Sharon Aho, Principal

Inspire Engagement Solutions 

Sharon creates programs to engage and build loyalty with employees, sales teams and customers.  She has been a trusted business partner to a variety of companies in manufacturing, retail, healthcare, finance and multi-level marketing for over two decades.  She leads the charge from brainstorming business opportunities to designing and delivering engagement campaigns and recognition programs to increase revenue and drive cost efficiencies.  She is the first to ride in a truck and tour a plant to get in the head and heart of the audience to better understand what will “inspire” them to activate.

Favorite Activities At The Moment:  To help my clients, and myself, I’ve taken a serious look at the topic of wellbeing.  How do we make a few “simple” changes with nutrition, fitness and overall attitude that is fun and manageable.  PiYo is a favorite.

James Heyman, PhD, Associate Professor of Marketing

University of St. Thomas

James is one of those rare individuals who truly loves teaching as much as he loves learning. His research analyzes how individuals make judgments when they only have a small amount of information. And he is the co-author, with Dan Ariely, PhD, of one of my favorite papers, "Effort for Payment: A Tale of Two Markets."

He has published articles in Psychological Science, Journal of Interactive Marketing, American Behavioral Scientist, Journal of Marketing Communications, Motivation and Emotion, and Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education. He papers have also been published in the Handbook of Consumer Psychology and Recent Developments in Behavioral Economics.

He received his B.A. in economics and his M.Sc.. in applied mathematics from the Naval Postgraduate School, and his Ph.D. in marketing from the University of California-Berkeley.

Kurt Nelson, PhD, President

The Lantern Group

Kurt is a sought-after speaker and recognized leader in human motivation and behavior change. For over 20 years, Kurt has worked with global companies to apply behavioral science principles to drive change in their organizations.

All of his work focuses on understanding ways to positively influence how people behave.

Kurt's recent work has focused in on understanding how people make purposeful change.  Additional research has centered on the 4-Drive Model of Motivation and how it is implemented inside organizations.   Specific focus has been on increasing the effectiveness of reward programs for sales representatives, maximizing the impact of extrinsic rewards, and developing sales effectiveness blueprints that align behaviors with strategy.

Over 160,000 people have participated in programs that Kurt has designed. Although much of his work has focused on the pharmaceutical industry, he has vast experience in medical device, telecommunications, finance and automotive as well as working with a large number of different companies from around the world.