Nance Guilmartin is an executive advisor; organizational consultant with a background in politics, the media, and the corporate world; and author of The Power of Pause: How to Be More Effective in a Demanding 24/7 World.
In the course of her career as a broadcast journalist, Nance won four regional Emmy Awards. As a national Westinghouse Broadcasting executive and as editorial director of WBZ-TV and Radio in Boston, she launched national initiatives including the Designated Driver Program. She also developed the award winning For Kids’ Sake and Time to Care community-action campaigns, which generated a $20 million profit center for GroupW Television in over 100 cities. In the spirit of “doing well by doing good,” these campaigns were the precursors of socially responsible business programs and inspired customer loyalty as well as public-private partnerships on behalf of children and families.
Before entering television, Nance was press secretary to the late US Senator Paul Tsongas during his long-shot campaign for the coveted Senate seat in Massachusetts and remained on his staff once he took office. She honed her listening skills as an award-winning news writer/syndicated producer at CBS Newsradio in Boston—juggling fast-moving stories in the 24/7 environment of live news radio during the turbulent times of the mid-1970s.
As a leadership educator, Nance provides strategic counsel, workshops, customized problem-solving programs, and one-on-one executive mentoring. Her clients have included Gibraltar Private Bank & Trust, Young Presidents Organization (YPO), Florida International University, Cone, Inc. (an Omnicom company), OCEANAIR, Serono-Pfizer Pharmaceuticals, Baptist Hospital, Sylvester Cancer Center, Harvard School of Public Health, Whole Foods Markets, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and numerous executives who seek her counsel. Hospitals across the country ask Nance to present Grand Rounds and professional development programs, and thousands have attended keynotes and “communications first aid” workshops.
Nance is a trustee for the American Association for Cancer Research, a fellow of Florida International University’s Center for Leadership, and a clinical adjunct faculty member at the College of Business Administration. She has served on boards for City Year, the youth service organization that became a model for AmeriCorps, and PE4Life, a national children’s fitness initiative.
Nance’s previous book, Healing Conversations: What to Say When You Don’t Know What to Say (Wiley, 2002) has been published in 12 languages. She is a graduate of Tufts University with a BA in political science and credits her time there with honing her ability to ask questions that don’t immediately have answers and to go beyond boundaries to explore new possibilities. She lives in Massachusetts, surrounded by the inevitable rise and fall of the tides—and prizes that time when the tides turn as a daily reminder of the power of a pause.