Meet the Team at Civility Partners

by Oct 13, 2021

In the past few months, we’ve had some new additions to the Civility Partners family and we figured we should make some introductions!

Each of us brings a unique perspective and background to the work we do!

Catherine Mattice

CEO/Founder

As you may already know, Catherine founded Civility Partners in 2008 as a result of working in a toxic environment, and has since led the Civility Partners team in serving a huge array of clients with consulting, training, and coaching services. She’s written three books, one of which Ken Blanchard called, “the most comprehensive and valuable handbook on the topic” of workplace bullying. Catherine’s also been cited in such media outlets as Forbes.com, Inc Magazine, Entrepreneur, and USA Today, and appeared as a guest on such venues as NPR and CNN.

Rebecca Del Secco

People & Culture Consultant

Rebecca started out as a part-time intern while she was getting her Bachelor’s degree in Business, with a focus on human resources, from San Diego State University. Within a few months, Catherine saw her potential and made her a full time employee. Years later, Rebecca continues to knock it out of the park designing training programs, unique performance management systems, mentorship, and onboarding programs. She also recruits like a boss for one of our rapidly growing clients, having hired 21 people so far this year.

Kathy Grey

Culture Change Consultant

One of our newest members, Kathy Grey, is an engaging and passionate leadership coach, facilitator, and conflict mediator. Catherine and Kathy met about a decade ago when Kathy was building a 30+ training team for No Bully, a nonprofit organization focused on building positive school environments that minimize bullying and harassment in the K-12 arena. Kathy is one of Catherine’s heroes, and she continues to support school communities as a respected thought partner and Senior Education Advisor for Power of Zero, a London based charity.

Toni Herndon

Training Guru & DISC Facilitator

Toni Herndon, EdD., is our very enthusiastic facilitator, conflict mediator, and certified DISC® trainer. She prides herself on bringing the opportunity forward for learners to engage in transformation, and transform she does. She consistently receives rave reviews from clients as she leans on her decade of experience as a facilitator, life coach and court mediator. (She was also a zoo keeper in a previous life, which might help too.) In addition to her work with Civility Partners she provides training for the National Conflict Resolution Center and Moxie Institute.

Sameen Maali

Marketing & Client Relations Coordinator

Sameen just recently graduated from San Diego State University, too. Rebecca, Sameen and Catherine say, Go Aztecs! After starting out with us as an HR intern, Sameen soon found her passion to ultimately be in social media and marketing, which led her to take on her new role as Marketing & Client Relations Coordinator. She manages all of our webinars and conference presentations, creates marketing content, and works on client projects. She is learning so fast and we are so proud to support her in her new career goals!

Clara DePre

Executive Assistant

Clara is our newest team member and our Executive Assistant, Project Manager and Director of Getting Stuff Done with nearly 15 years of diverse experience spanning luxury retail, management consulting and leadership development. She supports Catherine and the team in the daily operations of the business. We learned a long time ago that Catherine needs a keeper to keep things moving. Clara is based on the East Coast and is also a proud mom of two young boys.

Now that you’ve gotten to know our team a little better, we hope you feel a better sense of connection to the Civility Partners fam. Don’t be a stranger and reach out to us if you would love to learn more!

About Catherine Mattice

Catherine Mattice, MA, SPHR, SHRM-SCP is President of consulting and training firm, Civility Partners, and has been successfully providing programs in workplace bullying and building positive workplaces since 2007. Her clients include Fortune 500’s, the military, several universities and hospitals, government agencies, small businesses and nonprofits. She has published in a variety of trade magazines and has appeared several times on NPR, FOX, NBC, and ABC as an expert, as well as in USA Today, Inc Magazine, Huffington Post, Entrepreneur Magazine, and more. Catherine is Past-President of the Association for Talent Development (ATD), San Diego Chapter and teaches at National University. In his book foreword, Ken Blanchard called her book, BACK OFF! Your Kick-Ass Guide to Ending Bullying at Work, “the most comprehensive and valuable handbook on the topic.” She recently released a second book entitled, SEEKING CIVILITY: How Leaders, Managers and HR Can Create a Workplace Free of Bullying.

Free Webinar: Unlock Your Managers’ Leadership Potential

Being good at your job doesn’t make you good at managing people. You know this.  You also know the outcome when an individual contributor moves to a manager role without receiving the right training – a struggling team, unclear expectations, conflict, disengaged...

5 Tools for Pitching Culture Change to Leadership

You already know that a strong culture leads to engaged employees, lower turnover, and a healthier bottom line, but convincing leadership? That’s a different story. It's exhausting pushing for changes that are dismissed as “soft skills” or shot down because they don't...

Why leadership’s ‘Hands-Off’ approach to culture is costing you more than you think

Picture this: you’re actively working to foster a positive workplace culture, but managers and leaders are adopting a 'hands-off' approach. At first, it seems harmless, even convenient—but beneath the surface, it's quietly wreaking havoc. Top talent? They're slipping...

Elections and Leadership: 3 Ways Your Reaction Can Impact Your Team

Election season tends to bring division and tension, and it’s hard to avoid. Even if you’ve reminded your team to steer clear of political conversations at work, it’s likely that the topic will still pop up here and there. The truth is, having employees with different...

You Have It All Wrong: 4 Ways Employers Can Successfully Influence Well-Being

Did you know that the World Health Organization (WHO) classified burnout as an occupational phenomenon? In other words, while leaders and HR tend to classify burnout as a personal failing, as evidenced in the way they tackle it with offerings of gym memberships and...

5 Tips You Haven’t Seen for Engaging Hybrid And Remote Workers

According to Forbes, one in five workers is working remotely and 98% of workers want to work remotely at least some of the time. Yet, despite the flexibility that hybrid and remote work offer, engagement is a major challenge. In fact, the 2023 State of Remote Work...

Measuring Onboarding Effectiveness: Key Metrics for Success

Having an employee orientation program is a great start. It usually involves getting paperwork signed, introducing new hires around the office, and providing some initial training. But are you truly onboarding your employees? Effective onboarding is more than just a...

Measuring Recruiting and Hiring Success: Key Metrics to Track

In the past, recruiting was often a "spray and pray" approach—posting job openings everywhere and hoping the right candidate would find their way to us, even faxing over their resumes. Thankfully, recruiting today is far more strategic, thanks to the internet and...

HR Ninja-ing: 9 ways to impact culture with $0 budget

Workplace culture is an uphill battle when the budget is tight or, worse, nonexistent. You’re expected to create a thriving, engaged workforce, but the reality is harsh: Gallup reports that only 32% of U.S. employees are engaged at work. Meanwhile, disengaged...

It’s Labor Day: Are you celebrating your workers or burning them out?

This last Labor Day should have been a day of rest—a chance for employees to recharge and reflect on the contributions they’ve made to their organizations. But for many workers, the reality was likely far from relaxing. A 2023 Gallup survey shows that only 32% of U.S....