Board of Directors

Lisa Marie Platske, President

Lisa Marie Platske left her action-packed life as a Federal law enforcement officer to become the CEO of international leadership training and consulting company, Upside Thinking, Inc.

An award-winning leadership expert, Lisa Marie takes her law enforcement journey which began on the piers in New York and ended post 9/11 and shares what exceptional leaders do differently, why connection is the new currency, and how to build a winning strategy to get big opportunities.

A certified leadership master coach, Lisa Marie has coached mission-driven entrepreneurs and seasoned executives from 3 continents and in 20+ industries including healthcare, real estate, technology, financial planning, law, insurance, etc. on how to position their expertise using her 7 Pillars of Transformational Leadership™. Her proven success strategies have resulted in her clients getting 6 and 7-figure contracts, bonuses and promotions, and finding up to 21 “extra” hours in each work week. Simply put, she creates effective leaders.

Her partial past client list includes corporate and government entities such as Honeywell, State Farm Insurance, BAXA Healthcare, the Department of Homeland Security, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, Pacific, Gas & Electric, Ontario Convention Center, and Perry Ellis International, delivering leadership training and coaching managers and executives.

She earned a BS in Criminal Justice and a MA in Human Resources Training and Development coupled with a certification in leadership and an insightful thesis on the benefits of formal vs. informal mentoring – and is the author of Designing Your Destiny, Connection: The New Currency, 7 Keys to Mastering Connection: The Success Guide to Opportunities, Income, and Influence, and #1 international best seller Turn Possibilities into Realities.

Lisa Marie currently lives in Alexandria, Virginia with her loving and supportive husband, Jim – and their two pet foxes.

Sherri Richards, Treasurer

Sherri Richards is a seasoned Senior Executive and Consultant with many years of success across the manufacturing, catering and restaurant, retail, SaaS, education, and e-commerce industries. Leveraging extensive experience taking companies from worst to first as a “money therapist” and CFO who has trained, coached and consulted for businesses ranging in sales revenue from $100,000 to $3 million, she is a valuable asset for companies in need of expert guidance on go-to-market strategy, project management, or getting back on track from stagnation. Her broad areas of expertise include budgeting, business plans, forecasting, branding, marketing, go-to-market-strategy, team building, process improvement, strategic planning, and personnel development.

Throughout her executive career, Ms. Richards has held leadership positions at companies including Rise Consulting, Good Fat Company, Sterling Truck Corp., and Daimler Trucks of North America. As Founder and CEO of Rise Consulting since 2009, she provides CFO services to small businesses to help them grow to the next level. Having created a successful program to study best practices and identify what’s not working, she has helped distressed companies navigate from poor cash flow and pending bankruptcy to reverse course and grow profits. She is also Founding Partner & CFO for Good Fat Company, a company she helped launch in 2015 to provide nutritional education and healthy snack bars. She is additionally an Adjunct Professor of Entrepreneurship at Cleary University, where she teaches courses on Finance, Marketing, Creativity and Innovation and Technology for Entrepreneurs. As a business educator, she has written dozens of courses and designed entire training programs. She previously spent more than 25 years in a truck manufacturing career with Sterling Truck Corp., and Daimler Trucks. Here she established and managed the Finance department for Sterling (then a new multi-billion-dollar division of Daimler), created an inventory management and tracking system for more than 1,000 vehicles valued at over $90 million, and established a new finance and administration department for the aftermarket division with $500 million in annual revenue.

Sherri holds a BS in Business Administration from Portland State University and U. of London, and an MBA from the University of Portland. She has held and currently holds, non-profit board roles with the National Arab Orchestra (Executive Director), Project Forgive (Treasurer), Positive Zone Foundation (Founder), Verb Ballets (President and Treasurer), and the National Breast Cancer Coalition.

Gary Stuart, Member-at-large

Speaker, Author, Constellation Facilitator, Teacher has been documenting his healing experiences over the past several decades. He conducts weekly workshops in LA, facilitate in major cities in the US, and offer Distance Constellation Healing sessions globally. His passion is to help people heal and resolve lifelong negative patterns that stop them from living the life they were meant to live. He never loses sight in connecting people with their happiness and fulfillment on every desired level. Having worked in the healing arts for over 30 years, he’s facilitated over 10,000 Family Constellations helping over 100,000 attendees. 

His experience has put him on the cutting edge, applying his skills and techniques to expand consciousness and resolve lifelong challenges, stagnation, and breaking negative family patterns.

His current Books include: “Master YOUR Universe: How to Direct and Star in YOUR own Life!” Which speaks to the dysfunctional Family Movie you’re trapped in. Living in your parents’ sequel is a choice!

He also conducts weekly workshops in LA, facilitates in major cities in the US, and offer Distance Constellation Healing sessions globally. His passion is to help people heal and resolve lifelong negative patterns that stop them from living the life they were meant to live. He never loses sight in connecting people with their happiness and fulfillment on every desired level.

Jeff Duperon, Member-at-Large

Jeff Duperon, is the CEO of TNE International, LLC, a multi-million-dollar international trade company with a footprint that covers Asia, Europe, and North America and a Real Estate Investor. For nearly 30 years, innovation has driven Jeff to develop and launch products and programs that have saved companies millions of dollars, resulting in a legacy of world-class technology and commercial strategies. 

Jeff’s passion for philanthropy impacts local Rotary and Optimist Clubs, local government on the Rochester Hills City Council Committee for Public Safety and Infrastructure, and has included Habitat for Humanity, Challenge Day, giving back to his community as a volunteer fire fighter, and many more. As a devoted husband and father, Jeff enjoys reading, travel, and spending time with
his family camping and exploring in and around his beautiful home state of Michigan.

Jit Moore, Member-at-large

Jit Moore and her family fled the war-torn Communist country of Laos as political refugees to America in 1980. Although Jit was 3 years when she emigrated from Laos, she doesn’t remember much of her experience; she is often reminded about the adversities her family had to overcome to escape the Communist regime for a better life in America. Her parents instilled the importance of hard work and education as the key to living the American Dream and well as volunteering in the community. That’s exactly what Jit did; she focused on excelling in school and volunteered in her community as a translator and as an after-school worker at a local community center.

As the second in her family to graduate from college, Jit earned her Bachelors of Science degree in Human Development from the University of California Davis.

Being a first-generation Laotian American, she experienced racial incidents as she grew up in underprivileged communities. These incidents were life-changing and that led her to take a stand for diversity and inclusivity by creating cultural events in her community. And, it is where she first learned about the power of forgiveness.

Jit currently works as an Information Technology Manager and continues to volunteer in her local community as a translator speaking up for the diversity of thought and experience even at a legislative level. Serving on the Project Forgive board is part of her commitment to being a servant leader as “Accepting the Apology You May Never Receive” had a profound impact on her life – and healed past family wounds. She lives in California with her encouraging husband Matt and connects with family and friends regularly through her love of cooking.

Lori Burns, Member-at-Large

Lori Burns, along with her husband and son live in Franklin, Tennessee. She earned a BSW in Social Work, and for approximately 25 years, had a successful career in telecommunications working in sales and marketing. In 2004, she left corporate America to take on her greatest challenge, motherhood. For the past 14 years, she has been a wife, mother, chef, and Uber driver for her family. She is active in her community and church, serving as the co-chair of middle school at Christ Presbyterian Academy, head of Helping Hands Ministry at her church, and other various volunteer positions. She additionally is a part-time writer for Good Fat life Magazine. Her current passion is pursuing a master’s degree in professional counseling, which she plans to use in helping the elderly.

As a devoted wife and mother, she enjoys watching her son play golf, travel with her family, and watching college football.