New guard 2004

T+D, May, 2004 by Jennifer J. Salopek

For six years, T D has discovered people doing work that makes them stand apart from the crowd for innovation, creativity, and social contributions.

Those honored this year as part of Training's New Guard include Amy Eifling, vice president of Aspire Inc., who came to training through the normal path--you know, interior design. Judus Floratos always has learning on his mind, whether at work as an e-learning multimedia developer for Nike or at home finding tools to help his wife home-school their three sons. Thomas Martin was always "on stage" in his role as corporate director of training and brand standards at W Hotels. Mary Elizabeth Murphy, an "accidental" trainer, is rejuvenated by her work with women. Captain Matthew T. Peters commands respect in his rote as the commanding officer at the Human Performance Center, part of the U.S. Navy's Revolution in Training. Steve Rauschkolb fights "wallflower syndrome" in his role as senior director for University of Pfizer.

Salopek also catches up with alumni from the first five years of New Guarders to find out what they're up to now.

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Who knew?

It is now the sixth year of T D's annual Training's New Guard. Adding up the members of this cohort of attention-worthy people, the number comes to almost 40. How do we find them? It's kind of like American Idol: We screen through the nominations until the few who hit just the right note stand out. They sing loud and clear about their love of learning and sharing it with others, and they do it in their own style.

This year's selection spotlights an e-learning multimedia developer at Nike who chooses home-schooling for his children, a corporate director of training and brand standards for the glamorous W Hotels who has done voiceovers in his career, a person who considers herself to be an "accidental trainer" after operating a successful gift basket business, a U.S. Navy captain who put his career on the line to steer the Navy's Revolution in Training, a corporate training director at Pfizer who fights "wallflower syndrome," and a former interior designer who is now redesigning people's lives through training and development.

In honor of this milestone, we also take a look back at the five years of New Guarders--one from each year. And we discover how they have, in many instances, shifted their perspectives and paths in reaction to the momentous events of these past few years: 9/11, the recession, war.

Past or present, these stories enlighten, inform, and inspire.

Haidee Allerton, editor, T D

Practicing What She Teaches

Amy Eifling Vice President Aspire Inc. Brandon, Mississippi

Amy Eifling is a newlywed; she got married last June. It's hard to imagine how she found the time: In the past two years, she has become a partner in an HRD consulting firm, working full-time; earned a master's of science in workforce training and development; started her PhD in international development; held two assistantships to help with tuition; served on the board of, and been elected president of, the Mississippi chapter of ASTD.

Eifling arrived at training and development as her life's work via a circuitous route: She earned a degree in interior design and spent the first few years of her career living in Texas, designing upscale retirement communities. When a move back home to Mississippi failed to yield a satisfying opportunity in design, she agreed---as a stopgap measure--to help out a friend who'd landed a large training contract and has never looked back. Few people can boast that their first experience in a new field was this rewarding: "I came back from my first training session and said, 'I can't believe you get paid to do this!' I was elated. I never felt like that in my design work," she says. And that particular training session was conducted at a prison!

Joining Aspire in 2000, Eifling became a partner to founder Linda Owen in 2002. The firm specializes in providing training, organization development, and career development services to public-sector organizations. On the state level, Aspire has worked with the Mississippi Department of Transportation, the Tax Commission, the State Personnel Board, and the Department of Rehabilitation Services.

"There are political aspects to our work in the public sector," Eifling acknowledges. "We often work with the executive directors of agencies, who hold political positions. Although that does mean some turnover in client contacts, it also gives us exposure in other agencies when those people change jobs." Aspire has developed a subspecialty in transition and succession planning; turnover can be a boon to the firm on a couple of different fronts.

Changed lives are often a visible result of Eifling's work, and one that she finds immensely rewarding. Under a two-year contract with Mississippi Planning and Development districts, she provided week-long leadership classes in organizations--both public and private--with many frontline employees, such as teacher's assistants and manufacturing plant workers. Predominantly, her students were single mothers with a high school diploma or GED who wanted to go back to school, change their lives, and realize a dream. Eifling taught them how to have a vision, set goals, understand the work ethic, and resolve conflicts at work. She set up a six-month mentoring program, and held a reunion at the end.