Independent Woman-Owned Business
Past Performance
Training Videos
Our Trainers
Ellen Engel – President
Founder and President of Elevate USA Inc., Ellen was educated as a lawyer but is an entrepreneur at heart. She has started several successful businesses over a 40-year career and Ellen has dedicated the past decade to sharing her knowledge. As a trainer, coach, and businesswoman, she has worked with government agencies, non-profits, and private industry to make workforces more efficient, capable, and motivated. She has a Juris Doctorate from B.U.
Carl Flowers – Lead Trainer
Carl is a professional speaker, trainer, and expert in all manner of technical business practices. As Elevate USA’s Lead Trainer, he is the “go-to” person for training direction and instructional design input. He has trained across the public, private, and non-profit sectors and his engaging expertise extends from technical writing to project management and beyond. Carl is a student of history and spearheads Elevate USA’s “Leadership In Living History” program. He holds a degree in Speech & Mass Communication from the University of Illinois.
Kyle McCloud – Trainer
A leadership, communication, and technical writing, and computer applications trainer, Kyle has been a hands-on adult educator for nearly a decade. He possesses a broad spectrum of knowledge and has worked with numerous government agencies and private organizations. A regular volunteer at non-profits for underprivileged youth, Kyle’s passion is teaching others how to take control of their lives and become effective leaders of change. He has a B.S. from the University of Montevallo.
Robin White – Trainer & Executive Coach
Robin’s distinguished career in coaching, training, and professional education have made her an invaluable asset for Elevate USA. A lifelong health enthusiast, she keeps an active life in both business and pleasure. Robin has taught in the fields of education, healthcare, sales, marketing, event planning, media, and hospitality. By involving non-stop energy, enthusiasm, anecdotal stories, and group exercises that illustrate key points, Robin has become a professional coach of the highest caliber. She is author of the book “Fat Girls Don’t Eat French Fries”. She has an M.S. from Austin Peay State University.
Dr. Angela Massey – Trainer
An ordained minister, trainer, consultant, and natural speaker, Angela is an inspiring figure with the ability to inspire. She has worked in partnership with many high-profile law firms, educational institutes, and corporations such as IBM, FedEx, and Yale University. As a trainer, Angela is well qualified to teach anything from leadership skills to technical writing for federal grants and proposals. She has a Doctorate of Biblical Studies from St. Luke Evangelical Seminary and an M.S. in Organizational Leadership.
Delvon Survine – Trainer
Before becoming a trainer and speaker for Elevate USA, Delvon enjoyed a distinguished career as a Master Sergeant in the United States Marine Corps where he was a Team Leader, Instructor in multiple disciplines, and Equal Opportunity Advisor, Counselor and Investigator. He is a service-disabled minority business owner who specializes in helping veterans transition into the civilian workforce. His strong leadership skills and experience with command have provided him with innumerable teachable situations and personal anecdotes used to convey different learning objectives to training participants. Delvon translates military leadership lessons to the civilian sector. He has a B.S. in HR Management from Ashworth University.
Deborah Wilson – Trainer
Deborah Wilson is an internationally recognized trainer, coach, consultant and motivational speaker who has been in the training profession for over fifteen years. She has traveled extensively throughout the United States presenting to organizations and corporations with a diverse set of occupational, cultural, educational and situational needs. Deborah employs a dynamic and interactive training style that pairs content-rich information with practical application to help attendees excel in both their professional and personal lives. She has a B.A. in Psychology from Central Connecticut State University.
Carol Ann Sasso – Trainer
Carol Ann is a speed reading expert, business consultant, and highly-regarded trainer. While working as a program manager for an educational television station, Carol Ann learned the Evelyn Wood speed reading program to compensate for the enormous reading load. Since then she has worked as an Evelyn Wood trainer and developed her own speed-reading program that she teaches for Elevate USA Inc. She has a B.A. in English from St. Joseph’s College.
Yvonne Alverio – Trainer
Yvonne is a consultant, trainer, and diversity practitioner. With over twenty-five years of experience working with diversity inclusion and organizational development, Yvonne has the skills to oversee the implementation of a wide range of diversity programs, diversity and leadership consulting, and interactive inclusion training in the public and private sectors. She has a B.A. in Socio-Anthropology from the University of Connecticut.
John Bauer – Trainer
John has a unique blend of public-private sector work experiences at leadership levels earned over four decades. He has five years of diplomatic-capacity building and federal level experience coupled with a career-spanning twenty-nine years as a local government manager and staff member. His performance has been recognized with numerous awards and certificates. As a valued team member of Elevate USA, John brings “hands-on” pragmatic project management skills to every training session. He has an M.P.A. in Public Administration from Syracuse University.
Marben Bland – Trainer
Marben is a trainer, writer, consultant, and faith leader committed to helping business grown. Marben is an expert in HR, Social Media Marketing, and Project Management and has trained employees in some of the best companies in the world. As a trainer for Elevate USA, Marben brings unique authenticity and knowledge to his training, backed by over three decades of experience in the military, business, and faith based communities.
Yvonne Angelo Adams – Trainer
A talented trainer and marketing professional, Yvonne has trained and coached people from across the world, in a variety of industries. With fifteen years of speaking experience, Yvonne has become intimately familiar with the ingredients of success. Using the inherent skills and talents of the individual, she builds on core competencies to fill in gaps in areas where participants’ educational or professional training is lacking.
Tracy Washington – Trainer
Tracy is a speaker, trainer, and leading authority on transition and transformation. She has worked with organizations and individuals across the nation to refine strategies to improve workforce communication, leadership development, and seamlessly transition teams to new and greater challenges.
Tarsha Polk – Trainer
Tarsha brings exceptional expertise as a marketing specialist and personal brand strategist to every training facilitation, coaching session, and speaking engagements for Elevate USA. In 2003, Tarsha formed a marketing firm to assist companies with crafting innovative marketing solutions in a competition-saturated market and authored the book Beyond the Business Card: Strategic Networking for Success.
Sherry Darden – Trainer
Sherry is a trainer, consultant, college instructor, accountant, instructional designer, and pioneering force in the shifting human resources, communications, and effective management revolution. At Elevate USA, Sherry brings a “common sense thinking” approach to her training sessions.
Mac Curfman
M.A. “Mac” Curfman is a practiced and enthusiastic trainer, entrepreneur, business consultant, speaker, coach, and author. He has over thirty years of experience in business and government leadership excellence. Prior to embarking on a successful training career for several of the top training companies across the nation, Mac served as a city manager, city and regional planner, and a state and local government researcher and consultant where he cultivated hands-on experience in the various aspects of project management – from budgeting, to scheduling, to short and long term benchmark setting.
Lisa Ann Landry – Trainer
Lisa Ann is a world-class learning and development specialist. She has worked for training and coaching companies, large and small, including Fred Pryor Seminars. As part of the Elevate USA training roster, she does the work of a master trainer to deliver programs that ignite, inspire, and transform participant abilities. Her facilitation ensures engagement, knowledge transfer, and skill development in a fast paced fun environment.
Jonathan Peters, PhD – Trainers
As a trainer, educator, and university faculty member, Jonathan is an experienced adult educator with a depth of knowledge that spans writing, communication, marketing, and motivation.
Gary Butterworth – Trainer
A teacher, trainer, and former radio/TV personality, Gary brings energy and charm to the training room. Specializing in communication, Gary teaches participants how to project confidence, clarity, and charisma to prompt desired outcomes.
Bill Breakey – Trainer
Bill offers thoughtful optimism and training counsel to all participants. With over 25 years of experience in education, he understands the challenges of today’s administrative leaders, business leaders, and education leaders.
Gena Yvette Davis – Trainer
Since 2010, Gena has been working to inspire and empower motivated individuals advance their professional careers. A passionate brand marketing professional with over twenty years experience at some of the largest companies in the world, Gena is an expert at crafting personal and organizational brands and messages.
Kate Yu – Trainer
As a trainer for Elevate USA., Kate brings a unique knowledge of leadership scenarios in international affairs, academic settings, and non-profits. Kate has worked as a teacher, professor, and leadership trainer in China, Vietnam, the Philippines, and Chile. Kate’s specialties include leadership and conflict management in a cross-cultural environment. She speaks six languages conversationally and holds three B.A.s in teaching.
Marty VerShaw – Trainer
An engaged trainer who informs and excites his audience, Marty has the ability to quickly develop and deploy training topics based on the instructional design needs of the client. He has a deep and wide knowledge of dozens of training topics – including professional writing and one-on-one coaching styles – and specializes in enhancing sales efficacy and reducing workforce turnover. He holds an A.A.S. in Business Management.
Michael Shalek – Trainer
With a mind for technical details, Michael has a talent for identifying leadership gaps and applying scenario and organizational-specific fixes for immediate implementation. His personality and humorous training presentations will have attendees laughing as they learn critical concepts that will resolve potential management shortfalls. He holds a masters certificate in special studies from Harvard University Extension.
Kelley Moore – Trainer
As a former United States Marine Corps FA/18 Fighter Attack Aircraft Communications Specialist, Kelley Moore knows how to clearly communicate so the mission is completed. As a trainer for Elevate USA, Kelley uses her more than twenty years hands-on experience with strong technical and business qualifications specializing in communication, strategic planning, business development, project and product management, and system engineering strategies to facilitate practical, engaging training solutions.
Grace Lichtenstein – Trainer
An award-winning psychotherapist and life coach, Grace works with participants and organizations to create healthier, more productive, and stress-free individuals and working environments. Combining mental health and practical application in dozens of topics, Grace sees improved satisfaction and the ability to eliminate distractions from the minds of participants. She holds an M.S. in Counseling Psychology.
Ron Jutze – Trainer & Certified Coach
As a pastor, general manager, corporate trainer, and coach for John Maxwell’s influence-based style of coaching, Ron Jutze contributes an acute sense of accomplishment and encouragement at every training session. As a trainer for Elevate USA, Ron engages with participants on about the power of influence (how to create it, use it, and leverage it to achieve goals) in a way that drives them to take new lessons learned to heart when pursuing future goals and self-discipline.
Marion Johnson – Trainer
Marion is an instructional designer, trainer, and assessment guru. Educated as an instructional designer, Marion understands the principles and practicality behind each training module and development process. She has worked with audience response technology, creating assessment questions and gathering real-time data. She has a masters from Johns Hopkins Center for Technology Education.