Communications & Networking Team
Tom Hoobyar developed an executed the marketing plan in 2007 that resulted in the 600 volunteers and the 30 NLP Institutes that have agreed to support the Project. He has a sophisticated Internet marketing plan aimed at solidifying and enlarging the NLP community support base, as well as developing the use of the web site as a central marketing and communication tool.
In September 2008 Richard Liotta and Yan Tsirklin joined the communications and networking team and have revised the web site to enhance its usefulness and functionality for public relations, networking, and communication regarding the Research and Recognition Project.
In May 2009 Gene Plotkin joined the team as Volunteer Coordinator and will be responsibile for coordinating volunteer activities in every facit of the NLP Research & Recognition Project.
In late 2009 Lisa Wake joined the team as WIKI Coordinator to develop a WIKI to facilitate communication between researchers and scholars working on various projects affiliated with the NLP Research & Recognition Project.
More about the members of the Communications & Networking Team is presented below.
Tom Hoobyar, Communications Director:
Tom Hoobyar founded the “NLP Café,” a volunteer non-profit NLP study and development group in 1995. Since then, over 500 Café manuals have been issued worldwide to people who want to form their own local groups. He retired in 2005 as CEO of a Silicon Valley BioTech firm following a long career as a successful entrepreneur. He utilizes his strategic, marketing, and product development skills for NLP Comprehensive, one of the foremost NLP Institutes. He is certified as an NLP Master Practitioner and Health Practitioner, and has eleven years of NLP coaching experience. Tom’s experience is that NLP processes work more effectively for many problems, including trauma, than many widely used modalities. He feels that research validation of NLP is needed to achieve greater acceptance of NLP in the broader community. Thus when he was approached by Frank Bourke to coordinate marketing efforts for the NLP Research & Recognition Project he enthusiastically offered his skills. Tom is also a member of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers and the International Society of Pharmaceutical Engineers.
Richard F. Liotta, Ph.D., Director of Organizational Communications
A central aspect of Organizational Communications is the NLP Research and Recognition Project web site. A functional and informative site is a central tool critical to the operation of the project; to provide useful content, for information exchange, and to coordinate project activities internationally. Rich is responsible for redesigning the NLPRandR web site with the goals of enhancing the site’s utility for marketing, public relations, networking, and communication.
Rich is a Clinical Psychologist and Certified NLP Trainer. He has more than 20 years of diverse professional experience, in areas including clinical work, psychological assessment, research, teaching, administration, marketing, and program evaluation. While earning his Ph.D. (in Clinical Psychology, 1988) from DePaul University, he was actively involved in research. He authored, or coauthored, seven peer reviewed journal articles in areas including behavioral analysis, community psychology, and social psychology. In addition to being a psychotherapist, his current activities include presenting on a variety of mental health topics, training NLP and Ericksonian hypnosis, life effectiveness facilitation, consultation to community agencies, and conducting psychological evaluations.
Dr. Liotta’s experience has been that many NLP processes are clinically effective therapeutic tools. His commitment to the NLP Research and Recognition Project is founded on the view that more people will be helped to live effective and enjoyable lives, unencumbered by psychological distress, when NLP intervention strategies have more professional acceptance and support. “This will only come when research validates what the experience of NLP practitioners has demonstrated, the utility of NLP strategies to facilitate change and symptom relief.”
Yan Tsirkin, Director of Organizational Networking and Professional Development:
Yan is responsible for developing relationships between various organizations and the NLP Research and Recognition Project. He is focused on identifying and connecting researchers and research organizations with the project. In addition Yan is involved in recruiting volunteers for the project.
Yan has 14 years of professional consulting experience working with Fortune 500 companies. For the past 5 years, Yan has served as a Director of Solutions Delivery for Knowledge Rules - a multi-million dollar boutique technology and business consulting company based out of Wyndmoor, PA. Prior to Knowledge Rules, Yan has worked with Fleet Credit Card Services, now Bank of America, in modernizing their Customer Service Application; he headed a team responsible for the replacement one of AIG’s business management systems; worked as a Project Manager for Pegasystems Software; and managed projects for JP Morgan. Yan earned a BA from Columbia University and an MS from New York University. He is an Assistant Trainer at the NLP Center of New York and a Master Practitioner of NLP. He also founded and coordinates the networking site Positive NLP.
Gene Plotkin, Volunteer Coordinator:
As Volunteer Coordinator, Gene is responsible for coordinating volunteer activities in every facet of the NLP Research and Recognition Project. Volunteers are absolutely critical to achieving the goals and objectives of the Research and Recognition Project. By involving volunteers in every aspect of the project success and long term sustainability of the project’s mission can be accomplished.
Gene is a personal peak performance coach and business consultant. In the past three years he has helped business leaders and star athletes achieve their best. Gene holds a BBA degree in Marketing Management from the Zicklin School of Business at Baruch College. He is a Certified Master Practitioner of NLP, HNLP, and Hypnosis. He brings youthful energy and excitement, as well as extensive knowledge of marketing and communication, to the Volunteer Coordinator position.
Gene believes, with a deep passion, that the NLP Research and Recognition Project will help bring the limitless applications of NLP into the mainstream. He is committed to the goal of providing the tools of NLP to make a difference in the lives of the countless people who could benefit in the areas of healthcare, education, and business.
Lisa Wake, WIKI Coordinator:
As WIKI Coordinator Lisa is developing a WIKI to facilitate communication between researchers and scholars working on various projects affiliated with the NLP Research and Recognition Project.
Lisa Wake is Managing Director of Awaken Consulting and also of Awaken School, a UKCP (United Kingdom Council for Psychotherapy) accredited NLPt psychotherapy training organization. As a former nurse and NHS manager in the UK, Lisa has a MSc in Advanced Clinical Practice exploring NLPt and integrates latest thinking in neuroscience into NLP therapy practice as a trainer, clinician and supervisor. Lisa has served as Chair and Vice Chair of UKCP and was instrumental in working with the Government and Dept of Health on the statutory regulation of psychology, psychotherapy and counseling, and the recently published White Paper on the regulation of non-medical professionals. She worked closely with Skills for Health in implementing the ground work for the development of National Occupational Standards for Psychotherapy. She also challenged the notion of a therapeutic mono-culture for psychotherapy and provided researched based evidence within the Dept of Health and House of Lords to counter the drive by the Dept of Health to exclude equally effective forms of psychotherapy. Lisa is advisor to Association of NLP and was also on the steering committee of the first International NLP research conference at Surrey University. Author of Neurolinguistic Psychotherapy: A Postmodern Perspective; The Role of Brief Therapies in Attachment Disorder; and, NLP - Principles in Practice, Lisa is a committed to NLP research and development and runs the worlds first UK University recognized NLP Trainers Training that has an academic underpinning.