our Leadership Team

Tim Edris

Timothy J. G. Edris MSOL

ELI's principal consultant, Tim has over a decade of experience implementing proven training. ...read more

Francois Guilleux Ph.D

Francois has been facilitating experiential leadership development opportunities for 20 years. ...read more
katherine

Katherine Sikma MA, MS

Katherine has over 15 years of experience developing leaders and facilitating groups...read more

Timothy J. G. Edris

"I am really interested in helping leaders become more effective in their abilities to create the future of their organization. The intersection of organizational success and leadership effectiveness is the type of development we are after."

Timothy Edris is a team and leadership development specialist. He has over 24 years of experience designing and implementing corporate and university training programs ranging from 10-person team-building sessions to 120-person managerial leadership programs. Tim is the principal consultant at Emerging Leaders Institute as well as a consultant with the Maue Center. He has a deep passion to develop leaders who will transform the world around them.

He has a Master's of Science of Organizational Leadership as well as many certifications in various OD tools and instruments. Tim is a coach who knows how to develop the potential of the people he mentors. He has coached Presidents/CEO's down through middle managers. He has a knack for creative design and the execution of organizational learning experiences, which are memorable, and help transfer learning to rising leaders’ hearts and minds. Tim also has the ability to uncover the truth about the culture of an organization’s leadership that illuminates the way to healthy leader development. In addition to highly creative means of program design, he has taught in more traditional settings at the collegiate level and other adult environments for over 12 years.

Tim resides in Beaver Falls, PA. He is bi-lingual in sign language and English. In his spare time, he wrangles the busy schedules of his two little girls, plays over-40 soccer, and likes to sing.

Francois Guilleux Ph.D

Francois is a leadership educator at heart. He believes that catalytic growth can occur when individuals connect deeply to a learning moment. Using innovative experiential designs and facilitation, Francois offers individuals and teams creative opportunities to grow their effectiveness and gain new perspectives on themselves and their organizations.

Specializing in adaptive leadership, adult development, and team interventions, Francois has spent the last 20 years focused on serving internal and external partners going through change efforts in the corporate, non-profit and Higher Education sectors. Francois co-founded a graduate program for experiential educators at Westminster College. He has taught or co-taught leadership and organizational change courses at Harvard University, Teachers College Columbia University, and the University of Pittsburgh where he is currently an adjunct professor. His research focuses on adult development and leadership education. He recently contributed a chapter in the book Social Justice Leadership for a Global World on the dispositions that facilitate leaders to learn from their failures. Francois’ love for leadership education and the outdoors converge in his deep resume of guiding people on wilderness expeditions as powerful classrooms for leadership growth.

Francois holds a master’s degree in education from Harvard University and a Ph.D. from the University of Pittsburgh where he was involved in the radical redesign of the Principal Certificate Program. Francois utilizes powerful tools for those leaders ready to take a deeper dive into their development. He is a trained practitioner with the Leadership Circle Profile™, the Immunity to Change™ process, Core Communication™ and the Subject-Object Interview.

In his free time, Francois can be found with his wife, dust-covered in the midst of renovating a home from the 1890’s in the East End of Pittsburgh or sharing time with his children as they discover the world.

Katherine Sikma MA, MS

Katherine

Katherine Sikma MA, MS

Katherine has over 15 years of experience developing leaders and facilitating groups. She loves collaborating with other to find creative solutions to complex problems. She is interested in change management, team dynamics, and fostering healthy workplace cultures.

Over her 15 years working in the education and nonprofit sectors, she gained experience in curriculum design, onboarding, group facilitation, and organizational communication. She has designed and led transformational training and experiences for groups and teams ranging from 3-300, and she has a proven track record of identifying and equipping leaders.

She holds a Bachelor’s in Communication from Calvin College, and Master’s degrees in Leadership and Higher Education from Duquesne University and Geneva College. Katherine has completed various other trainings and certifications in group communication, StrengthsFinder, Myers-Briggs, MCore, and the Enneagram.

Katherine lives in Pittsburgh’s North Side. She is invested in her community, where she has been serving as the inspector of elections since 2014. In her spare time, she enjoys photography, exploring the city, and listening to podcasts about politics, science, and true crime.