Deborah (Deb) Pettry is a partner and co-founder of LearningZenith, a firm that helps talent development and human resource professionals create and deliver experiential workshops that are as memorable and effective online as they are in person. Deb and her partner, Rich Mayhew, have devoted much of their careers to experiential development for leaders and teams. When the COVID-19 pandemic threw face-to-face experiential development off its foundations, Deb and Rich committed themselves to developing powerful online learning that could be delivered by their clients or by themselves without extra software, equipment, or expense. You can see their growing line of products at LearningZenith.com.

Two additional projects currently occupy her time. The first is a series of interviews with people whose workplaces were impacted by the 9/11 terrorist attacks. The interviews focus on how people coped with the aftermath of the attacks as they returned to greatly changed workplaces, with lessons for returning to our post-pandemic ways of work. The second project is a survey to research what competencies are important for effective remote leadership, from the perspective of the people who are being led. If you would like to be involved in either project, contact [email protected].

Deb also provides executive coaching, leadership workshops, and strategic facilitation through her own separate business, Executive Rehearsal, and as on-call faculty for Center for Creative Leadership. For several years she was an ATD “friend of the Forum” and enjoyed interacting and learning with Forum members. An Indiana native (Indiana University and Purdue University grad) and long-time Southern California resident, she now lives in Corrales, New Mexico.