Valerie Pease
Owner, Inspiration Works
Volunteer, Impact Awards Committee (serving under the President-Elect, Sheryl Alstrin)

This month's spotlight is on a volunteer ASTD newcomer who has taken on the challenge of developing a completely new products for our Chapter - The Impact Awards!

Valerie says:  “It’s been a joy working with Sheryl, Christine, Terry, Kelly, and Julie to create the new Impact Award and launch it at our November Conference. What a wonderful way to recognize our own best in Oregon and SW Washington and perhaps help them get national recognition, too. It feels like really contributing to not only our ASTD community but also supporting our Northwest culture.”

Valerie is a cofounder of INSPIRATIONWORKS, LLC, an organizational development consulting firm delivering practical tools for improving employee satisfaction through emotional intelligence. With her friend and life partner Roger Pease, she designs and guides learning experiences for participants representing Intel, Nike, Wells Fargo, Adidas, City of Portland, Standard Insurance, US Forest Service, Providence St. Vincent Hospital, State Farm, and others, in public workshops as well as group coaching sessions for corporate and non-profit organizations. As Adjunct Faculty at Portland State University the Peases offer Spirit In Communication Skills: Practical Tools To Develop Emotional Intelligence in the College of Liberal Arts Communication Studies Program.

The mission of INSPIRATIONWORKS is to introduce human spirit into an arena which often does not feel humane and develop a climate to discover the finest personal Self, to recognize and connect with the finest self in other beings, and, thereby, to more fully experience the richness of life.

In 1998, fascinated with human thinking and learning processes, Valerie earned her masters degree at Portland State University specializing in cognitive science. Previously, she was with Xerox Corporation for eighteen years in consulting, sales, and technical design in its computer and networking division. There she consulted with clients applying systems principles to human workflow and was responsible for implementing Xerox’s benchmarking and total quality management tools. She conducted training modules for new-hire analysts at Xerox Document University and served as subject matter expert in process analysis and consulting technique. As a member of Xerox’s corporate business reengineering process team, she piloted the training for Xerox’s service-marked consulting methodology. Previously, at Marshall Field & Company, and later Hart Schaffner Marx & Co., Valerie was the first woman menswear buyer in a major department store chain in the US. In that role she managed the merchandising, selling training, and profitability for men's accessories in the 21-store chain, requiring travel and negotiation in Spain, Italy, France, Germany, Switzerland, Belgium, and England. For the past five years she has facilitated a Portland area women’s support group and continues her research on the impact of language on brain chemistry.

She is currently writing her first book I Know I Don’t Know What I Don’t Know which illustrates implementing linguistics to alleviate depression. Prior to receiving her MS at PSU, Valerie received her BA with high honors from the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana.

You can contact Valerie at rogerpease@comcast.net.

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