Michelle Coussens

About Michelle Coussens

Michelle Coussens is a frequently sought-out speaker and business strategist on a wide range of topics related to the workplace, including but not limited to talent management, business strategy, and operational effectiveness. She is a resourceful, resilient, and relentless business professional with demonstrated success in building new programs, driving short-term efficiencies, and improving long-term effectiveness all through innovation, rigor, and courageous leadership. She has direct experience with a variety of industries, as well as in consulting, education, and not-for-profit organizations. With consistently high participant ratings, her coaching and consulting guidance, webinars, courses, and speaking engagements bring practical value to businesses of every size and type.Since 2005, Ms. Coussens has owned and operated Plan B Consulting, now Plan B Consulting Services, LLC. Services span speaking, training, and organizational assistance in preparing strategic and business plans, project management, leadership, operational excellence, ethics, human resources, diversity and inclusion, and other related topics. In her work, she has developed and taught courses for companies, training organizations, and governmental entities, including courses on topics such as strategic and business planning, organizational effectiveness, operational efficiency, project execution, human capital management, and critical thinking. Earlier in her career, she worked in various analytical roles and even performed and led actuarial analysis for a leading insurance carrier.She has worked in various leadership roles requiring significant responsibility for tangible results. She has managed project teams and large groups of staff. She is adept at seeing both the forest and the trees through both the combination of strategic and analytical skills. Michelle has built products and programs from scratch, building alliances with others to bring innovative ideas to profitable results. She also holds a strong interest in community development and volunteers through a number of different organizations, including serving on boards and committees, as well as mentoring others.She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in mathematics from Northwestern University and a master’s in business administration, with a concentration in Marketing, from DePaul University. She also has achieved several professional insurance designations (ARM, CPCU, RPLU, and actuarial exams) and holds an Illinois insurance license.

Experience

1. Course Instructor Developer

   Bmra

   Mar 2021 — Present

   Develops and executes course content for various government-related audiences in the areas of business management, process improvement, leadership, project management, and other related topics. Training is done face-to-face or virtually.

Education

• Northwestern University

  BA, Mathematics

  1981 — 1985

• DePaul Driehaus College of Business

  MBA, Marketing

  1999 — 2003

Skills

• Marketing
• Nonprofits
• Product Management
• Budgeting
• Relentless
• Strategy
• Resourceful
• Strategic Planning
• Budgets
• Community Outreach
• Consulting
• Life & Health Insurance Licenses
• Competitive Analysis
• Start-Ups
• Negotiation
• Market Analysis
• Board Development
• Business Strategy
• Charities
• Risk Management
• Market Planning
• Project Management
• Leadership
• Project Planning
• Business Planning
• Product Development
• Analysis
• Small Business
• Process Improvement
• Non-Profits
• Market Research
• Policy
• Management Consulting
• Program Management
• Entrepreneurship
• Strategy Development
• Business Development
• Workshop Facilitation
• Management
• Program Development