Academy platform and Know Better World Foundation.
Aishani resonates strongly with the SQUIRCLE framework. She naturally likes to balance her structured and intuitive thinking, and often occupies herself with projects that require an entrepreneurial bent of mind. Her interests lie at the intersection of Business, Innovation and Sustainability.
Aishani understands what goes into building a business and the challenges of scaling operations and culture. She combines her business acumen with solid conceptual thinking and creative imagination to find innovative solutions to various real-world problems.
She’s a prolific Design thinker and has designed and conducted multiple Design thinking workshops for corporates such as Lubrizol, Air Asia, Samsonite, and AB InBev, helping them address innovation and sustainability challenges. She also writes about some of her experiences and learnings in the space of innovation and sustainability on her Medium-blog under her name.
Aishani is a Business and Social Innovation MBA graduate from Babson College. She’s currently pursuing her Doctorate in Business with a focus on strategic leadership in the 21st century.
Aishani has been a Mentor and subject matter expert on mobility and older adults at Babson’s social innovation lab- FutureLab on Mobility. She has worked on projects funded by the Toyota Mobility Foundation, for the Executive Office of Elder Affairs of Massachusetts where her team used Design thinking for root cause analysis of social and physical mobility challenges amongst older adults, and their work now informs the Massachusetts Governor’s policy work on equitable access to technology. She later worked with Newton Wellesley Hospital, where she used the Toyota Way of lean management to propose an improvement plan for the Hospital’s patient discharge process in the Orthopedic department.
She’s also worked with a 40-year-old Boston-based workforce development nonprofit where she worked with the CEO, a former state senator, and assisted in setting up the Business Development department to aid fundraising efforts.
Prior to moving to the US, Aishani was working with one of India’s largest coworking spaces and community led incubators. She worked closely with the leadership to help scale company operations from a bootstrapped, 1 city, 20 employee-startup to India’s largest co-working space with 17 centers across 8 cities, 300+ employees, and a multimillion-dollar valuation. Her work was primarily focused around designing the customer experience, through a human centered approach, managing service operations, and product management. She also conceptualized and launched 91springboard’s Women Entrepreneurs’ League (WE League) that provides support and tools for women entrepreneurs to grow their businesses and is now in partnership with Google for Startups.
Florence Lautrédou
Senior Executive Coach, L&D Expert
Florence Lautrédou is a psychologist and senior executive coach. She possesses extensive coaching and executive assessment experience, resulting from her widely varied background
A graduate of Ecole Normale Supérieure, she holds a degree in modern comparative literature. She has published 5 novels (including a best-seller in France) and 3 management books. As a freelance journalist, she wrote about business and international affairs, with a focus on Russia.
She worked for four years at the European Commission (Brussels, Belgium) as an expert on International and Economic Affairs focusing on health and education development projects (expertise area: Russia and Central Asia).
From 1996 to 2003 she joined two major American executive search companies: Spencer Stuart (as Consultant, then Principal at the Brussels-based European headquarters) and Heydrick & Struggles (as Partner elect, Paris). She worked on complex change management projects such as strategic audits at the Board and Executive Committee level involving the assessment of multi-cultural teams, reorganization, team building, as well as group and individual coaching.
In June 2003, she created FHL Consultants, specializing in individual and collective coaching, orientation coaching and Executive Committee team building in Europe and Russia.
Florence is a psychoanalyst (Conseil Supérieur de la Psychanalyse Active – Paris 2003), a hypnotherapist (Milton Erickson – graduated from Institut d’Hypnose Ericksonienne, Paris 2011) and as a coach (graduated from Institut Français d’Action sur le Stress, Paris 2001). She is MBTI certified (2005). She has been intensively supervised in 2009-2010 at the Anthony Robbins Company (individual and group coaching in the US, Europe and Asia: “Unleash the Power within”, “Date with Destiny”, “Life Mastery”).
Since 2006, she is in charge of the monthly coaching video programs with Les Echos (“le Conseil du Coach” at Les Echos.fr/management/coaching).
Florence Lautrédou works in French, English, Spanish and Russian.
Lisa Schenk
Senior Consultant
Lisa Schenk, Ph.D. has over 20 year’s experience helping leaders, their teams, and their companies thrive. With a mission to make work work, Lisa helps teams build alignment, improve critical interpersonal dynamics, and create and sustain the behaviors that get results. With a Ph.D. in Organizational Communication and five years at McKinsey & Company, Lisa brings to The Human Company her consulting expertise on the foundation of data-driven diagnoses paired with deep understanding of human dynamics and complex systems. She has spent her career helping organizations work for people and firmly believes that by doing business well, we can make the world better.
Lisa has supported clients around the world through strategic planning and major change efforts. Her facilitation skills serve clients well whether she’s helping video game giants re-assess their approach to sales or virtual reality start ups figure out their game plan. With particular expertise in improving interpersonal dynamics and culture, Lisa brings a strong humanistic approach to her work along with a bias toward bottom line impact.
She has worked with hundreds of teams as they ramped up to high performance. Her approach to team building involves kicking off for accelerated performance, evaluating and enhancing team alignment against goals, and building the interpersonal skills that enable teams to succeed. As an executive coach, Lisa has worked with senior leaders across myriad industries to increase their impact on company goals while enjoying greater satisfaction and engagement with their own work. Her workshops and one-on-one coaching sessions are designed to incorporate 360 degree and live feedback as well self assessments and self refection to paint a complete picture of both current and desired states.
Some of Lisa’s clients include: MGM, Disney, NCB Universal, McKinsey & Company, United Airlines, the Gap, VanCleef & Arpels, Princess Cruise Lines, Putnam Investments, Union Bank, DaVita, City of Hope, Amgen, and the University of Southern California.
As a senior executive, Lisa has led the Talent function of a fast-growing professional services firm. In that role, she reimagined and restructured the existing HR team, supported double-digit growth over 4 years, and led a highly successful cultural transformation process designed to set the company up for exponential growth. She brings the understanding of the challenges of senior executives to her role as a coach and consultant. Lisa remains on the leading edge of leadership and organizational communication. She has taught at the Annenberg School and the Marshall School of Business at USC, Northwestern University and the Drucker School of Management. Her articles been published in numerous academic texts including The New Handbook of Organizational Communication and Modern Organizations and Emerging Conundrums. She is currently the President of the Board of Directors for Conscious Capitalism, Los Angeles, an organization committed to the idea that business done well, is also good for society.
Lisa received her Ph.D. in Organizational Communication from USC’s Annenberg School.
Hélène Salaün-Freiszmuth
Executive Coach, Consultant, L&D Expert
Hélène Salaün-Freiszmuth is an executive coach and an expert in Learning and Development. She has worked primarily with international group Corporate Universities.
After working for 10 years at Société Générale in financial markets and asset management activities, Hélène then took on the management of a subsidiary within Société Générale specializing in training. Since then, she has specialized in the field of training and development of individuals. As Program Director at the University of Groupe Caisse d’Epargne, she developed many programs around strategy, management and performance. In 2008, she took over the management of the Mazars Group University, where she created regional campuses, international programs and an e-campus.
Having practiced coaching since the early 2000s, she focuses on Leadership Development with an emphasis on the physical aspects of leadership, energy and stress management.
Hélène received her MBA from the Schulich School of Business at York University in Toronto, Canada. She has trained in techniques of coaching, neuro-linguistic programming, presentation and negotiation.
Laurent Castello
Executive Coach & Senior Business Consultant
Laurent Castello is an executive coach and a senior business consultant, specializing in organizational design, business development, HR performance and behavioral management. He is certified in behavioral analysis, specifically DISC and WPMOT, derivatives of Marston and Spranger theories. He is also used to facilitating management committees and has taught management courses at Paris Dauphine University Executive Education Division.
During 20 years at PSA Peugeot Citroën, he worked mostly as BU Director for a commercial subsidiary, HR Director for financial competencies, Chief of Staff for Citroën Sports activities, HR business partners and internal coach during several years. Through working in these varied positions, he developed his own understanding of best performance practices. Laurent is convinced that the developmental opportunity lies in sharing and producing synergy between skills, behaviors, attitudes and values. He likes to engage his clients from this unifying angle, the ultimate ambition and confidence that allows for more productive results.
Laurent Castello is a graduate of Europe’s leading business school, the HEC School of Management in Paris. Member of the International Coaching Federation, he is a certified coach trained in Individual Coaching at International Mozaik in Paris and in Team Coaching at Faros in Nantes. He is credentialed to use behavioral analysis from TTI Success Insights and Ensize.
Besides executive coaching Laurent also offers team facilitation and customized training programs.
Marc-Antoine Hamet
Senior Executive Coach
Marc-Antoine Hamet is a senior executive coach. Originally from Canada, he is now based in Paris. Since 2002, he has coached more than 400 executives worldwide, mostly in English, on 360° assessment and Individual Leadership Action Plan. In addition, Marc Antoine has used sensitive intelligence tools to deliver management seminars for companies including: Orange, LVMH, Bouygues, Total, GdF SUEZ and Alstom.
Marc-Antoine worked at L’Oréal for seven years. From 1990 to 1992, he was a Product Manager in France on the Kérastase selective haircare brand. Then, he became Development Manager in the International Marketing Headquarters in Paris. From 1994 to 1997, Marc-Antoine was the General Manager of L’Oréal Professionnel in Hong Kong and Macau.
Back in Paris, he became a consultant at Heidrick and Struggles and carried out international executive searches in the consumer and luxury goods, as well as pharmaceutical and hotel sectors. He then became a shareholder and Business Development Manager for six years at Pro Dietic, a French food biotech company.
From 2008 to 2012, he lived in India, based in New Delhi and worked with Korn/Ferry in Leadership and Talent consulting.
Marc-Antoine has an MBA from INSEAD business school, Fontainebleau (1989). He was certified in 2010 in the Effective Coaching Program by the Korn/Ferry Institute and on the Lominger leadership competencies. In 2012, he was certified on the Hogan Assessment.
Marc-Antoine is a Member of the Development Board of the Mehli Mehta Music Foundation, Bombay, India, since 2009. He was part of the organizing committee for the New York Philharmonic concert celebrating the reopening of the Frauenkirche church in Dresden (Germany) in November 2005.
Deborah Burns
Gender Intelligence Specialist, Co-founder of Skirting the Rules
Formerly a media Chief Innovation and Chief Brand Officer, and Founder and President of DJB Ventures, change agent Deborah Burns brings her strategic global marketing, sales, and brand and product development leadership skills to The Human Company as Gender Intelligence Specialist and Co-founder of Skirting the Rules.
Equal parts intrapreneur and entrepreneur, Deborah guides clients across publishing, digital, broadcast, wellness, and cause-related worlds to new revenue growth in transformative times.
Prior to joining The Human Company, Deborah was CIO at Hachette Filipacchi Media U.S., responsible for readying the company internally for the digital future while creating new businesses and business models externally through strategic partnerships. Entrepreneurial and intrapreneurial successes followed as she shifted corporate culture and built new products and brands.
Before her CIO role, Deborah was the Luxury Design Group Chief Brand Officer at ELLE Décor and Metropolitan Home, VP Publisher of ELLEgirl; and VP Global Sales of ELLE international. All her roles had one thing in common—each was an uncertain leap of faith that blossomed into a series of successes, thanks to her intuitive nature.
Deborah has a fascination with the forces at work behind change and events—and how to mold those forces for positive outcomes. Deborah is also on a quest to understand women’s lives and issues through the generations, especially those female change-agents who managed to blaze new trails despite the rules of the day.
Norbert Herman
Advisory Board Member
Norbert Herman is a seasoned business strategist, AI solutions leader, and innovative consultant. He drives business growth by integrating advanced AI technologies with strategic business development, helping companies rethink their approach to data-driven decision-making.
Norbert Herman is a seasoned business strategist and AI solutions leader with an extensive track record in driving business growth through advanced technology integration and strategic innovation. His career spans leadership roles at top global organizations, including Microsoft and IBM, where he has consistently delivered exceptional results by aligning business development strategies with cutting-edge AI and data monetization technologies.
Norbert’s unique approach leverages the power of AI and behavioral economics to optimize business performance and drive meaningful outcomes. His work has been instrumental in transforming organizations by implementing AI-driven solutions that enhance operational efficiencies and unlock new revenue streams. At Microsoft, Norbert led key initiatives that brought AI solutions to the forefront of business strategies, driving significant growth and value creation. His strategic leadership at IBM further solidified his reputation as a leader capable of guiding large teams to consistently exceed ambitious goals and deliver impactful results across diverse markets.
With over two decades of experience in technology and business strategy, Norbert bringsa deep understanding of the intersection between AI, business architecture, and market dynamics. His expertise in data-driven decision-making has empowered organizations to navigate complex challenges and capitalize on emerging opportunities in the digital age. Norbert holds an MBA with a focus on Marketing from Northwest Missouri State and dual Bachelor’s degrees in Computer Science & Engineering and Aviation Science from the College of the Ozarks. He is also a prolific inventor, holding over 30 patents in AI technologies, and has published numerous articles and papers on AI and data privacy. In addition to his professional achievements, Norbert is deeply committed to fostering innovation and collaboration. He has served on various boards and continues to contribute his expertise to organizations focused on advancing AI and digital transformation.
Born in Romania and now based in Denver, Colorado, Norbert is a passionate advocate for the responsible and ethical use of AI in business. He is thrilled to bring his vision and expertise to The Human Company as a Strategy Advisor, where he will help guide the organization in harnessing the transformative potential of AI to drive sustainable growth and innovation.
Marc Gentil
Advisory Board Member
Marc serves as an advisor to The Human Company for development of our activities in the aeronautical industries, where Marc works today as a senior executive. He brings decades of experience in the field.
Born in France, he has developed his expertise all around the world and especially in the Middle East where he spent 4 years in Qatar. He now lives between Paris and Los Angeles where he drove critical restructuration of supplier bases for strategic aerospace projects. All along his career, Marc has always been confronted with major disruption in the aerospace needing drastic changes of behavior guided by his intuitive vision in front of new customers and new business environments.
Anne-Sophie Moore-Jones
Senior Executive Coach
Anne-Sophie Moore-Jones, MBA, is a senior management consultant and executive coach, specializing in business and team development. She helps leaders of today and tomorrow thrive. Her mission is to bring the coaching culture to companies of all sizes by utilizing her passion for people and her intuitive skills, as well as her formal training as an ICF-certified coach.
Her international exposure helps her navigate the challenges of cross-cultural communication. Anne-Sophie has dual French-US citizenship and now lives in Paris after living 15 years in California (San Francisco and Los Angeles). She has worked with companies of various sizes and her interest lies in bringing the startup spirit to smaller groups within large organizations. She has worked in many different industries, such as real estate, design, luxury consumer goods, media & entertainment.
Anne-Sophie started her career as an entrepreneur. She led diverse teams made of sales, creatives, and engineers making sure the goals were achieved through communication and strong leadership. She then was recruited to revamp sales strategies and help solve inter communication issues in mid size companies. As a senior executive, Anne-Sophie was responsible for reorganizing teams and operations from the ground up, introducing coaching culture and flat organization structures in companies of various sizes.