Who We Are

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OUR STORY

1980s

When I (Danièle) created Management Savvy in 2001, I knew the time was approaching to break free from the conventional approach to corporate training and the more generic cookie-cutter programs. I wanted to reconnect with the experiential learning approach I was introduced to as a young facilitator working with social integration programs in the USA, in the mid-eighties.

1990s

Upon my return to Canada in the mid-nineties I joined a consulting firm and shifted toward a more conventional teaching approach, curriculum development and training for the business world. While most organizations were valuing training and professional development for their employees, few were willing to step off of the beaten path to include a more experiential learning approach.

2000s

The early 2000s became my exploratory years in which I experimented with new tools and approaches and finally flew solo. From 2003 to 2017, I prototyped different Behavioural Leadership Programs, making Self-Management and Personal Accountability the core focus for the participants’ learning journey. My certification in Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) and Herrmann Brain Dominance Instrument (HBDI), including my licensing from Kaospilot have helped define my style of intervention and collaboration with clients.

2010s

In 2017, after 35 years of curriculum design, coaching and facilitating learning spaces, I invited Astrid Pruitt from Kaospilot and Vienna Blum from the Concordia Human System Intervention Program to join Management Savvy. With their complementary crafts and unique input, Astrid and Vienna introduced a new generation of impactful learning experiences. In 2018, Nicolò Francesco Bernardi kindly accepted to add his cognitive neuroscientific expertise, mindfulness practice, u.lab method among many other assets to the team’s collective savvies.

2020s

The first year of this new decade with the pandemic gave us the opportunity to rethink our offerings. We quickly integrated new online applications and structures to our Zoom workshops. Astrid embarked on a new adventure with one of our clients, Vienna dove head first in designing powerful online conversations for a variety of global organizations, and I became busier than ever supporting organizations who were learning to navigate in the Covid fog. There were no more frontiers, creating learning spaces for large audiences from different locations was now made possible. Marie-Joëlle joined us as more teams were craving deeper connections and co-learning experiences. Since 2022, new members have continued to join the team to offer a range of services to meet our customers’ needs.

DANIÈLE BIENVENUE

The ever-adapting human systems have fascinated her for the last 40 years. Her lab is the courageous learning space she co-creates with her clients.

Early in her career, she was introduced to experiential learning and has continued to prototype and deliver many impactful learning workshops since then. When people are given the opportunity to appreciate their diversity and build on the scope of their differences, engagement and personal accountability emerge naturally.

With a Bachelor of Arts and a Masters of Science in Public Health, Danièle Bienvenue takes no excuses – she refuses to accept counterproductive habits, assumptions or convenient stories. She finds creative ways to bring NLP (Neuro-Linguistic Programming), Appreciative Inquiry, the Kolb Learning Model and Kaospilot methodology into her program designs and facilitation.

Danièle is a certified practitioner in NLP and in HBDI (Herrmann Brain Dominance Instrument). She’s also a licensee from Kaospilot and facilitates the 3-day Masterclass “The Art & Craft of Designing and Facilitating Learning Spaces”.

With power, conviction and kindness, Danièle is known as a coach who helps even the most ego-driven, fearful or confused reconnect to what truly matters. She helps them take accountability for their life, and she leaves them with a newfound strength to forge their own unique path forward. She does all of this with a smile on her face, a lightness in her step and a grounded and warm heart.

MARIE-JOELLE CHARLEBOIS

Marie-Joëlle seeks to understand what truly allows us to show up as ourselves in every aspect of our lives.

Facilitating workshops where groups help and challenge each other to find the courage to act, is where she finds meaning, alongside participants.

She holds a Bachelor’s of Education from Université de Montréal and a Personal and Professional Coaching Certificate from Concordia University. She has over 15 years of experience in developing talents as members of teams and communities in creative industries, from video game to circus productions, or marketing agencies.

With curiosity, empathy and a bit of spunk, she helps people connect and find shared understanding and meaning of the challenges they face. She holds the space with authenticity, allowing real talk and heartfelt inspiration to bloom into exploration of new pathways for moving forward which works for both individuals and teams.

VIENNA BLUM

Vienna is driven by the magic that occurs when groups come together to learn from each other.

She holds a Bachelor’s of Commerce in Human Resource Management from John Molson School of Business as well as a Master’s degree in the field of Human Systems Intervention from Concordia University.

With over 15 years working with a variety of teams in corporate, non-profit and educational sectors, it is her experience in leadership positions in the fields of Marketing and Communication that distinguishes her at Management Savvy.

It is with an open heart and open mind that Vienna helps teams and individuals address the underlying issues depleting productivity, clarity and creativity in organizations. She joins you equipped with a variety of management tools and methodologies to facilitate problem solving, adapted to meet your unique needs.

NICOLO BERNARDI

Nicolò fosters a deep desire to constantly improve with the inner knowing that perfection is already right here, in this very moment. It is this paradox that fires up Nicolò in his own life and in his work in service of individuals and organizations.

Nicolò has a PhD in Cognitive Neuroscience, is a certified Yoga teacher, and has deepened his training in mindfulness at Jon Kabat-Zinn’s Center for Mindfulness, part of the University of Massachusetts Medical School. Enthusiast about experiential learning and keenly aware of the systemic nature of the challenges faced by modern organizations, he has taken on a Masters degree in Human Systems Intervention, has trained in the u.lab method at the MIT-based Presencing Institute and refined his design and facilitation skills with the Danish Kaospilot approach. Lover of creative and performing arts, he delights in the company of others sharing his violin playing and all sorts of improv theatre acts.

Thanks to these experiences, he brings to Management Savvy a look into the depth of human beings that is practical, data driven, scientifically sound and at the same time authentic, creative and compassionate. For over 10 years he has combined research on the mind-body with the application of such research in training and facilitation, having mindfulness, design thinking and sustainable leadership as pillars.

With rigour and humour, Nicolò helps leaders and teams sharpen their ability to see things as they really are. From there, he supports clients in accessing untapped potential in individuals and systems, opening channels of authentic communication and developing sustainable ways to maximize productivity and engagement.

Link to Nicolò’s personal website

OLIVIA COMMUNE

Olivia wants more than anything to make organizations more human and humans more entrepreneurial.

For her, being a leader is above all a quality of being, a willingness to question the status quo and to make a difference. Her mission is to accompany her clients in developing the necessary leadership to create meaningful projects where collaboration is at the heart of the process. Her coaching and facilitation approach brings clarity and puts her clients in action to achieve their individual and collective goals.

She also teaches as a lecturer in Entrepreneurship at HEC Montreal, where she obtained her B.A.A. and M.Sc. in Marketing in the 2000’s. Olivia is a certified NLP coach and has developed her skills in designing learning experiences using the Kaospilot approach.

It is with enthusiasm, benevolence and curiosity that she will accompany your leaders and teams in creating safe working spaces where everyone can deploy their full potential and thus fully contribute to the future of your companies.

DONALD LURETTE

Donald is fascinated by the transformation of complex learning systems.

Donald’s academic background includes graduate training in “Andragogy”, through a Diplôme d’études supérieures spécialisées (DESS) from the Université du Québec en Outaouais, and undergraduate training in “Environmental Health” and “Public Administration” from Ryerson University.

He has over 30 years’ experience as an Andragogue with a variety of teams from the community and institutional sectors in adult education networks across Canada. He provides consulting services on a variety of themes, including learning issues among marginalized adult clienteles, training-learning practices in various cultural contexts, and human resources development in organizations.

He is often approached to work on projects requiring in-depth analysis of existing learning systems (training practices, professional development strategies, etc.) to enable the development of relevant andragogical proposals for improving situations, taking into account all their complexity.

So it’s with an open mind and an open heart that Donald accompanies individuals and groups, to put in place conditions that support practitioners in becoming more reflective, and their organizations in becoming more learning.

MEHDI BENHIDA

Mehdi aims to create safe spaces where people can let go of their beliefs and assumptions to be able to grow and develop as confident leaders.

Having occupied multiple leadership roles in tech start-ups over the past 5 years, he developed an expertise in creating order and harmony out of chaos as well as growing diverse and empowered teams. Mehdi’s work is informed by the Kaospilot method of facilitating collaboration and learning.

With his mantra being “Individual and interactions over processes and tools”, he strives to foster trust and empathy between people.