Leadership Team

Passion. Energy. Experience. These are just a few of the things Melissa Schulz brings to every interaction – and her role as CEO at GrayWolf.

Melissa has a proven track record of developing strong leaders and high-performing teams. With 30 years of experience in managing, coaching, training, facilitating, and presenting/public speaking, she knows how to get results.

Melissa spent much of her career in corporate leadership positions at some of the world’s best advertising agencies. In her last big agency role, Melissa hired and managed a team of over 90 employees and 30 direct reports. She helped develop and implement a new way of integration for Procter & Gamble, including training more than 1000 employees at 200 offices – in more than 80 countries. She is adept at presenting ideas one-on-one, to small groups, or to an audience of hundreds. Melissa has worked in a variety of sectors (communications, healthcare, CPG, non-profit, tech, financial, retail, legal, and education) at multiple stages of professionals’ careers, from college graduates to C-suite executives.

Her specialty? Helping leaders and organizations use their emotional intelligence to boost leadership capacity and work more inclusively. She partnered with the Female Quotient to bring “confidence coaching” to women executives and often speaks at leadership events and national conferences. She also has expertise in harassment/bullying prevention, is certified in EQ-i 2.0 (Emotional Intelligence Assessment) and is a certified Fair Play Method facilitator.

Melissa graduated with honors from Boston University, received her Executive
Coaching Certificate from the iCoach New York program at Baruch College’s Zicklin
School of Business, her DEI certificate from Cornell, and is a member of the International Coaching Federation. She lives in the Hudson Valley of NY with her spouse, daughter, and two cats (Cookies & Cream). In her free time Melissa hikes, competes in triathlons, and spends as much time as possible outdoors.

SPECIALTIES: Executive Coaching, Management & Leadership Development,
Emotional Intelligence, Executive Presence, Presentation Skills/Public Speaking,
Interview Coaching, Performance Management, Change Management, Harassment/Bullying Prevention, Diversity & Inclusion, Unconscious Bias, and Team Building.

Cindy Graziano founded GrayWolf Consulting on a mission. She set out to deliver performance results for organizations large and small – by cultivating better leadership, management, and staff engagement. She succeeded. And the team Cindy has built at GrayWolf shares her talent, commitment, and enthusiasm.

She founded the firm in 2000 and is a respected corporate trainer, public speaker, and executive coach with 35 years of business experience. Cindy began her career in journalism and public relations, then worked at an organization that provided learning and development.

Her management and consulting clients have spanned financial firms to the Bronx Zoo to startups, domestic and international businesses, plus profit and non-profit organizations. A natural public speaker, Cindy regularly facilitates board meetings, conferences, and off-site leadership sessions. Her specialty? Working with a client to assess issues and challenges – then providing solutions that deliver clear results.

Cindy received her Bachelor of Science in Journalism from the University of Kansas. She is certified in Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, DiSC, and a variety of other psychological assessment tools. In addition, she has a Master Certification in Executive Coaching from New York University. Cindy has co-authored numerous articles and two guidebooks, The Mentoring Map and Internal Consulting… Becoming the Most Sought-After Person in Your Organization. She is a regular speaker at national conferences and business events.

She lives in Stamford, Connecticut and volunteers at a horse rescue farm.

SPECIALTIES: Executive Coaching, Management & Leadership Development,
Executive Presence, Emotional Intelligence, Presentation Skills/Public Speaking,
Interview Coaching, Performance Management, Preventing Sexual Harassment, Team
Building, Creating Vision, Values, and Business Strategies, and Building Cultures on a
Global Scale.

Want to get the most out of yourself – and your team? Louis Lipani is the one to get it done.

With a Ph.D. in Organizational Behavior, and an M.B.A. from Stanford, Louis brings his deep knowledge of business and psychology – plus real-world experience at leading financial firms – to his executive coaching and training. He has 25 years of experience in top tier finance and leadership development, ultimately deciding to follow his passion for developing excellent managers.

Louis is an executive coach, facilitator, and organizational development consultant. He helps GrayWolf Consulting’s clients through a wide range of expertise in leadership, team building, and cultural transformation. His goal is to help leaders achieve greater returns on their human capital.

At GrayWolf, Louis has helped a wide variety of corporate and nonprofit leaders, teams, and organizations become more successful by developing a better understanding of individual and social psychology, plus group dynamics. He enjoys the process of helping clients link leadership development to strategy — and ultimately performance.

Louis possesses a rare mix of “hard” and “soft” skills. He spent much of his early career in financial services, both pre- and post-MBA, at Credit Suisse, UBS Capital, and Morgan Stanley. His deep interest in the topics of leadership and employee engagement/disengagement led him to pursue his Ph.D. His doctoral dissertation focused on power, status, and apologies in the workplace. Louis has taught management classes and teamwork sessions for MBA and Executive MBA programs.

Louis graduated summa cum laude from Georgetown University, with a B.S. in finance and accounting. He has an M.B.A. from Stanford University, and his Ph.D. is from Baruch College, CUNY. Louis is certified as an executive coach by the NeuroLeadership Institute.

SPECIALTIES: Executive Coaching, Management & Leadership Development, Team Building, Organizational Design, Emotional Intelligence, Change Management, Trust in Teams, Feedback, Influence and Persuasion, Negotiating, Creativity and Innovation, Employee Engagement, and Vision/Mission/Purpose Development