our team

Dr. Ruth Zaplin is a Senior Executive-in-Residence in the School of Public Affairs, Department of Public Administration & Policy at American University. She teaches leadership, ethics, organizational analysis, public policy implementation, and public marketing and strategic communication courses.

Dr. Zaplin serves as the Director of Executive Coaching for Key Executive Leadership Programs at AU. She received her Executive Coaching accreditation from Georgetown University and is certified as a Professional Certified Coach (PCC) by the International Coach Federation. She completed her training as a Growth Edge coach with Cultivating Leadership. She is certified to score the subject-object qualitative research methodology developed at Harvard University by Dr. Robert Kegan. As a Professor and Executive Coach, Dr. Zaplin leverages research in developmental coaching, neurobiology, complexity, and complex adaptive systems.

She is the President of The Zaplin Group LLC. This organization specializes in designing, creating, and facilitating “growth edge, whole person” leader, team, and organizational development experiences. Her background includes significant senior-level program management in the non-profit sector, serving as Executive Director of several nationally known non-governmental organizations. Her consulting experience includes designing and leading international and federal enterprise-wide change initiatives. Her background includes serving as editor of two internationally known textbooks and social science research primarily focused on female crime and delinquency, gender issues, and community corrections.

Linda K. Bidlack, MA, PCC

The world order as we know it is disrupted, and as a leader, you are pressed to move through the fog even as you have lost the ground under your feet. Your colleagues are anxious to return to ‘normal,’ while the only real choice is to figure things out together. They need a leader who can find stillness in mid-air to think, like a hummingbird, to listen, to notice what others miss, to help make sense of it, assess the risks, and decide what to learn next while everyone else is running around with their hair on fire.

You will already have discovered that the way forward is not to add more hours to your workday, and this squeeze is your best laboratory for learning. It’s uncomfortable. All those strategies and habits that worked so well to get you this far have gotten out of sync with the increasing complexity of your role.

Fortunately, by applying recent insights from neuroscience, psychology, physiology, and ancient wisdom, coaching creates a structured path to thoughtfully apply practices for quieting the noise and cultivating your ability to see clearly and act wisely despite the fog. The artistry of real leadership becomes available to you as you let go of earlier tendencies to control and learn to fly.

With a background of over 30 years in corporate anthropology, leadership development, and an M.A. in Counseling with client organizations ranging from Goodwill, Paypal, Capital One, NASA, and the White House, Linda served on the faculty of the Georgetown University Leadership Coaching program and holds a Profession Certified Coach credential from the International Coach Federation. Also a founding partner in ChoicePoints Learning, LLC, a diversity and inclusion firm, Linda lived in Haiti as a child, igniting her lifelong interest in building bridges across differences. In her free time, she volunteers for Braver Angels, a grass-roots movement to bring even numbers of liberals and conservatives together for workshops based on marriage counseling exercises to depolarize America.

Michael worked on Wall Street and in the publishing industry for over two decades, holding executive positions at Shearson Lehman/AMEX, Paine Webber, Simon & Schuster, and the Walt Disney Company. He is the author of Awake at Work, The Mindful Leader, Fearless at Work, and Mindful Leadership Training. He consults with corporations on bringing mindfulness into the workplace. Michael has taught mindfulness-awareness meditation at numerous Fortune 500 companies and Harvard Business School, Wharton Business School, Swarthmore College, American University, Toronto University, University of Sydney, Fundação Dom Cabral, 1440 Multiversity, Zen Mountain Monastery, Omega Institute, Kripalu and many other institutions worldwide.

Gail Funke’s primary focus is on the challenges of executive leadership, including Organization Development, guiding large-scale organizations in planning, navigating and executing change initiatives. Organizations she has stewarded include several 120-person-plus organizations for FDA, including The Office of Food Additive Safety, The Office of applied Research and Safety Assessment, and the Office of Analytics and Outreach.

Dr. Funke also brings expertise in Strategic Thinking and Planning, Leveraging Power and Influence, and Executive Communication Skills, as well as numerous assessments to build insight and growth through coaching and consulting. In addition to serving as American University Adjunct Faculty, Dr. Funke was a full-time fed at the Federal Executive Institute, as both Faculty and Dean.

Carol Hyman has practiced and taught mindfulness and other contemplative disciplines in business, healthcare, and retreat settings for more than four decades, focusing on how to use mindfulness to meet challenges in the workplace, in relationships, and in everyday life. The Executive Director of the educational non-profit Applied Mindfulness Training, Inc., and author of the book Meeting Your Mind: Harnessing the World’s Greatest Resource, Carol is a writer, teacher, and consultant. Previously a partner in a renovations company, director of a non-sectarian meditation program, and editorial project manager for the collection of the writings of Anne Morrow Lindbergh.

MSOD, MSHR, PCC

Cliff brings his expertise in the theory and practice of Polarity Thinking to the Zaplin Group with 30 years of experience in leadership, team, and organization development.

Cliff’s professional experience includes senior Human Resources and Organizational Development roles at The National Cooperative Bank, The Washington Post newspaper, and The Washington Post Company. He serves as an adjunct faculty member at American University’s KEY Executive Leadership Program. He is a Coaching Fellow in the Leadership Coaching for Organizational Well-Being at George Mason’s Center for the Advancement of Well-Being.

Cliff holds two Master’s Degrees from American University, one in Human Resources Management and another in Organizational Development. He completed Executive Coaching training from Georgetown’s Leadership Coaching Program in 2008 and holds a PCC (Professional Certified Coach) designation through the International Coaching Federation. In 2019, Cliff received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Gestalt Center for Organization & System Institute of Cleveland.

Cliff integrates his 30-year practice of Tai Chi into many of the Polarity Programs and Trainings he leads.

Susan Palmer specializes in serving nonprofit, higher education, and public sector leaders dedicated to elevating their creativity and agility in complex environments. She is a deeply developmental coach whose holistic approach supports each leader to become a more effective presence within their own unique experience of accelerating global change.

Susan serves as an Executive Coach for Key Executive Leadership Programs at American University. Committed to the development of emerging coaches, she serves as an Alumni Mentor to students in Georgetown’s Leadership Coaching Program. She actively supports the United Nations Inner Development Goals Initiative based in Stockholm, Sweden.

Marcia Ruben, Ph.D., PCC

Marcia Ruben is the Founder and President of Ruben Consulting Group and has worked as an Executive Coach, OD Consultant, and facilitator for over 30 years. She has experience with leaders in various sectors, including high-tech, cleantech, biotech, healthcare, financial services, retail, private equity, non-profits, government, and professional services. Whether the need is stronger leadership presence, increased conflict management skills, higher emotional intelligence, or more persuasive influence, Marcia’s laser-focused approach facilitates learning and new, more effective leadership mindsets, perspectives, and behaviors.

Dr. Ruben is also a Professor Emerita at Golden Gate University. Until August 31, 2023, she was the Program Director for the MS Leadership at Golden Gate University in San Francisco. Marcia taught at the doctoral and Master’s levels. In 2023, she created and taught three international graduate-level leadership courses. Marcia was awarded the Judith S. Browning Award for Teaching Excellence in 2015 and 2020. In 2016, she was awarded a two-year research professorship to focus on the intersection of neuroscience, leadership, and complexity. Her research resulted in the NeuroStroll®, an innovative process that supports leaders in achieving their goals.