ATG - Key Persons

Job Titles:

• Member of the ATG Team

Job Titles:

• Consultant
• Member of the ATG Team
• Professional and Successful Leadership Development Coach

Bob O'Neil is an experienced, professional and successful leadership development coach with more than 25 years of experience. He is a Certified Professional Coach, and certified in Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, The Predictive Index, Franklin Covey Time Management and Energy Leadership. He spent many years working for Bayer in executive leadership development to support the growth and advancement of high-potential employees. He has taught leadership in the business school at Boston University. In his private coaching practice, he works with individuals who are inspired by their curiosity and need help in clarifying what matters most--and how to get there.

Job Titles:

• Consultant
• Member of the ATG Team

Job Titles:

• Coach
• Consultant
• Member of the ATG Team

Jet LeBlanc brings 25 years of industry experience in leading teams to ATG's bench. A highly skilled writer, editor, coach, and trainer, Jet has led individuals and groups through times of change and disruption, helping to improve business practices and communications. In her last major industry role before joining ATG and the research development world, she was Principal Information Developer and served as the lead Agile coach to a global development organization. She also oversaw documentation and process improvement for the team's multimillion dollar financial product.

Job Titles:

• Consultant
• Member of the ATG Team

Mary Hensel has an MBA from the University of Chicago and a deep history in industry, non-profit fundraising, and research development. She honed her collaboration skills guiding volunteer campaigns for environmental and health education, symphonic music, and college initiatives. Mary specializes in working with faculty in the Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences and is the lead editor for community-engaged work. Her passion is helping project leaders develop proposals with projects designed to foster strong and enduring partnerships for community-engaged research. Mary serves as team facilitator, community engaged research expert, and editor for complex proposal development. She creates resources for and leads programs in Arts and Humanities grantsmanship. Her depth and breadth of experience in academia and her global viewpoint on business and culture provide an invaluable perspective to the team and to ATG's clients. LinkedIn Profile

Job Titles:

• Founder
• Member of the ATG Team
• President

M. S. (Peg) AtKisson, Ph.D. earned her degree in neuroscience from Tufts University in 2001, after also working in cell biology and cancer biology. After completing her degree, she consulted for Cogniscent Inc. on nanotechnology applications of short DNA sequences as chemical sensors. She began her research development career as a contract grant writer, with clients including the Association for Computing Machines, Wake Forest University, Hunter College, and Tufts University, among others. Tufts created a position for her, where she subsequently created and fully staffed one of the earliest formal research development offices. By the time she departed from the position of director of proposal development, she and her team had been involved in bringing in over $140,000,000 in funded grants. Funders ranged from NIH, NSF, and USAID to the W. M. Keck Foundation. Most of these successful high-value proposals supported research centers and infrastructure. She also provided training for faculty and post-doctoral fellows in grant writing. She was invited to join Grant Writers' Seminars and Workshops (GWSW) in 2008, and she split her time between Tufts and GWSW until 2010. Dr. AtKisson was the first person that the founders hired and trusted to carry out their programs. In eight years with GWSW, she presented an average of 30 seminars per year, customized for many different funders, covering bench and social science as well as arts & humanities. She worked directly with over 200 individual researchers on proposals ranging from materials physics to history, coaching investigators through the grant-writing process to leave each faculty member with a new skill set to be applied to every proposal going forward. ​She created AtKisson Training Group in 2017 to expand support for faculty research development beyond grant writing. To support this work, she has trained in executive and team coaching, including the complete set of courses for CTI's Co-Active Coaching and for CRR Global's Organization and Relationship Systems Coaching. In 2021, she was accepted into the Conscious Leadership Guild. She established the LEADin3 team, developing and delivering leadership training tailored for the academy. Dr. AtKisson is a highly acclaimed public speaker with a track record of helping faculty improve their competitiveness for funding and develop their leadership skills.

Job Titles:

• Coach
• Consultant
• Executive
• Leader
• Member of the ATG Team

Sandra Best Bailly is a leader with 18+ years of experience with management and professional positions in health plans, public health, healthcare delivery, higher education and global collaboration. She has been an Associate Professor of Practice and Assistant Director of Field Education at Simmons College since 2014. Sandra works with ATG as an executive coach for university faculty and administrators and as a facilitator for the Research Leadership Development programs. Her coaching focuses on: strategic/business planning & monitoring, resource and budget management, program development/management, project management, administration, performance/evaluation, integrated marketing & communications and multicultural marketing, and community relationships. She also provides coaching for university faculty moving into the startup realm.

Job Titles:

• Consultant
• Member of the ATG Team
• Director of Marketing and Communications I / Consultant

Sarah James, MA, has nearly 20 years of research development experience. She has two consultant roles with ATG. She co-leads training for university faculty in planning and writing grant proposals in the arts and humanities, and she facilitates Strategic Doing workshops as part of ATG's strategic planning and Team Science work. Sarah is co-chair for the Member Services Committee for National Organization for Research Development Professionals (NORDP) and on the executive committee for NORDP Great Lakes. She has been a community organizer and connector most of her life and is specifically passionate about her hometown of Detroit. Before settling on a career in research development, Sarah worked as a promotion and publicity manager for a university press and as a high school computer and English teacher. Her experience makes her a gifted facilitator for ATG trainings and workshops. LinkedIn profile.

Job Titles:

• Consultant
• Member of the ATG Team

Job Titles:

• Executive Administrator
• Member of the ATG Team

Sydney Morris is a University of West Georgia graduate with ten+ years of experience in various clerical and administrative roles, including five years supporting C-level executives in multiple industries. She fuses her drive for supporting teams with her ability to cultivate connections across varying landscapes for ATG. Sydney has a hand in most aspects of the many moving parts with the inner workings of ATG. Whether it's directing all business functions, managing client relations, producing Zoom trainings, or keeping the everyday functions on rails, there isn't much that she isn't a part of. She has recently been certified in FourSight™ team analysis methods for creative teams. Sydney's colleagues appreciate her ability to adapt to what's needed, her commitment to providing support, and her creative approach to problem solving.