About Us

Mission: Illuminutopia focuses on illuminating the way to utopia for individuals, organizations and society. Its purpose is to make a positive difference in the world

Our mission is achieved through different strategies and tactics. Illuminutopia is divided into four areas: individuals, organizations, think tank and publishing. The Illuminutopia Group consists of two organizations from a legal and tax standpoint. Illuminutopia, LLC is for profit, while Illuminutopia Spirit, Inc. is not-for-profit. The publishing (of books, CDs and DVDs) and organization (which consists of consulting, training and workshops for various types of organizations) areas are part of the for-profit company, while the work for individuals and the think tank are part of the not-for-profit organization. The logic for this division follows. We do not expect the individual healing and think tank (for addressing issues in society) areas to be very profitable. Both of these areas include providing a significant portion of our services on a sliding scale or pro bono basis. Thus, we ensure that those who cannot afford to pay for our services are not prevented from getting the help they need and desire. All of the stock of Illuminutopia, LLC is owned by Illuminutopia Spirit, Inc. Our focus is not on making money, though money is needed to support operations and pay our people well. It is our intention to ensure that Illuminutopia continues to successfully achieve its mission far into the future, even with leadership changes over time.

It is important to note that a philosophy, known as the Theory of Constraints (TOC), is critical to the success of our organization. TOC is focused on leveraging the constraint that is most limiting any system, such as an organization, person or department, from achieving more of its goal. With this focus, significant results are achieved very quickly without much, if any investment. Numerous success stories about TOC exist throughout the world. TOC was founded by Dr. Eli Goldratt, a best-selling author of ten books on the subject. TOC is used throughout our organization to manage our efforts since it consists of various management solutions.

TOC was initially developed over 30 years ago. Over time, the growth in its applications and knowledge has been exponential. The Thinking Processes (TP) of TOC provide effective ways for solving problems and achieving objectives. (To effectively learn more about several of the TP tools, see www.tocforeducation.com). In addition to the TP, the applications of TOC which are most beneficial for running Illuminutopia are: replenishment, project management, marketing and sales. The replenishment application significantly increases inventory turns, cash flow and net profit. The project management solution results in a high probability of on-time completion, being within budget, scope and quality standards, reduced project lead times (in most cases), fewer conflicts between people, more projects may be completed without increasing the staffing level and the improved ability to manage people and projects. The marketing and sales applications result in attracting many more potential customers and a much higher percentage of turning prospects into customers.

The publishing area focuses on publishing books, CDs and DVDs to support the other areas of the organization. Since this area is managed using TOC, replenishment of inventories and marketing is handled effectively. Several of the board members are currently working on writing books and are creating other training materials. By publishing these materials and those of others who work with us, we are able to ensure this area is managed well and that more money is available to support the organization. Our research has indicated that publishers do not typically provide legal support, editing, marketing and other key services to the vast majority of their authors. This is one of the reasons that led us to make the decision to publish ourselves.

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Our Leadership

Lisa A. Ferguson, PhD
Michelle Lebowitz-Goebel, BS, BA
Claudia Jordan, BA
Janice Cerveny, PhD
Lynne Easterday, MEd

Our Board Members

Board of Directors: This section provides an overview of the current leadership, including insights into their contribution to the organization. These members were selected for several reasons: the specific skills and knowledge they each have to bring to the table, their ability to work in teams effectively, to achieve consensus in decision-making, their desire to make a different in the world (rather than focusing on making money for themselves) and their leadership and management skills. They are board members of the NFP and officers of the FP.

Board Member: Lisa A. Ferguson, PhD

Dr. Ferguson is one of the leading experts of TOC in the world. In 2008, she was elected as a board member of the TOC International Certification Organization (TOCICO). Dr. Ferguson has spent years working with the top TOC experts in the world. Until June 2008, she spent a year working one-on-one with Dr. Eli Goldratt, the founder of TOC, learning how to write. Since 2005, Professor Ferguson has been teaching part-time for Goldratt Schools (GS) training consultants in different countries and the US. She was program director for the GS Supply Chain Logistics (SCL) programs in India and Japan and was in charge of developing certain training materials. In addition, Professor Ferguson was one of the first five faculty members in the world who conducted training and upgrades of TOC experts through Goldratt Consulting (GC).

Professor Ferguson has a PhD in Operations Management from Arizona State University and an MBA in Finance and Operations Management, with a minor in Accounting, from Tulane University. Her undergraduate degree is in Chemistry with a minor in Psychology from Indiana University. Dr. Ferguson taught operations management full-time in a business school at a university for ten years. The last five years of her teaching was focused only on MBA and doctoral students with a concentration on practical applications.

Dr. Ferguson is author of the book chapter on Strategy & Tactics Trees (a powerful TOC tool for implementing strategy in organizations to achieve dramatic improvements in performance in a short period of time) in the TOC Handbook published by McGraw-Hill in 2010. She was one of about 40 TOC experts in the world specifically selected to write a chapter in the book. Her time spent writing S&T trees is currently focused on the healthcare and retail industries. Dr. Ferguson and Dr. Antoine van Gelder (who has retired from being Chairman of the Internal Medicine Department at Pretoria Medical School) have written the generic S&T tree for hospitals, which is customized for a specific hospital as needed. This S&T tree applies to both for-profit and not-for-profit hospitals.

Dr. Ferguson was the Chairperson of the TOCICO SCL committee for several years and was directly involved with TOCICO serving on a committee from the beginning of TOCICO. She is a founder member of TOCICO and is TOCICO certified in SCL, Thinking Processes and Project Management.

Dr. Ferguson has been directly involved with TOC for over a decade. This includes time spent conducting research, teaching, and giving TOC presentations at conferences and for organizations such as APICS, PMI, CSCMP and IMA.

Email Lisa Ferguson

Board Member: Michelle Lebowitz-Goebel, BS, BA

Michelle is a marketing veteran with an 18-year history of delivering exceptional results for large public companies and entrepreneurial organizations. Her background includes management roles at ADT/Tyco and Citrix Systems, where she developed integrated marketing strategies to increase awareness and to acquire and retain customers. Michelle developed successful programs which included web events, online promotions, email, direct mail, events and public relations. The results of each program were tracked to demonstrate a significant ROI which ensured that marketing funds were being effectively spent.

Michelle is actively involved in several regional and national marketing associations and has been an invited speaker at many industry events including the Direct Marketing Association Annual Conferences. She served two terms on the Board of Directors for the South Florida Interactive Marketing Association. She graduated with honors from Florida Atlantic University and holds a B.S. degree in International Business with a concentration in marketing and B.A. in Arts & Humanities.

For over 20 years, Michelle has practiced transcendental meditation and during the past year, she has been studying with Deepak Chopra and others in his organization to become certified Primordial Sound Meditation teacher. She is also a certified Usui Reiki Level 1 practitioner. Michelle has also attended workshops on healing with crystals and Emei Chi Gong.

Email Michelle Lebowitz-Goebel

Board Member: Claudia Jordan. BA

Claudia C. Jordan is the co-owner of Diamondback Realty L.L.C with her husband, Steve. Since starting the residential real estate company in 1997, they have expanded to five offices around Phoenix and have over 60 agents. Since 2004, the company has been ranked by the Arizona Business Journal as one of the top 25 real estate companies in Arizona. Claudia has a B.A. in Communications from Colorado State University.

She became interested in positive thinking in high school after the devastating loss of several family members. Since then, she developed inspirational seminars and articles on topics such as "Healing with Your Mind," "Success Modeling," "Wealth Mentality" and a variety of other motivational and real-estate related seminars. She has been privileged to meet and learn from great leaders such as Louise L. Hay, Norman Vincent Peale, Tony Robbins, Wayne Dyer and Abraham-Hicks. Claudia is currently working on her first motivational book.

Email Claudia Jordan

Board Member: Janice Cerveny, PhD

Dr. Cerveny has been teaching operations management and strategy at both the undergraduate and MBA levels for over 20 years in two universities' business school programs. She has been a TOC expert for well over ten years. In addition, Dr. Cerveny has been serving as the chairperson of the TOCICO Project Management committee for the past several years.

Several years ago, Professors Cerveny and Ferguson designed a systems-based TOC MBA program. Though the program was approved at one institution, Dr. Ferguson's resignation to take on full-time responsibilities for Goldratt Schools precluded its being launched.

Dr. Cerveny is focused bringing TOC into education into Business and Engineering programs. In addition, she oversees efforts to get TOC adopted at universities in general. Janice also provides support to TOC for Education's (a separate not-for-profit organization) efforts to bring TOC into K through 12 education.

Email Janice Cerveny

Board Member: Lynne Easterday, MEd

Lynne earned her Master of Education degree with a major in Rehabilitation Counseling & Guidance from the University of Missouri. She founded and was President of Heartland Rehabilitation Associates, Inc., a private vocational rehabilitation firm based in Omaha, Nebraska for nearly two decades. During this time, Lynne was very active in the National Association of Rehabilitation Providers in the Private Sector (NARPPS), serving as a member of the Board of Directors of this organization. She was a Diplomat of the American Board of Vocational Experts and a highly qualified vocational expert witness in several courts of law in Nebraska and Iowa. Her national certifications included Certified Rehabilitation Counselor and Certified Insurance Rehabilitation Specialist.

Moving to Sedona, Arizona provided Lynne an opportunity to change professions. She is now an active Real Estate Broker in the State of Arizona. Her greatest reward is helping others acquire the perfect property in beautiful Sedona and surrounding communities. Her experience, in addition to that of Claudia, will be useful for our organization with respect to any issues regarding land and facilities to support our efforts. Lynne is a certified Usui Reiki Level 3 practitioner. Her interests include spiritual healing & spirituality, hiking and pottery to enable healing.

Email Lynne Easterday