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Neurotransmission is how nerve cells communicate.
Our Team
Melissa H. Kerr, Ph.D.
Co-Founder
A lifelong resident of the Annapolis area, business owner, and infectiously upbeat scholar athlete, Melissa brings an inspiring combination of energy, altruism, curiosity, and passion to her more than 25 years of experience in the broad and critical area of Health and Human Performance. She holds a Ph.D. in Public Health with a dual focus on mental health (stress and resilience) and practical program evaluation, and a Master’s Degree in Exercise Science with a focus on training endurance athletes. Melissa is also a published co-author of The Anger Management Sourcebook.
Throughout her lifetime and vast experience “in the trenches” as a researcher, teacher, coach, athlete, and parent, every road Melissa traveled brought her back to the same three conclusions:
1) Life is all about relationships, 2) Relationships are all about "EQ" and not IQ, and 3) We need an Emotional Brain-centric paradigm for people development. This is the experience and thinking over three decades that inspired Brain Savvy. Melissa’s clients are exceptional people who are always looking for ways to become better in all spheres.
She lives a Blessed life with her husband, two beautiful girls, and two awesome rescue pets, “Jenny” the cat and “Zenny” the dog, who also smiles when she runs.
Anna O'Connor, CPLC
Co-Founder
A graduate of the University of North Carolina, Anna is a Professional Life Coach, Certified Christian Life Coach, and Certified Emotional Brain Training Coach who began her teaching career in Baltimore County Public Schools. She has come full circle, melding her professional experience as a veteran teacher and business owner with her infectious energy and warmth, sense of humor, and flare for artistic design. Anna is unwaveringly passionate and uniquely equipped to help people become the architects of the lives they imagine.
Anna's responsibilities as co-founder of Brain Savvy are many and varied (e.g., marketing and prospecting; sales and product development; teaching, mentoring and coaching). Her calling by a greater Design, Brain Savvy represents a true alignment of her talents, skills, and passions for learning and service, to the task of helping people build resilient, amazing lives.
Anna brings a spirit of volunteerism to Brain Savvy. For the past 9 years, she has served as the Vice President of Anne Arundel County Backpack Buddies. As part of her volunteer work, Anna spearheaded the annual Tyler Heights Elementary School Coat Drive, which provides local children with much-needed winter gear.
Anna lives a Blessed life with her husband, three beautiful girls, and “Doc” who brings an abundance of joy and dog hair into the home.
Michael P. Wall, LCSW
Michael is an experienced teacher, facilitator, presenter, coach, and popular clinician of more than 25 years. He presently runs a diverse psychotherapy practice located in Severna Park, MD. Michael coined the term “EQ Class” to describe the nature of his ground-breaking work with individuals, couples, families, and organizations. His ability to help his clients contain conflict, understand the drivers of performance and relationships at work and at home, and use the skills of EQ/Emotional Intelligence to build successful families and businesses is unparalleled.
Michael holds dual Master’s Degrees in Rehabilitation Counseling and Social Work. Prior to becoming a clinician, Michael was a Math Teacher. He then became a widely known talent in organizational development, a field that was in its infancy in the early ‘80s. A talented swim coach as well, Michael was the morning coach of our first local Olympian in swimming, Theresa Andrews, a graduate of the United States Naval Academy.
The compelling question, “How do we get better results for people than what the prevailing cognitive-behavioral models are getting?” is what brought Michael to our development team nearly a decade ago. With the explosion of the amazing Science of the Brain, we were able to revisit the pioneering work of Daniel Goleman, Harville Hendrix, Stephen Covey, and other visionaries, and re-examine their models through a brain-centric lens. Brain Savvy is the outgrowth of this research and our work together to build, test, and refine a more complete, actionable model of leadership – i.e., one that bridges the disconnect between what people say they want to do and what they actually accomplish in relationships and life.
Michael resides with his family in Baltimore, MD.
Proud to work with...
Glenn R. Schiraldi, Ph.D.
Glenn R. Schiraldi, Ph.D., Lt. Colonel (USAR, Ret.), has served on the stress management faculties at the Pentagon, the International Critical Incident Stress Foundation, and the University of Maryland, where he received the Outstanding Teaching Award and other teaching/service awards in the School of Public Health. He is the author of various articles and books on human mental and physical health. His books on stress-related topics have been translated into sixteen foreign languages, and include: The Resilience Workbook; The Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Sourcebook; The Self-Esteem Workbook; World War II Survivors: Lessons in Resilience; The Resilient Warrior Before, During, and After War; Conquer Anxiety, Worry & Nervous Fatigue; The Anger Management Sourcebook; and Ten Simple Solutions to Building Self-Esteem. Glenn's writing has been recognized by various scholarly and popular sources, such as the Washington Post, American Journal of Health Promotion, the Mind/Body Health Review, and the International Stress and Tension Control Society Newsletter.
While serving at the Pentagon, he helped to design and implement a series of prototype courses in stress management for the Department of the Army—including hostility/anger management and communication skills. For the International Critical Incident Stress Foundation and Resilience Training International, he designs and presents resilience training to optimize mental health and functioning while preventing stress-related mental disorders such as post-traumatic stress disorder—particularly in high-risk groups (e.g., military, police, and firefighters).
Serving at the University of Maryland since l980, Glenn has pioneered a number of mind/body courses, which have taught coping skills to a wide range of adults to prevent stress-related mental and physical illness. His research indicates that resilience and seven other indicators of mental health can be favorably impacted by a semester’s course. He has trained clinicians and lay people internationally on various dimensions of resilience and trauma. Because of his expertise in practical skill building to prevent mental illness, he was invited to join the Board of Directors of the Depression and Related Affective Disorders Association, founded as a Johns Hopkins University, Department of Psychiatry cooperative. He has also served on the editorial board of the International Journal of Emergency Mental Health and Human Resilience, and on the ABC News Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Working Group.
He is a graduate of the U.S. Military Academy, West Point, and a Vietnam-era veteran. He holds graduate degrees from BYU (Summa Cum Laude, Valedictorian) and the University of Maryland. His research interests center on personality and stress, including resilience, post-traumatic stress, self-esteem, depression, anger/hostility, and anxiety.