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.