Our Team
With over 20 years of experience, our team is ready to deliver results with you.
Kim Parrott, CEO, Executive Coach & Facilitator
“I love my work in coaching and facilitation because it enables me to be my best self while helping others realize their best selves. As a coach I get to help people identify what really matters to them at both a professional and personal level. As a facilitator, I help groups achieve results beyond the sum of their individual efforts. That’s fun, adventurous stuff--which I’ve always enjoyed. I grew up overseas in a diplomatic family in East Africa, the Soviet Union, England, and Belgium. After college, I went to sea for seven years as a Coast Guard licensed officer aboard square-rigged ships. Eventually, my seafaring husband and I moved ashore to start a family. Soon thereafter, I launched a consulting business that evolved into SeaChange Resources.”
Kim has over 20 years of experience in leadership development, executive and team coaching, strategic planning, and facilitation for a broad range of organizations, including multinational corporations, colleges, government agencies, and the non-profit sector. Kim holds a BA in History from Yale, an MA in Teaching from Brown, and is an ICF-certified coach. Kim lives in Blue Hill, Maine.
Derek Ahl, Executive Coach & Facilitator
“Through coaching and facilitation, I have the opportunity to foster passion, insight, and value for individuals and organizations to reach their highest potential. As an educator and catalyst, I support growth toward mindfulness and an expansion of perspective. This I believe has the potential to raise awareness and move our global society toward a more positive state of the community. The confidence and joy that come when one can identify impact is a powerful motivator.
My professional journey began with organizations such as Outward Bound, leading experiences in adventure-based and wilderness settings. In such environments, connection, trust, resilience, and innovation are essential for people to address common challenges and achieve shared goals. Service in the military, as an EMT, a 3-month walkabout in Australia, and over 20 years working with leaders across sectors and industries bring into focus the power of building depth in understanding and in relational connection to achieve meaningful and sustainable impact.”
Derek Ahl specializes in organizational behavior, process facilitation, strategic thinking, and leadership development. He regularly supports senior leaders, teams, and individuals using expert facilitation, consultation, executive coaching, and customized instructional design. Known for facilitating tactical engagements such as board retreats, longitudinal learning cohorts, project implementations & collaborative ventures, he raises awareness, curiosity, and compassion in leaders to drive sustainable and just solutions for our changing world. Derek holds a master’s degree in organizational leadership from UNH and is pursuing an Ordination and a D.Min. at The New Seminary.
Susan White Ahl, Executive Coach & Facilitator
As a facilitator, educator, and coach, Susan strives to offer individuals and organizations inspiration through reflection, action planning, and learning support. Using an array of tools, practices, and experiences, she helps them to acquire the necessary skills and perspectives and to empower themselves toward desired outcomes.
She has been the Principal of Eventide: Coaching, Consulting, Community for 11 years, holds a Master of Adult and Higher Education, and is a certified executive coach. Susan has worked with individuals and teams within corporate, education, and non-profit settings; designing and delivering learning solutions and coaching support for personal and professional development.
Training with the Institute for Appreciative Inquiry, and ongoing participation in Circles of Trust through the Center for Courage and Renewal support her desire to deepen her own learning and practice of deep listening and creating space for reflection as essential to growth. Susan believes life-long learning is the key to creating a meaning-filled life.
Mary W. Amory, Executive Coach & Facilitator
“I have been in the field of developing the potential of others for 30 years. As an optimist, I am tenacious in the pursuit of program design, delivery or facilitation that advances progress towards the defined goals. My creative side drives originality in process and curiosity in solution seeking. I trust in the emergence of ideas and solutions from individuals or groups seeking new goals. I share all clients’ desire for results and walk with them to empower them to succeed.”
It started with the designing of her own major, “Human Potential and Development”, at the University of Massachusetts. This led to teaching art in public schools and working in alternative experiential education at the Hurricane Island Outward Bound School as the Program Director for the Corporate Programs, where she oversaw programs with Fortune 500 companies worldwide. Mary later received her MBA at the University of Maine in 2000.
Over the last two decades, she has facilitated change programs and leadership development in large corporations. As a consultant with the Brimstone Consulting Group, she worked with Pfizer, Waste Management, Jones Lang LaSalle, Medco, Arrow Electronics and other large firms. She is currently a senior consultant with the Cradlerock Group, providing design, delivery, and coaching support for leadership development programs in several large global manufacturing companies. In 2007 she founded “noteworthy", a creative venture that raises funds for Partners In Health.
Mary has raised three grown young women with her husband, Tom. They currently reside in Camden, Maine. She is now hiking across Utah exploring the canyon country in incremental segments.
Seafaring: Mary was an instructor for the Hurricane Island Outward Bound program for 3 years as a licensed captain for their 30’ open rowing/sailing vessels. She and her husband have crewed on a 52’ boat from Athens to Majorca and sailed many other boats before owning a J-35. They have sailed from Maine to Poughkeepsie, NY, and enjoyed many summer week-long cruises on the coast of Maine. Mary joined Tom for parts of his 13,000-mile Atlantic Circle, including stops in Norway, Finland, Sweden, Madeira, the Canaries, and the US Virgin Islands.
Isla Dickerson, Facilitator
Isla is Senior Vice President and Director of Marketing, joined Bangor Savings Bank in November 2014, and is a member of the Bangor Savings Bank Leadership Committee.
Prior to joining Bangor Savings Bank she founded and led Cape Rosier Consulting, a marketing and communications consulting firm with offices in Maryland and Maine, for 8 years. She began her career at a small publishing company on an island off the coast of Maine and then joined MBNA in 1996 where she held executive leadership roles in Marketing, Operations and Employee Education & Leadership Development. She is also the founder and owner of The Retreat at Betsy’s Cove.
Isla is an MBNA Management Development Alumnus and recipient of the Bank of America Leadership Platinum Award. She serves on the board of The Hudson Museum. She is an active supporter and volunteer at Coastal Mountains Land Trust and serves multiple economic development, entrepreneurial and business development non-profits in advisory capacities.
Amy C. Grant, Communications Consultant
Amy is a performer, visual artist, poet, teacher, and business-woman. She has applied her creativity to shaping a career that fosters growth and inspires change as evidenced by her ten-year career as President of Peninsula Metamorphic Arts & Learning, a unique learning center in Blue Hill, Maine.
With over 15 years of experience in teaching, curriculum design, and facilitating beyond the classroom, Amy has worked with clients from preschool to careerists.
She focuses on the how of individual learning and applies the tools of improv to co-create the path forward.
Amy is incredibly curious and continues to learn daily. She has a BA in Anthropology from the University of Washington and an MFA in Drama/Theatre for the Young from Eastern Michigan University.
Ayrne Meyer, Equine-Guided Education Instructor
“I love what I do because it provides a unique opportunity for people to experience the horse and nature in a way that inspires wisdom and love for themselves and what they have to offer.
Belonging to a herd of ten horses and sharing them with others has brought me to a deeper understanding of their native ways and the relevance their nature has in our lives when we connect. Horses and humans have a great attraction for one another. Horses embody an innate side of us that becomes distant in our current high tech, language based culture. They remind us we too communicate using powerful expressions that transcend words. Interacting with horses reveals and develops our non-verbal self and our potential. This balances the body’s authentic design so we can operate at a greater capacity. We increase understanding and awareness of self, others, the world and the energetics that support change.”
From the Rocky Mountain region to travels abroad, Ayrne's love of nature and exposure to distant cultures have fueled the naturalist and artist she was destined to be. Ayrne is an avid traveler but feels her most memorable experiences were born exploring her home state of Montana on horseback, rafting or on foot. Her true passion is encouraging self-expression, discovery and growth through horses, nature inspiration and art.
Ayrne lives in Helena Montana and is a SkyHorse certified Equine Guided Educator (EGE). She shares her herd and their wisdom with people around the world by offering EGE and riding adventures for individuals and groups visiting the Feathered Pipe Ranch and Black Mountain Retreat in Helena, Montana. Ayrne is an accomplished fine artist and writer. She has a degree in Graphic Design from The Art Institute of Colorado in Denver. She is president of the board for Adventures Unlimited, a non-profit organization with a focus for introducing people of all ages, abilities and incomes to the great outdoors as well as an outdoor adventure guide. Horse skills are numerous and include wrangling, vaulting, training, and fellowship with horse lovers alike. Ayrne continues to build upon her knowledge in the areas of somatics, the energetics of communication and equine therapy.
Captain Dan Parrott, Bridge Resource Management Consultant
Captain Dan Parrott grew up in Connecticut and started his professional sailing career in 1982. He sailed full-time from 1983 to 2003, during which time he worked on many schooners, topsail schooners, and square riggers, in all capacities, in all parts of the world. Among those vessels are the Harvey Gamage, Bill of Rights, Pride of Baltimore, Pride Baltimore II, Eye of the Wind, and Tole Mour.
In 2003, he was appointed to the faculty of Maine Maritime Academy, where he now teaches navigation, seamanship, and Bridge Resource Management and sails aboard the training vessels the State of Maine and Schooner Bowdoin.
He is the author of two books, Tall Ships Down, a study of 5 marine casualties involving sailing ships, and Bridge Resource Management for Small Ships which applies BRM concepts to the operation of limited tonnage vessels. Parrott maintains an active writing career and has published articles in Soundings, Yachting, Power & Motorboat, WoodenBoat, and other marine publications.
Dan holds a USCG license as Master of Oceans, 1600 tons, and 2nd mate unlimited. He has a B.A. from Colby College, Waterville, Maine, and an M.A. from the University of Rhode Island. His interests include music, swimming, scrimshaw, and maritime history.
Chris Muise, Director of Business Development
Understanding and passion for the development and implementation of internal systems are key to Chris’s role behind the scenes at SCR. “I love a good plan and enjoy seeing it through. The smooth flow of information between facilitators, clients, and vendors is a key function of a successful program.”
Chris joined SeaChange Resources in November 2018 and brings over 10 years of business management and organizational skills to the team. As co-owner of two Maine-based companies, he also has extensive customer service experience. Chris is tasked with project management for SeaChange Resources' varied offerings.
Chris is a lifelong learner. With a passion for being on the water and in the wilderness, Chris holds a Maine Recreation Guide License as well as Wilderness First Aid Certification. He studied in Toronto, London, and New Hampshire while earning a BA in Technical Theatre and Design. Presently, Chris serves as the Vice President of the Blue Hill Peninsula Chamber of Commerce and as the Secretary of the Peninsula Skating Association, both located in Blue Hill, Maine.
Meet our EquityQuest Team
Tomi Berry, EquityQuest Consulting
Tomi Berry brings over 25 years of experience in management development, leadership training, DEI, customer/client relations, coaching and human resource management to her role with EquityQuest.
Her previous assignments include holding organizational development, HR and national training leadership positions within Turner Broadcasting System, the Arthritis Foundation and Marriott International. She is also trained in a bevy of professional certifications and methodologies, including DISC, Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) and Covey's 7 Habits of Highly Effective People.
Sharing why she decided to lend her talents to EquityQuest, Tomi notes that "This approach creates an oasis for safe dialogue and discovery when addressing sensitive or difficult topics. To that end, our process is perfect for organizations and teams who want to rejuvenate and transform how they approach DEI...supported by the horses "listening in" and providing their silent support along the way."
Linda W. Ferraro, EquityQuest Consulting
Linda W. Ferraro is passionate about helping others to "stretch yourself to grow", whether as a business leader, people manager, HR driver, community member, or next-generation organizational development learner.
Linda believes that “by stretching ourselves, we become stronger, more productive members and contributors to business and society.” Exploring workplace landmarks. Generating new ideas. Figuring out the right questions to ask. She thrives on partnering with others that are curious, fearless, and share a similar commitment to pushing boundaries towards social justice, inclusion, diversity, and change.
Sharing about how she sees EquityQuest helping today's leaders and organizations, Linda notes that "The embodied experience provides a space where conversations and exploration are supported with care for the whole person. It's an honor to serve clients who are on their equity journey alongside the beauty of nature and with wisdom of horses."
Dr. Carl Jefferson, EquityQuest Consulting
Dr. Carl Jefferson is a Human Resources and Organizational Leadership Executive whose assignments have included serving as Chief People Officer, VP of Human Resources and Organization Development Consulting and Head of Denny’s People Division. He is also the Founder and Practice Lead at The Performance Principles LLC, a performance management firm located in Atlanta, GA.
As a seasoned executive, Dr. Jefferson has helped both his private and public sector clients improve their people performance, and we are grateful to have his leadership, expertise, and vision as a grounding force within EquityQuest.
Keith Robertson, EquityQuest Consulting
Keith Roberts has over 60 years of experience as a horseman, cowboy and rodeo professional. He is also the President & Founder of the Atlanta Black Rodeo Association, and a lifelong student of all aspects of horsemanship.
During his career, Keith has witnessed firsthand the many lessons humans can learn from horses about real-world dynamics like respect, trust, love, dignity and equitable relationships.
Speaking on his love for horses, Keith notes that “My ability to help people understand horses is as much an ability to help people to understand themselves...to understand others who are different from them...and to understand life itself.” Keith highlights how horses' natural capacity for empathy is their biggest contribution to humans because "the fact that they can change their personality to match yours and to match your feelings is simply amazing."
Keith’s depth of expertise is a true gift to others, but he humbly notes that “I can’t even imagine what my life would’ve been like without horses.”
Nasir Bayan, EquityQuest Consulting
Nasir Bayan is a Corporate Wellness Expert, Leadership Trainer/Facilitator, Licensed Therapist and Speaker. He has served for over 20 years as a business development leader, mental health professional and corporate trainer/facilitator for Fortune 500s.
Nasir is passionate about making practical healing tools accessible within today's organizations. He is also the creator of The Stress Less Toolkit, as well as the founder of True Peace Counseling & Wellness.
Reflecting on what makes EquityQuest different, he shares that "Adding wellness-based work with horses into today's Leadership, DEI & Wellbeing conversations helps leaders embody real change while also equipping them with tangible, practical tools that they can use to lead & serve with more ease, effectiveness and alignment.”
Whether serving in corporate, organizational, entrepreneurship or wellness spaces, Nasir enjoys helping executives, leaders & teams in doing what he refers to as “the inner work that leads to outer transformation.”