Steve Courmanopoulos, RPR Sigma Consulting Group

Steve is a Senior Partner with the Sigma Consulting Group, a firm that specializes in helping its clients identify opportunities for significant competitive advantage in challenging markets and situations. After more than twenty-five years of work experience and dozens of consulting projects, Steve believes that the one factor that differentiates companies that produce long-term shareholder value is the ability to engage their employees' passion to the company's mission and vision. This "human element" of corporate performance is the least well understood, despite its critical impact on corporate performance.

Steve obtained his psychological training at McGill (B.Sc.) and California State University (M.A.). After several years working in a clinical setting, he returned to McGill to pursue graduate studies in business. He is currently working on his doctorate in Psychology. His principal area of interest is how company culture drives individual behaviour and corporate performance.

Steve's strong belief that people are the key to business success means that he has always emphasized the importance of hiring the right individuals and has been intimately involved in that process throughout his career. This interest in recruiting led him to train in recruiting, including DDI's Targeted Selection Program as well as IPM's Professional Recruiting Program. Steve is a member of the APRC and a Registered Professional Recruiter (RPR).

His corporate career includes Sales with Ayerst Laboratories, Sales Management at Union Carbide Corporation, Marketing at Beiersdorf Medical, divisional responsibility for E.Merck, and General Management with Support Systems International where he was President from 1991 to 1994. In 1994 he co-founded the Sigma Consulting Group with Margarita Reti.

In 1996 the Sigma Consulting Group developed the Medius Critical Insight Serviceä, a powerful tool for uncovering and quantifying the most disclosure resistant information among key business stakeholders. Since its inception, the Medius has been deployed by some of the most successful health care and technology companies worldwide.

Steve describes his company's activities as part of the growing Corporate Renewal specialty. The turbulence of recent years has resulted in an increasing demand for expertise in managing change and serious threats to corporate survival. Steve is a member of the worldwide Turnaround Management Association, a small group of specialists who help companies navigate difficult situations.

Multilingual, including English, French, Greek and German, Mr. Courmanopoulos lives in Montreal and travels extensively throughout North America and Europe.

Alexandrina Vieira, CMP, Office Manager, LifeMark Health Institute

Alexandrina Vieira, CMP LifeMark Health Institute

Alexandrina Vieira, CMP is currently the Office Manager at LifeMark Health Institute, one of 50 LifeMark Health Management Inc. clinics in Canada.

After over twenty years in diverse roles in the private, public and non-profit sectors, Alex applied her hands on experience towards a Business Management Certificate in March 2001 and shortly after her Canadian Management Professional designation through APRC. Alex credits her past employers for recognizing and encouraging her abilities, elevating Alex from the level of recent High School graduate employed as a receptionist to becoming First Aid Instructor, advancing to Program Standards Manager, into the role of Educational Coordinator and finally ending up with LifeMark.

As the Clinic Director's right hand, Alex manages Human Resources for 41 staff including consultants and physicians, Operations, Finance, develops and updates policies and procedures, and oversees that accreditation standards are met.

Being steady and staying on track, without becoming distracted by side issues are some of Alex's strengths. Alex maintains a consistent focus on her goals to 'keep everyone in the loop.' She strives for quality and maintains an 'it can be done' attitude with a priority on encouraging individual initiative.

Alex was recruited by LifeMark from the public health system, where she led and hosted numerous educational and training initiatives for staff in the Capital Health Region as well as for professionals throughout Alberta and the rest of Canada.

In her spare time, Alex volunteers as an IPM Associations' Regional Executive - Edmonton Chapter. This invitation was extended to her shortly after her completion of the CMP designation in June of 2001. Alex works alongside two other board members providing her with the opportunity to make use of her organizational skills in planning chapter meetings, keeping up to date on current issues and creating opportunities for professionals in the community through educational seminars to share 'on the edge' service delivery trends all the while building upon a network of professionals.

Alex's personal interests are found with her husband, three teenage and their two Labrador Retrievers. Spending as much quality time as possible with her family is a top priority for Alex. She enjoys reading, dining, dancing and taking long walks with her dogs.