board member biography: holly o'grady

For over fifteen years Holly O’Grady has been helping companies strategically accelerate leadership development by designing and implementing innovative solutions.  Holly has extensive experience in designing Action Learning Programs and coaching top talent to develop innovative recommendations and address their organization’s challenges.

Holly is currently implementing a comprehensive training curriculum for Avon’s global finance and legal teams.  Using webinars and other electronic delivery platforms, bi-monthly programs are delivered to associates on a wide range of topics including business strategy, technical information and career development.  She recently completed the first virtual orientation program for the finance group. 

Prior to her assignment at Avon, Holly completed a nine-month assignment as an Action Learning coach for Covidien, a leading medical device company. As a team coach Holly guided participants throughout an experiential learning process, using a series of action/reflection exercises and one-on-one coaching. 

Holly has worked for Avon, Nielsen and American Express on a variety of large-scale initiatives and global leadership programs for high potential staff.  She managed Nielsen’s employee survey for over 40,000 employees globally.  She provided post survey consulting to business leaders resulting in continuous performance improvements.

She holds a Masters of Arts degree from Columbia University in Adult Education and a M.F.A. and B.S. degrees from the University of Wisconson-Madison.  She presented her work on Action Learning at the 2008 National ODN Conference and wrote case studies for the book, Understanding Action Learning, published by the American Management Association, 2007.

E: hogrady@odnny.org