CATHY ROSE SALIT
President
Cathy began her career as an upstart and risk-taker at the age of 13, when she dropped out of eighth grade and along with some friends and their more open-minded parents started an alternative school in an abandoned storefront in New York City. This innovative endeavor led to Random House's publication of their book, Starting Your Own High School.
Cathy has spent her life as an onstage performer as well as an educational pioneer and social entrepreneur, launching innovative businesses and organizations designed as centers for change, learning and growth. Throughout the 80s and early 90s she was an instrumental force in creating several youth development programs that used performance and theater as key pedagogical tools including an award-winning anti-violence program for inner-city children, the first "Vygotskian" elementary school in North America, and an innovative pregnancy prevention program for at-risk teens. In the mid-1990s, she put her performing talent, her passion for creating cutting-edge, developmental learning environments, and her entrepreneurial ability to work in creating Performance of a Lifetime.
As one of Performance of a Lifetime's lead designers, trainers, and coaches, Cathy has developed hundreds of innovative experiential programs for a global portfolio of clients. She relates to all teams and organizations as theatrical ensembles which have the capacity to create new, varied, and collaborative performances both with one another and with their clients. Her most recent work includes a group coaching program for executive women in professional services, and a global leadership development initiative for the "top 50" at a leading technology firm.
An accomplished singer, actress, director, and improvisational comic, Cathy can still be heard (if you search high and low, that is) on pop, R&B, and jazz recordings, and seen (much more easily) onstage in New York City in the Castillo Theatre's long-running improv comedy show, This is Your Ridiculous Life.
DAVID NACKMAN
Creative Director
David's first performing experience was as a pre-teen magician. His magic career was short-lived, though, because he found it much more interesting to show people how it's done than to bewilder the audience.
In his subsequent career as an actor, director, trainer, and coach, David has dedicated his talent to revealing to "the rest of us" (the non-performers of the world) that the tools of theater can be a powerful force in transforming everyday life. David is a strong believer in, and passionate advocate of, applied theater and improvisation for professional and personal development. He is an innovator in introducing the skills of improvisation as a method for creative effective, authentic, high-impact presentations and communications, and has designed and conducted a wide range of experiential education programs in corporate and non-profit settings.
David's work as an actor has taken him from Broadway to theatrical appearances before the 30,000-member convention of the American Psychological Association. On the stage, he has played characters ranging from Franz Kafka and Fidel Castro to Neil Simon and Richard Nixon. A graphic artist in his early career, David approaches his work with Performance of a Lifetime as a designer of peak experiences. An accomplished videographer, editor, and writer, he is a critical implementer of all of POAL's work.
David most recently appeared in an award-winning independent feature film, Nothing Really Happens. As an artistic associate at the avant-garde Castillo Theatre on 42nd Street in New York City, he serves as resident acting coach and is a member of the directing staff and acting ensemble.
MAUREEN KELLY
Principal
Maureen has almost two decades of experience working with Fortune 500 companies as an executive leader and management consultant. A talented improvisational performer, trainer, therapist and coach, Maureen has helped thousands of executives across all industries to build their teams and organizations continuously and creatively.
Maureen first discovered the power and impact of the Performance of a Lifetime methodology as a client. She enrolled in a POAL improvisation workshop in 1998 and immediately fell in love with the enabling and empowering experience of being on stage. As an experienced organizational development practitioner, Maureen recognized that performance and improvisation provided a unique set of tools for professional development. Today, having made the leap from POAL client to principal, Maureen now brings her passion for this cutting-edge "artistic learning technology" to the corporate world as one of POAL's top designers, consultants and trainers.
Maureen began her career in marketing with Citibank, where she led several global product-development initiatives. As a Vice President, Maureen began a career shift into the field of organizational development and helped to create one of Citibank's first internal organizational effectiveness consulting groups. Prior to joining POAL, Maureen was a senior consultant with the boutique consulting firm Vector Strategic Resources, where she designed and facilitated large-scale organizational change initiatives, leadership development simulations and competency-based coaching programs to support the development of senior executives.
She earned her MA in Organizational Psychology at Teachers College, Columbia University, and completed her postgraduate studies and clinical work in psychology at the East Side Institute for Group and Short Term Psychotherapy. She has her BS in Finance and International Relations from the University of Delaware.