What people say?
Kelly was an expert speaker with high levels of empathy, clarity, and knowledge. She was able to share from a variety of personal and professional stances connected to an identified within the LGBTQ+ community and recognize changes over time while allowing others to do the same- as culture changes continually. Kelly’s visual materials provided much nuance and insight, and she did an excellent job educating on best practices, current practices, and relevant examples. But also- Kelly’s presentation had great intersections of culture including local and national, racial representation, and identifying biases in real time while leaving space for questions. I’d recommend Kelly to your organization for basic education and advanced practice.
Tiffany Goodman, LPC
COO Family Lifeline
Kelly has always urged me to challenge popular belief and to trust my true instincts when acting on anything. Just a hard-working, thought-provoking, down-to-earth, and inspiring person. I see Kelly as a friend, mentor, professor, and role model. In the time I’ve known her, she’s been all of those things to me.
Ian Ragland
(former) Dominion Energy Innovation Center
Dr. Kelly Merrill possesses robust talents that facilitate individual, collective, and organizational transformation. She is a gifted listener whose analytical abilities coupled with compassion, facilitate compelling outcomes. Kelly's work ethic is steeped in rigor and reason. She is willing to do the hard work and the homework.
Peyton McCoy, Ed.D., Ph.D.
Executive Director, Circles Ashland
Kelly's expertise and coaching has helped to shape both my organization and myself as a leader. Her work is pragmatic, open-hearted, and meaningful. We are fortunate to have her guidance.
Maggie Beal Longest
Executive Director | Downtown Ashland Association
Kelly is incredibly smart, intensely passionate about making the world a better place deliberately in the activities I've seen her engaged in since I've known her. I'm so grateful for her encouragement and support. In Kelly you have someone who you can trust has your best interest at heart with no doubt!
Carol Ben-Davies CEO and Founder
College Bound Determination, LLC
The Global Business School Network hired Kelly Merrill for our first Fellows Only Networking Session, as part of the elite GoTrade program in partnership with DHL. The objective of the workshop was to give Fellows (MBA and PhD students) the opportunity to get to know one another in a fun and engaging format. Kelly absolutely over-delivered in this regard! Not only did she have every fine detail expertly planned, but she kept the Fellows engaged through a series of polls, breakout rooms, and even a video! The session emphasized intercultural communication, its importance, common misconceptions, and methods for considering this form of communication in the future. At the end of the workshop, Fellows were asking her for her recommended reading list. We were so impressed! We definitely cannot wait to include Kelly again in more activities within the network.
Maddie Handler
Program coordinator | Global Business School Network