Dr. Marie
Brown-Mercadel

"Marie is a wonderful example of someone who really makes a remarkable difference in others' lives. Her training and skills are significant. She attends to strengths, diversity, complexity, and the adaptive needs of those with whom she engages. I strongly recommend that those considering a need for coaching and related activities call on Marie. Her professionalism will ensure that needs are met with personalized, competent services".

— Dr. William Jenkins
University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill

"Dr. Marie Brown-Mercadel is a truly remarkable leader and communicator. Our organization has had the distinct privilege of working with her for a number of years, during which we have been able to witness her professional growth and development in a number of arenas. She has contributed her significant intelligence and vision to a long-term strategic initiative that is transforming California’s Child Welfare System and has become an extremely valuable spokesperson for that effort. Her work in coaching and developing her own local management team has been equally transformative and a genuine testament to her exceptional skills in understanding how to motivate individuals to make a maximum contribution to their collective efforts."

— Dr. Dana R. Hunter
Exec. Director, Louisiana Children’s Cabinet

"I had the privilege of working with Marie while we were employed in County government. She has always been a strong proponent of strengths-based management. From the point in time we read “First, Break All the Rules in early 2000,” Marie took the lead in crafting the leadership training and development approach for our top leaders with a focus on understanding and playing to employee strengths to drive engagement. Marie also helped our team see the strong connection between engagement and performance. She was one of the first to demonstrate the correlation between our leadership efforts and our success in meeting the needs of the children and families we served.”

— Ellen Schmeding
Chief Operator, St. Paul’s Senior Services

"I am so impressed with the breadth and depth of Dr. Mercadel's knowledge and skills. She is a dynamic and charismatic public speaker who is able to be fully present in front of large crowds, and simultaneously maintain a sense of humor and gravitas in her delivery. Those skills combined with her positive values, broad leadership knowledge, and high-quality professional experience enables her to provide excellent leadership coaching and guidance. Marie is truly an exceptional leader and coach. I am inspired and enriched by her each and every time I am in her presence”

— Alex Atkinson
Former Senior Advisor, Casey Family Foundation

"Dr. Marie Brown-Mercadel is a truly remarkable leader and communicator. Our organization has had the distinct privilege of working with her for a number of years, during which we have been able to witness her professional growth and development in a number of arenas. Dr. Brown-Mercadel has contributed her significant intelligence and vision to a long-term strategic initiative that is transforming California’s Child Welfare System and has become an extremely valuable spokesperson for that effort. Her work in coaching and developing her own local management team has been equally transformative and a genuine testament to her exceptional skills in understanding how to motivate individuals to make a maximum contribution to their collective efforts.”

— Stuart Oppenheim
Exec. Dir, Child and Family Policy Institute of California

"Marie is my mentor and a teacher of organizational leadership. She helped me through the growing pains of being a novice supervisor. She did this by spending the time needed to build a trustworthy and long-lasting relationship with me and by being candid and honest. Marie cares about the relationships she develops and believes in developing great leaders to one day lead an organization. Her awesomeness is contagious and inspirational."

— Sabrena Ann Wolf
Mentee

"I have had the privilege of being mentored by Dr. Mercadel for the past 6 years, she has explained various professional leadership skills to me and has also availed herself for personal life skills training. It is very unusual for an executive to avail themselves to frontline leaders; Dr. Mercadel has a unique style and was always willing to take the time to mentor aspiring leaders. Her style of mentoring is friendly yet direct, I am grateful to have the opportunity to meet her in this professional setting”"

— Beverly Archangel
Retired Protective Services Supervisor, Mentee

"Dr. Mercadel’s mentorship helped me focus and set career goals that I have never thought about or considered before. Getting the perspective of leadership in an informal setting is extremely valuable and I have been able to use my understanding of that perspective to improve my own work and relationship with my coworkers. As a new employee, I can say without a doubt that I think all new employees should participate in a mentorship program. Dr. Mercadel introduced me to so many new people and helped me navigate my way through a lot of situations while acquainting me with the organizational norms. Having a guide to help navigate though the unspoken rules while encouraging positive outcomes made such a difference in my experience."

— Catrin Lewis
Mentee