Linda Meccouri, PhD

Linda is an enthusiastic facilitator of positive change to empower organizations to understand and unleash their strengths, co-create visionary change, build resiliency and move forward to “planning the preferred future”. She consults with business, healthcare, and educational organizations.

With over 30 years of teaching and leadership experience at the community college, undergraduate, and graduate level, Dr. Meccouri is the recipient of two Endowed Chairs for Teaching Excellence and is highly respected for her creative approaches to leadership and positive change.

What she does best is cultivate the strengths of individuals and organizations, walking the visionary path with practical feet. Linda has a reputation for getting things done while maintaining integrity and promoting human dignity. She facilitates learning and creates community with a strengths-based approach.

Linda's inspiring keynotes, Nationally and Internationally, are consistently praised as “motivational”, “engaging”, “entertaining” and “transforming”. A dynamic, energetic approach connects with her audiences and appreciatively speaks to the heart of what helps people transform. Dr. Meccouri is a scholar, a storyteller, and an entertainer with extensive experience in face to face, accelerated, online, and hybrid formats. 

Her ongoing research “Making It: Resilience Against the Odds” examines the factors involved in resilience and success for low-income, first generation college students with the social indicators associated with failure. Linda continues this work facilitating leadership workshops, and courses. Dr. Meccouri is passionate about her work with healthcare organizations to improve patient and staff experience, leading retreats, workshops and coaching professionals to improve experience, leadership and career satisfaction. 

As a facilitator her watchword is “Presume Goodwill” working with diverse professionals to design and deliver programs that transform organizations.

Andrew Harrison

Andrew Harrison has a unique background as social innovator, author and researcher of human motivation. His research began in 2004 when he exchanged his master’s degree and high paying sales job for a year on the road—traveling the United States interviewing people from varied backgrounds about how they came to discover passion from their work; a passion which inevitably spilled over into the remaining aspects of their lives.

His study of human motivation now spans many industries and fields. Andrew’s debut book entitled, “Love Your 84,000 Hours at Work: Stories on the Road from People with Purpose and Passion,” chronicles the inspiring journeys of people who have mastered one of the core ingredients to maintaining a happy life—loving what you do.

In 2007, Andrew’s travels and studies brought him to Idea Connection Systems, a global innovation consulting firm, where he interviewed Bob Rosenfeld. Their meeting was a connection of values and minds that spawned Andrew becoming the writer of Bob Rosenfeld and Gary Wilhelmi’s book, “The Invisible Element: A Practical Guide to the Human Dynamics of Innovation.”

Writing “The Invisible Element” allowed Andrew to learn firsthand from two expert practitioners on how innovation happens inside organizations. He was also an instrumental part of the Idea Connection Systems team that developed the ISPI™ (Innovation Strengths Preference Indicator®). Andrew was on the delivery team for the first ever ISPI™ workshop, is Master Certified in the ISPI™ and is one of the leading experts in the world for using the ISPI™ for individual, team and organizational development.

Andrew is the Founder of Bonfire Consulting and the Innovation Ambassador of Idea Connection Systems. He has a true passion for teaching the tools of the motivation trade; a byproduct from his days as a former adjunct college professor. Andrew’s unique blend of analysis, strategy, sales and marketing, writing, training, speaking and facilitating makes him a valuable asset to clients.

Andrew’s work has been featured in newspapers, television, radio stations, business journals and magazine publications across the country. He is currently based in Rochester, NY and is both purposeful and passionate about family, writing, traveling, food, helping people and teams grow, playing golf and watching sports.