"I attended the IIA Spring Conference, 2012 in Birmingham Alabama and had the pleasure of meeting Joan Pastor. She was a dynamic speaker who taught in an engaging, highly informative, and collaborative way. Her Leadership Assessment Analysis Tool for Auditors was exceptional! Everyone I spoke with was very impressed with all of Joan Pastor's work and the expertise she offered us. We would welcome her back in Birmingham at any time her schedule permits."
S. Marie Vernon, CIA, Accountant-Alabama Institute for Deaf & Blind.
"Dr. Joan Pastor presents on all areas of organizational and management development to countless Fortune 500 companies and associations worldwide. Her deep expertise covers topics such as Conflict Management, Leadership Skills, Psychology of White Collar Crime, and Negotiation Skills. Dr. Pastor provides information that can be successfully applied immediately. Joan is extremely informative, engaging and funny! You can't miss when you hire Dr. Joan Pastor!”
Dr. Tony Alessandra, Founder & CEO, AssessmentBusinessCenter.com
“Joan has a way of understanding the internal audit world better than most consultants and presenters. Joan’s in depth knowledge of working with several internal audit groups shows through. For example, her insight into the interviewing process from an internal audit process is right on and she provides great tools and strategies in the interview process!!”
Rick Wardrip, CIA, CISA, CPA, CAE, Salt River Project (major utility in Phoenix, AZ)
“Joan always delivers and is a true professional. Her personal approach is greatly admired.”
Paul T. Schafer, CIA, CFE, CCSA
"I attended the How To Effectively Run Meetings: The Control & Risk Self-Assessment Training taught by Dr. Joan Pastor. The two-day training was intensive and simply excellent. Joan has a way of delivering difficult concepts in a simplified manner which is easily retained mentally. I plan to incorporate some of her concepts in an upcoming Control Self-Assessment. Once again, the training was great!"
Jarvis (Jay) W. Clarke, Supervising Auditor, Chevron Corporation , Corporation Auditing Department
"Thank you for making our training events and chapter meeting a great success. I really enjoyed working with you. I’m already looking forward to our next event(s) with you."
Pam Bishop, CIA, CFE, CISA, CRISC, IIA Detroit Chapter
“Our chapter's response to Joan's presentation was overwhelmingly positive. Her full day presentation on Conflict Management and Leadership Skills kept our members intrigued throughout the day. We were delighted to have someone of Joan's expertise and enthusiasm provide her insight to our chapter.”
Diane Napolitano, President, NY Chapter of the IIA (2010-2011)
“We are pleased that you accepted the invitation to be the keynote speaker at the 10th Biennial Joint Audit DOE Conference that was held at the Hilton Hotel located in the San Francisco Financial District on August 17-19, 2010. Your presentations Harnessing the Mental and Emotional Skills for Outstanding and Effective Leadership and Psychology of White Collar Crime were timely and very well received by attendees. On behalf of Paul Schafer and Michael Sinko, I want to thank you for your participation and excellent presentations. ”
Robert C. McNair, Vice President, Brookhaven National Laboratory
"Joan, if you haven’t yet received your speaker ratings for your Conflict Management Skills session from the IIA International Conference, I think you’ll be happy. Not surprisingly, yours was one of the most popular sessions, with more than 300 attendees, and you received very high speaker evaluation ratings. Great job as always."
Paul J. Sobel, Vice President, Internal Audit, Mirant Corporation
“Joan’s course was a big help, for me personally and my colleagues, when I was tasked with helping our audit group become proficient in facilitating workshops. I facilitated my first risk assessment workshop a month after taking the course, and it helped me go in well prepared and confident. A few years later, when I was the Director of Enterprise Risk, I brought Joan in to teach the course a second time. In addition to the obvious value for audit and risk workshops, the skills and principles that Joan teaches are very useful in a broader context. They help you be a better manager and a better communicator.”
Dave Eden, Site Infrastructure Manager, New Nuclear Project, Ontario Power Generation
"Joan's seminar on The Psychology Behind Fraud was excellent! I hope to attend another in the future."
Jackie Strat, Program Coordinator, IIA North Jersey
"I am recommending Joan Pastor as a very good potential Speaker for the upcoming International Conference in Boston. I know her well and she spoke at the last IIA International conference in Atlanta. I actually recommended her for our Boston Chapter years ago and she has done a lot with the IIA now for years. She gets rave reviews and has a lot of experience doing training for the IIA worldwide."
James Murphy CIA, CFE, MBA, Senior Manager, Internal Audit, Hologic Corp.
“A few years ago we had the pleasure of securing Joan Pastor for the Chicago Chapter of the IIA’s Annual Seminar where she did an hour presentation on The Psychology Behind Fraud. I was able to participate in this session and I, along with the other participants, was captivated by her presentation. After that we knew we needed her to come back for at least a full day session for our members. Finally, we were able to bring her back to present for one full day of our 2-day fraud seminar to speak on The Psychology Behind Fraud, Unethical Behavior and White Collar Crime. Her session was a great complement to our Fraud Training. She was able to link her presentation on the psychology behind fraud to all the practical business applications that we had learned the previous day. Also, at the end of the day Joan did a fantastic job moderating a panel discussion regarding fraud investigations. Our panel included a current FBI Agent, two Internal Audit professionals that work on fraud investigations and an individual that works for a fraud investigation consulting firm. Joan was able to facilitate the discussion and link their real life experiences to her earlier presentation. Overall, the seminar was a huge success. We would welcome Joan back to present again anytime!”
Rebecca Nilson, Director Internal Audit, First Industrial Realty Trust, Inc., AVP Education, IIA Chicago Chapter
“It was such a pleasure to meet you and work with you. I do hope we can work together again. I so enjoyed listening to you speak. I hated to end your session. It was one I could really understand and get into.”
General Audit Management Conference, Las Vegas, March 2011
Keltie Ziccardi, Speaker Coordinator, Educational Programs, IIA Global Headquarters
"Joan Pastor provides interactive, informative and extremely relevant sessions. Her enthusiasm for her work and her commitment to providing excellent content is clear in the evaluations we receive from the people who attend her workshops and sessions. Joan has always been flexible in working with us and has often been called upon to "pinch hit" in last minute agenda changes. We frequently ask Joan to speak because of her professionalism and we know that we will receive 110% effort from her."
Barbara L. Berman, CMP, Senior Project Manager, Meetings and Conferences - Program Development, AICPA
"On behalf of the Board of Directors of the New Jersey Bankers Association, thank you for presenting your seminar on The Psychology Behind Fraud, Unethical Behavior and White Collar Crime. This full day seminar was the first of its kind for the NJ Bankers. One of our members had seen this seminar and recommended it to us. We were not disappointed! The attendance alone was great for a first-time topic -- but the real proof that this seminar was great was that the attendance was full from morning to evening! There are not many speakers who can retain the crowd for the entire day! Your blend of case studies, humor, psychology and statistics definitely met the seminar's objectives. In the economic times we are living in today, any other State Banking Association should welcome this seminar into their course catalog."
Jenn Zorn, Vice President, NJ Bankers Association
"It was a pleasure attending your session at the IIA Conference last week, and having the chance to talk to you afterwards. Believe it or not, I've already started to read your book, Conflict Management and Negotiation Skills for Auditors, but when I went to look for it yesterday, could not find it - turns out my partner took it and was reading it. I guess everyone could learn on how to manage conflict better!"
Jim Riley, VP - Internal Audit, Macy's
"I had the privilege of experiencing training conducted by Dr. Joan Pastor. She facilitated courses on Risk Assessment (CRSA), Conflict Management and Interviewing skills. The attendees consisted of auditors and accountants with various years of experience but the course felt like it was geared for all. I enjoyed the interaction that Joan incorporates into her training; it requires everyone to participate and makes the training fun. She is very knowledgeable about the subject areas she offers but her personality so vibrant that you will find yourself wanting more."
Greg Goodrich, MCNAFAS Far East Regional Audit Director, MC Butler Base, Okinawa, Japan
"You spoke July 24 at the American Institute of CPAs' Interchange conference at the Ritz-Carlton in Key Biscayne. My colleagues and I thoroughly enjoyed your presentation . In fact, we now analyze our behavior to determine if we're creating, promoting, or allowing certain situations in our lives!"
Sarah Seals, Public Relations Specialist, Texas Society of CPAs
"I wish I could put you in my pocket! You are an excellent instructor of Leadership and Collaboration, the best I have had in many years. Thank you!"
Diane Seefeldt, First Premier Bank
"Joan's presentation on the Link between Leadership and Emotional Intelligence was absolutely fabulous! And I heard many others say that, too. She had all 350+ attendees listening to her every word. Joan is extremely informative, interesting, engaging, and funny! Her topic was one that everyone related to and she tailored it perfectly for our audience. I highly recommend Joan! We will definitely be using her again!"
Gail Peters, IIA Midwestern Regional Conference Programs Committee Chair
"We have had nothing but positive responses from the people who attended the conference on 4/8. Your presentation on Psychological Profiling of White Collar Criminals was extremely well received."
Jeff Potochney, Senior Agent, FBI Philadelphia, PA Office
"Joan's seminar was excellent! I hope to attend another of hers in the future."
Gary Leeds, AICPA Not for Profit Conference
“I worked with Joan Pastor producing a series of psychology features for WXPN Radio. I was impressed with Joan’s ability to make each feature especially interesting by presenting fresh new approaches to general psychological principles. She would relate each theme directly to real-life experiences and tell specific stories to make the point come alive for the listeners. Joan speaks very amiably and draws you in, as if it were a one-on-one conversation.
“Joan would come in with information on new research or she would offer a truly unique interpretation of psychological phenomena. She is a wealth of information and insight, and her mind works quickly to draw together a lot of information, pull it together on the spot, and express it in a clear statement.”
Amy Salit, News Director, WXPN 88.9 FM
"One of the areas Joan excels in is developing a plan to correct identified problems and to monitor progress. In every session I have been in with Joan (it must be close to 20 now), she has left us with an action plan and critical success factors and a follow up plan. I would not be overstating Joan's ability by saying that every session I have been in has been a huge success and that profitability, morale and team work all improved significantly due to the training."
Brenda Morris, CFO, Icicle Seafoods
"I hope our paths cross down the road in the future. I always enjoyed our time together and I know you are working with many other business people bringing them great values to improve on what they do daily in their jobs as well."
Doug Sellin, COO (Retired), Union Bay Sportswear
"Joan's presentation was definitely different than any other fraud and ethics class I have attended. Her superior knowledge within the field of psychology and how it relates to both business and ethics was praised by all that attended. The participation through questions and case studies made it a very exciting and interactive class. This presentation is a must for Human Resources, Finance or departments of any business or association worldwide interested in fraud, and for people at all levels of the organization. Last, but certainly not least, her office staff was great to work with and made the process of bringing in a speaker as simple as possible. Thank you for a great JPA International, Inc. experience!"
Leanna Nighswonger, Accountant, Washington River Protection Solutions, Richland, WA.
"I am writing to thank you for developing and conducting the Advanced Facilitation Skills Training for our staff. Once again, you have provided quality, effective training which will help us in administering our Risk Assessment program. I have heard a lot of positive feedback from the staff, especially regarding the skills learned for dealing with difficult people. The opportunity to practice these skills during the training has allowed our staff not only to develop their skills, but to strengthen them as well. As I work with the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Plans throughout the United States, I am continuing to recommend both your beginning and advanced facilitation skills training. As always, I enjoyed working and talking with you. I hope to continue our relationship with JPA as we continue to expand and enhance our audit programs. Thanks again."
Lori A. Oakes, Consultant, Internal Reviews, Blue Cross/Blue Shield FEPS, Washington, DC
Christy Decker, 2010-2011 President, IIA San Diego Chapter
"On a scale of 100, the participants evaluated this seminar at 94; that is truly remarkable, coming from such an exacting group of internal auditors. As a group they felt this information would have very practical applications in their jobs...as for recommendations, the majority had only one: attend the seminar!"
Michael Twomey, Vice President, IIA Chicago Chapter
"As usual, your high standards provided the participants a wealth of useful information. The evaluations on your session, Leadership Skills, received the highest grade of the four sessions."
Deborah McLaughlin, Chairperson, IIA Boston Chapter
"I really appreciate your dedication to this program and the time you put into your presentation. I enjoyed working with you and hope to do so again in the future."
Sandra McMahon, Project Manager-AICPA Conferences
"Joan's course on Negotiation Skills provided insights and strategies that I have employed in recent investigative interviews with outstanding results. She provided information that can be applied immediately to achieve positive outcomes. I highly recommend this training for any investigator looking to improve their interviewing skills."
James T. Nolan, Corporate Vice President, Special Investigation Unit, New York Life
"It has been almost three weeks since your two-day presentation to my staff. As you suggested, we convened a staff meeting to review some of the things you covered and to make individual commitments to practice one of your techniques over the ensuing thirty days. This letter is to convey my thanks to you for the wonderful job you did and to share with you some of the comments I heard as we did our 'review'.
"To a person, there was enthusiastic agreement when one individual said that these two days were the most valuable training they have received from any of the workshops and conventions they have attended since they came to Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Iowa. Specific comment was made about how truly practical and useful the information was proving to be as they used it both at work and at home. Again, specific mention was made of the sections on how to positively work with individuals of differing behavior styles, the steps to be used to calm an angry person and resolve conflict positively, and the understanding they gained through your descriptions of the three learning styles. I can tell from personal experience that several of them learned from the section on learning styles, because they are using the information when they present to me.
"As I indicated when we visited on Friday, I will be contacting the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association to suggest that they ask you to speak at their national internal audit conference. Your understanding of internal auditing was one of the things that made your presentation so valuable."
Sonja R. Whitesell, Director, Audit Services, Blue Cross Blue Shield
"Joan Pastor's presentation style is very engaging, and the seminar was interactive. Joan had great insights into the Psychology behind Fraud, and even shared references to movies that demonstrated certain personality disorders, which I intend to watch with a new appreciation. Our chapter was pleased with the fantastic turnout of over 50 attendees. Overall, it was one of our best seminars!"
Carmela J. Schmitz, Vice President - Audit Officer, Special Projects Manager, Associated Banc-Corp
"I am writing in my role as past Vice President of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA). Joan has spoken at a number of AICPA conferences over the last 11 years or so. My particular area of focus is CPAs in business and government, who represent the largest segment of our 340,000 members.
"The first time I heard Joan speak was in a concurrent session on Leadership and I was impressed not only with her message but with her delivery as well. Joan is a very engaging and dynamic speaker, and knows how to ‘work the room.’ The session was well attended and was followed by lunch. During the lunch, word spread about how great Joan's session was, so when the session was repeated in the afternoon, we had to bring in extra chairs. She became the hit of the Conference!"
John F. Morrow, CPA, Director, PWC
"I met Joan during one of the seminars organized by the North Jersey IIA Chapter. I was really impressed with her methodology of conducting the training programs. She has fine tuned her HR programs to suit the special needs of the Internal Audit professionals and I was amazed to see her in-depth knowledge about the Internal Auditing profession. Later , my association with her as a participant in one of her HR research projects on Global Leadership Styles too was a memorable one. I still use her assessment results to understand and develop my leadership qualities. I wish her the very best in her chosen career."
Raj M Venkatachalam,, Internal Audit Consultant & Former Chief Audit Executive
Board of Research & Education Advisors - IIA Global for 3 years
"I first worked with John Thompson about 15 years ago when he hired me to teach ISO 9001 Lead Auditor classes for BSI in the USA. Since then, Whittington & Associates has used John as a quality consultant to work with our clients in a variety of industries, especially those in the Information Technology and Data Security fields. We always receive good feedback on his work and continue to give him assignments with our more complex and demanding clients. I'm proud to be a business partner with John Thompson and JPA International."
Larry Whittington, President, Whittington & Associates, LLC
SAMPLES OF TESTIMONIALS
Taken directly from various course evaluations!
"Team interaction was excellent and invaluable. Presenter/instructor was an exceptional facilitator."
"The presentation was thorough and well presented. I learned a lot about Information Security Management Systems (ISMS)."
"This is the best presentation I have attended. John Thompson made the ISMS and SOX relationship very clear and understandable."
"I have attended several presentations on SOX and this is the first one that made the requirements understandable by using real case examples."
"John helped to make my SOX responsibilities very clear. I attended a presentation by a large accounting firm and their presentation was not very helpful. I would recommend they should find out when John is presenting and attend."
"I recommended John for our senior manager's retreat and I am glad I did. Our external auditor attended and he learned a lot."
"When our ISMS was implemented, we asked John to audit the implementation and found that we needed a better understanding of the requirements. He took us through each process step by step and explained it to us in simple English. We passed our certification thanks to John."
"We needed someone to help us implement our ISMS. John presented a proposal and implemented our system in less time and cost then proposals we had reviewed."
"If you want to learn about ISMS from a business prospective, John Thompson is the one you need."
"Great course with a lifetime of content." Student in ISO 27001 Lead Auditor Program, Atlanta, GA.
"Instructor was excellent." J.M.,Wells Fargo Bank
"John Thompson was always prepared to explain all my questions to my understanding." Student, LA program.
"John's real world experience was extremely helpful for me." M.F.W., France Telecom
"Very knowledgeable which made the program more interesting." R.J., MIMA IT Solutions Corp.
"Great course and great instructor." Student, Atlanta program.
"John made the program very interactive. Made it very easy to learn the material." J.V., CIMA.
"It is my intention to bring this instructor and program to Brasil." A.F., CQSI.
"I have enclosed your speaker ratings from the participants' evaluations for the 2010 AICPA CFO Conference which took place May 13-14, 2010 in La Jolla, California. The rating scale ranges from 5 (Excellent) to 1 (Poor) and I have included Overall Speaking Ratings for comparison:
Session 101: Conflict Management
Knowledge of Subject: JPA 4.95/4.59
Presentation Skills: JPA 4.74/4.31
Relevance: JPA 4.79/4.40
Quality of Materials: JPA 4.58/4.10
