Management

Founders
Carol Fishman Cohen and Vivian Steir Rabin are the co-authors of the acclaimed career reentry book Back on the Career Track: A Guide for Stay-at-Home Moms Who Want to Return to Work, and the co-founders of iRelaunch.com, a company producing career reentry programs, events and content for employers, universities, organizations and individuals.

Carol and Vivian have presented their career reentry strategies to nearly 6,000 people at almost 100 events since 2006. iRelaunch's signature products include the iRelaunch Return to Work Conference, a one day, multi-employer sponsored, return to work conference held at educational institutions around the country, Relaunch Circles, a four session, small group coach led program with a curriculum based on Back on the Career Track, and the Back on the Career Track Webinar series. iRelaunch also designs customized career reentry programs, events, and content for employers and universities.  Both Harvard Business School graduates, Carol, a mother of four, and Vivian, a mother of five, resumed careers in very different ways after taking multi-year career breaks.

Carol Fishman Cohen

• Co-author, Back on the Career Track

• Frequent speaker and consultant to corporations, universities, non-profits and mothers groups on the topic of career reentry

• Over 20 years of diverse business experience, primarily in finance

• Mother of four children ages 15 to 20

• Relaunched at Bain Capital in high yield debt management after 11 years out of full time workforce

• Subject of Harvard Business School case on Professional Career Reentry

• BA from Pomona College, MBA from Harvard Business School

Vivian Steir Rabin

• Co-author, Back on the Career Track

• Frequent speaker and consultant to corporations, universities, non-profits and mothers groups on the topic of career reentry

• Over 21 years of diverse business experience, including leadership roles in finance and human resources, in the media, financial services, consulting and executive search industries

• Mother of five children ages 12 to 20

• Relaunched by joining a small executive search firm after seven years out of the workforce

• BA from Harvard College, MBA from Harvard Business School

Team 
Our team is made up of six talented, dedicated individuals - Elisa Joseph Anders, Betsy Blagdon, Amy Gleklen, Elizabeth Hansen, Amy Herf and Julie Holunga.

Elisa Joseph Anders, Special Projects Director

Elisa is responsible for iRelaunch special projects ranging from developing products to exploring new market opportunities. She brings to this role her strong background in product/program development and client management.

Elisa has been an independent marketing and management consultant since 1993. During the first part of her career, Elisa worked as a consultant for two consulting firms and as a marketing manager for several consumer information and interactive services companies. When her three children were young, she stepped off the traditional track and cut back on her consulting business. She took on occasional consulting projects, worked part time as a musician, and did community service work during this time.

She relaunched her career in 2006. Recently Elisa produced a documentary for the Arlington Academy of Hope, a non-profit that brings quality education and basic health care to children in rural Uganda. Her documentary, From One Village: A Story of Hope in Uganda, can be seen on arlingtonacademyofhope.org. Elisa received her Bachelor's degree from Wellesley College and her MBA from The Wharton School.

Betsy directs "all things technical" at iRelaunch, ranging from website development and design to advice on webinar creation and on line purchasing. 

Betsy spent 11 years in software engineering and management at electronic imaging and educational software companies before taking time off to be with her two children. She relaunched her career as a website designer nine years ago. Through her website design company, http://www.glissadedesign.com/, Betsy has helped many small businesses and non-profit organizations, primarily in the Boston area, develop and/or expand their web presence.

Betsy has a Bachelor's degree in Mathematics from MIT.

Amy Gleklen, ACC, MBA, MS, Coaching Director

Amy is a certified leadership coach specializing in career and leadership coaching and founder of Next Game Plan. Amy's passion is working with people to help them discover their unique next game plan, whether in a new career or moving to the next level of leadership. She created a career exploration and transition coaching program to help get clients in their "career zone." As a leadership coach, Amy partners with clients, leveraging strengths and identifying areas for development, to help them become better and more successful managers and leaders. In addition to working with clients individually, Amy has created and leads a variety of workshops. She co-developed the Relaunch Circles Workshop series and is a workshop facilitator for iRelaunch in the DC area. Amy is one of a select few career coaches recommended by the Wharton Alumni Career Management Office.

Amy has followed her own playbook with over 20 years of corporate, small business, and nonprofit experience, including Merrill Lynch; Biden for President; Booz, Allen & Hamilton; and as director of a DC-based nonprofit. Her background includes leadership roles in management, finance, sales and operations. Her education includes an MBA from Wharton Business School, a Masters degree in Counseling from Johns Hopkins, and leadership coaching certification through Georgetown University. She is an ACC ICF certified coach and certified in a variety of assessments including Myers-Briggs, Strong Interest Inventory and Leadership Circle 360. She completed a 12-week course on Positive Psychology through the University of Pennsylvania. Amy has been married for 20 years and has four children ages 16, 14, 11 and 8.

 
Elizabeth Hansen, Conference Outreach Director

Elizabeth is responsible for developing relationships with universities and organizations interested in helping their constituents on career break reenter the workforce. Elizabeth has successfully relaunched twice, so she remains keenly aware of both the valuable benefits of and urgent need for career services for professionals returning to work after some time away.

Elizabeth most recently built a service business from a concept to a thriving company serving thousands of customers, by establishing strong relationships and fostering a culture of exceptional customer service. Prior to that, she took a 10 year career break from her work as an attorney.

 Elizabeth has a BA from The College of William and Mary, and a JD from Suffolk Law School. She lives in Virginia with her husband and children.

Amy Herf, Events Director

Amy manages the overall logistics for the iRelaunch Return to Work Conferences including on-site operations and pre-conference details.

Amy recently took time off to spend with her two young children after relocating with her family to Western New York. Amy has over 12 years of event planning experience, the last 8 spent working in development and alumni relations at Cornell and Harvard Business School. She has managed a wide range of events, from reunions, to board meetings, to regional events with university administrators. At Harvard Business School, she served as the liaison between the Women's Students Association and alumnae, and helped developed a mentorship program, matching female students with alumnae.

Amy received her Bachelor's degree in Sociology from Union College.

Julie brings to iRelaunch a strong background in relationship building between corporations and universities. At iRelaunch she is responsible for developing relationships with employers interested in educating, recruiting, and reintegrating those on career break back into the workforce.

Prior to joining iRelaunch, Julie served as the project manager for Alumni Career Services at Harvard Business School focusing on the careers of female alumnae. She advised alumnae who were in transition and built relationships with corporations leading the efforts to advance women into positions of leadership. Julie also spent four years with the Center for Corporate Citizenship at Boston College where she was responsible for developing and managing relationships with the Center's 320+ Fortune 1000 members.

Julie received her Bachelor's degree in French Literature and Economics at Union College, and her MBA from Boston College. She spent seven years living and attending school in France, India and Hong Kong. Julie is a relauncher, having recently taken a career break to move and settle her family in Calgary, Canada, where she now resides.

Advisory Board

Nina Eigerman, Vice President, New Growth Platforms, Avery Dennison

Nina Eigerman is an innovator in flexible work. A frequent contributor to work/life balance conversations, she has spoken on the topic at Harvard Business School, the MIT Sloan School of Management, the Conference Board, and other industry forums.  Nina's role at Avery Dennison focuses on strategic growth opportunies for the company.

Prior to joining Avery Dennison, Nina was Partner at a-connect, a staffing firm bringing together independent professionals with project work at major corporations, where she focused on the retail and consumer sectors and other marketing intensive industries.  Previous experience includes her role as President of Aquent Consulting, the process consulting arm of marketing and creative services staffing firm Aquent, and as a consultant with McKinsey and Company in Boston. Over the course of seven years at McKinsey, she became a leader of the North American Sales Force and Channel Management Practice, bringing customer-centric strategies to both retailers and manufacturers.

Nina graduated from the MIT Sloan School of Management and has a BA from Harvard College.

Jules Pieri, Founder, Daily Grommet

Jules is founder of Daily Grommet, a product discovery channel for social media. She was previously President and C.O.O. of Ziggs.com, a social networking site for professionals.

Jules has been building consumer brands and developing innovative products for over twenty years. She held positions as Vice President of Strategic Planning at Stride Rite Corporation and Director of Strategic Marketing and Licensing at Keds Corporation. She also worked with Playskool as a long term product strategy consultant, and was a Vice President at Design Continuum, a leading international product design and engineering consultancy. She lived in Ireland from 2001-2005, where she consulted to consumer facing enterprises. Jules' expertise and enthusiasms span retail, brand, and product strategy

Early in her career she worked as an industrial designer at Sagem S.A. (Paris), and Burroughs (Detroit). She was also a graphic designer at Data General (Boston). Jules studied Industrial Design, Graphic Design, and French at the University of Michigan. She was conferred an MBA degree by Harvard University, where she was selected by faculty to receive the Ellis-LeBaron Fellowship. She lives in suburban Boston with her husband and three sons. Jules continues to enthusiastically study the French language and never turns down an invitation to hike or go see a play.

Hilary Stark, Former Vice President, Encore Program Manager, Lehman Brothers

Hilary Stark was, most recently, a vice president at Lehman Brothers and manager of the Firm's global reentry program, Encore®. While there, she collaborated with the firm's management to create and implement a comprehensive on-ramping program that included on-boarding and professional development. She also served as the program's ongoing career advisor and assisted with performance management.

Prior to Lehman Brothers, Hilary had off-ramped for 12-years after a decade-long career as an investment banker with UBS Securities, Barclays Bank, Bankers Trust and Lehman Brothers.

Hilary received a BA from Wellesley College and an MBA from the Harvard Business School. She lives in Connecticut with her husband and two sons.

Matthew Temple, Director of Alumni Career Services, Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University

Matthew Temple is the Director of Alumni Career Services at the Kellogg School of Management. He has counseled alumni as well as full-time, part-time and executive MBA students on a range of career issues including self-assessment, company and industry research, search strategies, networking, resume and cover letter writing, interview preparation, negotiations and job offer decision-making. Matthew has conducted career management workshops on many topics, helped organize international career treks, and advised companies on recruiting strategies. Matthew helped develop and facilitate a series of two day workshops focusing on re-entering the workforce. He has worked as a Career Counselor with Harvard Business School and the UCLA Anderson School of Management.

Previously, Matthew served as the Director of International Business Development for Ask Jeeves, where he helped establish and manage joint ventures in Asia, Europe and Latin America. He has worked in investment banking, consulting and marketing for Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank, and Accenture. In addition, he has worked in Asia and Europe.

Matthew holds a BA in European History from Harvard University and an MBA in Finance, Marketing and Organizational Behavior from the Kellogg School of Management. He resides in Los Angeles.