Human Resources

Facilitators

Lorea Belle Seidel

Lorea is currently the Director of Organizational Effectiveness and Associate Director of Human Resources. She draws upon a diversity of experience as she works to improve the university's effectiveness in serving its students and community. Her background includes business and non-profit management as well as extensive work in student affairs and counseling at the college level. Learning is a lifelong theme both personally and professionally for Lorea. She earned a bachelor's degree in Public Relations and Marketing, a Master's degree in Community Counseling and continued her doctoral studies focusing on organizational development. Her areas of expertise include interpersonal communications, creative thinking tools, recruitment and retention strategies, performance evaluation, personality and work style assessment, priority management, team dynamics and career development. At SMU, you will find her facilitating a wide variety of professional development workshops, providing employee relations counseling, partnering with departments regarding systems improvements and leadership development, and providing oversight for the Wellpower wellness program.

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Jerry Magar

Jerry brings over twenty years of experience in individual and organizational consulting. In addition to his role with SMU as Director of Performance Improvement, he is also a founding partner of People Systems Consulting Group, where he works with such clients as: Pioneer Flour Mills, Shell Oil, Dell Computer, Texas Instruments, JP Morgan Chase, Southwest Airlines, Lucent Technologies and many more large and small clients. His areas of expertise fall in a wide range of categories including leadership development, strategic planning, interpersonal communication and change management. He has served as an adjunct faculty member for SMU's Cox School of Business teaching organizational development and change in the BBA and MBA programs. He is also on faculty for several of the Cox School's Executive Education programs, where he currently serves as Academic Director for The Advanced Leadership Program.

Jerry holds Certification and Master Certification designations for over twenty-five programs and assessment instruments and has certified hundred of trainers across the United States and Canada. Combining an educational background in Communication and Organization Development with his hand-on business experience in marketing, public relations and business development, Jerry brings a sense of "real world" application to his work.

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Jeff Strese

Jeff has more than 20 years of experience in counseling, training, and organizational consulting. Currently he is the Director of Human Resources at SMU. Jeff’s focus is on leading strategic HR initiatives. He is an adjunct faculty member in the Cox School of Business where he has taught undergraduate and MBA level courses in change management. He is currently teaching in the Executive Education program.

As an external consultant, Jeff works with corporations and nonprofit organizations on improving communications, priority management, leadership and organizational culture. He has integrated his keen people skills into a training environment that produces real transformation with participants. Jeff's Master of Education degree from the University of North Texas, and his background in counseling, allow him to react to the nuances and sensitivities of dealing with people issues in a work environment.

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Rebecca Sampson

As the Department of Human Resources Employee Relations Representative, Rebecca handles all staff job performance issues. Rebecca began working with Human Resources as the Training Coordinator in Organizational Development in 1997. By working closely with the HR Director, she helped to develop Employee Relations into a separate function within the division. In her Employee Relations role, Rebecca is responsible for the job performance counseling of all staff members at Southern Methodist University.

Rebecca also acts as the researcher and coordinator for the programs to enhance the balance of work lives such as the Employee Assistance Program, Flextime/Telecommuting Program and other specialized programs . She promotes reward and recognition through leadership and coordination of the Employee Recognition Awards and a variety of customized training courses.

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Valerie Parker

Lorri Allen

Lorri Allen is a talk show host, journalist, speaker and author. As an adjunct professor at SMU, she teaches presentation skills and business writing. Her radio program, “Mornings with Lorri & Friends” is heard Monday – Friday on Sirius. It’s part of FamilyNet Radio, based in Fort Worth.

Prior to coming to FamilyNet, Lorri worked as a reporter in Texas and Louisiana TV stations, and for almost 15 years, she ran a news department that produced industry-specific newscasts for networks such as the Automotive Satellite Television Network, Fire & Emergency Television Network and the Law Enforcement Television Network.

Lorri holds a degree in broadcast journalism from The University of Texas at Austin. She lives in Fort Worth, Texas with her husband Mark.

Dave Gunby

Dave has coached and trained thousands to be more creative, learn faster, use Idea Mapping (an organizing and memory tool), and present more powerfully and persuasively. He is the owner of MINDimensions, a leadership training and facilitation company dedicated to assisting others to use their creative and communication abilities to their fullest. A workshop, speech, or coaching session with Dave is enjoyable, memorable, and effective.

He has worked with many companies; including

Archon Group (Goldman Sachs company)
EDS, an HP company
HIT Entertainment
Kinko’s (now FedEx Office)
Raytheon
Southern Methodist University (SMU) - Business Leadership Center
Southwest Airlines
Texas Instruments
Wells Fargo

He has also led many sessions at the Creative Problem Solving Institute in Buffalo, the Innovation Network Convergence, Toastmasters International and others. Dave creates a powerful learning environment that incorporates fun while still focusing on professional development.