THE COMMUNICATION CENTER - Key Persons
COO Alaina Goldense brings 14 years of marketing, client engagement and proposal management to The Communication Center. Managing the RFP process for TCC's work, she has and delivered successful pitches for clients in the global finance, corporate, government, healthcare and non-profit worlds. Alaina's visual approach to writing clear and memorable content emphasizes how plain language and formatting enhance readability.
In addition to writing large scale RFPs, Alaina engages with clients daily to understand their communication challenges to align coaching needs with TCC programs. As COO, she also participates in the management of TCC corporate strategy and client outreach.
Alaina also consults with TCC clients on creating more visually compelling presentations. She has worked directly with clients such as Marriott International, the International Finance Corporation, American Society of Civil Engineers, the U.S. Government and the Pew Charitable Trusts. Alaina, who has also taught business writing and PowerPoint classes for TCC both domestically and abroad, holds a B.A. in Communication and History from Denison University.
Job Titles:
- Creative Director, Executive Communication Coach
An accomplished and award-winning veteran of the broadcast news industry, Carol Buckland brings more than three decades of professional experience to The Communication Center. As a senior news writer at CNN, she specialized in political coverage and breaking news events - including multiple national presidential campaigns, the Challenger explosion, the September 11th attacks, Hurricane Katrina, the tsunami disaster in South Asia, plus major crime stories such as the DC snipers and the Elizabeth Smart kidnapping.
Carol spent more than ten years as senior editorial producer for the Emmy-winning program Larry King Live. In this capacity, she pre-interviewed more than 3,000 potential guests and prepared King's on-air questions and background materials. She is currently doing editorial work for King's on-line projects.
In addition to performing her responsibilities as a news writer, Carol put in several years as CNN's film critic - doing taped reviews and celebrity interviews as well as live, on-air entertainment segments.
A stint as marketing director for the ACMA provided Carol with experience in the development of branding and outreach language. She continues to do freelance writing for this national manufacturer's organization.
Selected for the prestigious American Political Science Congressional Fellowship Program, Carol spent nearly a year working on the staff of a bipartisan, bicameral caucus group. She also spent two months in Tokyo as a Japan Society Media Fellow studying the role of women in the Japanese media.
Carol received a B.A. in Political Science from the University of Connecticut, where she was a Departmental Honors Fellow. She earned an M.I.A. in International Communications from Columbia's School of International and Public Affairs, where she also took courses at the Graduate School of Journalism and did fieldwork at ABC News and The MacNeil/Lehrer Report.
Job Titles:
- CEO
- Dean
- President
- President & CEO / Dean Jones Hinchey Is President
Dean Jones Hinchey is President and CEO of The Communication Center.
Dean has upgraded and expanded TCC's course offerings to include social media, business writing, intergenerational communication, and Spanish language coaching. She has taken TCC's exceptionally strong training staff and pushed it to the next level by hiring network reporters, print journalists, successful authors, and PR professionals.
Under her leadership, TCC has seen tremendous growth and is now delivering communication training to clients around the US and around the world.
Clients benefit directly from Dean's extensive business and communication experience when she steps into the classroom herself to train.
Job Titles:
- Founder of Voicetrainer
- Voice Coach
Susan Miller, Ph.D. is founder of Voicetrainer, LLC, a voice and communication consulting firm in Washington, D.C. There she specializes in refinement of the speaking voice, anxiety reduction, accent refinement, presentation skills and treatment of the injured voice. For over 26 years, Dr. Miller has been helping professional speakers, radio and news personalities, and entertainers maximize their impact every time they speak. Her clients include corporate executives, government officials, broadcasters, and international diplomats.
Dr. Miller writes and speaks about vocal power, vocal health, and communicating powerfully. She is a featured speaker for national and international organizations such as the Smithsonian Institution and the Japan Society of Logopedics and Phoniatrics. She has also appeared on NBC, CBS, NPR and other national radio and television programs. Dr. Miller analyzed the voices of the 2008 presidential candidates in a Wall Street Journal article, "Talk is Cheap in Politics, But a Deep Voice Helps." She was also featured in a New York Times article, "My Voice Has Got to Go," and in a Financial Times article, "Why Do Women Sound like Frogs." Her tips regarding vocal health have appeared in magazines such as Better Homes and Gardens, the Washingtonian, Bottom Line Health, and the American Way. Her CD, "Vocal Vitality" was featured in the Wall Street Journal. Her book, "Be Heard the First Time," was released in March 2006.
Job Titles:
- Manager
- Audio Visual Manager
Greg Hammon manages technical operations at The Communication Center, planning and coordinating audiovisual needs for clients and trainers, as well as facilitating and maintaining TCC's online training platform. Greg has over 25 years of experience in corporate, theater and broadcast audiovisual production.
His professional career includes collaboration with media icons ESPN, Discovery, NBC, Fox and NPR, as well as industry organizations such as the National Association of Broadcasters. Greg is credited as a recording engineer on over 25 albums, and he served for two decades as Technical Director for The Capitol Steps.
Greg is a native of Washington, DC.
Job Titles:
- Executive Communication Coach
Katie Holland Wiesel specializes in the design, development, implementation and evaluation of executive education and professional learning programs. Her leadership development expertise spans 20+ years leading the design and delivery of best-in-class programs for Fortune 500 companies and associations in the financial services, pharmaceutical, aerospace and defense and global food and beverage industries at The University of Virginia Darden School Foundation, The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and Georgetown University's McDonough School of Business.
Most recently, as Senior Director of Client Engagement at Darden Executive Education from 2011 to early 2022, Katie designed and delivered a portfolio of customized programs including the award-winning GEICO Strategic and Entrepreneurial Leadership Program, Navy Federal Credit Union's renowned Executive Development Program, the Money Management Institute's groundbreaking ExecutiveIQ Program, CACI's Lead Organization Program, Clark Construction's Executive Business Certificate, and Capital One's Marketing Masters Retreat, among many others. She was responsible for the securing partnerships with clients, and the design and delivery of dozens of complex executive education programs including offerings for NASA, Northrop Grumman, the World Bank, Deloitte, Carmax, and others. As program director for Darden's flagship open enrollment offering for senior leaders, The Executive Program, Katie worked alongside faculty to design timely, relevant content, and impactful experiences.
In addition to her work designing classroom experiences for groups, Katie extends her passion and expertise to one-on-one leadership development. As an ICF accredited coach, Katie works with senior and mid-level executives to help them clarify their goals and realize their leadership potential. Her passion is guiding high performers to discover what's possible in their professional and personal lives by helping them create the habits and behaviors necessary to lead themselves, their teams and their organizations to success. Generosity, compassion and courage are the core values that guide her work with clients.
Her coaching clients hail from a broad range of corporate, nonprofit, and military/government organizations including Brookings Institution, CHCP, Colby College, Human Rights Campaign, Horizons Greater Washington, MasterCard, Northrop Grumman, SAP/Concur, US Special Operations Command, The Honor Foundation, US Departments of Defense, Energy, Health & Human Services, and Interior, the University of Virginia Health System and The World Bank Group, among others.
Job Titles:
- Executive Communication Coach
Lina Cagossi brings two decades of experience in journalism, broadcast media, and financial consulting to The Communication Center.
Lina worked as a financial journalist, anchor, and reporter for Bloomberg Television and Sky Italia, first in London and then New York. Lina was a correspondent from the floor of the New York Stock Exchange and Nasdaq, reporting also on the economy and politics, and anchored a daily show from Bloomberg NY studio on the stock market.
Before moving to the United States, Lina was the anchor of the morning show for Bloomberg Italy in London, during which she covered the closing of the Asian and the opening of the European stock market. Throughout her career, Lina interviewed CEOs of international companies, economists, heads of state, and prominent politicians.
Before joining The Communication Center, Lina was an executive communication trainer for the Thomson Reuters Foundation, where she held media and corporate training.
Job Titles:
- Executive Communication Coach
Matt's career has taken him as close as Washington, DC and as far away as Easter Island. After receiving his degree in communication from Longwood University, he began work in television and film production. Whether a murder mystery for Dateline, a political campaign, or a lighthearted look at a couple buying their first home for HGTV, Hines has been telling stories through media since 2003 and has been working with TCC for over 7 years.
Through the course of his career, he has worked on assorted media projects featuring U.S. Presidents, Vice Presidents, Supreme Court Justices and over 100 members of Congress. Matt's work has aired on over 20 networks including ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, Fox News, ESPN and HBO.
Since his internship with the Communications and Liaison branch of the IRS, Hines has had the opportunity to work with several governmental agencies and their Directors on a variety of projects; this includes 10 years of work with the National Library of Medicine on the NIH campus.
Hines also has extensive experience with the Myers-Briggs Indicator. And if you're curious, he may just spoil a few secrets about reality shows.
Job Titles:
- Executive Communication Coach
- Television and Newspaper Journalist
Michelle Henery is an accomplished television and newspaper journalist with a wealth of on-screen broadcasting experience and a background in reporting, editing, and writing. Michelle has worked for leading news organizations across Europe, including as a writer for Reuters in Paris, a reporter and editor for The Times of London, an on-camera correspondent for Al Jazeera English, and most recently as a presenter and news anchor for Germany's international broadcaster, Deutsche Welle.
During her time abroad, she was awarded two journalism fellowships: the George Wiedenfeld Bursary in Berlin and the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism at Oxford University. Michelle holds a Bachelors degree from Georgetown University and a Masters in Journalism from Goldsmith College, University of London.
Job Titles:
- Executive Communication Coach
Nan Tolbert's insights into the power of presentation and delivery - and use of teaching techniques that help clients achieve rapid improvement - have helped her become one of The Communication Center's most highly requested executive communication coaches.
Nan has designed new classes and taught at TCC for more than two decades. She has a wealth of experience coaching and training corporate executives in presentation and public speaking, media interviews and crisis communication. She also specializes in one-on-one executive coaching.
Nan's coaching expertise has led to consistent work with top executives at high-profile organizations such as Marriott International, USO, the National Institutes of Health, the U.S. Food & Drug Administration, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the American Hospital Association, Sands Capital Management and the Investment Company Institute.
Nan, who is Myers Briggs certified, began her career almost 30 years ago as a television news reporter for a southern CBS affiliate. Later, she moved to the corporate world, where she was the Training Director and Vice President of Communications for a national franchise company in Dallas, Texas. While there, she worked on presentation development as well as media inquiries. Nan has also worked for the Center for Women's Business Research and once owned her own PR firm.
Job Titles:
- Executive Communication Coach
Shelley Sims leverages more than 20 years experience in presentation coaching, media training and television production each time she trains a client. Shelley also specializes in designing customized programs that include internal communication skills for the corporate environment, delivery skills for executives, and general media and presentation skills development.
During her 17 years with TCC, Shelley has conceived, developed and implemented training programs that are national in scope. She has worked extensively with large U.S. corporations, associations and government industries to train executives and spokespersons for appearances in public forums, presentation settings, press conferences and industry teleconferences. Her programs focus on the effective management of public image, message development, media relations, and presentation and testimony techniques. Original designs for one, two or three-day training packages have included tailored interactive exercises, videotape recordings, visual aids, training videotapes, resource workbooks and PowerPoint slide shows. She has also designed carefully tailored multi-day training programs for World Bank, International Monetary Fund, Department of Energy, Truth Initiative, Marriott, and Gensler, to name a few.
Prior to joining TCC, Shelley was director of training at one of the largest community television stations in the country. While at Montgomery Community Television, she established a new training department, defining program objectives and developing TV production courses. Her training responsibilities included the design of curricula, review of evaluation and certification procedures, and development of supplemental materials. She directed teams to deliver courses on how to both produce programming and to operate equipment, resulting in the supervision of more than 2,000 participants in some phase of television production.
Shelley began her career as Program Director for Channel 12 in Aspen, CO, one of the first local cable TV stations in the country. Subsequently, she coordinated program elements for a 10 - part PBS documentary series, Crisis to Crisis with Barbara Jordan; helped manage Women and Movies III Film Festival, a 10-day showcase of new work at the American Film Institute in Washington, D.C., and was production manager for a production and post-production video service.
Job Titles:
- Director of Training, Executive Communication Coach
Steve Piacente is an award-winning Washington correspondent and novelist, university professor and professional life coach. Steve joined The Communication Center in 2013 after 10 years at the U.S. General Services Administration, where he was lead speechwriter and, later, deputy communications director, responsible for the web and social media team. Previously, he was Washington Correspondent for The Tampa Tribune and the Charleston (S.C.) Post & Courier. Steve has been a professional writer since graduating from American University in 1976, and holds a Masters in Fiction from Johns Hopkins University.
Susan Peterson is the Founder of The Communication Center. A talented and dynamic communicator, Susan draws from her media experiences to enhance the communication management skills of her clients around the world. Susan established TCC in 1983 after a decade as a network television correspondent for CBS and NBC News. Based in London for six years as CBS's first female foreign correspondent, she covered political and economic events in Europe and the Middle East. Peterson also hosted and produced two major American talk shows interviewing celebrities, authors and key business leaders.
As Founder, Susan works with executives on a range of executive communication topics including presentation and leadership communication, media interview skills, crisis communication and storytelling for business.
For four years, Susan served as the Chair for the Board of Trustees for her alma mater, Wayland Academy, a college prep school in Beaver Dam, Wisconsin. She was the first female chair in 155 years. She is also a past chair and board member of the Center for Women's Business Research, a leadership and research organization formerly known as the National Foundation for Women Business Owners. For five years Susan was a bank director for Century National Bank, now United Bank, and is a member of Leadership Greater Washington, serving as Vice President of Communication, currently.
Susan earned her undergraduate degree in creative writing and English literature at Denison University. She is certified by the three-year Owner/President Management Program (OPM) at The Graduate School of Business Administration of Harvard University. Stories about TCC have appeared in such publications as The Washington Post, The Washington Times, The Washington Business Journal, The New York Times, Investors Business Daily and Vital Speeches of the Day.
Job Titles:
- Chief Finance Officer
- Chief Financial Officer
Terry Acayan is responsible for the financial leadership of The Communication Center, she is responsible for TCC's financial reporting, analysis and internal control. She also oversees human resources and employee benefits.
Prior to joining TCC she was a Finance Manager for a retail Fortune 500 Company with annual revenues exceeding $10 billion. During her years there, she served in numerous capacities, including real estate and capital asset investment analysis, operational analysis financial planning and analysis, and reporting. She was instrumental in the implementation, maintenance and management of several key financial information systems which were integral to capital asset tracking and management and external reporting. Previous experience also included financial analysis and support for senior leaders in the merchandising, retail operations and accounting departments.
She received both her Masters in Accounting and her Bachelors of Business in accounting from the University of North Florida.