Team Bios
Everyone has a story. These are ours.
​Jane Southren | Teresa Krupa​ | Kelly Margani​ | Christine Shimoda | Kim Neeson
“I created a business entirely around the one thing I know I’m here to do - empower people to know better, be better, do better. I facilitate transformation. I don’t know how to do anything else.”
Jane Southren
Founder +, Principal Coach
Drawing on her extensive experience as a successful litigator and in-house business development director for a major law firm, Jane is a powerhouse mentor and advisor to her many professional services clients, helping them develop the relationships, form the habits and build the profiles they need to attract the work they want and build businesses and careers they love.
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Jane’s lifelong interest in neuroscience and human connection has led her to study the ways in which people interact and engage with one another, and her findings form the basis of all of the company’s programs. Jane empowers and inspires her clients and audiences, whether in a one-on-one coaching engagement, a group program or from the stage.
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Jane’s unique, collaborative, multi-phase approach helps both individuals and groups gain the skills they need to cultivate insights, develop strategies, implement behavioural changes and build habits that, once integrated, help to create confidence and a sense of empowerment. The result is that her clients have the skills they need to build stronger, more sustainable, more successful practices that are aligned with their values and their personal and professional goals.
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Whether engaging her services to take an existing practice to the next level, navigate a transition or to help them get ‘unstuck’, Jane’s clients rave about her coaching and training as some of the best investments they’ve made in their professional development. She’s even been known to demystify the business development process and make it a personalized, specific undertaking that her clients understand, and even...enjoy!
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Jane is a lifelong learner, avid reader, world-traveler, friend-connector, once hosted a birthday party with a giant tiger named Quadesh on the guest list, was an original ‘latch-key kid’, has a ‘shiny things’ syndrome, an actual Superpower, and somehow manages to fit more into a single day than most can get into a week. She loves to laugh, is no stranger to curse words and always, always has enough room at her table for anyone who wants to join the party.
“The thing I love most to do is create processes - a word I used to hate! Processes are powerful. I love to do things in the best way possible - not just do them to get them done.”
Teresa Krupa
Co-Founder, Director, Business + Operations
Teresa is Co-Founder, and Director, Business + Operations. She is responsible for everything that happens behind the scenes, and between the lines. Teresa supports the team and our clients at every stage of engagement, from the development of offerings, accreditation of programs, creation of proprietary resources, managing of vendor and partner relationships, implementation of new technology and systems, execution of contracts and reporting, through managing accounting and back-office processes.
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Process is Teresa’s passion, and throughout her 25-year career in law firms she honed and perfected her craft and brings all of that rich learning to Southren Group, and to our clients and partners. She is deeply committed to excellence, loves a check-mark in a box more than just about anything, and keeps this ship running at full efficiency at all times.
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Teresa also runs our Operations Management Program, which gives small- to mid-sized professional services firms the support they need, when and how they need it. She knows the operational challenges that firms face, and applies her depth and breadth of expertise to helping our clients navigate them to close the operations deficiency gap. With a focus on project management, human resources and facilities management, vendor selection and event planning, she helps our clients - and us! - cultivate efficient, effective, thriving professional services environments.
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Teresa is a mom of three (four if you include her beloved fur-baby), a sailing wife, an avid world traveller, active volunteer and curious learner who is always starting a new project or taking on a new challenge. She’s a real estate investor, a hostess extraordinaire (Zoom Cocktails, anyone?) and the calm in every storm.
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When she’s not running the show, you’ll find her curling, cottaging, hosting, sipping, eating, laughing, playing and enjoying life to its absolute fullest.
“Even if I didn't have to work another day, I'd do exactly what I’m doing here, now. Collaborating with this team and working with our clients allows me to do all of my favourite things, every day.”
Kelly Margani
Coach/Director, Business Design + Strategy
Kelly Margani is the Director, Business Design + Strategy at Southren Group, responsible for the direction of the business and brand strategy, and ensuring the personality and voice of the brand is delivered consistently across all programs and platforms. She is a key contributor to the content, structure and design of the firm’s program and service offerings, and a Brain-Based Coach, certified by the Neuroleadership Institute.
Working with lawyers and other professionals, Kelly facilitates a selection of group training sessions and workshops, specifically in the areas of business strategy, forecasting, strategic planning, communication, branding and design thinking. Kelly also holds a Brain-Based Coaching Certificate and brings this expertise to her work with our clients, working with them to reach higher levels of success and wellbeing.
Kelly is a keen listener and clarifier, and prides herself on her ability to hear what people are really saying - not just the words they're using to say it. She loves to nurture the 'big ideas' that help usher clients to the next stage of their success - whatever that looks like for them. She is committed to exceptional results and brings a passion for process and a commitment to excellence to every aspect of the business that she touches.
Kelly is an entrepreneur, with a long history of working in start-up ventures, and as such is accustomed to wearing all the hats, all at once. With a background in strategic communications, creative solutions, brand development, account management and client service, she is a decisive communicator, design thinker, and a skilled problem-solver who strives to first understand the unique needs of her audience in order to deliver the best outcome possible.
Kelly is a curious thinker, doer, dreamer, writer, coach, trainer, collaborator, consultant and strategist, in different orders on different days.
When she’s not slaying dragons or colouring outside the lines at work, Kelly loves to explore new places, eat all the food, drink all the wine, drive fast cars and spend time on or near water with her two teenage boys.
“The thing that most of our clients would be surprised to know about me, given my passion for and background in research, is that I often make decisions - big, life-changing decisions - based on gut feel and instinct.”
Christine Shimoda
Director, Programs + Services
Christine Shimoda is the Director, Programs + Services at Southren Group, and is responsible for overseeing the creation of coaching and training programs that support our clients through their development journey. She is passionate about identifying opportunities, addressing challenges and assisting our clients in making strategic choices that move them forward toward their goals.
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Christine is a process junkie and lifelong learner who brings to her role a commitment to developing and offering the very best tools, methodologies and resources available to accompany and support the programs she creates. In addition to their creation, Christine also facilitates many of the company’s group training sessions and workshops, and our clients benefit from her measured approach to thinking through and solving problems.
A skilled researcher and facilitator by training, Christine has devoted much of her career to all aspects of the research spectrum — as a consumer, provider and consultant — interpreting and applying insights to the decision-making process. Her unique perspective allows her to really dig into how insights, and the information garnered from them, facilitate behaviour change.
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Though trained and skilled at using research, facts and data in decision making, Christine is also an intuitive thinker who is able to get herself and others out of the way to reach the place of authenticity, value and gut-feel when it matters most.
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When she’s not creating ground-breaking programs and just being all-around awesome at work, Christine is an always-perfectly-coiffed (even during a pandemic), Peloton-riding mom, wife, label-maker, organizer, (itching to get at it again) world-traveller, city-lover, avid reader and friend. She collects notebooks, coloured pens, anything teal, and boxes. Lots and lots of boxes.
“It's all about the big ideas and audacious goals that our clients have. Walking alongside them, co-creating their visions, goals and aspirations, gives back to me as much as it does to our clients.”
Kim Neeson
Coach + Facilitator
Kim Neeson is a Coach + Facilitator with Southren Group, working with our team in support of our core programs and services and helping to usher our clients to their success.
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Kim is an award-winning entrepreneur and business leader, having formed and grown her company in the legal services space, Neesons, from a one-woman business to a multi-million dollar company over the course of two-plus decades. In 2019, Kim's business was acquired by Veritext Litigation Solutions, the largest court reporting company in the world. After the sale, Kim led the growth of the business in Canada as Regional Vice President before retiring from her role with a total of 11 offices under the Veritext Canada umbrella.
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Kim received her training in coaching from Erickson International and achieved her certified ACC status from the International Coaching Federation in October of 2021, adding coaching to her already robust skillset.
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As a business leader and coach/consultant, Kim now puts her knowledge, business acumen and lived life experience to work for her clients. She now prides herself on walking alongside leaders, professionals and entrepreneurs who are looking to re-energize, rebalance, re-engage or change their work/life realities.
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Kim’s clients include lawyers, law firms, entrepreneurs, managers, executives and other professionals.