Keynote · Seminars · Facilitation · Human Resources · Executive Coaching

From insight to action — talks and seminars that shift mindsets, sharpen leaders, strengthen culture, and positively impact profits.

Deirdre Simmons is a keynote speaker, facilitator, and educator who translates 20+ years inside human resources, operations, and the college classroom into the kind of talks decision-makers remember — and the kind of seminars teams actually use on Monday morning. From DisruptHR mainstages to UConn Women's Advance, executive retreats, and STEM conferences (CLARB, CESSE, SPFE), she meets every room where it is — including faith-based, scripturally sound seminars that motivate, walk participants through grief and trauma, and bring project design for social innovation to ministries.

MSHRMSHRM-CPPHRCPFLEGO® SERIOUS PLAY® Certified CoachAdjunct Professor, UConn
Consulting Alma — Coach, Facilitator, Keynote & Human Resources
80+
years combined team experience
Tri
certified — HR · Coaching · Facilitation
6
organizations' high-stakes employee relations matters navigated
750+
person assemblies facilitated
Featured Keynotes

Inspiring adaptive leadership for future-focused organizations.

View all keynotes
  • 01

    Talkback Mic: Shifting Your Culture One Track at a Time

    DisruptHR
  • 02

    Curiosity Ignited: Empowering Women to Lead the Disruption

    UConn Women's Advance
  • 03

    The Mental Health Imperative for Extraordinary Leaders

    HR Leadership
  • 04

    #DoBetter — Making the Shift

    Leadership
Learning & Development

👋From basic sign language/Signed English to executive leadership.

Our team designs and delivers training across the full spectrum — foundational communication skills through advanced leadership development. Every engagement can be taken off-the-shelf or built as a bespoke learning session, customized to your industry, audience, and outcomes — delivered virtually or in-person.

Deirdre is a LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY® Certified Coach — bringing hands-on, creative methods into strategy, team-building, and problem-solving workshops.

Hands building with colorful blocks in a SERIOUS PLAY® style strategy workshop
Hands-on strategy — SERIOUS PLAY® methods in action.
  • ASL / Signed English — Basic & Conversational
  • Workplace Communication & Difficult Conversations
  • Emotional Intelligence (EQ) for Leaders
  • Manager Essentials & New Supervisor Bootcamp
  • Performance Management & Coaching Conversations
  • Conflict Resolution & Mediation Skills
  • Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, Anti-Racism & Belonging (IDEA&B)
  • Mental Health First Aid at Work
  • Neuroinclusive Teams & Universal Design
  • LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY® Strategy Workshops
  • Change Management & Resilience
  • Executive Presence & Public Speaking
  • Train-the-Trainer & Facilitation Skills
  • Advanced Leadership Seminars & Executive Retreats
  • Bespoke Learning Sessions — designed to your audience & outcomes
See Her On Stage

60 seconds is all it takes.

Watch Deirdre work a room — then picture her working yours.

Keynote at NOMA Games for Change — AI + Automation
photo

Keynote at NOMA Games for Change — AI + Automation

Facilitation & community work — on the ground in Africa
photo

Facilitation & community work — on the ground in Africa

BLACKPRINT 2.0 History Summit — Freedom Speaks
photo

BLACKPRINT 2.0 History Summit — Freedom Speaks

Deirdre Simmons — CEO, Consulting Alma, LLC
photo

Deirdre Simmons — CEO, Consulting Alma, LLC

100%

found the session valuable

100%

would attend again

100%

rated it actionable & inspiring

100%

would hear her speak again

Audience feedback · Talkadot reports — UConn Women's Advance, Women's Ministry & Still We Teach. Still We Rise. Summit

“Coach Deirdre was amazing. I would love to go to future meeting events. Inspirational and gets you thinking.”
— Chantelle · UConn, Curiosity Ignited
“If you want to be inspired, attend one of Deirdre's workshops.”
— Angela Rola · UConn, Curiosity Ignited
“The program was excellent. Mrs. Simmons was highly qualified and did an amazing job connecting with the ladies at this event. I was impressed that she took time to research our ministry and shared information, letting us know she did her research.”
— Dr. Edie Thomas · Women's Ministry Coordinator & Conference Lead, I'd Rather Have Jesus
“It has made me think about the use of language in my professional and personal life — and how to model it better in my speech and public speaking to model the way.”
— Dr. Thomas · 5 Tribe Vending, Freedom Speaks (Still We Teach. Still We Rise. Summit)
“Wonderful — with key takeaways.”
— Kimberly Byrd · The School District of Philadelphia, Freedom Speaks
“I think it was really generative and generous. It felt very grounded and applicable across so many areas (my own non-academic area included). The material was really clear and your presence was magical.”
— Katie Roy · UConn Storrs, Project Coordinator, Network Engagement and Health Impact Strategies · UConn MoSI — Backward Design for Scientific Teaching

Facilitating transformative conversations for human-centered leadership — ultimately increasing collaboration, performance, and profits, creating cultures of civility, understanding, and critical thinking across this nation and the world.

Consulting Alma, LLC · Vision Statement

Our Services

Solutions for taking organizations from chaos to clarity.

Certified in coaching, facilitation, and HR — we provide a pathway to #DoBetter through HR consulting, executive coaching, facilitation, and keynote speaking.

Keynote Speaking

Conferences · executive offsites · ERG summits · ministry

Customizable keynotes that ignite vision, sharpen self-awareness, and give audiences language for the work ahead. Deirdre has delivered for DisruptHR, UConn Women's Advance, CLARB, CESSE, SPFE, Streetwise Partners, and Blackprint 2.0 — meeting every room where it is.

Seminars, Workshops & Facilitation

Half-day · full-day · multi-session · retreat formats

Interactive sessions built for retention and behavior change — leadership development, communication, IDEA & B, change management, and team cohesion. Certified Professional Facilitator (CPF) and LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY® Coach, with a deep bench of consultants to scale by audience and topic.

Executive & Leadership Coaching

1:1 and cohort coaching for executives and rising leaders

Strategic career management, leadership presence, and relationship-building — with measurable outcomes (one client earned a $30K raise and promotion). We help craft a path that is uniquely yours by uncovering and activating purpose.

HR Strategy & Advisory

Available on a select-engagement basis

Two decades of operator-level HR experience — gap analysis, HRIS strategy, performance redesign, compensation benchmarking, and culture work. Engaged selectively today, this is the depth that grounds every talk, seminar, and coaching engagement.

The Work Behind the Talks

Stage-ready because the operating room came first.

Deirdre's keynotes and seminars are grounded in two decades of running real HR and operations functions — gap analysis, HRIS implementations, performance redesign, compensation strategy, and culture work that held up in the boardroom. That depth is why executives, conference chairs, and L&D leaders trust the room to her.

Executive reviewing HR strategy documents and analytics dashboards in a modern boardroom

Gap Analysis

Every engagement begins here — surfacing process friction, quiet risk, and where the employee experience falls short of what the culture intends.

HR Technology & Systems

End-to-end design and implementation: HRIS optimization, automated onboarding workflows, compliance infrastructure, and people analytics that actually inform decisions.

Performance Management Redesign

Rearchitecting review cycles, calibration, promotion criteria, and development planning so they function as strategic tools — not annual obligations.

Compensation & Equity Strategy

Benchmarking analyses, equity models, and market positioning that build the business case executives need — work that holds up in a boardroom.

Pipeline-First Recruiting

Talent communities, partnership networks, and referral architecture that keep strong candidates warm — compressing time-to-fill and protecting the employer brand.

Culture, Compliance & L&D

Engagement diagnostics, IDEA & B strategy, manager bootcamps, and the compliance backbone (multi-state employment law, EEO-1/AAP, handbook architecture) that keeps it all defensible.

Outcomes

Receipts, not promises.

Every engagement is built around the outcome you actually need — measurable, lived, and lasting.

  • Strategic Career Map
  • Higher EQ & leadership presence
  • Defining personal purpose & why
  • Business launches
  • Organizational redesign
  • Performance management road map
  • Culture problem cause analysis
  • Diversity, Equity → Inclusion & Belonging

Ready to #DoBetter?

Whether you need a coach, a keynote, a facilitator, or a full HR partner — let's get you where you need to be.