Brian Tarallo - Managing Director

Brian Tarallo is the managing director of Lizard Brain. His experience and education in business and government and artistic ability bring out the best results from his clients. He is a facilitator who specializes in visual methods and virtual meetings. He serves clients through illustrating their visions, seeing their strategies, and mapping their futures. He works with the healthcare, federal and state government, defense, engineering, and education, and consulting industries. He has served as a business process improvement manager for a federal agency, an operations manager and later a senior consultant for a Washington, DC-based consulting firm, an associate and later an associate partner for a Washington, DC-based engineering firm, a project manager and an operations manager for a national development firm, and a development volunteer for the U.S. Peace Corps.

• 15 years of experience in facilitation, strategic planning, leadership development and training, organizational development, team development, and visual consulting

• MBA focusing in development and finance, Arizona State University

• Certified Professional Facilitator (CPF), International Association of Facilitators (IAF)

• Certified Virtual Facilitator (CVF), International Institute for Facilitation (INIFAC)

• Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) Master Practitioner, one of 160 globally

• Certified to deliver the FIRO-B Assessment and the Grove Team Performance Model (TPM)

• Trainer and associate, the Grove Consultants International

• Contributing author, “The World of Visual Facilitation”; Blijsie, Hamons, & Smith; 2019

• Author, “Surviving the Horror of Online Meetings”; 2021

• Founder, OGSystems Visioneering Team

• Founder, NOVA Scribes

• Member and presenter, International Forum of Visual Practitioners (IFVP)

• Member and presenter, Mid-Atlantic Facilitators' Network (MAFN)

• Project Management Professional (PMP), Project Management Institute (PMI)

• TEDx speaker, TEDxLizardCreek 2014

• Experienced in delivering Red Team Facilitation, Blue Ocean Strategy, the Grove Consultants’ Strategic Visioning, Generative Scribing, Kinesthetic Modeling, Crucial Conversations, the Thomas-Kilmann Conflict Mode Instrument, the Organizational Cultural Assessment Indicator, Social Styles, the Tuckman Model of Team Development, and Lencioni’s Five Dysfunctions of a Team

Lauren Green - Partner

Lauren Green is a graphic facilitator, graphic recorder, and ICF-certified coach with specialties in organization development, strategic communications, and performing arts. Lauren specializes in coaching and facilitating with visual templates. She draws from best practices in adult learning that encourage inclusive and engaging group processes. Lauren holds a master’s in Organization Development and Knowledge Management from George Mason University (2016). Her graduate work includes special concentrations in group dynamics; collaborative technology; knowledge management; self-leadership; diversity and inclusion; and Appreciative Inquiry. She is a certified MBTI® and EQi (emotional intelligence) Practitioner. Lauren is trained in the DiSC Workplace Assessment tool and also certified to deliver the Grove’s Team Performance Model as well as Impact’s Team Performance Indicator.

Lauren does graphic recording (large-scale visual note-taking) for conferences, meetings, workshops, and other events. She aims to create visual knowledge artifacts that increase audience engagement and retention of information shared.

In previous work experiences, Lauren has managed online communities for several organizations that span the performing arts, animal welfare, education, and hospitality fields. Lauren enjoys applying performance metaphors and mind-body techniques to her current work. She aims to create an engaging and energized experience for every group that she facilitates.

• M.S. Organization Development and Knowledge Management (George Mason University)

• ICF-Certified Coach

• Certified Team Performance Practitioner (Grove) 

• Certified MBTI Practitioner

• Trained DiSC Workplace Assessment Facilitator and Coach

• Certified EQi 2.0 and EQi 360 Practitioner 

• Certified to Deliver Impact’s Team Performance Indicator

• Trained and experienced in facilitating using organization development, change management, and design thinking techniques (Appreciative Inquiry, Open Space Technology, Lean-Startup, LUMA Institute)

• Trained and experienced in using graphic recording and facilitation tools in strategic planning and visioning sessions

• 5 years of experience working with non-profit groups and organizations 

• 8 years of experience in digital and strategic communications design and delivery 

Erin is a strategy consultant and visual practitioner with experience across a broad range of topics such as supply chain, systems integration, data analytics, communications, change management, leadership and organizational development. She holds an MBA and MS in Strategic Management from the Kelley School of Business, Indiana University, and BS in Commerce and Spanish with minor in Studio Art from the University of Virginia. She is a certified Project Management Professional (PMP) and Yoga Instructor (RYT-200).

As a former muralist, Erin's work in strategic visualization combines her passion for art with background in business. Since 2012, Erin has explored integrating visual practices into her consulting work to include graphic facilitation, recording, virtual visualization, collaboration and experience design. In her spare time, you'll find Erin out on the trails or her yoga mat if not co-creating over a glass of wine!

Wade has always enjoyed using art (painting, portraits, murals, illustration, graphic recording, sketchnoting) to create better experiences for everyone around him. After a 15-year hiatus into the cyber security realm, Wade is finally using his artistic ability full-time to help groups generate better conversations, find new understanding, and be a part of the creative process. By tapping into his teaching, theater, consulting, intelligence analysis, and design thinking backgrounds, he can use both sides of his brain with art to accomplish things he sincerely loves. When he’s not drawing, he’s enjoying doing something outdoors or eating something delicious with his wife and kids.

Rachel Thompson works at the intersection of strategy and design using human-centered and visual methods. Rachel has over a decade of professional experience with human-centered design and design thinking, strategic facilitation, graphic recording and graphic facilitation, experiential learning and teaching, and coaching. Rachel uses her range of experience to help people integrate sustainable changes into their work and life.

Currently based in Washington, DC, Rachel has a B.A. in Anthropology and French from Kansas State University. She is Design Thinking Facilitator at the Academy of Innovation and Entrepreneurship at the University of Maryland and an Adjunct Instructor for the Design Leadership MA/MBA program at the Maryland Institute College of Art.

She has been a part of the leadership team of the Service Design DC Meetup, NOVA Scribes, the DC Graphic Facilitation Meetup, the Design Thinking: DC Meetup, and the DC Service Jam. She is a member of the International Forum of Visual Practitioners (IFVP) and Mid-Atlantic Facilitators' Network (MAFN).

Trent Wakenight uses visual meetings to help organizations with change management and strategic communication, turning cool concepts into even cooler pictures. Trent is an outcome-oriented strategic communication and strategy development professional. He has extensive experience in strategic visualization, graphic facilitation, project management, organizational change, and program assessment.  He supports officials in government and academia with accomplishments in the intelligence community, defense, homeland security, STEM, online education, and public health.

Trent has been a practicing graphic facilitator and graphic recorder since 2011, with experience in the graphic recording field since 2002. He conducts graphic facilitation and graphic recording to support change management and strategic communication activities for U.S. government agencies. His work products include concept visuals, storyboards and video development, sketchnotes, corporate visions maps and strategic plans, and integrated marketing and communication plans. Trent is the founder of Marker Ninja, providing visualization support to think tanks, non-profit entities, government agencies, and the private sector in areas such as science and technology, government policy and national security, public health and safety, human rights and empowerment. Trent is also a professional writer and note taker. He is a former English teacher and aspires to be a race car driver.

Angela Krieg a rising star on the Lizard Brain team. She collects stories and ideas to bridge gaps in communication and empathy. As a NOVA Scribes scholar and with a background in editorial illustration, she attended her first IFVP in 2020.

She received her BFA in illustration from Rochester Institute of Technology, Angela is formally trained in art, working in a variety of mediums and fields. She believes in making information more accessible for people and has been working in mental health and social justice. Using the power of visuals, she helps to distill information and enhance communication for businesses, social gatherings and events.

Her mantra is to observe, collect and learn. Living in Brooklyn, she is an obsessive sketchbook artist. She connects to her community through visuals, recording her experiences on paper or an iPad. When she is not drawing or painting, she is usually rock climbing, drinking coffee or looking for stories that rival the standards of today. 

Angela is also active on Instagram. You can see what she is up to by following her @gaelanart

Dean Meyers is a Visual Problem-Solver and the publisher of VizWorld.com who uses graphic recording, graphic facilitation and other forms of visual communication to help people apply visual thinking in their work, learning, and personal improvement. He aims to create the space for individuals to find their AHA! moments and improve the quality of their life, creative passions, and work. He enjoys no boundaries between this work and his life.

Dean spent many years working in technology, marketing, and advertising graphics and video, notably working for Apple when the Macintosh computer was originally introduced in 1984 (the first personal computer with a graphical user interface). He has blended graphics and design with technology in a multifaceted career ever since. Following a second career as an opera singer, he brought the dynamics of kinesthetics, theater and storytelling to his work. Adding user experience design to his skills, and substituting what became graphic facilitation for user research, strategic planning, and design thinking-based development, he shifted more deeply into being a dedicated visual practitioner by 2008, co-founding the New York Chapter of VizThink. This transformation became complete in 2012, the year he joined the IFVP’s board of directors, and has grown deeper through his work for clients including the Lean Enterprise Institute, Business Innovation Factory, NYU Stern School of Business, Columbia University, and on staff at OGSystems.

Through his involvement and membership with VizThink, the IFVP, and the IAF (International Association of Facilitators) and one-to-one work with fellow visual practitioners, he has always sought to share his knowledge, skills and enthusiasm for applied visual thinking to improve both the quality of people’s work and their personal lives.

Lisa Nelson loves combining art with life.  By using the power of visuals, Lisa helps to bring key points and ideas to the surface.  Her visual summaries cover topics ranging from business and leadership to community and faith.  Her work has been featured in Entrepreneur with over 3500 social media shares.  Lisa has helped a variety of organizations use the power of visuals including Dell, Ogilvy, AARP, and GE.  In addition to graphic recording, Lisa enjoys presenting fun and engaging workshops like Sketchnotes for Beginners.  

You can sign up for free visual notetaking tips, drawing lessons, and fill in the blank templates at seeincolors.com.

Lisa is a native New Yorker and a graduate of Howard University.  She is a member of the International Forum of Visual Practitioners and is also a certified Project Management Professional (PMP).

Her favorite quote is:

It’s not what you look at that matters, it’s what you see.

-Henry David Thoreau.  

Lisa is also active on social media, to find out what she's up to, follow @seeincolors

For more than 20 years, Caryn has combined strategic thinking, quantitative methods and visual representation to help organizations improve their results. She brings a deep understanding of business and nonprofit strategy and marketing to her graphic recording & facilitation, graphic training and infographic design. Her background makes her especially effective for complex issues and data-driven communications. 

Clients have long remarked on Caryn’s ability to draw out key themes from a discussion. Her graphic recording work spans conferences, presentations, client advisory panel meetings, focus groups, planning sessions and fundraising events.

Caryn enjoys teaching client team members to use simple graphic techniques to enhance their productivity. Drawing on experience teaching in the MBA program at Johns Hopkins, for Humane Society University and for the Bank Marketing Association, she offers dynamic instruction that engages participants and quickly gives them valuable skills.

Prior to founding her consulting firm, Priority Ventures Group, Caryn held positions in financial services, including as Senior Vice President, Retail Marketing for an 11 billion dollar bank. She holds an MBA from Stanford Graduate School of Business and an A.B. in economics and math from Dartmouth College as well as an advanced certificate in graphic design from Sessions College for Professional Design. She is also an animal protection advocate, eight-time marathoner and old school R&B fan.