Laurie Barnes

Co-founder

Laurie Barnes uses her StrengthsFinder top five (developer, positivity, arranger, empathy, communication) to develop strategies that get results, write messages that inspire and engage, and build trust with leaders. In her spare time, these strengths have also been helping bring life back to the farm property that has been in her family since 1852.

With more than 30 years in the biz, Laurie is a successful communication executive who is known for out-of-the-box thinking. She has made her mark with large and small clients by understanding the details and making them comprehendible to others.

Laurie has held leadership positions at three large, global consultancies — Willis Towers Watson, Deloitte and Mercer. In 2010, Laurie formed Maple Tree Lab, a communication boutique. She is a co-founder of Workforce Communication where she serves as a talent leader inside our firm and a creative strategist for clients.

Believing that talent management, performance and development are key levers that drive engagement and success inside good employers, Laurie likes to help clients reinforce these capabilities. She has developed communication strategies and comprehensive content during several organization-wide talent transformations.

Laurie also knows benefits communication inside and out. For example, she was “embedded” as benefits communications director for a consumer food products company to help them message  the business case and a personal health imperative to employees. She helped a restaurant brand giant introduce innovation into their benefits lineup and a premier health system engage its people in an ongoing well-being initiative.

Laurie’s bachelor’s degree is in communication arts with a journalism certificate from the University of Cincinnati. She’s won numerous awards of excellence in communications, published articles, and presented workshops on effective employee and HR communication.

laurie.barnes@workfc.com

Jesse Lahey, SPHR

Co-founder

Jesse Lahey may be only above-average as an amateur triathlete, but he’s a top-notch communication expert with a passion for making a difference through smart and caring business practices.

Jesse has worked in leadership and workforce communications for over 20 years, including serving as HR communication leader at a Fortune 500 manufacturer with nearly 20,000 employees worldwide. His previous roles also include partner at Findley and communication specialist at Willis Towers Watson. In 2004, he launched Aspendale Communications, a team of consultants and creatives.

As a co-founder of Workforce Communication, Jesse provides leadership; shares principles and best practices for our team and clients; and provides strategic and creative advice for achieving client goals.

Creative and curious, Jesse is known for his ability to quickly understand a business problem and provide a practical solution based on the latest research, tried-and-true practices, as well as his business and technology acumen. His experience includes all areas of workforce communication in a wide range of industries, including banking, health care, manufacturing, mining, retail, and software.

In addition to consulting, Jesse is a public speaker and author appreciated for his humorous stories, groundbreaking insights, and practical takeaways. He hosts the podcast Engaging Leader, downloaded millions of times by leaders around the world since 2012. He is the author of 8 Communication Tools for Leaders: Become a Better Leader in Every Area of Life, co-author of Gamification: Engaging Your Workforce, and editor of Making Character First: Building a Culture of Character in Any Organization.

Jesse graduated with highest honors from Xavier University, where he studied English and business. Jesse has been certified since 2001 as a Senior Professional in Human Resources (SPHR).

Sharon Baseman

Creative Services, Graphic Design and Quality

Sharon Baseman cares deeply about the world around her — the collaborative strength of her community, the beauty of her garden, as well as the clarity and quality of her clients’ communications. In her work, she leverages a unique combination of both graphic design and proofreading skills that help her polish most any workforce message.

In the past 25 years, Sharon has worked in professional services and focused on HR communications at Willis Towers Watson, her own firm, and now at Workforce Communication. As a result, she knows the language and level of detail required to help employees understand wellness, health care benefits, retirement, compensation, performance, engagement, and more.

Sharon is a creative who truly blends content and design. She ensures that editorial standards are consistently followed and create clear messages. She combines specific brand fundamentals with clean organization, engaging colors, and purposeful visuals. She’s committed to meeting the needs of any reader in a variety of environments such as health care, manufacturing, entertainment, and financial services.

As a result of her attention to detail, she has contributed to large, complex projects with multiple audiences and variations. She’s developed long-term relationships with clients that have spanned decades, because they can’t imagine completing a project without her.

Sharon holds a bachelor’s degree in design from the University of Michigan and has received several awards for her work from the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC).

Cyndi Gibson

Client Services

Cyndi Gibson may be petite in stature, standing 4-foot-11-inches tall, but she’s a big powerhouse when it comes to helping organizations communicate important changes. Cyndi knows how to inspire leaders and engage employees in ways that achieve strategic alignment and support the desired corporate brand and culture. She also has a green thumb when it comes to cultivating successful message platforms and her backyard garden.

Prior to establishing her own communication consulting practice and joining Workforce Communication as a senior consultant, Cyndi spent 30 years with Mercer. There, she led the communication practice for the Midwestern U.S. and worked with both regional and national clients to create and execute complex and large-scale communication strategies. She then helped Mercer establish a separate LLC to provide HR consulting to smaller organizations.

Cyndi is a super-powered C-Suite advisor who understands the big picture of change and the small details of how to make it go smoothly. She has helped organizations implement every facet of human resource strategy and is a subject matter expert in benefits, rewards and recognition, onboarding, company values, as well as diversity and inclusion. For example, Cyndi leveraged employee testimonials about internal values to create a multi-faceted campaign to drive engagement and improve culture for a large healthcare organization.

She has worked with clients in many industries including manufacturing and financial services and has deep expertise advising employers in healthcare and higher education.

Cyndi holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in English from Slippery Rock University of Pennsylvania.

Monica Harrison

Client Services

As an avid gardener, Monica Harrison longs for warm weather to arrive each spring so she can start planting. With a keen eye for seeing the big picture while focusing on important details, she produces beautiful flowers and healthy vegetables outside. Inside at her computer, she creates compelling, on-target messages for a wide range of audiences.

Monica began her communication career in B2B copywriting, with a focus on marketing for both the hardscape and nonprofit industries, before she moved into internal communications. Recently, she has served as a key contributor on employee education campaigns, rebranding efforts, merger implementations, as well as pay and benefits changes.

As part of the Workforce Communication team, she writes clear and engaging messages for online, mobile, print, video, and face-to-face delivery. It’s all carefully designed to drive leader commitment, employee engagement, and organizational results.

At the same time, she’s known for keeping projects organized and making sure everything stays on track to meet deadlines and achieve goals. With Monica in charge, no task goes uncompleted. Every person stays informed. Her clients are pleasantly delighted and come back for more.

Monica studied English writing and sociology at Spring Arbor University in Michigan. This combined focus developed a unique perspective on communicating and how messages are perceived.

Dave Johnston, ABC, CLU

Client Services

Dave Johnston is a barbeque pitmaster, teacher, grandfather, and communication consultant. He turned his lifelong love of words into a 40-year career making complicated topics easier to understand.

Clients tap into Dave for his technical knowledge and experience with a broad spectrum of global rewards programs. He is also an engaging presenter who has led more than 1,000 employee meetings (and counting) and speaks frequently to various professional associations.

Dave has advised senior managers and boards of directors in nearly every industrial sector, as well as in higher education and charities. In addition to creating and managing communication campaigns, he has served as an interim benefits communication manager for a large soft drink company.

A graduate of Iowa State University in journalism and mass communication, Dave first worked in broadcasting. After holding several marketing communication positions at The Principal Financial Group, Dave began a career in human resources by consulting at Towers Perrin and Watson Wyatt (now Willis Towers Watson) and at Aon Consulting. While at Watson Wyatt, he led the firm's Human Capital Communication practices in both the southeastern U.S. and western Europe, and he studied at the Harvard Business School.

Dave is a member of World@Work, where he teaches a course in Strategic Communication of Total Rewards. He is a past Director of the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC) and holds their Accredited Business Communicator (ABC) designation. Dave is also a Chartered Life Underwriter (CLU) and a Fellow of the Life Management Institute (FLMI). His work has won numerous awards from IABC, Business Insurance magazine, and other organizations.

dave.johnston@workfc.com

J.J. Lahey

Client Services

J.J. Lahey is a marketing communicator who specializes in planning, graphic design, video production, and web design. He built his first website from code at age 10, and by age 13, he was creating music videos and learning to appreciate skilled editing from his favorite content creators. More recently, J.J. has developed a passion for storytelling.

All of these interests have come together in his communication work, enabling J.J. to create messages and marketing that engage with empathy and connect with audiences where they are. His recent work includes development of a series of scenario-based, animated videos that support the smooth implementation of compensation changes at a large health care system. He also produced a video series for a motivational speaker that has received hundreds of thousands of views.

In addition to working on Workforce Communication’s client projects, J.J. manages the social media and develops marketing content for the firm. As a junior member of the team, he keeps his colleagues up to date and relevant to Millennials and younger generations.

Previously, J.J. has worked with an apparel company, the world's largest online custom T-shirt platform, where he focused on social media marketing, managed advertising, and designed the layout of their retail stores.

J.J. studied marketing and public relations at Spring Arbor University in Michigan.

Debi Lewis

Client Services, Graphic Design

Being a weekend downhill ski racer, sewing hobbyist, and community volunteer helps Debi Lewis hone her skills as graphic designer of internal communication and marketing materials – precision, speed, creativity, and connecting the dots. She is a visual strategist who can get to the core of a problem and create vibrant, effective, and fresh solutions, collaborating with clients, writers, photographers, and project managers.

For over 30 years, Debi has worked in agencies and design studios as creative director, designer, and layout artist. She’s not afraid to be unconventional, yet practical…create concepts that are loud, while subtle…implement with speed and quality to deliver graphics that attract the eyes, hearts, and minds of an intended audience.

Serving as lead design partner for several major human resource consulting firms for decades, Debi knows how to design clearly for HR change, employee engagement, and employment branding. She is also experienced in B2B marketing, annual reports, and corporate identity and has worked in a variety of industries including manufacturing, healthcare, higher education, and consumer products.

A graduate of The Art Institute of Pittsburgh, Debi is an independent graphic designer and creative strategist, as well as a creative partner of Workforce Communication. Through the years, Debi has won numerous awards from the Advertising Club of Toledo and the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC) in Detroit and Phoenix.

debi.lewis@workfc.com

Jill Plamondon

Client Services, Graphic Design

As an ultrarunner competing in races that are 26, 50, and even 100 miles long, Jill Plamondon trains for going the distance after hours and between her kids’ soccer games. She also knows what it takes to go mile after mile in her work life, uniting design with content to tell a personalized story for each client through branding workforce communication. As a key player on many large campaigns, she’s designed infographics, brochures, flyers, posters, websites, mobile apps, and much more.

In her more than 20 years as a graphic designer, Jill has collaborated with writers, printers, designers, and photographers to make messages come alive in a variety of settings. Her clients have been both big and small names in retail, health care, manufacturing, nonprofit, and more.

Previously, Jill worked at Interlochen Center for the Arts, where she was the lead designer and design manager for more than 8 years. Since then, she has designed communications for internal employee and leader audiences for more than a decade, partnering with Workforce Communication founders and others.

Leveraging her own personal commitment to fitness and family, Jill brings a holistic health-and-wellness vibe to her work in HR and internal communications. She knows how to create strong visual identities that gain employee attention as well as create consistency and cohesion with clients’ existing brands.

Jill has a bachelor’s degree in visual communication from Ferris State University in Michigan. Her work has won recognition from the Detroit International Association of Business Communicators (IABC) Renaissance Awards and the Northern Michigan Advertising Club Max Awards.

jill.plamondon@workfc.com

Deborah Weisman Sandlow

Client Services

Debbie is an identical twin and the mother of twins. She uses her twin power to manage her family’s activities, contribute to her community, and develop effective and creative communication strategies. When not on the search for the perfect taco, her goals are to engage, inform, and educate her clients’ employees.

With over 25 years of healthcare and retirement benefits communication experience, Debbie collaborates with clients to create customized approaches that meet their audiences’ needs.

Debbie addresses a wide-range of human resources issues including benefits enrollments (too many to count!), high deductible health plans, wellness programs, retirement program engagement, and company intranets. She helps clients launch new internal brands, including the development of effective images and messages, integrated media strategies, and implementation plans to targeted audiences.

Strategizing about communication delivery allows Debbie to recommend the right balance of print, video, web, radio, and mobile. Sometimes it’s creative video scripts, engaging websites, or clear summary plan descriptions. Other times it’s interactive online newsletters, savvy promotional print campaigns, or simple executive letters. The goal is always the same: Engage the reader.

She works with organizations of all sizes — large international companies, non-profits, and small businesses — in a variety of industries, including pharmaceuticals, manufacturing, financial and retail.

Debbie earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of Michigan. She also completed course work through the University of Chicago Editing Program. She has held board positions for several charities and is an active member of her community garden, coordinating fresh produce delivery to the local food bank.

debbie.sandlow@workfc.com