We train and advise organizations to include and work with people who think in different ways

Ed Thompson

CEO & Founder

Ed Thompson is the CEO and founder of Uptimize – a unique corporate training platform that helps organizations attract, hire and retain talent that thinks differently. Uptimize works globally with organizations like Salesforce, JPMorgan Chase, Deloitte and IBM, building robust and impactful neurodiversity at work programs. Ed has also become a frequent speaker on the topic of neurodiversity in the workplace and is currently writing a book on the subject.

John Samuelsen

Operations Manager

John brings a background in corporate strategy and finance to his role as operations manager at Uptimize. He has spent his career driving informed decisions for companies from startups to the Fortune 500 as both an employee and consultant. John holds both a bachelor’s degree in finance and MBA from the University of Colorado. Outside of the office he enjoys skiing, traveling and exploring the outdoors with his wife and two kids.

Lauren Hawthorne

Head of Marketing

Lauren is a digital marketing specialist and small business consultant with experience growing companies and start-ups in the environmental, energy, health and wellness, and tech industries. Lauren holds an MBA and a Bachelor’s of Science in Business – Marketing. Lauren has been diagnosed with ADHD, and her brother is on the autism spectrum, so she has a special interest in working with Uptimize as the Marketing Manager.

Nick Walker

Scholar, Speaker & Author

Nick Walker is an autistic author, educator, speaker, and aikido teacher. He is a faculty member at Sofia University and California Institute of Integral Studies, senior instructor of the Aikido Shusekai dojo in Berkeley, California, and Managing Editor at the independent publishing house Autonomous Press. Nick has been an influential figure in shaping autistic community and culture since 2004, and is widely recognized as one of the leading thinkers on neurodiversity.

Dr. Jacqui Wilmshurst

MSc PhD CPsychol LCGI

Jacqui is a Chartered Applied Psychologist with over two decades of experience in helping people to learn, grow and achieve greater personal wellbeing. Jacqui is also an autistic/ADHD woman who has been (and still is) on a long journey to better understand herself, her strengths, her needs, and her place in the world.

Her current work focuses primarily on wellbeing and on diversity and inclusion in the workplace. She works with employers to help them build more inclusive cultures for all employees, to increase awareness of neurodivergent conditions and improve talent acquisition and retention. She also provides assessments, coaching and mentoring to neurodivergent individuals, to support them in their journey towards self-awareness, self-acceptance and empowered self-advocacy in their work and lives.

Tim Goldstein

Neurodiverse Communications Specialist

Diagnosed with Asperger’s at 54, Tim Goldstein is a global trainer for a major tech company, he is also a Neurodiverse Communications Specialist. He trains all employees neurotypical and neurodistinct how each other functions and communicates.

With deep experience in business and consulting, Tim, helps companies recognize and overcome the challenges to excelling the neurodistinct face. Using his Neuro Cloud™ concept, he explains the Spock-like logical approach common among many autistics. Tim has lectured on his concepts at Cornell, Vanderbilt, major companies and coached privately. His book, Geeks Guide to Interviews: 15 Critical Items for the Technical Type, helps to better understand the challenges the autistic face in joining the workforce.

Christine Barrett

Leadership & Management Coach

Christine is an experienced, AoEC- qualified executive skills coach and founder of leadership development consultancy Velocity at Work. Christine leverages her 30 years business experience – much of it senior management – to provide commercial, results-oriented business coaching and mentoring. She focuses on leadership development.

Marci Ciampi

Author & Community Advocate

Marcie is best known for her writings found in the well-received blog and book “Everyday Aspergers”. A professional educator, she has been featured in various literature, including peer-reviewed journals, Aspien Women, Autism Parenting Magazine, The Mighty, Project Aspie, Art & Autism, and Different Brains. Marcie serves as a Diversity and Inclusion Consultant at Spectrum Suite LLC and as Senior Manager of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at Ultranauts, a software testing company noted for its recruitment and retention of neurodiverse staff. She is a coauthor of Spectrum Women: Walking to the Beat of Autism and speaks globally on the topic of neurodiversity as it relates to employment and self-empowerment. To date she has corresponded with over 10,000 autistics around the world. She resides in Olympia, Washington, USA.

Áine Maher

Diversity & Inclusion Consultant

Áine is a Diversity and Inclusion Consultant specializing in Emotional Inclusion with a driving passion for the reduction of stigma around mental health and neurodiversity. Her career to date allows her to apply a holistic lens to neurodiversity, from working with children and families in a clinical setting focusing on behavioural neuropsychology, to experiencing the demands placed on HR teams during her time in the corporate world. While working in a global tech company she continued her education in neuroscience and was a leader in the employee resource group focusing on mental health, neurodiversity and physical disability. As a writer, speaker, facilitator and consultant, she draws on her professional, educational and personal experience to connect with her audience, using neuroscience to enhance the learning experience across diversity and inclusion topics.

Morénike Giwa Onaiwu

Advocate, Public Speaker, Writer, Educator, Researcher

Morénike, PhD(c), MA focuses on meaningful community involvement and leadership, disability, racial, and gender equity, dismantling stigma, and inclusion and empowerment, often drawing from personal background as a person of color in a neurodiverse and serodifferent family, and a late-diagnosed adult on the autism spectrum. Morénike has been an invited speaker in the White House, at the United Nations Headquarters, a keynote speaker and/or presenter at numerous conferences, and provides diversity, research, and disability consulting to several organizations. Morénike is currently a Humanities Scholar at Rice University and a doctoral candidate in education, has been published and will release an edited collection on neurodiversity in the Black community in 2022.

Laura Wallis

Neurodiversity & Community Inclusion Expert

Laura has an academic background in human rights and has used her passion for and knowledge of the area to drive her practice with people and communities.  She has worked in education and mental health settings, community engagement and training and facilitation.  Laura was diagnosed with ADHD as an adult and this has informed her advocacy work, but she has always been a passionate advocate for strong, inclusive workplace culture.