Short take on my background

If we’re going to work together, you may want to know a little bit about me. I’ve compiled both official and quirky details below.

TL;DR version is that my mission in life is to help learning and development professionals be the best they can be so they can have impact through the work they do.

My background includes:

• 40 years (!) in learning and development roles, primarily in consulting, design, and corporate L&D leadership, with short tours in faculty development, career consulting, and higher ed student services.
• Deep skills in synthesizing research to inform L&D practices, envisioning modern talent development strategies, upskilling professionals for emerging tools and techniques, and developing core design, facilitation, and consulting skills.
• In nine nouns: consultant, coach, professor, author, designer, family matriarch, book-reader, beach-walker, chocolate-milk-fan.

Official bio

Catherine Lombardozzi is a lifelong learning and development practitioner and founder of Learning 4 Learning Professionals. She collaborates with people to align their L&D strategy and skill sets with an organization’s driving goals and initiatives. Her work focuses on consulting with L&D leaders and supporting the professional development of designers, facilitators, faculty, learning and performance consultants, and learning leaders. As an active workplace learning professional with nearly 40 years’ experience in both corporate and academic contexts, Catherine often contributes to professional conferences and journals, and she teaches graduate-level courses in adult learning, instructional design, emerging technologies and consulting. She is author of Learning Environments by Design (2015). She maintains deep interest in modern workplace learning strategies, learning culture, social learning, self-directed learning, design of online learning experiences, and scholarly practice. Catherine holds a doctoral degree in Human and Organizational Learning from George Washington University. You can learn more about her background on LinkedIn.

Random trivia of interest

• The family includes 5 siblings (I’m second in line), 12 nieces and nephews, and 6 grands.
• Grew up in southeastern Pennsylvania (everybody’s hometown, Media), lived in New England for 8 years in my 20s, now a resident of the first state, Delaware.
• My collections: owls (of the tchotchke variety), snow people (my Christmas and winter decorations), and board games (no batteries)… and books!

Favorite Reads

On the theory that you may get to know a person a bit by browsing their book collection, here are six favorites from my shelves that have significantly impacted my professional approach:

• The Fifth Discipline by Peter Senge – profound foundational work on learning culture
• Relational Being by Ken Gergen – a mind-blowing exploration of the constructivist school of thought
• Communities of Practice by Etienne Wenger – a terrific analysis of the dynamics of effectively learning and working together
• Learning in Adulthood by Sharan B Merriam, Rosemary S Caffarella, and Lisa M. Baumgartner – a tome that overviews what we know about learning (now in its 4th edition)
• The Social Life of Information by John Seely Brown and Paul Duguid – a prescient introduction to the internet age
• Deep Work by Cal Newport – solid advice I continuously strive to put into practice

Also on my bookshelves, these re-readable novels:

• A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens
• The Mistborn Trilogy by Brandon Sanderson
• The Firekeeper Saga by Jane Lindskold
• The Harry Potter Series by J.K. Rowling