Here is the ADDA Workplace Committee Team list of current team members and working contributors to our projects. We thank you for your generous spirit in helping us create the different projects our committee strives to achieve.
Melinda Whetstone, Workplace Committee Chair
Dale Davison
Caroline Totah
Isa Fernandez
James Eggert
Stephanie Langert
Carol Gignoux
Linda Walker
Significant Contributors
The team for the ADHD at Work website changes, but the content provided would not be where it is if it were not for the contributions and efforts of the following individuals. We are forever thankful for their selfless devotion, and donations of energy and knowledge.
Alan Brown
Jay Carter
Michelle Geiman
Frank Potter
Linda Walker
Melinda Whetstone, Workplace Committee Chair
Dr. Melinda Whetstone is an analyst, advocate, and university instructor. She has a background in biomechanics and health informatics. This mix of interests reflects, and deepens her ability to look at an individual and their specific nuances in the context of their broader life. She has conducted research of patients’ needs for information and the usability of electronic health records. She has also developed college courses, and taught both graduate and undergraduate students in online and classroom health care management programs. Prior to pursuing her doctorate, she worked as a business process analyst, a software tester, and a software trainer. She has experience working with organizations and the federal government in health care and higher education among other things.
Dr. Whetstone is blessed to live in a neurodiverse household, which includes two teenage boys, and thus has extensive experience working with individuals who are different thinkers. She works with parents, educators, and employers to help provide awareness, promote understanding, and bridge the gap in perceptions.
Dr. Whetstone was drawn to ADDA for their focus on providing support and for the opportunity to give back. As such, she looks forward to building upon the material currently provided by ADDA, and developing online ADHD in the Workplace training materials for managers and HR personnel.
Dale Davison
Dale Davison, M.Sp.Ed. is an Executive Functioning / ADHD Coach, and Consultant.
She has a Masters in Special Education, Internship at The Neuropsychiatric Institute, UCLA. Has completed her Life Coach training with Master Coaches Sue Sussman, Fast Track Life Coaching, Mentor Coach and Jodi Sleeper-Triplett (Coaching Teens & College Students with ADHD, and Coaching 8-12 Year Olds), and was mentored by Nancy Ratey. Dale is also an EDGE Coach.
Additional training includes: The Harvard Medical School: Immunity to Change, Coaching in Leadership and Healthcare, Think: Kids with Stuart Ablon, and The ADHD Effect on Marriage with Melissa Orlov, Kevin Murphy and Ned Hallowell.
She is a professional member of: CHADD (Children and Adults with ADHD), ADDA (Attention Deficit Disorder Association), ACO ( ADHD Coaches Organization), and ACA (American Counseling Association).
Dale volunteers to coordinate her local CHADD chapter serving Chicago’s North Shore, NSADHD.org.
Isa Fernandez
Isa Fernández, MPA was diagnosed with ADHD as an adult and is proud to help bring the primary and secondary issues associated with ADHD and other health issues into focus for workers. She has a Bachelors of Arts degree in Sociology and a Masters Degree in Public Administration and is currently considering continuing her education in a yet to be determined “study of work” related field.
She is a vocal activist for many peace, worker, disability and independent news initiatives locally, nationally and globally.
James Eggert
When I was diagnosed with ADHD in 1999 it helped me to realize why I felt so different from others. I have become an advocate for those with ADD and ADHD. For several years I have volunteered at halfway houses, group homes, and other nonprofit organizations to help others in need. I am currently a supporter of NAMI, NRC (a program of CHADD), and ADDA. My desire is to help ADDer’s to be productive and successful in life.
Stephanie Langert
Stephanie Langert is a dedicated Human Resources professional with broad experience in human resource strategy and management. A combination of 8 years of human resource experience and her ADHD superpowers have helped her succeed consulting with a variety of clients in fast-paced, exciting, and diverse environments. As a HR professional, Stephanie provides support and expertise in areas such as recruitment, employee relations, onboarding, and management training.
Stephanie’s journey with ADHD began as an adult when she came across an article about ADHD. At first, she brushed it off and didn’t think too much of it. A few years later ADHD came up when she suspected an employee had ADHD. This led to her own-self-discovery. During her journey, Stephanie came across ADDA and knew right away she wanted to connect with the “Tribe”.
When Stephanie is not mixing up interviewing candidates with speed-dating sessions, she is performing Stand-Up Comedy at mixers in NYC.
Caroline Totah
Caroline Totah, RN, ACC, COC®, CPO®, is an organizational and productivity coach, who works with adults with ADHD.
After overcoming her own struggles to maintain her home as a young parent, Caroline left the world of traditional hospital nursing to help people manage the day-to-day challenges of life and work. She worked as a professional organizer for several years, helping people who were creative, intelligent, and highly motivated, yet struggling with organization and getting things done. In 2014, she earned her coaching certification through Coach Approach for Organizers, which offers ICF-approved coach training with a heavy emphasis on ADHD and other brain-based challenges.
Caroline is a professional member of ADDA and CHADD, and was inspired to volunteer for the ADHD at Work team, after working with many highly capable professionals who were in danger of losing their jobs, due to lack of support for their executive function differences.
Carol Gignoux
✧ Coach U Certified; Senior Certified ADHD Coach; ICF Trained Financial Coach
✧ Founder and CEO of ADD Insights and Live ADHD Free
✧ ADHD Coach Trainer
✧ Previous board member of ICF New England
✧ Founding board member of the Institute for the Advancement of ADD/ADHD Coaching
✧ Master of Arts, Education (M.Ed.)
Carol creates and delivers seminars and webinars that help individuals and organizations achieve their full potential and has coached hundreds of people worldwide. Currently, she specializes in coaching ADHD Couples and ADHD High School Students where she helps to prepare them to successfully function independently in college.
Carol has created and managed schools and organizations. Her accomplishments span from effectively reaching severely emotionally affected adolescents, to training management teams in organizations and corporations. For the past two decades, she has engaged in extensive research into how dynamic relationships are created between individuals and their organizational environments. She uses the insights developed through her research to successfully coach and transform individuals, teams, and businesses.
Significant Contributors
Alan Brown
An executive, entrepreneur and coach, Alan created the acclaimed ADD Crusher™ video series. Undiagnosed until well into adulthood, his untreated ADHDmanifested in all-too-familiar ways – academic and workplace underachievement, substance abuse and worse. Upon diagnosis, he found it difficult to learn coping strategies from books, so he developed his own unique strategies while building a successful advertising career. (The resulting 10 “Ways” comprise the curriculum in ADD Crusher™ Videos I and II.)
Having learned to successfully manage his own ADHD, rising to VP-Management Director of one of the nations largest ad agencies and co-founding several successful start-ups, Alan’s mission is to help other ADHD adults live to their potential.
Alan’s been a featured presenter at ADHD conferences, countless webinars, and at TEDx San Diego, and is co-author of the best-selling 365+1 Ways to Succeed with ADHD. Having seen workplace challenges as an undiagnosed executive as well as the tremendous possibilities offered by proper diagnosis, treatment and adoption of coping strategies, Alan served as a founding member of ADDA’s Workplace Issues Committee. He can be reached via info@ADDCrusher.com.
Jay Carter
Read more about Jay and his success in the workplace in the December (2017) article, Jay Carter: When Employers Invest in ADHD Employees.
Michelle Geiman
Frank Potter
Frank Potter served as an ADDA Board member and was a significant contributor to the Workplace Issues and Corrections work groups. He is a retired state of Iowa vocational rehabilitation counselor. A combination of having had the experience of working professionally on a daily basis with people with ADHD in work and in school plus having a child and himself both with ADHD he considers himself an expert on the subject. It has become a priority for him to improve the lives of those with the diagnosis. What success he has would not have come without his supportive wife, Tam.
Frank, typical for someone with ADHD, has wide interests including opera, home repairs, tuck-pointing, history, psychology instructor, soccer coaching (produced a training DVD), church leader, and fly fishing (started a club). Frank says fly fishing is just the type of sport someone with ADHD would wander into yet he finds the organization and attention required makes it a terrible fit for one with ADHD. Still, like ADHDers, he perseveres.
Linda Walker
Linda Walker, PCC, ACCG, B. Adm., is a Professional Certified Coach with the International Coach Federation and a graduate of the ADD Coach Academy. Since 2005, she has been providing specialized ADHD coaching and training to English- and French-speaking entrepreneurs, professionals, adults with Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder (ADHD), and other creative geniuses who struggle with productivity, organization, and focus. Linda is the author of With Time to Spare: The Ultimate Guide to Peak Performance for Entrepreneurs, Adults with ADHD and other Creative Geniuses and the creator of numerous ADHD training programs to empower adults with ADHD to dramatically improve their productivity at work, while simultaneously creating a healthy work-life balance enabling them to engage in activities that make their hearts sing, activities they could only dreamed of pursuing, or that they had set aside because their daily struggle with ADHD left them too exhausted to pursue.
Linda is an advocate for ADHD awareness and has been campaigning in Canada to sensitize businesses of the value of investing in helping their employees with ADHD. She is the Chairperson of ADDA’s Workplace Issues Committee, and also serves as a consultant to the US Partnership on Employment and Accessible Technology, a resource that facilitates and promotes the use of accessible technology in hiring, employment, retention and career advancement of individuals with disabilities.