Our Team
Kerrie Halmi Linkedin
Kerrie Halmi has over 25 years of experience in human resources, leadership facilitation, executive coaching and team development. She is especially effective in working with an executive team by combining group facilitation and one-on-one coaching. Prior to starting her own business, Kerrie held leadership roles in Human Resources at General Mills, The Nature Conservancy and KB Homes.
Kerrie has coached managers and executives across all industries from insurance to high-tech in the SF Bay Area including Oakland, San Francisco, Emeryville, Walnut Creek, Pleasanton and San Jose. Clients have included eBay, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, SAP, Zynga, Cadence, Maxim Integrated Products, Wells Fargo, Kaiser Permanente, CAMICO Insurance, City of Oakland, Plum Organics, PG&E, and Central Garden and Pet.
She has worked extensively with women clients, particularly those who are increasing their success through enhanced leadership skills. She designed and leads Platinum Exchange, a women’s leadership program for executives in Corporate America, which combines workshops, one-on-one coaching, panels and networking. Results include 95% of participants achieving the professional goals they set for themselves at the beginning of the program, including 100% of those who wanted to get promotions.
Kerrie received her M.B.A. from the University of Michigan (Ross) Business School and graduated Phi Beta Kappa in Industrial Psychology from the University of Illinois. Kerrie completed her coaching certification through Corporate Coach University (CCUI) and is certified in the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI), Emotional Intelligence (TalentSmart) and the Tilt 365 tool.
Kerrie serves on the Women’s Council at Ross Business School and is active in her community of Oakland, California where she lives with her husband, two daughters and two dogs.
Amy Barr Linkedin
Amy leads Team Development for Halmi Performance Consulting and is a Coach-Facilitator for Platinum Exchange. She is an experienced consultant and coach who helps leaders and teams create a better future. She works with growth-focused individuals, teams and organizations to leverage their strengths, expand their possibilities, and deepen their impact.
Amy honed her skills and business acumen over 25 years of operations and consulting roles with Fortune 500, Small-Midsize Enterprises, and social impact organizations: improving business processes, designing customer experiences, integrating operations during mergers and acquisitions, designing new business models, and co-creating organizational strategy.
A certified integral coach with New Ventures West, Amy also has an M.S. in Organizational Behavior and Development and a B.A. in Economics.
Sarita Vasa Linkedin
Sarita’s mission is for every person to operate at their greatest capacity. She has lovingly been given the designation by her clients as “The Velvet Hammer” as she balances kindness and courageousness to help get people there. With her twenty years of business experience, she has spent half of her career founding and running a social enterprise, and the other half of that as a coach, trainer, and facilitator. She leverages her experience of advocating for a cause, building a brand, and managing diverse teams to support her clients. She specializes in women’s leadership, presentation coaching, , and team development. Her clients include eBay, Facebook, Samsung, Golden Gate Capital, and Autodesk. She has worked with clients ranging from individual contributor up to the C Suite.
Sarita is a UCLA graduate, and a proud Los Angeles native. She received coaching training at New Ventures West and The Coaches Training Institute.
Yvette Castanon Linkedin
Yvette Castanon is an experienced leadership consultant with a proven record of success in providing the highest levels of coaching and business consulting. She calls upon her thirty-years as Vice President of communications, marketing and public relations experience to improve upon her client’s personal and business skills raising their performances. Yvette is uniquely qualified to translate her skills, experience and track record of growing careers, teams and businesses, helping them achieve high-impact measurable results.
Yvette holds a BS degree in Marketing from San Jose State University and her coaching training through New Ventures West.
Eileen Chang Linkedin
Eileen is a career and leadership coach passionate about helping purpose-driven change-makers connect to their unique genius, so that they achieve greater alignment in their work, deepen their impact, and create a better world. Eileen’s career reflects her own purpose-seeking journey, taking her from education and nonprofit arenas to the worlds of management consulting, e-commerce, and tech start-ups. Her shift into coaching was a lesson in following her genius and claiming her values — a lesson she continues to learn and teach in her work with ambitious leaders. Knowing there are no easy answers, she is honored to hold space for women, people of color, and open-hearted leaders to courageously share and make meaning together. Eileen holds a BA in History from Harvard University, an MBA from Berkeley Haas, and a certificate in integral coaching from New Ventures West.
Julianna Hynes, PhD, PCC Linkedin
“Julianna is passionate about helping her clients shift out of autopilot into intentional leadership.” Julianna Hynes, Ph.D., PCC, is a global leadership development and advancement strategist, coach, speaker, and author. She is known for her expertise in women's leadership.
Dr. Hynes enables her clients to build confidence, develop relevant leadership skills, become more professionally savvy and strategic, and position themselves for further advancement. She is the executive coach to thousands of business professionals who have successfully honed their leadership skills and developed the strategic competencies needed for their future success. Says one client, "Dr. Julianna epitomizes intuition, creativity, and listening skills which help to formulate concrete strategies unique to her clients and result in meeting and exceeding expectations. She is a trusted advisor."