MEET THE team

Keri Laine

Founder & CEO

Read Keri's Bio

Keri is a global business strategist with expertise in serving high growth, industry disruptive organizations, with a passion for development of people and culture in entrepreneurial environments.

Keri has held C-level roles in various size organizations, public and private. In the past fifteen years, she has specialized in helping technology, manufacturing, and engineering companies disrupt their sector with entrepreneurial, innovative success across the globe She has lead organizations through employee growth of 100 to 4,000, both public and private with revenue stages from $40m to $5.6b.

She has led more than 25 mergers and acquisitions, spearheading the talent and human capital perspective as well as the business integration.

Keri also teaches MBA Courses at Rollins College in Winter Park, Florida. In addition, she facilitates the leadership and HR track in the Rollins business school’s Executive MBA for CEOs and entrepreneurs curriculum.

She has spoken at global conferences on various topics, and has had many works of thought published in industry leading publications. She serves on numerous boards, and is the founder of Working Moms Work Together, a global support platform for working moms.

Keri holds a Masters in Human Resource Management, a Bachelor in Organizational Behavior from Rollins College, and is a Certified Executive Coach with Change Management Certification.

Dean Budney

Executive Education

and Development

Read Dean's Bio

Dean has dedicated his entire career to the growth and development of a company’s most valuable asset – it’s people.

His passion for people and organizational development translates into measurable results that positively impact company culture and ultimately an organization’s bottom line. From employee retention to succession planning and everything in between, Dean has created programs that focus on the growth and development of employees at every level of the organization.

These programs have led to greater employee engagement, job satisfaction, higher productivity and therefore overall profit growth and company success.

Valerio Forte

Chief Commercial Officer

Read Valerio's Bio

Thirty-five year executive in financial services most recently leading the Miami-based Business Development team of H.I.G. Capital, which sourced over 3,000 transactions per year for the equity and debt funds as H.I.G. Capital grew from $5 billion to over $54 billion AUM. The team sourced over half of all PE deals closed in North America by H.I.G. Capital for both new and add-on investments through banking sources and proprietary means. Previously, Valerio worked with Genesis Consulting and UBS in New York, Basel, London and Zurich in a range of risk management and capital markets functions.

Candice Conseur

Talent Optimization

& Profitability

Read Candice's Bio

Candice is an inspirational talent management consultant with a passion for building strategic solutions that drive performance and advance organizational culture.

She has spent the past 20 years as a trusted advisor to executives in the financial services industry, including Kohlberg Kravis & Roberts (KKR), Clayton, Dubilier & Rice (CD&R), and UBS. Candice advises individuals, teams, and organizations across two main themes in human capital management: Organizational Advancement: By understanding the drivers of an organization’s strengths, as well as opportunities for growth, she designs solutions to advance business strategy, hone skills, and increase employee engagement with the end goal of accelerating performance.

Talent Acquisition, Integration, & Development: Drawing on experience and insights, she develops and deploys customized strategies that target business needs related to attracting, selecting, hiring, managing, developing, and retaining top talent.

Candice is committed to prioritizing relationships built on trust and authenticity. From advising executives on maximizing talent, to collaborating with teams to inspire change – leaders and peers have come to depend on Candice as a partner, coach, program designer, and facilitator.

Candice holds a BA with honors in Spanish Language and Literature from Colgate University and a Certificate in Career Coaching from New York University.

She applies data from talent management tools including 360°and Hogan assessments to complement coaching and facilitation.

Heather Beebe

Executive Mind, Body,

and Presence

Read Heather's Bio

Heather has a strong passion for bringing people together around wellness. She received her health coach certification through the Institute for Integrative Nutrition.

Her work was born from her own wellness journey, which involved healing in all areas…emotional, mental, physical, and spiritual… ultimately fueling her passion to serve those who also find themselves in a place of healing. Through wellness coaching, she challenges people to channel their inner rebels and dare to take a holistic approach to their health.

She guides them on a journey that focuses on digging deep into mindset and experiencing shifts that create lasting results. Her coaching program is a combination of 1:1 sessions, powerful group sessions, and online modules.

Cheryl Cuellar

Creative, Events,

Internal Operations

Read Cheryl's Bio

Cheryl’s career spans over 30 years in advertising, graphic design, digital and print production.

She studied at the University of New York at Stony Brook, and spent her early career as a typographer and production manager in several large printing plants.

Prior to joining KLES, Cheryl spent many years as an in-demand freelance designer for some of Orlando's best-known advertising agencies, non-profits and trade associations. She ran her own successful design firm for 12 years, where she produced work for local and national clients such as Ruth’s Chris, Easter Seals, Walt Disney World, Navales European Clothing, Metroplan Orlando, and Hearst Publications.

She has the ability to think both creatively and strategically to develop corporate branding and create unique marketing programs to reach target audiences. Her experience in advertising and marketing, as well as her understanding of design and branding enables her to manage the development of creative projects from concept through production with adherence to brand and style guidelines.

Keri Laine

Founder & CEO

Read Keri's Bio

Keri is a global business strategist with expertise in serving high growth, industry disruptive organizations, with a passion for development of people and culture in entrepreneurial environments.

Keri has held C-level roles in various size organizations, public and private. In the past fifteen years, she has specialized in helping technology, manufacturing, and engineering companies disrupt their sector with entrepreneurial, innovative success across the globe She has lead organizations through employee growth of 100 to 4,000, both public and private with revenue stages from $40m to $5.6b.

She has led more than 25 mergers and acquisitions, spearheading the talent and human capital perspective as well as the business integration.

Keri also teaches MBA Courses at Rollins College in Winter Park, Florida. In addition, she facilitates the leadership and HR track in the Rollins business school’s Executive MBA for CEOs and entrepreneurs curriculum.

She has spoken at global conferences on various topics, and has had many works of thought published in industry leading publications. She serves on numerous boards, and is the founder of Working Moms Work Together, a global support platform for working moms.

Keri holds a Masters in Human Resource Management, a Bachelor in Organizational Behavior from Rollins College, and is a Certified Executive Coach with Change Management Certification.

Valerio Forte

Chief Commercial Officer

Read Valerio's Bio

Thirty-five year executive in financial services most recently leading the Miami-based Business Development team of H.I.G. Capital, which sourced over 3,000 transactions per year for the equity and debt funds as H.I.G. Capital grew from $5 billion to over $54 billion AUM. The team sourced over half of all PE deals closed in North America by H.I.G. Capital for both new and add-on investments through banking sources and proprietary means. Previously, Valerio worked with Genesis Consulting and UBS in New York, Basel, London and Zurich in a range of risk management and capital markets functions.

Dean Budney

Executive Education

and Development

Read Dean's Bio

Dean has dedicated his entire career to the growth and development of a company’s most valuable asset – it’s people.

His passion for people and organizational development translates into measurable results that positively impact company culture and ultimately an organization’s bottom line. From employee retention to succession planning and everything in between, Dean has created programs that focus on the growth and development of employees at every level of the organization.

These programs have led to greater employee engagement, job satisfaction, higher productivity and therefore overall profit growth and company success.

Candice Conseur

Talent Optimization

& Profitability

Read Candice's Bio

Candice is an inspirational talent management consultant with a passion for building strategic solutions that drive performance and advance organizational culture.

She has spent the past 20 years as a trusted advisor to executives in the financial services industry, including Kohlberg Kravis & Roberts (KKR), Clayton, Dubilier & Rice (CD&R), and UBS. Candice advises individuals, teams, and organizations across two main themes in human capital management: Organizational Advancement: By understanding the drivers of an organization’s strengths, as well as opportunities for growth, she designs solutions to advance business strategy, hone skills, and increase employee engagement with the end goal of accelerating performance.

Talent Acquisition, Integration, & Development: Drawing on experience and insights, she develops and deploys customized strategies that target business needs related to attracting, selecting, hiring, managing, developing, and retaining top talent.

Candice is committed to prioritizing relationships built on trust and authenticity. From advising executives on maximizing talent, to collaborating with teams to inspire change – leaders and peers have come to depend on Candice as a partner, coach, program designer, and facilitator.

Candice holds a BA with honors in Spanish Language and Literature from Colgate University and a Certificate in Career Coaching from New York University.

She applies data from talent management tools including 360°and Hogan assessments to complement coaching and facilitation.

Anika Gakovic

Talent Optimization

& Profitability

Read Anika's Bio

Anika is a trusted coach and business psychologist who helps leaders and their teams to advance strategic goals and better serve their customers.

Anika has the distinctive ability to problem-solve and deliver learning and change solutions that create impact based on client priorities. She is highly regarded for building long-term relationships, navigating stakeholder complexity, and adapting to ambiguity to deliver results.

As a consultant, she focuses on three key areas:

- Coaching Leaders for Peak Performance

- Aligning Teams for Collaboration & Inclusion

- Optimizing Employee Experience & Talent Management

Anika has twenty years of experience building skills and creating change in high-performing enterprises. As Director of Learning at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, Anika modernized the learning strategy and enabled the people side of digital transformation for the organization. As Executive Director for Leadership Edge at JP Morgan Chase, Anika designed and executed global management programs to drive culture, engagement, and retention.

In her roles as Head of Organizational Effectiveness for OppenheimerFunds and Talent Executive at New York Life Insurance Company, she coached executive leaders and high potential employees, enabled salesforce transformation, and facilitated senior team offsites in order to drive strategic alignment.

Earlier in her career, Anika created and implemented professional development, employee engagement and change solutions as talent program manager at HSBC Private Bank and UBS Wealth Management.

Prior to her corporate experience, Anika worked as an independent consultant developing tools for candidate selection for Hess Oil and the Chicago Police Department. During this time, she also served as adjunct faculty at University of Houston where she completed her PhD in Industrial Organizational Psychology.

Anika has presented at the Conference Board, Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology (SIOP), Association for Talent Development (ATD), and Chief Learning Officer Exchange. She has published articles for the Journal of Organizational Behavior, Organizational Development Journal, and International Journal of Coaching in Organizations. Anika's presentations and publications focus on a range of topics including executive development, employee engagement, and driving people strategy through learning and change management.

Anika served on the Board of Directors for New York HR Planning Society (NYHRPS) and participated as a coach for the Entrepreneurs Challenge Competition at New York University Stern School of Business.

She is a member of Contemporary Leadership Advisors, Global Leadership Council, and Consortium for Change.

In her personal time, Anika takes care of her five-year old son and volunteers for civic causes including beach cleanups and food drives. She enjoys exploring art events, cooking, and gardening. Skills in progress are learning Spanish and wellness practices.

Heather Beebe

Executive Mind, Body,

and Presence

Read Heather's Bio

Heather has a strong passion for bringing people together around wellness. She received her health coach certification through the Institute for Integrative Nutrition.

Her work was born from her own wellness journey, which involved healing in all areas…emotional, mental, physical, and spiritual… ultimately fueling her passion to serve those who also find themselves in a place of healing. Through wellness coaching, she challenges people to channel their inner rebels and dare to take a holistic approach to their health.

She guides them on a journey that focuses on digging deep into mindset and experiencing shifts that create lasting results. Her coaching program is a combination of 1:1 sessions, powerful group sessions, and online modules.

Cheryl Cuellar

Creative, Events,

Internal Operations

Read Cheryl's Bio

Cheryl’s career spans over 30 years in advertising, graphic design, digital and print production.

She studied at the University of New York at Stony Brook, and spent her early career as a typographer and production manager in several large printing plants.

Prior to joining KLES, Cheryl spent many years as an in-demand freelance designer for some of Orlando's best-known advertising agencies, non-profits and trade associations. She ran her own successful design firm for 12 years, where she produced work for local and national clients such as Ruth’s Chris, Easter Seals, Walt Disney World, Navales European Clothing, Metroplan Orlando, and Hearst Publications.

She has the ability to think both creatively and strategically to develop corporate branding and create unique marketing programs to reach target audiences. Her experience in advertising and marketing, as well as her understanding of design and branding enables her to manage the development of creative projects from concept through production with adherence to brand and style guidelines.