Carol Rovello, President, has a Bachelor's Degree in Education, a Masters Degree in Administration, certification as a Senior Professional of Human Resources (SPHR), and over 32 years of management / leadership experience, including 26 years as an HR / OD consultant.

Carol helps companies and organizations to align human resource initiatives with business operations, anticipate and resolve HR challenges, and institute the structure needed to support organizational change. Since she started her first consulting practice in October 1984, she has consulted with a broad range of clients in private industry, government, and the private, non-profit sector. This work has included HR-related audits, studies, and evaluations, HR technical assistance and documents, organization development initiatives, and professional development programs.

Carol's professional development focus has been communications-based programs, including leadership, teambuilding, and customer service, all of which integrate diversity and inclusion issues. As an adjunct instructor, she has taught Principles of Management, Human Resource Management, People Skills, and Non-Profit Management courses for undergraduate students.

Between September 2000 and January 2006, Carol served as the Director of Employee and Organization Development for Asheville-Buncombe Technical Community College. In this position, she provided leadership for professional development, diversity, human resource-related projects, and organization development for major college initiatives, including regional accreditation. During this time, she continued to provide independent human resource consulting and training services for other companies and organizations.

Carol earned a Bachelor's Degree in Education from Glassboro State College, a Master's Degree in Administration from Rider College, and her certification as a Senior Professional of Human Resources (SPHR) in May 2003 and 2006. She is a member of the Society for Human Resource Management, the president of the Western North Carolina Human Resource Association, and a member of the Asheville Area Chamber of Commerce, where she has served as the chair of the Hot Tips Task Force and presented a variety of human resource-related programs. She is also a member of the Center for Diversity Education Board and the Leadership Asheville Program Planning Council.

Carolyn Worthington, Senior Consultant, has a PhD in Human Resource Development and over 25 years of leadership experience in human resource development & administration, education, and healthcare. Carolyn specializes in human resource policies, practices, and procedures.

Carolyn provides innovative approaches to challenges and strategic efforts within a variety of organizations. Prior to joining Strategic Workplace Solutions in fall 2006, she served as the Director of Human Resources/Child Development Center/Staff Health Services for Mission Hospitals in Asheville, NC and, before that, as the Human Resources Director for Blue Ridge Healthcare in Morganton and Valdese, NC. She was recruited to North Carolina from Atlanta in 1995, having served for eight years as director of education and human resources consultant at Columbia/HCA West Paces Medical Center and as adjunct professor in the College of Business Administration at Georgia State University. Her previous work was in Georgia hospitals and schools as a healthcare professional, educator, consultant, and director of educational services and marketing.

Carolyn is licensed as a Registered Nurse. Her undergraduate degree is in Education from the University of Georgia in Athens, and her Master’s degree and Doctorate in Human Resource Development are from Georgia State University in Atlanta. She is past-president and current member of the Western North Carolina Human Resources Association, a member of the Society for Human Resources Management, a Board member of the Diana Wortham Theatre, a graduate of Leadership Asheville, a member of the Personnel Committee of Smart Start, and active in various other community groups. Carolyn is committed to lifelong learning and helping individuals and organizations reach their full potential.

Barbara Morrow, Senior Consultant, has a Bachelor's Degree in Business Administration, a Master's Degree in Business Administration, recognition as a Certified Compensation Professional (CCP), and over 29 years of compensation and employee retention experience. Barbara specializes in compensation practices and programs.

Barbara brings unique insight into creating compensation strategies and plans that enable organizations to attract and retain valued employees. Throughout her career, Barbara has been recognized for her ability to assess organization needs, collaborate with cross-functional teams, and develop realistic and successful solutions.

Prior to joining Strategic Workplace Solutions in March 2008, Barbara served as the Compensation Manager for Sunoco, where she was charged with directing the design and administration of corporate-wide compensation programs for 4000 employees. In that capacity, Barbara initiated and implemented programs that improved employee performance and boosted retention. She also developed recommendations for CEO and non-employee Board of Directors compensation.

At Sunoco, Barbara introduced a pay-for-performance incentive concept that spurred employee performance and generated improved financial results. She oversaw all aspects of the process, from evaluating organizational needs and conducting competitive analyses through designing and implementing the plan. She also created ground-up compensation plans for Sunoco’s subsidiaries in disparate industries, including real estate development, motor carrier, computer services, industrial distribution, convenience food stores, and ocean mining. After performing extensive research of competitors’ compensation practices, she developed broad-based compensations programs (base salary, incentive, deferred compensation and executive perquisites) that reflected competitive best practices in those industries.

During her career at the University of Pennsylvania, Barbara led the Compensation group in the development of a base salary program and job evaluation system for 1000 employees. She then transitioned into a human resources generalist role where she conducted employee recruiting, orientation, and counseling. She also created a faculty administrative handbook on promotion processes.

Barbara earned her M.B.A. from the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School and her B.S. in Business Administration from Drexel University. Well-respected in her industry, she has spoken on compensation matters to professional organizations. She is a member of SHRM and also has her CCP from WorldAtWork.

Cheryl Johnson, MA, MPA – Support OD Consultant, With over 34 years of leadership experience, Cheryl Johnson helps organizations to improve business processes to attain their strategic goals. After completing two Masters Degrees, in Public Administration and Organization Development, Cheryl was selected as a Presidential Management Intern for the federal government. Upon completion of her internship, she worked as an EEO Specialist for the Internal Revenue Service.

After moving to the Department of Justice, she consulted with five assigned business units to manage large change initiatives in support of their strategic plans. In this role, she facilitated business process mapping to identify and streamline operations for information technology conversion initiatives. In addition, she worked with managers to develop a model mentoring program and launch an electronic learning system.

Cheryl has worked with small business, government, and non-profit organizations in the areas of strategic planning, facilitation, dialogue, organization assessment, feedback, and action planning. Examples include: Montgomery Mutual Insurance Company, Let’s Link Ages, Little Lights Urban Ministry, and the DC Office of the Mayor.

Cheryl has been a faculty member for Strayer University for the past eleven years. In this role, she has taught Introduction to Human Resources, Principles of Management, Organizational Behavior, and Introduction to Business. She is trained in the transformative mediation model and has worked as a community mediator with the DC Office of Police Complaints and Pathways for Peace youth program. She is currently enrolled in the Leadership Asheville Program.

Cheryl earned a Master's Degree in Public Administration from California State University at Haywood and a Master’s Degree in Organization Development from Fielding Graduate University-Santa Barbara.
She has certifications/training in the following areas: Transformative Mediation, Beyond Public Hearings-Using New Ways To Obtain Citizen Input, ORID Method for conversations, Teams that Work, Role of Media in Building Community, Public Leadership, Leadership in a Non-Profit, Conflict Resolution for Leaders, Managing Emotions-Emotional Intelligence for Leaders, Listening-A key to Clear Communications, Ethics and Leadership, Affordable Housing, Civic Capacity Building, Facilitation.

Joe (Jay) Worthington

Jay Worthington brings over twenty years experience in the service industry to the SWS team. He has a strong background in business planning and strategy and extensive experience in performing those functions within both non-profit and for profit organizations.

Jay has performed the full range of human resources functions as the owner of a small business and as a middle level manager in a large organization. His responsibilities included interviewing, hiring, termination, training, evaluation, and remediation of all employees of a regional design firm. In his generalist role, Jay has produced positive employee relations, created policies and training procedures, and developed improvement processes for employee advancement.

As a manager,Jay participated in organizing and facilitating individual and group interviews, focus groups, and specific issue working groups. This work resulted in recommendations to address employment issues and concerns, curriculum development, and industry leadership roles in state-funded workforce training and development. He also contributed to the development of a nationally taught Work Ethics curriculum based on intensive interviews with businesses and industries in rural South Georgia.

Jay successfully led a multi-year Total Quality Management team charged with operational and revenue enhancement at a six-campus technical college. This team audited and assessed operations and functions of the Economic Development, Advancement, and Administrative divisions of the college.  Its final report realized significant organizational improvements to the divisions and attainment of dramatic revenue increases. 

Jay has also participated in comprehensive institutional advancement activities and accreditation preparation of a state college. These activities included in-depth study of the entire operating framework of each department of a community college. Department personnel, industry advisory committee members, students and other stakeholders were surveyed and interviewed to determine instructional and budgetary priorities. The synthesis of this work resulted in the budget request documents presented to the state legislature for consideration. It also provided the framework for the school’s rigorous Southern Association of College/Council on Colleges accreditation visit.

Jay earned a Bachelor of Science in Public Administration for Georgia College, Milledgeville, Georgia, and a Masters in Business Administration (completion in February 2011) from Montreat College in Asheville, North Carolina. He also has done extensive corporate training in the financial services sector through Merrill Lynch, with an intense focus on group retirement planning administration. Both of these areas involved in-depth interview and discovery processes with clients about their work and retirement.

Jay has served as Chairman of the Industry and Manufacturing Committee of the Fitzgerald-Ben Hill County Chamber of Commerce, Fitzgerald, GA; Treasurer of the Executive Committee, CSRA Boy Scouts Council, Augusta, GA; member of Rotary International, the National Council for Marketing and Public Relations; the National Association of Realtors; the Florida Association of Realtors; the Southern Nursery Association; and Merrill Lynch President’s and Executive’s Club. He is passionate about bringing the right people together for educational, business, and political success.

Strategic Affiliates

Strategic Workplace Solutions Inc is part of a network of human resource-related companies that work together to provide a broad range of human resource administrative, consulting, legal, and training services. When you utilize the Strategic Workplace Solutions network, we provide a seamless approach to meeting your human resource needs.

Our strategic affiliates include:

Workplace Dynamics, LLC specializes in EEO and affirmative action compliance, has generalist HR expertise, and provides professional development programs for leaders and employees.

Debra Milstein Gardner serves as SWS's Senior Consultant for Affirmative Action and EEO. She earned a Bachelor’s Degree from the University of Maryland and completed Master’s level coursework with Georgetown University. Debra is a certified administrator of the Intercultural Development Inventory (IDI) ™, a validated culture-neutral instrument that measures an individual’s level of cultural competence. She is also a co-author of the Diversity and Inclusion Profile for ELLA® (Employment Labor Law Audit) and the 10th edition of the Affirmative Action Profile for ELLA®. She has also been published in the Baltimore Business Journal on employment related issues.

Flex Pay Business Services provides comprehensive payroll administration services. Flex-Pay holds a strong reputation as payroll provider with excellent customer service and competitive pricing against the national companies.

Compass Career Management Solutions, LLC-OI Partners, Inc. has assembled a consortium of 30 consultants who are dispatched nationwide to address outplacement and career development services.