Steven E. Frohman is a speaker, consultant, business owner and president of Applied Synergistics, Inc. Steve has worked extensively with CPA societies, where his leadership series has consistently received top ratings. He also works with state societies in the areas of board development, staff development, and leadership-related programs. Previously, Steve spent 23 years with IBM in management and senior management and staff positions. His career included responsibility for the design and delivery of leadership and management development programs used throughout the corporation as well as other development programs for employees within IBM and its customer executives. You’ll find his opinions quoted in such publications as The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, and The Chicago Tribune reflecting on critical issues facing today’s businesses. His thought-provoking keynotes and seminars provide insightful and systematic strategies for dealing with the challenges and opportunities associated with change. He is known for his interactive and engaging style.Additionally, Steve's broad-based experience includes owning and operating small service and manufacturing businesses and consulting with a variety of for-profit and not-for-profit organizations.

ASI, a Wisconsin-based firm, specializes in organizational effectiveness. It provides consulting and training to organizations across multiple industries in both public and private sectors. ASI offers individualized consulting services, planning seminars, workshops, and keynote speeches to assist both individuals and organizations in improving performance and gaining competitive advantage. The firm is most helpful to those who want to benefit from change, implement continuous quality improvement, and actively pursue their vision. By leading, challenging, motivating, and inspiring, ASI brings out the best that individuals and organizations have to offer. A specialty area is the development and delivery of experiential learning workshops.

Dr. Fried is president of N. E. Fried and Associates, Inc., a human resources consulting firm specializing in compensation research and consulting, training, and expert testimony on employment, Fried conducts research on a national scale and has been quoted widely in publications such as The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, The New York Times, The Chicago Tribune, The Washington Post, Business Week, and Fortune Magazine. She has published two books and over 30 professional articles on business issues. She received her Ph.D. in vocational-technical education from The Ohio State University, where she focused on business education and conducted research on the design and evaluation of corporate training programs. Fried also received her Certified Compensation Professional designation from the American Compensation Association (ACA), and for the past 15 years has been instrumental in training other faculty on course delivery. She was also directly involved in redesigning a component of the certification course core curriculum and continues to teach performance management, job analysis, job documentation, and job evaluation for ACA.

Fried served as adjunct faculty at Franklin University from 1979 to 1986, where she developed and taught a course in wage and salary administration, Most recently she has partnered with Applied Synergistics, Inc. to develop and deliver courses for state CPA societies and other corporate clients on leadership and related courses in human resources.