About Us

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Mary Jo is the founder and president of Rogers Leadership Group. Her work is dedicated to improving leadership and culture in safety significant and high hazard industries. In 2013, she published the book, “Nuclear Energy Leadership: Lessons Learned from U.S. Operators” (PennWell) and has published articles in HazardEx and Power Engineering magazines.

She has 25 years of experience consulting to electric and gas utility companies, power generators, the U.S. Department of Energy, and other industries. She has conducted board-requested effectiveness assessments of risk reduction programs as well as safety culture assessments to lower the risk of serious injuries and fatalities. 

Previously, Mary Jo was managing partner at a global management consultancy firm and a leader in management development at Exelon Corporation. Mary Jo’s extensive background and education enables her to apply psychological and behavioral science principles, combined with real-world utility and business experience, to help individuals and organizations uncover the values, beliefs, and behaviors that may be limiting their performance. 

Mary Jo received her Ph.D. in clinical psychology at Loyola University Chicago and her master’s in psychology at Northern Illinois University. She is on the executive board for the Cities Mentor Project that serves urban youth.

Paul is an attorney with 30 years of experience providing legal and consulting services to highly regulated safety significant industries. He has expertise investigating, assessing, and providing counsel on a wide range of matters critical to legal and regulatory compliance and safe operations, including safety culture, safety conscious work environment, and security. He has also served clients in addressing allegations of retaliation, discrimination, willful violation of regulations, and other forms of deliberate wrongdoing.

He was employed by Rockwell International (now Boeing) as an Aerospace and Systems Engineer for six years before entering Cornell Law School. Prior to establishing his independent law practice in 2014, he was a partner in the nuclear practice group of the international law firm Morgan, Lewis & Bockius, LLP. 

Paul received a J.D. from Cornell and M.S. in Aerospace Engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. 

Connie is an organizational and leadership development professional with over 30 years of experience in leadership effectiveness, organizational behavior, safety culture, team dynamics, and change management, as well as a demonstrated ability in the design and delivery of leadership training programs and organizational development consulting interventions. 

Connie has consulted in a variety of industries including manufacturing, service, healthcare, financial, energy, and agriculture. For the last 25 years, she has specialized in the utility sector and the nuclear power industry. 

She has worked at all levels in corporate organizations and at plant facilities, with union and non-union companies. She brings expertise in the areas of large-scale change management, strategic planning, organizational diagnostics, executive and professional development, organizational learning, process improvement, team dynamics and the behavioral sciences. Her extensive background leads to a deep understanding of organizational dynamics and practical, results-oriented solutions.

Connie received her M.Ed. from the University of Toledo.

Carol is a human resource and organizational effectiveness consulting professional with 30 years of experience in the utility, nuclear, and automotive industries. She has held various leadership positions throughout her career and recently retired from Entergy Corporation, where she was the Vice President of Human Resources and Organizational Effectiveness and was instrumental in helping lead the recovery of the nuclear fleet. 

Carol’s early career experience was in the automotive industry with various supplier corporations and a focus on labor and industrial relations. Subsequently, she was an HR director with Exelon Corporation, director of HR/OR with PPL Corporation, and a VP at Talen Energy, where she was a key member of the lead team for the spin-off of generating assets to form Talen Energy. She has a wealth of experience that leads to insightful observations and conclusions about organizational and team dynamics in the real world.  

Carol has a B.A. in Economics and M.S. in labor and industrial relations degree, both from Michigan State University.

Rich is an operational excellence consulting professional with over 35 years of experience operating and consulting to commercial nuclear power plants. He started his career serving as a licensed nuclear power plant operator, then moved up through the ranks to the operations director and plant manager roles, as well as maintenance director and director of fleet oversight.

Rich has led cross-functional teams to major turnarounds in performance resulting in the highest ratings by the Institute of Nuclear Power Operations, including at Exelon and Entergy. He has since consulted to the Japanese utility TEPCO, Southern Company, and the U.S. Department of Energy contract sites. His extensive background has given him a fundamental understanding of worker and leadership challenges – and solutions – in utility operations and safety culture.

He earned his B.S. in Business Administration from Olivet University while working full time for Exelon, and he has served on local United Way boards for many years.

Denise is an organizational effectiveness consulting professional with more than 15 years of experience working with leaders and organizations across various industries including energy, utilities, nuclear power, transportation, consumer products, and professional services.

Her expertise is in leadership effectiveness—assessment and coaching—and she partners with leaders at all levels and all stages of their careers. Her approach balances the individual development of leaders with the needs of the organization and the success of the business.

Prior to her work in consulting, Denise held internal roles, including the VP of Organizational Development for an insurance/financial services company and the ethics and compliance lead for the Wrigley company.

She received her M.A. in Counseling from Loyola University Chicago and her B.S. in Psychology from Bradley University. 

Denise has managed and contributed to the success of numerous leadership and organizational assessment projects in safety significant and other industries and has been a valued member of the Rogers Leadership Group since it was founded. Earlier in her career as Legal Assistant, she managed a caseload for a firm representing the Illinois Department of Transportation in eminent domain and other litigation and legal matters. She was promoted to Paralegal and recruited to a high-profile firm to manage caseloads for Fortune 500 companies in financial matters. 

After shifting gears from the legal realm, Denise found that all her previously acquired organizational and interpersonal skills were a valued asset to the consulting industry, where she has been able to apply her professional interviewing, process development, and project management skills. 

Denise graduated from the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) with a B.A. in Applied Psychology. 

RADM Coyle (Mike) has over 57 years of experience in the maintenance and operation of Naval and commercial nuclear power, which includes significant positions of leadership.

Following retirement from the Navy, he continued his leadership involvement with nuclear power in the commercial nuclear power industry as the Site Vice President at the Clinton Nuclear Power Station in Illinois and later, the Site Vice President at the Cooper Nuclear Plant in Nebraska. From 2004 to 2006, he was on loan to the Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI) in Washington, DC.  From 2006 to 2009 he was Vice President, Special Projects for Exelon, the largest operator of commercial nuclear plants in the United States. 

From 2009, he has been an employee and consultant to several contractors operating sites for the Department of Energy. He gives frequent presentations on safety culture.

RADM Coyle received a B.S. from the U.S. Naval Academy, and M.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the U.S. Naval Postgraduate School.