President

For more than 20 years, Jennifer has dedicated herself to helping business leaders and teams grow, learn, and change. She is a skilled facilitator and trusted advisor who is highly regarded for her pragmatic and down-to- earth approach. As a former faculty member and director of debate, Jennifer brings a critical eye to all of her work and provides practical solutions, grounded in research and experience.

Jennifer considers herself an “accidental entrepreneur,” having bought Tamayo Consulting in 1999 when the opportunity presented itself. She quickly repositioned the business to elevate its strengths in developing leaders, teams, and presenters. Jennifer is obsessive about being “easy to do business with” and delivering the very best client service and results.

Jennifer is the mother of two daughters, Natalie, 14, and Nicole, 12, who have helped her to become a better delegator and more empathetic leader.

Jennifer received her M.A. in Communication and B.A. in Speech Communication, both from San Diego State University.

Director of Learning and Development Services

Melissa manages national client accounts, designs and facilitates custom solutions and manages Tamayo training programs, facilitators and staff. She specializes in communication, leadership and team development solutions and has worked with Fortune 500 companies, start-ups, and non-profit agencies. She has developed scores of customized learning programs and helped hundreds of executives, managers, teams and individual contributors to reach new levels of effectiveness in their roles. 

Melissa joined Tamayo in 2004. She received her M.A. in Communication from San Diego State University and her B.S. in Marketing from the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse.

Melissa is the proud mother of  Jack, 6, and Eva, 4, and loves learning and experiencing new things with them every day.

Office Administrator

Jana provides unmatched administrative support to the Tamayo team to ensure quality programming and client relations. Her competitive drive to succeed and loyal demeanor stemming from her experience as a Division I lacrosse player at the University of Oregon sets the foundation for the office and helps Tamayo do what it does best. As the administrative support she is exposed to a wide range of responsibilities and prides herself on efficiency, professionalism, creativity and follow up. She coordinates program logistics, creates and designs program materials and manages day-to-day office operations. In her time at Tamayo, she has developed processes around offices systems to ensure things run smoothly.  

Jana joined Tamayo in 2014 after receiving her M.A. in Communication from Marist College and B.A. in Communication from the University of Oregon. Jana also spends her time coaching, building and mentoring high school student-athletes. As the varsity women’s coach, she has lead the Lancers of Carlsbad High School to two CIF Championship appearances in the last three years.

Senior Facilitator

Keri began teaching Public Speaking and introductory Communication courses at San Diego State University. Wanting to follow her passion for teaching and curiosities about leadership, she made the decision to enter the world of talent development, committing herself to the growth of others.

Keri has been facilitating for Tamayo since 2012. As a capable and resourceful talent development professional, she facilitates several of our programs and develops curriculum based on our client needs. 

Born and raised in San Diego, Keri left to play Division I volleyball in Connecticut. After unsuccessfully managing the distance and weather, she returned to sunny San Diego to finish her B.A. and M.A. in Communication from San Diego State University. Outside of facilitating, Keri coaches volleyball, teaches at MiraCosta College and is involved with local non-profits. Keri's husband and two young children keep her energized and involved in many extracurriculars. 

Senior Facilitator

Mario facilitates Tamayo’s leadership and presentation programs. He has 30+ years experience in the performance and organization development field, specializing in training and coaching individuals and teams on communication, leadership and presentation skills. Mario helps people from frontline to executive levels in public and private sector organizations. For over 14 years, Mario served The Ken Blanchard Companies as director of product development, company ombudsperson, consultant; and he worked closely with Ken on ethics and values.

Mario has a Master’s degree in Exercise Physiology from San Diego State University. Married to Michele, they have a son (Geoff) and an Aussie (Bella). Mario regularly surfs at his home break in Cardiff, CA.

Senior Facilitator

Lisa facilitates leadership and presentation programs, in addition to working with individual teams on their performance. For 25 years Lisa has facilitated programs around change, leadership, teams and communication in Europe, Russia, the U.K., Australia and throughout the United States. She works with national and international companies on their presentations - helping executives, marketers, sales teams, engineers and scientists build a message for their audience that will get them results. With a consulting background in business strategy and organizational development, Lisa is uniquely positioned to understand the needs of the business and the stakeholders.

Lisa is master certified in Emotional Intelligence and has a Bachelor of Business with an emphasis in Human Resources and Training and Development from Griffith University in Australia. She has recently been volunteering with the International Rescue Committee helping young refugees to tell their stories to organizations like Amnesty International. She also is on the Marketing Committee for Southern California Tennis Association writing content and promoting the sport to get more people out there playing and living a healthy lifestyle.

Senior Facilitator

Jim facilitates Tamayo’s leadership and presentation programs. He began his talent development career in the banking and data processing industries. As his passion for developing the skills of business personnel grew, he became MBTI qualified and DISC certified to better understand the dynamics of people in the workplace. Jim soon saw opportunities that led him to expand his skills and knowledge. He spent ten years delivering public training seminars to thousands of people across the United States, Canada, and Europe on management, leadership, and business communication skills. He continues to follow his passion, helping companies realize bottom-line improvements from employee performance.

Jim has a degree in Speech Communications from Georgia State University.