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Written by Karen Smith-Will

Parent Category: Coaching & Consulting

Category: Main

As we end the month of August, I'm talking tomatoes.

Hanover County, Virginia, home of the Hanover Tomatoes, is where I have lived for years. It’s also the county where Valutivity LLC is chartered.

You probably see where I’m going with this. Leaders are a little like tomatoes: we’re not all “ripe” at one given time. But we are constantly striving to get closer to that ready stage at each point in our  lives.

Read more: Leadership: Are You Ripe Yet?

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Written by Karen Smith-Will

Parent Category: Coaching & Consulting

Category: Main

Valutivity LLC president and Lubbock Christian University student Karen Smith-Will's research efforts were highlighted in a Abilene Christian University press release on July 27, 2010. In partnership with Dr. Kathryn Crockett, Karen made an offer to attend Abilene's 2010 Leadership Summit as its research analyst.  While data had been collected in a limited way in previous conferences, this was the first Summit that utilitzed pre- and post-summit surveys, a target audience of both attending students plus leaders and a collaboration with Lubbock Christian University. Karen utilitzed the Qualtrics™ Research Suite, in addition to other resources, to collect and analyze the data. A presentation was delivered at the Organizational Behavior Training Conference in June 2010.

Further details about the research are located in this Valutivity article.

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Written by Karen Smith-Will

Parent Category: Coaching & Consulting

Category: Main

A day before leaving for Albuquerque to present at OBTC, I had the last-minute opportunity to spend a morning with my son at his elementary school. After an awards ceremony, we all went outside with the kids to play games. As I watched them play, I spoke to another parent, a pastor of a local church.

He was detailing some church models and ministries he had observed recently, when I felt a painful sensation.

“I think something stung me,” I interrupted, pressing my palm into the top of my thigh, covered by blue jeans.

Read more: Apology Accepted

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Written by Karen Smith-Will

Parent Category: Coaching & Consulting

Category: Main

Karen Smith-Will is the President of Valutivity LLC.  She previously invested sixteen years at Capital One as an award-winning Process Engineer, Manager and Consultant. She has been married to her best friend, Barry, for over twenty-five years and has 3 wonderful children: Xander, Ashton and Alexa.

Karen's non-profit experience spans over 30 years and includes memberships on multiple boards, including stints as Director for the University of Richmond SPCS Alumni (2016 to present); Treasurer for the Maggie L. Walker Governor's School Music Boosters (2014 to present); former member of Hanover County Public Schools' Gifted Advisory Board (2011-2013); former Vice President for the Hanover County Council of PTAs; Facilitator for the Richmond chapter of the American Society for Training and Development (RASTD) and leader of the Women's Ministry Team for Fairmount Christian Church (2011 to 2017; currently a member).

She has a Master of Science in Leadership from Lubbock Christian University. She was a presenter at the at the 2011 Scholars' Colloquium and the 2012 Scholars' Colloquium at Lubbock Christian University and the 2010 Organizational Behavior Teaching Conference at the University of New Mexico. She has also guest-lectured at University of East Stroudsburg, in PA. For her undergrad, she was graduated summa cum laude in Humanities and Social Sciences from University of Richmond.

She also has clocked hundreds of hours supporting Richond Metropolitan Habitat for Humanity, Junior Achievement of Central Virginia, Inc., and Salvation Army Angel Tree. In 2009-10, Karen was excited to charter new FIRST and Junior-FIRST Lego Robotics Teams at Mechanicsville Elementary School, known as the "Blazing Builders." She has served as a Core Values Judge for the Maggie Walker Mech Tech Dragons #422 FIRST Lego League Invitational Tournament in 2016 and for the Deep Run FIRST Lego League Invitational Tournaments from 2010-2015. In 2008-9 she was nominated for "Volunteer of the Year" in Hanover County, Virginia, in the "Spirit of One" category.

See Karen's LinkedIn profile for a more complete resume of Karen's professional experience.

Through Valutivity LLC's sister company, The Consulting Arts, Karen teaches piano, voice & art; writes books; chairs art competitions such as PTA's Reflections program; performs for events like the Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah American Cancer Society Benefit; composes music; and manages a band known as Willdebeest. She is a former member of the Richmond Symphony Chorus and the Tallahassee Community Chorus.

Specialties

business process management, BPM, planning, process improvement, change management, Lean, Six Sigma, LSS, leadership, coaching, Agile, faith-based, non-profits, instructional design

Business Certifications

• State Corp Comm. LLC-ID:  #S305631-6 since 10/06/2009
• Dun & Bradstreet (DUNS):   #832359561
• Vendor # with e-VA:  VS0000054574
• Small, Women & Minorities (SWaM) Certification:  #682920

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Written by Karen Smith-Will

Parent Category: Coaching & Consulting

Category: Main

Karen developed "Generational Leadership Perspectives in a Higher Education Retreat Environment" in collaboration with Dr. Kathryn Crockett (Lubbock Christian University) and Michael Winegeart (Abilene Christian University). She and Dr. Crockett presented at the 2010 Organizational Behavior Teaching Conference at the University of New Mexico. This engaging and informative session demonstrates how a leadership retreat facilitated growth in Generation-Y leaders.

Read more: Leadership: OBTC - Gen-Y Perspectives on Leadership