De Yarrison is the founder and President of Sherpa Higher Performance, an experiential organizational development company. She has a background in and insightful understanding of human dynamics and organizational psychology. This allows De to effectively guide client organizations to identify and build cultures of high performance, leading to increased business value, shared vision, influential leadership, and highly effective teams.

She has worked with organizations such as PricewaterhouseCoopers, University of Pennsylvania, Sungard Recovery Services, IKEA, and TIMET. She utilizes the appropriate tools and assessments in her work, such as the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, DiSC Personal Profile System, core values identification, 360-degree feedback evaluations, and other performance improvement initiatives. De has facilitated workshops on team-related topics including: creating high performance teams, developing dynamic leaders, and team skills such as effective communication, conflict management, meeting management, and personal performance maximization.

De holds a BA in Organizational Psychology from Immaculata University and her prior career experiences include personal fitness trainer and personal coach.

Core Beliefs: Personal fulfillment comes from authentic relationships, achieving a sense of community (personally and professionally), opportunities to "give back" large doses of patience and fun!

 Personal Pursuits: Spending time with her husband and two children, Running, Biking, Traveling, and Knitting

David W. Pastorok is founder and director of "The Adventure Network", an experiential training and development company (and Sherpa's parent company).  Since 1986 he has facilitated team and leadership development programs within various business groups as well as the human services and educational fields. David's areas of specialization include fostering positive group dynamics, assessing and developing leadership competencies, and improving team interactions.

His background as a therapist and clinical supervisor enables David to offer his clients a multi-dimensional perspective into their team behaviors and dynamics. David has presented workshops on team building, adventure based counseling, and experiential debriefing or processing techniques throughout the country including international and regional AEE (Association for Experiential Education) conferences. 

Personal Pursuits: Family activities with his wife and children, outdoor education, rock climbing, and mountaineering.

Carol M. F. Hoch is a Project Manager for Sherpa Higher Performance as well as Sales Representative.  She has a passion for team and leadership enhancement and utilizes a facilitative sales style to educate and motivate her clients.  Carol's career experiences include the positions of National Sales Trainer, Clinical Therapist, and extensive healthcare sales on a local, regional and national level.  She has advanced education in both Business Management and Community Psychology.

Carol believes in Sherpa Higher Performance's vision and ability to assess and implement programs that guide leadership and teams to the peak of productivity.

Personal Pursuits: Carol, her husband, and their daughter and son are actively involved with their church family and extended family.  They also enjoy the many adventures the great outdoors has to offer.

Since 1995, Bill Wood has been facilitating experiential and adventure based programs for groups ranging from elementary students to corporate teams.

Bill is endlessly fascinated with how people learn, both as unique individuals and in group situations. This fascination has led him
to explore models of personality and temperament (such as the Myers-Briggs personality profile and Howard Gardner's theory of Multiple Intelligences), as well as the latest research in Neuroscience and brain development (such as the work being done by Dr. Mel Levine at the All Kinds of Minds Institute). This knowledge helps him to design programs that allow each individual's personality and style to contribute to the success of the team. His belief is that learning and creativity happen best through play, and that when the play experience is tied to appropriate metaphors it transforms behavior and performance.

Bill also works as a performing artist in educational settings ranging from preschool through adults. He is in demand as a keynote speaker and workshop leader giving presentations on how to enhance creativity and on the creative process in general. Past clients/appearances include The Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts, Penn State University, and the Association of Continuing Education Providers, among others.

Personal Pursuits: Bill enjoys outdoor activities of all kind, especially backpacking, snowshoeing and cross-country skiing.
He also enjoys travel for the opportunity it affords to meet people with diverse perspectives and worldviews. He loves spending time with his wife, two sons, a retired racing greyhound, and numerous friends both real and imaginary.

Leslie Lefer has facilitated and designed team, leadership, communication and individual development programs since 1998.  She is passionate about helping teams and individuals improve their performance by using the experiential learning process.  Her professional career has allowed her to work in the corporate, nonprofit and educational sectors.  This, along with her experience with organizational development consulting firms in Maryland, Texas, New Jersey and Pennsylvania, has given her the opportunity to gain much insight and skill in aiding individuals and groups towards becoming more effective, efficient and high performing. 

Leslie has a Masters of Science in Training and Organizational Development from Saint Joseph's University.  Her desire for personal and professional growth prompted Leslie to take on
the role of President for the Philadelphia chapter of the American Society for Training and Development (ASTD).  Leslie was honored to be asked to be a presenter at two ASTD Leaders Conferences.

Personal Pursuits: Cooking, biking, long nature walks, travel, hosting dinner parties for friends and family and volunteering for social service organizations in the Philadelphia area.

Dana Caracciolo has facilitated experiential and adventure-based programs for variety of populations. Her career began working with youth and adults at a camp-conference center. Upon completing her degree from Prescott College in Human Development and Outdoor Recreation, she continued her work with youth in the juvenile correction system of Arizona. Since then, Dana has managed and delivered programs in non-profit, educational and corporate setting.

Dana believes in the life-altering experiences of adventure-based programs. She is passionate about using the power of these activities, on a recreational or therapeutic level, to foster growth and change in the people.

Personal Pursuits: Rock Climbing, Skiing, Back Country Travel, Whitewater Kayaking, and spending time with family and friends.