Brad Smart
Brad completed his doctorate in Industrial Psychology at
Purdue University, entered consulting, and since the 1970s has been in private practice as President and CEO of his own company, now called Topgrading, Inc., based in the Chicago area.
Brad is frequently acknowledged to be the world’s foremost expert on hiring. The company consults with many leading companies and hundreds of small and growth companies.
He has conducted in-depth interviews with over 6,500 executives. His work has resulted in authoring seven books and videos, including Topgrading 3rd Edition: The Proven Hiring And Promoting Method That Turbocharges Company Performance; The Smart Interviewer: Tools and Techniques for Hiring the Best; and the training series Topgrading Toolkit, featuring the 12 Topgrading hiring steps and demos of all the interviews.
He’s also co-authored the following books: Topgrading for Sales: World-Class Methods to Interview, Hire, and Coach Top Sales Representatives, with Greg Alexander; and Smart Parenting: How to Raise Happy, Can-Do Kids, with Dr. Kate Mursau. |
Chris Mursau
President of Topgrading
Chris has been consulting and teaching organizations and individual managers how to pack their teams with A-Players since 2001.
He has conducted over 2,500 in-depth Topgrading assessments for internal and external candidates, helped hundreds of people achieve their A potential, and trained thousands of people in the methodologies proven to improve their success in hiring high performers.
His client list is broad and diverse, including some Fortune 500 companies, small to medium-sized businesses, and non-profit organizations. |
Michelle LaVallee
International Talent Advisor & Certified Topgrading Coach
Michelle excels at the honest intimate business analysis required for clients to decide their own direction.
Her keen ability to rapidly evaluate and assimilate the current state enables her to assess what is required for growth, scale or improvement – be it strategy, cash, people or execution. Michelle is a master at reengineering organizations for their own strategic fulfillment.
Michelle´s truth telling inspires and propels leaders to achieve. Michelle is known for being direct and disciplined with her practice because she believes clients must be accountable for their own results.
Michelle supports global executives with strategic planning and business coaching for performance and sustainable revenue growth. She cares about actualizing strategy and making improvements stick for the long term – stepping organizations through change.
Her natural ability to put people at ease strengthens the desire of individuals and groups to make positive changes. She influences stakeholders to build good will while aligning their teams for performance.
Michelle specializes in Topgrading®, a world leading talent management strategy that is proven to dramatically increase the percentage of A players within organizations. A true cross cultural expert, Michelle facilitates, coaches and supports her clients in spoken Mandarin as well as English.
Michelle is an adventurer with a love for the outdoors. The same intrepid spirit that led her to China and throughout Asia now finds her spending her spare time riding horses on her own ranch in southern Chile. |
