About the Authors

Kathryn McKee

Kathryn McKee, SPHR, is president of Human Resources Consortia, which offers consulting on Human Resources strategy, strategic planning, leadership, and executive coaching.

During her career at First Interstate Bank (since acquired by Wells Fargo) and Standard Chartered Bank, she experienced six disasters in seven years. (A different disaster every 14 months on average!) She and her HR colleagues started leading, first by accident and then by design.

Kathryn's leadership and governance background includes serving as 1991 Chairman of the Society for Human Resource Management and President of the SHRM Foundation, the Human Resource Certification Institute, and the National Human Resources Association. She was honored by NHRA as its 1986 Member of the Year; by PIHRA in 1990 with its Award of Excellence in Human Resources; by SHRM in 1994 with its Award for Professional Excellence; and by the Santa Barbara Human Resources Association in 2004 as its Member of the Year.

Her other publications include "New Compensation Strategies for Emerging Career Patterns" co-authored with Beverly Kaye, published by HR Magazine which won the William W. Winter Award from World at Work.

Kathryn graduated from the University of California at Santa Barbara and is a graduate of UCLA's Anderson School of Management Executive Program.

She lives in Santa Barbara.

E-mail Kathryn.

Liz Guthridge

Liz Guthridge specializes in strategic employee and change communication. She is the founder of Connect Consulting Group LLC, based in the San Francisco Bay Area.

A results-oriented, seasoned consultant, Liz has more than 25 years of experience helping organizations communicate more effectively with employees to build trust and achieve business goals.

She has consulted across a variety of industries. She has worked with many companies undergoing major change, such as mergers, acquisitions, bankruptcies, and takeovers.

Liz also has personal experience with disasters. A native of Tulsa, OK with family in Louisiana, she has encountered her share of tornadoes and hurricanes. Later while living in New York City, she was displaced from her Gramercy Park apartment for almost six months when a steam pipe wrapped in asbestos exploded and blew asbestos all over the neighborhood, primarily her building. She now lives close to the Hayward Fault in the San Francisco Bay Area.

More than a decade ago, Liz met her co-author Kathryn McKee through a consulting assignment for Standard Chartered Bank. (Neither one experienced a disaster while working together.)

Liz holds an MA in communication management from the University of Southern California, Annenberg School for Communication; an MBA from the University of Connecticut; and a BSJ in journalism from Northwestern University, Medill School of Journalism.

For more information about Liz and Connect Consulting, click here.

E-mail Liz.