Karen Hough leads ImprovEdge from Ohio, the firm's headquarters, with a supporting presence in New York, Philadelphia, Chicago, Los Angeles and San Francisco. Since her appointment as CEO and the company’s re-branding in 2003, sales and development of ImprovEdge workshops and consulting services has quadrupled. She is a member of both NAWBO (National Association of Women Business Owners) and the NSA (National Speakers Association). Ms. Hough is a graduate of Yale University and La Sorbonne, Paris IV. She worked for many years as a senior sales executive in the network engineering industry in New York and Chicago. She originated and expanded the sales and management efforts of three separate technology start-ups, launched partner programs and assisted in East Coast and National expansions. Ms. Hough has been a professional improviser and actor for 20 years. Her improvisational training and performance credits include the Second City of Chicago, Metraform/Annoyance Theatre, the Organic Theatre and the Purple Crayon of Yale. She was formerly the International Spokesperson for Stratacom, a spokesperson for Tivoli and Infiniti, and her TV and radio credits include CBS, Miller, Earthshare, Eli Lilly and S.C. Johnson. As a volunteer, she has taught improv classes for high school students in rural Kansas and confidence-building workshops for Chicago inner-city schoolchildren. Ms. Hough is actively involved with the Women’s Fund of Central Ohio and was honored as a Deloitte & Touche Wise Woman for their inaugural breakfast event for Columbus, Ohio. She was also invited to represent women entrepreneurs for the State of Ohio for the Saitama, Japan Women’s Contingent. Ms. Hough lives with her husband and 3 children in Columbus, Ohio. Mike Everett-Lane is a graduate of Yale University and Harvard Business School. Mr. Everett-Lane is the Executive Director of DonorsChoose New York, an online philanthropy marketplace to benefit public schools. He has over ten years of experience in the nonprofit sector and in management consulting. Mr. Everett-Lane has been teaching and performing improvisation since joining Yale's Purple Crayon in 1988. He founded The Geckos, Harvard Business School's first improvisational theater group, and was a founding member of The Pollyannas in New York. He was featured in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, and Der Spiegel for his role in founding the NYC Bloggers.com directory. Frances Barney is a graduate of Yale University and Wharton Business School. Ms. Barney is an investment analytics consultant at a large commercial bank, and has worked in the New York financial district for 13 years. She has also been an improviser for 19 years. She was a founding member of two improvisational theater groups, The Purple Crayon of Yale, which was featured in the New York Times after winning a college competition, and The Pollyannas, which was featured on CNBC. David has over 15 years of experience in implementing workforce initiatives in corporate, university, and community settings; including Microsoft, Purdue University, and Montana State University. David has conducted hundreds of presentations to audiences including Amgen, Lexicon Genetics, Abbot Labs, Target, Microsoft, Chrysler, University of Kentucky, Purdue University, The Ohio State University, The Business Insurance and Workers Compensation and Disability Management Conference, The National Wellness Conference, and The International WorldatWork Conference. His topics and areas of expertise include work/life effectiveness, the multi-generational workforce, personal and corporate wellness, diversity, conflict and stress management, and creative play at work. He is the past chair of the WorldatWork Strategy Board and on the advisory board for the Circle of Business in Columbus, OH. David has a Ph.D. from Purdue University, an M.S. from Ball State University and a B.S. from the University of Wisconsin-LaCrosse. David is an instructor in the MBA program for the School of Management at Capital University. Kim Proxmire serves as the Director of Development and brings to the organization over 14 years of experience in developing and managing strategic marketing and business development programs for small, mid-sized and large Midwestern law firms. As a graduate of Indiana University in Marketing and Advertising, and with past experience in law firm management, she has advised firms on marketing strategy, investments and resources that impact the overall business goals and strategizes with firm management, industry and segmented marketing groups to identify and respond to marketing opportunities. Kim has developed and taught training and coaching programs to young professionals, which led to her interest in ImprovEdge. She now facilitates ImprovEdge engagements and manages business development initiatives for the organization. Christopher Rabb is a graduate of Yale College and the University of Pennsylvania's Master's Program in Organizational Dynamics. He has worked in the field of small business development and entrepreneurship on Capitol Hill, in the non-profit sector and as a serial entrepreneur. He has been featured in, and written for, a number of prominent publications including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Chicago Tribune, The Philadelphia Inquirer, Black Enterprise and The Nation. He has appeared on TV and radio as a social commentator, and in a previous lifetime, as a stand-up comedian. His improvisational training began at Second City in Chicago and later during his tenure with Yale's premier improv comedy troupe, The Purple Crayon.     The founding members of ImprovEdge all met at Yale University as undergraduates. They helped to create The Purple Crayon, the Ivy League’s first improvisational comedy troupe, and went on in the late ‘80's to assist other East Coast colleges to form similar groups. All of the Founders went on to some level of professional performance in improv, film, theatre and TV. Karen Hough, CEO and Founder, trained and worked with Second City and Improv Olympic out of Chicago. Frances Barney and Mike Everett-Lane, Founders, helped to launch the Pollyannas of New York City. However, they also attended Wharton and Harvard graduate programs, held executive positions in banking, non-profit community service and network engineering, got married and had families. Throughout those years as businesspeople, the skills of improvisation served them well, again and again. Recurrent themes finally drove Frances Barney to author a paper on the idea of improv in business, and her Wharton professor insisted that they test the concepts immediately. ImprovEdge was born. Since 1998, ImprovEdge has developed material with the assistance of Wharton Business School and applied it to clients in industries as diverse as finance, manufacturing, law, retail and technology. Our clients include JPMorgan Asset Management, Nationwide Insurance, Victoria’s Secret, Worthington Industries, Ross Products (a division of Abbott Laboratories), The Financial Women’s Association (sponsored by Deutschebank), the international law firm of Squire, Sanders & Dempsey and the National Association of Purchasing Managers, to name a few. Headquarters have recently moved to Columbus, Ohio under the leadership of Karen Hough with the original office in New York, NY. ImprovEdge currently employs facilitators in New York, Columbus, Chicago, and Los Angeles. Team members cover professions from documentary film maker, to software programmer, to Managing Director in finance, to Second City mainstage performer, to statistics analyst. We look forward to meeting your team.