Who We Are

Conley’s skill sets include: process improvement; financial management; general management; coaching & training; and leadership. Conley’s coaching/consulting services in process improvement have been in the education, manufacturing, and government sectors. Conley is an attorney and organizational consultant in private practice in Lexington, Kentucky. He limits his practices to representation of nonprofit organizations across the United States, including associations, stand-alone nonprofit organizations, and foundations. He is licensed to practice law in Kentucky and Maine as well as before numerous Federal Courts including the U.S. Tax Court. Mr. Salyer is an active member of the American Bar Association’s Committee on Nonprofit Organizations. He is an Alumni Examiner, Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award Program. He is Consulting Services Manager for the Kentucky Center for Performance Excellence (the Kentucky Baldrige representative organization) and School Transportation Systems, LLC. Conley delivered training to federal agencies and grant recipients on grant and cooperative agreement management for Northwest Procurement Institute (NPI) from 2012 through 2018, and for Business Management and Research Associates 2023- Current. In addition, he has managed federal assistance agreements from Department of Defense, Department of Commerce, Appalachian Regional Commission, and the Small Business Administration. He has directed procurement technical assistance programs within the states of Maine, West Virginia, and Washington, D.C. under cooperative agreements with the Defense Logistics Agency. He also served as national president of the Association of Procurement Technical Assistance Centers, which association comprises 98 nonprofit procurement technical assistance centers with 300 offices across the U.S. Mr. Salyer received his Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration and Economics from Valdosta State University, his Juris Doctor degree from Salmon P. Chase College of Law, Northern Kentucky University, and his Masters of Tax Law degree from the Marshall-Wythe School of Law, College of William and Mary. Conley has taught nonprofit law for the U.K. College of Law and Northern Kentucky University; business management for Berea College; and financial accounting for New Hampshire College.

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William J. Ryan, Ph.D. is an expert in strategic workforce development, learning technology integration, and organizational leadership. Over decades driving talent optimization initiatives, Dr. Ryan has honed a talent empowerment framework aligning purpose, people, and processes to elicit capability growth and maximize human capital investments. Currently the Principal Consultant of Ryan Consulting, LLC, Bill founded this boutique consultancy to equip partners across industry verticals with customized strategic learning solutions bridging skills gaps and amplifying talent engagement. Blending prior corporate leadership experience as both a Chief Information Officer and Chief Learning Officer, he wields proficiency spanning IT governance, instructional design, and performance enhancement interventions. This unique, interdisciplinary blend of organizational development, adult learning theory, and rising technological affordances underpins his consulting value proposition centered on realizing latent workforce potential. Bill’s credentials include an MS concentrated in Instructional Design from Ithaca College, complemented by a Ph.D. exploring the nexus of Computing Technology and Education from Nova Southeastern University. He continues lifelong scholarship at this intriguing intersection of human and artificial intelligence - recently pioneering new models of just-in-time adaptive learning termed “Workflow Learning” to embed capability development within daily operations. Previous clients spanning public sector agencies, global corporations, manufacturing, insurance, and healthcare networks affirm the real world utility and commercial value of Bill’s frameworks.

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Bob has over 30 years of professional experience in operational excellence-focusing principally on process improvement and management as the means to improving operational efficiency and delivering quality. His experience spans a broad spectrum of operational environments where he has served in various leadership, staff, and consulting roles. Before leaving full-time employment, Bob served as Vice President, Process Engineering and Operational Quality with Affiliated Computer Services (now Xerox). Bob led successful corporate quality and process improvement programs, established ISO 9000-certified quality management systems, and worked extensively with Lean, Six Sigma, and Re-engineering. He is a Certified Six Sigma Black Belt and Certified Manager of Quality / Organizational Excellence with the American Society for Quality (ASQ) and a past member of the National Board of Examiners for the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award Program. He has published and presented professional articles and a book, titled the Process-Focused Organization – A Transition Strategy for Success. Bob has served as a volunteer with the Kentucky Center for Performance Excellence since 2004 and has served as President and as Chairman of the Board of Directors for multiple terms. KyCPE helps Kentucky organizations adopt the Baldrige Excellence Framework and provides Operational Excellence consulting services. For KyCPE, Bob has completed school district process improvement projects with Jessamine County Schools: staff attendance & retention; Fleming County Schools: staff recruitment and engagement) Greenup County Schools: student attendance and teacher retention; and I.B. Moore Company LLC: manufacturing process improvement leading to improved profitability. Bob completed his undergraduate work in Physics and Political Science and his Master's in Survey Research at Western Kentucky University and is a US Army veteran. Bob and his wife, Linda, live in Dayton, Ohio.

Performance Improvement leader with expertise in commercial and military electronics manufacturing, avionics, telecommunications, medical and insurance industries. Innovative strategist with proven abilities in product and service design, project management, team leadership, and bottom-line performance improvement interventions. Labeled by peers and superiors as a proactive leader, instructor, mentor and coach. Specialties: Performance Excellence Criteria Application and Recognition Systems, Strategic Portfolio Management, Six Sigma Systems design, development and deployment - company-wide. Officer of The Kentucky Center for Performance Excellence, a nonprofit volunteer organization, whose mission is to promote, teach, coach, and recognize KyCPE Coaches/Consultants performance excellence in the Commonwealth of Kentucky. Dean’s most recent work for KyCPE was with the Frankfort Independent School District where the District team focused on a Lean 5S project (Sort – Straighten – Shine – Standardize – Self-Discipline) while also creating new income streams for the food service program.

Bryan’s skill sets include: Process improvement, business process automation, software design & engineering, regulatory compliance, technology management, and leadership. Bryan’s process improvement and automation projects have included the areas of transportation, accounts payable, payroll, human resources, supply chain, and restaurant operations. Bryan built the Information Technology department of Fazoli’s Restaurants and served as its leader for more than 20 years. He was involved in the design and implementation of three generations of business processes and systems which managed the financial and operational requirements for as many as 400 locations, 10,000 employees, and $400 million in annual revenue. Bryan served as chairman of the Lexington Tech Forum, the largest Information Technology professional organization in Central Kentucky for more than 10 years. He was one of only 50 tech leaders invited to the first ever Tech Meetup at the White House in 2015, where he contributed to the design of the TechHire grant initiative which gives people from disadvantaged backgrounds the skills they need to succeed in well-paying technology careers. Bryan has been a curriculum advisor for Sullivan University, ITT Technical Institute, and Spencerian College. He consulted with university administration annually regarding employment trends in technology and provided recommendations regarding their curriculum and course offerings. Bryan has also served as the Kentucky coordinator for Technology Education and Literacy in Schools (TEALS), which is a program that connects high school teachers with tech-industry volunteers to create sustainable Computer Science programs for public schools. Bryan received his Bachelor of Arts degree in Computer Science from Transylvania University.

Kathi is a finance professional with over
fifteen years of corporate leadership
experience. She is an excellent problem
solver adept at creating strategies for
process improvement to maximize
profits while maintaining compliance
within regulatory requirements. She has
demonstrated expertise in the following
areas: GAAP and IFRS, Budgeting,

Strategic Planning, Staff Development,
Internal Auditing, Risk Management,
Project Management, Mergers &
Acquisitions, Revenue Recognition and
Financial Analysis.
Ms. Shrider has a background in
manufacturing through her work with the
West Virginia Manufacturing Assistance
Program as well as a background in
computer sales and service.
Ms. Shrider received her Bachelor of
Science degree in Economics and her
Masters of Business Administration from
the University of Charleston (WV.) She
passed the CPA exam in 2000.
Kathi is a Finance and Operations
professional residing in Lexington, KY.