Doug Hickok is a nationally known leadership consultant and trainer, and is CEO and founder of the Institute for Provocative Leadership, a leadership development firm based in Richmond, Virginia.

Doug is also Adjunct Faculty at the Management Institute of the University of Richmond Robins School of Business.

Doug is a lot of fun to be around with his wry sense of humor and quick wit. When you work with him, you get a "two-fer" - your business grows and you enjoy the experience as well.

(No, Doug didn't write this about himself; we faculty are writing bios about each other.)

He has owned four companies, and is a:

• Member of the International Coach Federation
• Founding member of the International Association of Coaches
• Member of the American Society for Training and Development
• Appreciative Inquiry facilitator
• Certified Imago Educator

When Doug isn't busy working, he's usually kicking back and putting his feet up while fishing on the river, or maybe dancing the night away with his lovely wife. They met while dancing, but that's another story.

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Laura Posey is Vice President of Dancing Elephants Achievement Group, a Richmond-based sales development firm. Her driving mission, and in fact, the only thing she gets paid to do, is make money for small business owners.

Laura has spent her entire career in sales and sales management and has the scars to prove it. She started her selling career in an auto dealership before starting and managing a very successful insurance agency. She was then recruited into regional sales management, where she was responsible for growing a district's revenues by over $10 million in one year.

Laura is the co-author of Six Secrets of Sales Magnets. She is busy at work on her second book, But I'm not a Salesperson; the Small Business Owner's Guide to Generating Sales. When not teaching and writing, Laura spends her professional time speaking locally and nationally.

As part of a balanced life, she gets out on the golf course regularly and is pursuing her obsession with breaking 80.

She's also an avid fisherwoman, and routinely catches fish between 20 and 45 pounds in the James River. Here's a woman who's not afraid to bait a hook or wrestle a fish that's half as big as she is.

Laura has a BA from State University of New York of Buffalo, New York, and an MBA from Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, Virginia.

Special Note:

Laura Posey has contributed greatly to the development of this company with her awesome organizational design and marketing skills, and also with many, many hours of ongoing support and collaboration. We are extremely grateful, and will do anything within the law to help her to increase her golf score and the size of the fish she catches.

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