For over twenty years. W. S. Foster Associates has provided quality in-house training programs to a wide variety of U.S. and international institutions. The courses are for entry level as well as experienced investment bankers and financial professionals. W. S. Foster Associates' role as seminar leader has greatly enhanced the judgment and analytical skills of participants from hanks, investment hanks and rating agencies. Clients include:
Standard & Poor \s
Fannie Mae
National Australia Bank
Credit Suisse First Boston
Federal Reserve Bank of NY
Merrill Lynch
Bank of England
Jack Foster, primary instructor of W. S. Foster Associates, has unique qualifications to design and lead credit seminars. Over the past 20 years, he has conducted over 200 week long Corporate and Bank Credit Rating Seminars in over 15 countries including Saudi Arabia, Egypt, I long Kong, China, South Korea, Japan, Singapore, Indonesia, Australia, Mexico, Sweden, Switzerland, Germany, England, France, and the U.S. He started and was Chairman of the Rating Committee at JP Morgan for five years and served at JP Morgan for 20 years (1974-1994). He was the primary instructor for Standard and Poor’s internal and external Bank and Corporate Credit analysis Seminars for eight years (1995-2003). He is a graduate of Williams College and the Harvard Business School.
Rosanna Gartley is the mother of four adult children, four bonus adult children and grandmother to 13. A retired nurse practitioner, she currently lives in southwestern Pennsylvania but hails from the Canadian prairies. Rosanna enjoys her family, most things creative and travelling with her husband, John. She is a versatile author, having also successfully published under the pen name of RM Conté.
Author Ann K. Gebuhr is a composer, music theorist, author and teacher. Her orchestral music has been performed by symphonies throughout the United States and in Germany and Romania. She is a MacDowell Colony Fellow, a Rockefeller Scholar in Residence in Bellagio, and the first woman to be awarded the Creative Artist Award in Composition by the Cultural Arts Council of Houston/Harris County in 1998 and again in 2009. She holds the BM in Piano Performance and MM and Ph.D in Music Theory with piano and composition minors from Indiana University. Currently she teaches, learns, writes and lives in Houston, Texas.
Herman Groman is a retired FBI Special Agent and is the current director of security at large Las Vegas casino/hotel.
While in the FBI, Herman specialized in working deep long-term operations as an undercover agent in the areas of organized crime and narcotics. He also served as the agent in charge of several high-profile public official corruption investigations.
Later on in his FBI career, Herman became the team leader of one of the FBI Special Operations Groups. The specialized group conducted surveillances of major terrorist cell groups and their associates.
Herman served in the infantry in Vietnam and was awarded the purple-heart and bronze star for valor.
Herman resides in Las Vegas with his wife. They have two daughters and four grandchildren.
Joseph Hinshaw was born in Indianapolis in the early 1950s. His stories and visions are born through the times of his childhood and early years for these stories. It was a time of science, racism, discovery and hope. After surviving cancer and several other health issues what was left was hope and the time to filter his earlier days into these stories. In 2001, shortly after the attack on the Twin Towers Joe went to England to work with a business contact there. He met David Codling who was an accomplished artist and musician. David had the shared vision of what these stories should look like. Together and with the help of David’s wife Rosie the work began. Each illustration is a unique watercolor painting in this book and hopefully more to come.
Biographical Sketch of M. L. Hollinger
M.L. Hollinger received an Aeronautical Engineering degree from Purdue University in 1957 and went into the Air Force right after college. He worked on several space program projects including; Titan III Space Booster, Space Shuttle, Star Wars and several other special studies for the Air Force. He attended the Air Command and Staff College and the Air War College. He served in Viet Nam from 1971-1972. His decorations include The Bronze Star Medal, Meritorious Service Medal, Air Force Commendation Medal, The Vietnamese Honor Medal First Class, The Vietnamese Gallantry Cross and five unit excellence awards. He retired from the Air Force in 1980 with the rank of Lieutenant Colonel and came back to Indiana where he joined the Indiana Corporation for Science and Technology. He is now fully retired.
I am an author, playwright, music lyricist, essayist and poet. Based in Lagos, Nigeria, I delight in meeting people, reading and traveling
Maureen Kellar-Kirby is a semi-professional psychic/astrologer, Early Childhood Education teacher, musician, writer, wife, mother and grandmother, who presently lives in Calgary, Alberta. Following a childhood love of music, she took piano lessons while a child, from the Ontario Royal Conservatory but eventually quit formal lessons in order to follow her heart, "play by ear", and compose her own songs. In 1972, at the tail end of the "hippie craze" of the 1960's she experienced an inner psychic illumination.
The truth of her previous lifetime as an American black blues musician, was revealed to her, along with many of the songs that he had written and performed in that lifetime which she was able to record onto a demo. Out of curiosity and a feeling of destiny, at the young age of 20, she elected to travel to the U.S.A., search for evidence and retrace the steps of that last lifetime.
This book is a memoir of that period of time, leading up to the present. In 1984 she married and moved to Calgary, Alberta to raise her son Daniel, who shared her talent in music. Here she once more had the opportunity to follow the path of a working musician by playing keyboards in local bands and sitting in and learning from other musicians. Her love for the psychic world continued with her involvement with practising and teaching astrology and working on psychic telephone lines.
Jeff Lovell is a native Chicagoan, with 3 degrees from the University of Illinois and an earned doctorate from Vanderbilt University. Jeff taught high school writing and literature for thirty three years and sponsored the school paper, Student Council and several other activities. He ran the drama program at two high schools, teaching and directing and designing sets, lighting and costumes. His specialty in his career focused on Shakespeare. Since he retired from education, Jeff has served as a theatre and film critic for a television station and appears frequently to review theatre and literature.
Originally from New Jersey, Sigrid Macdonald lived for almost thirty years in Ottawa, Ontario and currently resides in Weston, Florida. She has been a freelance writer for years. Her works have appeared in The Globe and Mail newspaper; the Women's Freedom Network Newsletter; the American magazine, Justice Denied; The Toastmaster; and the Anxiety Disorders Association of Ontario Newsletter. Her first book, Getting Hip: Recovery from a Total Hip Replacement, was published in 2004. Her second book, Be Your Own Editor, followed in 2010. Although Finding Lisa is written in first person, Macdonald only resembles her character in the sense that she once had a neurotic fixation on her hair, and she has always been called by the wrong name; instead of being called Sigrid, people call her Susan, Sharon, Astrid, Ingrid and, her personal favorite, Siri.
Macdonald is a social activist who has spent decades working on the seemingly disparate issues of women's rights and wrongful convictions; she has worked at the Women's Center at Ramapo College of New Jersey and Carleton University in Ottawa, Ontario, and for many years, she was a member of AIDWYC, The Association in Defense of the Wrongly Convicted. She owns an editing company called Book Magic. She is a public speaker and a member of Mothers against Drunk Driving, Ottawa Independent Writers, the American Association of University Women, and the Editors' Association of Canada. Visit her website at http://bookmagic.ca/ or friend her on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sigridmac.
George Mavro is a 24 year Air Force, security force veteran. He served over 22 years stationed in Europe, eight of those in Greece. He holds advanced degrees in Government and International Relations. He also teaches government for a Junior college. He presently lives in Florida with his wife and two sons.
P.R. Maxey is the author of new adult paranormal thriller UNTIL DEATH. After suffering a devastating miscarriage, she wrote UNTIL DEATH as an outlet and hasn't stopped writing since. She is a born and raised Texan. After living in Germany, a short-time, she settled back in her home state with her husband, two boys, and crabby Chinchilla Persian. She is a year away from holding her Bachelors in Creative Writing and English from Southern New Hampshire University and is a member of the international English honor society, Sigma Tau Delta. She is currently seeking representation for her new and upcoming, standalone, young adult thriller WAITING IN THE DARK. When she is not writing, you can find her under her more common title of “Mom”, covered in sticky fingerprints and smelling of baby formula; or maybe, if she is lucky, hidden away with her nose in a book.
I am retired and a first time author. Have a BS in Psychology and MA in Counseling. Have been writing since a young child poetry and short stories.
Terry Moran made a career in law enforcement for 28 years before retiring from Federal service in 2008. Five years were spent working undercover narcotics which gives him a unique insight in some of the stories he builds his books around. He also worked various crimes like bank robberies, kidnappings and financial fraud. After retiring he works closely with people needing high level security clearances. Terry has been married to Margaret since 1981. They have three sons, Ryan, Mitchell and Taylor. Terry and Margaret make their home in Knoxville, Tennessee.
My name is Dibyasree Nandy, 29 years old. I am M.Sc and M.Tech degrees. I have written four books: "The Labyrinth of Silent Voices: Epistles of the Mahabharata", "Stardust: Haiku and other poems", "Studded with Rubies: A Hundred Short Stories" and "Marchen of Newer Days".
Raveena Nash is a keen student of A Course in Miracles (ACIM). As soon as she discovered this great spiritual teaching, she felt drawn to it and realised that this was her Path.
In her first book, It’s All An Illusion! Raveena compared the belief system of ACIM with other spiritual paths. In Rise Above, her second book, she offered practical advice and guidance to help the spiritual seeker make progress along the Path of Forgiveness. In A Tale of Truth, Raveena simplifies the essence of ACIM so that children are able to understand its important message and some of its key concepts.
Raveena has a London University Honours degree in economics. She has worked as a mathematics and special needs teacher and as a radio and television newsreader. She has also written articles for a weekly newspaper. She is interested in holistic healing and has been trained in Reiki and Reconnective Healing. She now lives in rural England with her two cats. Her interests include reading, classical music, playing the piano, going for walks in the countryside, growing vegetables and fruit and baking cakes.
My name is Rajia Nash (but I would like to use the pen name Raveena Nash) and I have been searching for meaning to life for nearly 25 years. During this period I have studied many scriptures and read all sorts of Mind, Body, Spirit books in my quest for enlightenment. A year and a half ago I was led to A Course in Miracles (ACIM) which caused me to do a 180 degree turn in my beliefs and in my perspective on life. I studied the course on a daily basis, one lesson a day for 365 days. Then I went back and read the Text and Manual again. I attended workshops and read many ACIM-related books. The central theme of ACIM is that the physical body and the world of form are illusions. Only the spirit is real and only the spirit has been created by God. I decided to write a book about this and to compare this belief system with others. Although I am nowhere near becoming enlightened, I have made that my major goal in life. But part of that goal is to help others “awaken” too. I thought I might be able to do that by writing this book.
Molly spends her time writing, walking, singing and capturing photos of wild flowers. She lives in a multi-generational century-old farm house teeming with grandchildren, their parents, three cats, a rabbit and one dog, not to mention a busy bird feeder outside her office window—never a dull moment and fodder for many stories. She is a graduate of Creative Writing at Carleton University and Algonquin College. She is a published author of six books, Fourteen Cups (a collection of short stories), Wandering Backwards (a creative memoir), Snow Business, Trevor Tractor and Stuck On Me (children's), When Secrets Become Lies and While She Was Gone (novels). Her work appears in five Chicken Soup for The Soul anthologies and numerous other publications.
True to her cultural heritage, Molly O'Connor has always been a storyteller. Most of her stories are quite short, and can be savoured over a single cup of coffee, but even though she has found a great deal of success within the short-story genre-publishing her own collection of 14 short stories, a creative memoir, a children's book, as well as stories in four of the very popular Chicken Soup for the Soul anthologies-she has truly enjoyed this foray into the world of novel writing. Living in a Victorian farmhouse in the Ottawa Valley, with her daughter, son-in-law, four grandchildren, a dog and two cats-not to mention the various other invasive creatures who like to scurry around inside the walls of the hundred-year-old farmhouse-and in close proximity to the chickens, ducks, and another cat who lives outside, Molly O'Connor (perhaps understandably) really appreciates her peaceful woodland surroundings, and is an avid photographer of wild flowers...
Chinenye Obiajulu was born and grew up in Lagos, Nigeria. Very important to both her parents was a strong reading culture which they nurtured in their children. A big part of growing up for her was travelling. Her father took the family on holidays to other parts of Africa, Europe, Asia, and US, but for Chinenye travelling home to their small village for Christmas was the best treat of all.
She went on to study Accounting at the University of Nigeria, and then completed her ACA (Associate Chartered Accountant) to become a licensed Chartered Accountant. Chinenye later obtained an MBA from the University Of Navarra Barcelona Spain.
Chinenye have several years of banking experience with some of the best institutions in Nigeria and Canada.
She has several writings at different stages of development, and at heart really a story-teller.
In her spare time, Chinenye loves to read a good book, she is married to her friend, and hero, and they live in Canada.
The author, Gilbert Parrell, is a Canadian Military Veteran with just over thirty years of service to Canada. Throughout this time, he served in the Light Infantry and Special Operations Forces. He now resides with his family in Ontario, Canada.
U.S. TREASURY DEPT. 1967-1974
REGISTERED NURSE 1974
CERTIFIED REGISTERED NURSE ANESTHETIST 1977 - PRESENT
U.S. AIR FORCE MEDICAL OFFICER 1978
FL LICENSED HEALTHCARE RISK MANAGER 1997 - PRESENT
MEDICAL LEGAL CONSULTANT
Allison Piper was born in Memphis, Tennessee, where she lived most of her childhood before her family moved to Collierville, Tennessee. Later Piper moved to Orlando and then to Las Vegas, living in both cities for several years. She is married and has two children and has since moved back to Tennessee.
Charles Piper is the owner of Charles Piper’s Professional Services in West Tennessee. His company provides investigative, consulting and training services. Piper is also a Certified Fraud Examiner (CFE), and private investigator. Previously he served over 30 years in law enforcement including 20 as a Federal Agent. He’s also a veteran of the United States Army. Piper visited each of the 30 Major League baseball teams’ Spring Training stadiums and complexes in both Florida and Arizona and proudly shares his insight and tips for fans to get the most of Spring Training baseball.