who we are

our team

Paul Robillard, Cert. ConRes,

Paul is a talented facilitator, mediator and coach. He brings over 20 years of experience as a business owner, entrepreneur and manager to his work with people. Paul has operated several companies involved in construction, real estate development, manufacturing and distribution in Canada and Chile.

He is experienced as a project manager, operations manager and CEO. A skilled and versatile leader, Paul led his organizations by facilitating group processes, conflict resolution, and team alignment and brings this experience to his mediation and facilitation.. He specialized in creating cultures of open communication, honesty and clarity, mentoring managers by utilizing his facilitation and communication skills.

Paul is a certified in Mediation from the Justice Institute of British Columbia, a certified facilitator for Crucial Conversations® and The Creative Planning Process. He is a founding Member and on the the Board of Directors of The Haven Institute for Professional Training, www.haven.ca.

paul@toolsfortalking.com

Rick Jackson

Rick has 25 years experience as a professional communicator nationally and internationally. He has proven expertise in inter-personal communications skill training, public speaking, executive coaching and counselling, organizational development and planning, policy writing, conflict resolution and tribunal management. Rick is an Executive and Personal Coach and consultant with results that have been described as “transformative” by his clients. Rick’s focus is working with people in organizational or individual settings and he is a certified Crucial Conversations ® trainer.

Extensive experience as an international advocate on trade, economic and labour/social policy, Rick has facilitated meetings with numerous organizations and with Heads of Government on every continent including Mikael Gorbachev and Nelson Mandela.

An experienced senior manager having held positions in both the public and private sector - most recently in the position of regional chairperson and top adjudicator of one of Canada’s highest volume administrative tribunals, the Immigration and Refugee Board. He has consulted to a host of national and international organizations such as within the United Nations and NGO communities.
An accomplished and skilled leader of individuals and groups in a variety of dynamic personal training and change processes as a faculty member at one of Canada’s leading personal leadership training centers, The Haven Institute for Personal and Professional Training. www.haven.ca

An accomplished public speaker, Rick will delight audiences for years with his humour, wide experience, candour and insightful descriptions of the change process and its implications for people and the organizations they have built or serve. rick@toolsfortalking.com

Jim Sumi

Jim is a skilled facilitator who has spent the past 25 years helping client organizations to define and resolve resource allocation issues. From his offices in Vancouver, he currently provides consulting services to a wide range of post-secondary, health care, civic and corporate clients. Jim’s expertise is in working with interdisciplinary client groups, to help them define and understand the impacts of key decisions. Jim is also a registered architect, and currently serves on a Development Task Force for the National Council of Architectural Registration Boards in Washington, DC. jim@toolsfortalking.com