Marthaellen Florence

Marthaellen Florence is one of the lead faculty member for Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility for the Federal Executive Institute at OPM's Center for Leadership Development.

Marthaellen first joined FEI in 2018 following an award-winning career spanning over four decades as a broadcast journalist and investigative reporter. She now serves as one of FEI’s lead faculty, supporting the strategic plan of the Executive Orders of  Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Accessibility (DEIA).  She also serves as the acting Director for Training and Leadership Development for the Presidential Management Fellows program; assists agencies throughout the Federal Government to develop their initiatives and strategies around DEIA,  and facilitates Air Force leadership development courses.

 A practitioner of the power of inclusive leadership, Marthaellen has expertise in leading both small and large groups and leverages this knowledge to guide individuals to higher levels of professional effectiveness and personal satisfaction. Marthaellen has extensive experience leading teams in the areas of cultural sensitivity, cultural competence and intercultural communication. She has comprehensive knowledge in the areas of implicit/unconscious bias; resiliency; vision creation; dynamics of power and privilege; effective team building and developing group synergy and principles through courageous cultural dialogue.

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Heath Harding, Ph.D

Dr. Heath Harding is a faculty member at the Federal Executive Institute, U.S. Office of Personnel Management in Charlottesville, Virginia which celebrated its 50^th anniversary in 2018. Heath oversees the Federal Executive Institute's prestigious Leadership for a Democratic Society program, which has graduated more than 30,000 federal leaders.

Heath has over 20 years of experience helping emerging and seasoned leaders in public, for-profit, and nonprofit environments to develop their leadership skills. He has been recognized for his excellence in teaching. He has experience teaching a wide range of topics that include self-development, interpersonal skills, teamwork, ethics, and organizational dynamics. Prior to Federal Executive Institute, he served as associate director at The Leadership Center at the University of Illinois and assistant director at the School of Leadership Studies at Kansas State University.

Heath also has significant experience developing leadership capacity across the self-development, team, and organizational leadership spectrum. Certifications include MBTI step II, Emotional Intelligence (EQi 2.0) individual and 360 assessment, StandOut strengths assessment, and is a Mayo Clinic certified coach.

Michelle Reugebrink serves as the Mindfulness and Resiliency Program Manager for the U.S. Forest Service (USFS). Michelle is a master coach and has been featured in “Mindful” and “TIME” magazines for her work around Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) and coaching.

Michelle worked for 16 years on wildland fire engines, hand crews, and hotshot crews. She worked several years as an Occupational Health and Safety Manager for the Pacific Southwest Region in California, Hawaii, and the Pacific Islands.

Michelle is a National Board-Certified Health and Wellness Coach (NBC-HWC), a Professional Integrative Health Coach through Duke University’s Integrative Medicine program, a member of the International Coaching Federation and (ICF-MCC), Executive coach, and a member of the Global Integrative Health Coaching Alliance. Michelle is a graduate of the Federal Internal Coaching program and is the Forest Service’s point of contact for assigning USFS employees’ access to a Federal Internal coach through Office of Personnel Management & a Senior mentor and the first in the federal government to be an MCC.  

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Garth Smelser

Garth Smelser has joined us today from NOAA. Garth oversees the “Mindful NOAA” program. Garth served 14 years in the US Forest Service and eight years in the U.S. Navy. While co-founding the Mindful NOAA community movement, Garth received mindfulness facilitator training through the Engaged Mindfulness Institute.

Through the Calmer Choice organization, he teaches mindfulness lessons to K-12
students, including at risk youth. Garth also works with the Center for Mindfulness in Public Safety to train safety and corrections officials in mindfulness-based wellness and resilience.

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