Meet Our Team

Melissa L. Hart, MAHR, JCTC
President and Principal Consultant

Melissa L. Hart is the president of The HumanVantage™Consulting Group, a managerial consultancy that partners with organizations to design business solutions that deliver real results. Through The HumanVantage™, client needs are assessed from the vantage points of the organization, team or individual.

As a seasoned strategic business partner, Melissa has over 20 years of direct human resources and organizational development experience in global manufacturing and technology Fortune 50 companies. She is results-focused and is committed to partnering with clients to define the best possible approach and creative solutions to meet the client’s business needs--appreciating that each client is unique and viable human capital solutions must be tailored to the select organization.

Known as a creative problem-solver, Melissa has been recognized for her expertise in the HR and organization development fields, specifically in the areas of leadership development & coaching, organization effectiveness, change leadership, and talent management systems. She has completed numerous assessments and has successfully coached leaders—at all levels—to overcome challenges, improve performance, gain greater clarity and achieve enhanced levels of professional and personal effectiveness. Having led numerous human capital initiatives over her broad career, Melissa can appreciate the many challenges leaders face today as they manage others in a virtual, ever-changing and competitive business environment. She maintains a strategic and process-oriented approach and provides credible, hands-on counsel and solutions that are innovative, have impact and generate real value for her clients.

Prior to founding The HumanVantage™ Consulting Group llc, Melissa led the global human resources and organizational development functions for Cytec Engineered Materials, an advanced composites and adhesives business, and a division of Cytec Industries (NYSE-CYT), a global specialty chemicals company with more than $3.5 billion in 2008 revenue. While at Honeywell International (NYSE-HON), a global aerospace and chemical company with revenues in excess of $36 billion in 2008. Melissa held various senior executive HR/OD positions where she was responsible for leading major change initiatives, including global transformations, mergers, acquisitions and divestitures. She led the organization and talent development function for the $4B Aerospace Services sector of Honeywell, and had accountability for over 10,000 employees, in over 40 sites worldwide. In this capacity, she developed and implemented various progressive HR processes that dramatically improved employee engagement, leadership development and talent management agendas. At Dow Chemical (NYSE-DOW), a global chemical company with more than $60 billion in revenue in 2008, Melissa held various senior strategic HR positions, and gained valuable experiences in the labor relations arena.

Prior to her corporate tenure, Melissa served as an Academic Advisor and Career Coach at the University of Illinois where she guided young adults to help them diagnose their development needs, realize their potential, and further refine their educational and career interests. This gratifying experience fueled the inception of the PurposefulPaths™ Division of The HumanVantage™ Consulting Group, llc, where individuals in life transitions (high school, college, midlife, or retirement) receive one-on-one career counseling and job transition coaching support. As a certified Job & Career Transition and Development Coach (JCTC), Melissa helps individuals in all life paths discover their strengths, realize results and achieve their fullest potential.

The HumanVantage™ Team

Patti M. Thorn, Ph.D.

As an associate of The HumanVantage™, LLC, Patti M. Thorn is an educator and education researcher with over 20 years of experience in academic contexts ranging from elementary school to university settings. She earned a BS in Microbiology from Oregon State University, a MS in Biology from The University of Dayton, and a PhD in Science Education from the University of Texas at Austin.
Patti’s areas of expertise include application of contemporary learning and motivation theories to improve learner engagement, achievement, and success, and educational change processes. Her research on educational change has been highlighted in the National Teaching and Learning Forum (“The High Risks of Improving Teaching”). Patti was awarded the Proctor & Gamble Professional Opportunity Award for Meritorious Research in 2002.
Before working as an education consultant, Patti held faculty development and educational researcher appointments at the University of Texas at Austin and Arizona State University. She has taught scientific research methods, seminar, and lecture courses for undergraduate students, teaching methods courses for beginning graduate teaching assistants, and learning strategies courses for undergraduate students.
Patti’s approach to educational consulting is unique and results in the creation of “evidence-based teaching and learning systems”. She utilizes a collaborative, partnership model to help clients design innovative teaching and learning programs, and support educators through one-on-one instructional coaching to enhance student motivation and learning.

Patsy Ziegler

As an associate of The HumanVantage™LLC, and Principal of Human Capital Solutions, LLC, a management consulting firm in the Los Angeles area, Patsy provides organization development, executive coaching and talent management services to a variety of global and local client companies. Patsy enjoys a reputation with senior executives as someone who is pragmatic, resourceful and gets things done. Her ability to think systemically is the foundation for her “real world” assessment of business requirements and people implications. Previous experience in executive roles also allows her to quickly understand the pressures facing leaders in today’s business environment. Prior to starting her own consulting/coaching business, Patsy held global Executive roles at Allied Signal (Honeywell), GE, and Northern Telecom (Nortel) where she was a recognized leader in executive staffing and development, organization development and change management. She was widely sought after by many leaders for mentoring. She also worked as a TQM consultant at Rath & Strong (AON) and as a VP for a Silicon Val telecom start-up.