Larry Mandelberg is a consultant, speaker, and author. A natural problem solver, Larry represents the 5th generation of his family’s business.

Larry is an effective catalyst for change and has published 80+ columns. His first book, Businesses Don’t Fail, They Commit Suicide, is scheduled for release in early 2018. A sought-after speaker, he has delivered more than 60 business-changing keynotes and workshops.

He has been a guest on television and radio programs talking about business and entrepreneurship. Through his consulting practice, he provides leadership development, executive coaching, ethics training and strategic planning to mid-sized B2B organizations in multiple industries.

Larry has launched 4 start-ups, led a merger, and performed a successful turnaround. He wrote a monthly column in the Sacramento Business Journal called Eyes on Business from 2004 to 2014 where he had over 80 published columns.

In addition to his roles as a consultant and chairman for IEM, Larry has provided communication training for Cooperative Personnel Services, taught team building classes for the Sacramento Entrepreneurship Academy, and received his MBA from Drexel University. He has been married to his wife Nancy for 35 years and been a member of the IEM board since July 2001.

Author of two books and District Champion at Toastmaster’s International, Linda Champion knows how to invite people into her book.

With her husband Ken, a poet and musician, she has participated in dozens of book and craft festivals. Among her appearances: Orange County Children’s Book Festival, Great Valley Bookfest, Fairytale Town’s Children’s Book Festival, and the California Author’s Invitational-State Fair. She has made several TV and radio appearances.

Linda’s Fairy Tales for Life:  A Collection of Fourteen Original Short Stories won First Place in Children’s Books at the 2015 San Francisco Book Festival and First Place in Children’s Books, at the 2016 Amsterdam Book Festival.  Earlier this year she was invited to visit the Hans Christian Anderson Museum in Denmark, with which she maintains a close relationship.

A retired high school teacher, Linda (ChampionWritingCreations.com) is a CWC Sacramento board member and District Winner of Toastmasters, International Club, “Spellbinders.” She has made several presentations on the subject of fairy tales, most recently at the North State Writers Branch of CWC

Linda is currently working on a second book of fairy tales. She has also written a memoir called Conversations with My Auntie Margaret About Sporty Dog.

Michael Brandt is an award winning American author, techno-thriller writer, and an extreme adventurer.  Michael has run marathons and mountain climbed on the seven continents, and traveled to the four corners of the world visiting over ninety countries.  Michael is a decorated retired LAPD homicide detective of 29 years, who writes short stories for anthologies and destination travel articles for magazines and newspapers and is a published photographer.  Michael’s professional career includes writing manuals, training material and curriculum development for a national anti-fraud investigators academy. He has been a guest speaker numerous times at health care anti-fraud conferences and writer’s clubs around the nation. Michael’s favorite author since 1958 is Ernest Hemingway.
 

Rosi writes mostly for children, but occasionally writes for adults. With a middle-grade novel, a young adult novel, and several picture book manuscripts complete, all she needs is to find a publisher. (Don’t we all?) Her work has appeared in Highlights, High Five, and Humpty Dumpty magazines. She writes fiction, non-fiction, and poetry. Her story-poem “The Monster Hairy Brown” was published in Thynks Publishing (London) anthology 50 Funny Poems for Children. Several of her short pieces have won contests including second place in a recent CWC contest. She has two pieces scheduled for publication in 2018 —  an excerpt of her novel The Incredible Journey of Freddy J. will appear in the Noyo River Review, and her children’s story “Jack Grants a Wish” will appear in the March issue of High Five Magazine. She regularly write book reviews for San Francisco and Manhattan Book Reviews and on her blog found at rosihollinbeckthewritestuff.blogspot.com. Rosi has been a member of CWC for several years and is also a long-term member of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators.