About Us

MetaSkills Consulting Group has core staff members and a flexible network of people and organizations with a wide range of professional skills and talents we can access. Our staff and network have extensive experience in both large and small companies across a range of multiple industries and sectors: high tech, banking, telecommunications, utilities, health care, consumer goods, and government.

References available upon request.

Staff Biographies

Karin Kolodziejski, Ph.D.

Karin specializes in leadership and executive assessment, development planning, and coaching and has coached executives in a broad range of industries and functional areas. As an internal consultant, manager, and corporate director for two high-technology Fortune 500 companies for 15-plus years, she learned how to lead and manage people and functions through that which has no substitute: real-life management experience. During those years, Karin was responsible for the direct management of a variety of staff and line teams of professionals.

In her work with executives as an external consultant for the past 20 years, Karin draws upon her own leadership experience and her knowledge of state-of-the-art “people” technologies. Karin holds a Master of Science in Industrial/Organizational Psychology from Purdue University and a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from Pacifica Graduate Institute in Santa Barbara, is a New Ventures West Certified Integral Coach, is trained in the David Rock’s Neuroleadership Coaching methods, and is a licensed Psychologist in the state of Oregon. Karin also has certifications in a variety of management coaching programs.

Results-Oriented:
Karin begins each engagement by helping clients identify clear, measurable outcomes for the individual, the team, and the organization. Her process includes regular progress reviews to ensure that the changes clients are making are in line with clients’ and organizational expectations. Clients and organizations can track and measure the changes that result from the coaching process.

Data-Driven:
Karin has extensive training in a broad range of assessment tools and methodologies that provide organizations and their leaders with accurate, reliable data for purposes ranging from pre-employment selection to development planning to succession planning.

Flexible:
Most of Karin’s clients have intense, unpredictable schedules. While it’s clear that people make quicker progress through an intensive coaching relationship with regular meetings, Karin is willing to flex with clients’ schedules when possible.

Leadership Coaching Successes:
Karin knows intuitively and from experience that it is better to build on a leader’s strengths and work to minimize the impact of a leader’s limitations. Sometimes leaders aren’t sufficiently aware about their strengths and their limitations, and accurate assessment brings clarity to the picture.

Coached a leader through transition from manager of individual contributors to manager of managers. 360° feedback showed increases in 12 leadership dimensions between date of transition and six-month mark.
Interview data indicated leader had significant challenges with peer relationships (lack of trust, lack of collaboration, unwillingness to listen to feedback). Follow up assessment showed improvement in peer feedback.
Leader had been asked to increase his strategic contribution to the business. Senior leadership feedback after nine months demonstrated an increase in the quantity and quality of strategic contributions made to the business.

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Michelle Matzka, M.Ed.

Michelle’s passion is working with leaders and leadership teams to build unity, trust, and capability to take their organization to optimal levels of output and performance. She has over 22 years’ experience partnering with leaders to define their personal and organization strategies and working with leaders to develop themselves and their teams to support that strategy. Michelle has a deep background in assessments and diagnostics and takes a pragmatic approach to solutions for leading change in a positive way. She has been using Hogan assessments extensively with leaders and teams for the last 9 years. She has broad experience in multi-national organizations in all types of businesses including medical, technology, retail, apparel, human resources, IT, legal, manufacturing, and for many non-profits such as the United Way and Mercy Corps.

Michelle started off her career as a teacher and has continued to hone her facilitating skills over the course of her career. She loves to guide teams to find meaningful solutions to whatever challenges they are facing and is experienced in dealing with high conflict situations. She has an extensive background in learning and development with a specialty in leadership and executive development. She has worked with over 200 executives to enable development and increase performance.

Michelle spent three years living in Costa Rica, managing a Latin American Learning & Development organization, and speaks Spanish fluently. She has a master’s degree in Instructional Design and Technology, completed her Executive Coaching Certification at the Hudson Institute in 2015, and is Hogan certified. Michelle loves any activity that involves time with her family and friends, but she always looks forward to that first cup of coffee in the morning!
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Brandi Dawson

Brandi provides logistical support and handles scheduling for Karin Kolodziejski. She has a central role in invoicing and bookkeeping services for MetaSkills and is the primary billing contact for the company. Brandi also manages travel booking, payroll, general business administration support and various human resource functions.
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Carolyn Niehaus, M.B.A.

Carolyn Niehaus joined MetaSkills in August 2018 as a Senior Consultant. Prior to this position, Carolyn worked on a variety of projects with Impact Entrepreneurs and the Graduate Programs Office at Portland State University. She has previously led leadership development programs based in experiential education with organizations in Upstate New York and wrote and published articles about systems thinking in business contexts with Leverage Networks. She also worked as the Program Director of the New Netherland Museum.

Carolyn received her MBA from Portland State University and her BA from the University of Rochester. She holds a certificate in Computer Modeling in System Dynamics from Portland State University.
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Cynthia Stone, M.S.

Cynthia Stone has over 25 years of business experience in performance and organization analysis, design, and development. She has worked as an external consultant with Fortune 500/1000 companies and as an internal consultant and specialist within manufacturing and technology businesses. Cynthia’s ability to interact with personnel from the production floor to executive staff gives her insight into how behavior, skills, and processes at every level affect an organization’s success. Her observation, analysis, and synthesis skills are powerful tools for assessing an organization’s capabilities and human resources. Cynthia’s Master of Science in performance technology is from the University of Oregon.
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Kathy Powell

Kathy combines customer service and administrative support to help ensure that client needs are met efficiently and accurately. Kathy provides vital Hogan administration and support as well as Hogan invoicing for MetaSkills. She can help you with scheduling an appointment or phone call with Michelle or anyone else at MetaSkills. She also often helps with logistics, research, materials, and other projects. Kathy is Hogan certified and has worked in various Learning and Development roles throughout her career, mostly in high tech, and more recently for small consulting firms.
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Kerrie Miles, MOL

Kerrie joined MetaSkills in November 2021 as a Senior Consultant. She brings an extensive background with program and project management in several industries including higher education, non-profits, and most recently with a bulk-power compliance consulting firm.

Kerrie has her Master of Arts in Organizational Leadership from Gonzaga University, and a Bachelor of Arts in Organizational Management from Whitworth University. As a life-long learner, she continues to bolster her knowledge through additional courses and workshops including; Supervising to Prevent Burnout and Compassion Fatigue (COR), Managing Difficult People and Projects (PMI), and Resolving Conflict and Management Development Program(s) 1&2 (GU). She is Hogan Certified as of October 2021.
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Denise Leland

Denise joined MetaSkills in October of 2022 as a Project Administrator. She has a professional background in commercial insurance, with 8 years of underwriting and administrative support experience, working with clients across a wide variety of industries and regions. Denise provides organizational and logistical insight and support for our client projects, and supports assessment administration, including scheduling and coordinating with clients and consultants. With a focus on customer service, Denise works with clients to ensure all needs are being met and uses strong communication so that every interaction with MetaSkills is seamless and positive. Denise received her Bachelor of Arts from the University of Washington in Seattle, WA and currently resides in Spokane, WA.
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Karl DeLyria, M.S.

Karl is MetaSkills’ technical specialist and has over fifteen years experience in management positions for the communications, technology, and computer hardware industries. Karl’s rare ability to clearly articulate and explain complex technical concepts and products have made him a valuable consultant for many firms facing significant changes in infrastructure, process design, and marketplace demands.

In addition to his consulting expertise, Karl has accumulated twenty years of experience teaching, coaching and training. His Bachelor of Arts is in Management and Business and his Master of Science is in The Management of Science and Technology. As are the other MetaSkills’ consultants, Karl is certified to provide Hogan Assessments feedback.
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