We’re passionate about leadership…what it is…where it comes from…how you can develop it, increase it, and leverage it. We believe that there’s more than one kind of leadership…that everyone can be a leader under the right circumstances…and that the best organizations are those where leadership is as widely distributed as possible. We’re also convinced…on the basis of hard, empirical research as well as our own business experience…that leadership starts from inside…that to build more effective leaders you have to start with a person’s thoughts before you can improve skills and behaviors.
If this sounds a little “soft and fuzzy”…it isn’t. Tap your full leadership potential and that of the people around you and you’ll see measurable improvements in all your critical metrics…revenue, profit, productivity, customer satisfaction, on-time delivery…right on down the line.
Our Team
We have an exceptional core team and draw from a talented, diverse pool of affiliates depending on a given project’s unique requirements and timelines. Here are three key people we’d like you to meet.
Laura Stone
Founder + Chief Executive Officer
Laura Stone founded Stone + Company 15 years ago. She currently leverages her extensive expertise helping top leaders and their teams in Fortune 500 companies define and deliver superior strategy. Formerly a faculty member at Crotenville, General Electric’s Premier Leadership Center, Ms. Stone has spent much of her career working with leaders to develop high performance teams as well as designing and implementing change in complex organizations. Her clients represent a broad range of industries and sectors including manufacturing, pharmaceuticals, financial services, energy, consumer products, and non-profits. Ms. Stone has developed advanced methodologies combining social analytics and behavioral sciences to create an organizational application for increasing the effectiveness of teams in complex organizations. The Inside Out Strategy™ program developed by Stone + Company integrates applied research and the development of tools to quantify superior leadership attributes.
Laura has also served as CEO and President of the Massachusetts Hugh O'Brian Youth Leadership Foundation and as Chair of the foundation’s corporate Board. She is currently an advisor to the City Year Rhode Island Social Entrepreneur Fellowship program. Laura is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin Madison. Her current professional affiliations include the Organization Development Network, Society of Human Resources Management, and American Society of Training and Development.
Elizabeth A. LaPierre
Consultant, Analyst + Product Development
As Senior Consultant, Elizabeth brings our clients a wealth of project management experience in both start-up and mature business environments across such diverse sectors as insurance, technology/e-business, and consumer services. Prior to joining the firm Elizabeth served as Senior Project Specialist at the HayGroup, a global Human Resources services firm where she supported dozens of large-scale consulting initiatives.
Elizabeth holds a B.A. in Psychology and Marketing from Boston University, and an M.S. in Adult & Organizational Learning from Suffolk University.
Kathryn B. Earle
Senior Consultant
Kathryn Earle is a seasoned consultant, facilitator and coach specializing in executive leadership development, alignment and integration of business strategy, corporate culture and organizational systems, and the leveraging of diversity for strategic advantage. Ms. Earle uses a broad range of creative and disciplined approaches with management teams and individuals to help organizations obtain substantial improvements in financial performance, customer and employee satisfaction, and product and service quality.
Corporate and Federal government clients have included PJM Interconnection, Conectiv, Nissan North America, Gillette Blades & Razors Division, Springs Window Fashions, Clarks Companies North America, Serono Laboratories, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, US Coast Guard, US Postal Service, and the US Offices of the Inspectors General of both the EPA and GSA.
Ms. Earle is a member of the boards of the Latham Centers and the Conrad Centers, both on Cape Cod, and has served as a senior examiner with the Massachusetts Quality Award (based on the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award). She has created a wide range of customized materials for specific clients, including a system to improve management of expatriates and other employees in cross-cultural transitions. In addition to professional consulting, community volunteer work and raising a family, Ms. Earle has co-authored a book on organizations as natural, human and spiritual entities. Ms. Earle holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Smith College.
Jessa McIntosh
Consultant
Jessa is a consultant who brings a background in psychology, coaching, team building, and change management experience to our clients. When approaching project engagements, Jessa draws from both her business knowledge as well as her psychology training to help clients align and perform intended goals.
Prior to joining Stone + Company, Jessa worked at Deloitte Consulting in the Organization and Change practice. Jessa focused on change management strategy and planning as well as designing and implementing business transformation activities. Jessa holds a B.A. in Psychology from Middlebury College, a Masters in Counseling Psychology from Boston University, and is currently a candidate for her doctoral degree in Counseling Psychology also from Boston University.
In her free time, Jessa and her husband are avid sports enthusiasts and enjoy skiing, running, and golf.
Affiliates
Rob Hartz
Consultant
Rob Hartz is an organization consultant with 20 years of experience in growing businesses through planned change, leadership and team development, executive coaching, and strategic consultation. Rob has consulted with business leaders in North America, Europe, and Asia as an employee of two industry leaders: Fidelity Investments and Digital Equipment Corporation. In 1998, he began his own consulting firm focusing on leadership, teaming, and organization development. Rob is a graduate of Ohio Wesleyan University and has a Master’s Degree from Minnesota State University in Experiential Education. Rob has consulted in the technology, financial services, higher education, healthcare, advertising, and public relations industries.
History
Stone + Company was launched in 1991 by Laura Stone who has been the sole owner of the company. Originally named StoneWorks Strategic Consulting, Stone + Company’s identity was born in late 2005 to reflect the company’s maturity and growth.
The company’s growth and success has increased in scope since inception. Laura Stone’s work at Fidelity, teaching in their Management and Organizational Development department for several years, gave her incredible exposure to and understanding of various management and leadership training philosophies and enabled her to hone her consulting and facilitation skills. This, in turn, led to teaching at the esteemed G.E. Crotonville educational center. After returning her attention solely back to her consulting work the projects continued to grow. The evolution in consulting was a natural response to increased experience, exposure, education and results.
Elizabeth LaPierre partnered with Laura on a complex business process review project during the summer of 2003, joined the company full time in March 2004. She brings an educational proficiency to the company with her undergraduate degree in psychology and her master’s degree from Suffolk University in adult and organizational learning.
We are proud of our growth and looking forward to collaborating with both old and new clients in the future to help support performance improvement and change management strategies.
Community
Stone + Company is proud to be a good citizen. We are actively involved in our community and encourage volunteering. Each year we dedicate a percentage of our time to support a range of philanthropic endeavors.
Past and current volunteer activities include:
- National Multiple Sclerosis Society – Central New England Chapter
- On Your Feet Project – Boston Chapter
- Hugh O’Brian Youth Leadership
- National Alliance for Autism Research
- Strategy development for curriculum renewal in Cohasset, Massachusetts
- Coaching Sophie and Jackson’s soccer teams
The groundbreaking research of David Burnham and the late David McClelland forms the theoretical underpinning of our practice. Burnham and McClelland created the first effective tools to quantify superior leadership, and developed a “thought-based” methodology proven twice as effective as behavioral techniques for improving leadership performance.