About Amy Climer, Ph.D.

Creative, open, and inspiring, Dr. Amy Climer brings her passion and energy to every group she facilitates. She has over 20 years of experience leading and facilitating teams, designing and delivering leadership development programs, and teaching teams to be more innovative. Amy blends her background in experiential outdoor education with the fields of creativity, leadership and change to lead robust, interactive programs.

During the last 20 years, Amy has worked in higher education, non-profits, and the private sector. She was the Coordinator of the Accenture Leadership Center at University of Wisconsin, Director of the Elements Teambuilding Program in Madison, WI, and faculty of Adventure Education at Fort Lewis College in Durango, CO. In 2009, Amy started Climer Consulting where she teaches teams and organizations to be more creative and innovative. Her clients have included for-profit and non-profit organizations, government agencies, universities, and summer camps. She has also taught undergraduate and graduate courses in team development, leadership, and outdoor education at the University of Wisconsin, Viterbo University, and Madison College. She has led creativity or leadership programs for LeaderShape, Outward Bound, the Creative Problem Solving Institute, and Semester at Sea. Amy has presented at numerous conferences including the National Conference of State Legislators, Society for Human Resource Management, the American Society for Training and Development, and the Association for Experiential Education.

In 2016, Amy developed the Deliberate Creative™ Team Scale to help teams understand how to increase their creativity. Amy is also host of The Deliberate Creative Podcast designed to teach others how to facilitate innovation in teams. She designed Climer Cards, a creativity and teambuilding tool used by thousands to deepen team conversations and generate ideas. In 2016, she won the Karl Rohnke Creativity Award from the Association for Experiential Education.

Amy earned her Doctorate of Philosophy in Leadership and Change from Antioch University in 2016. Her dissertation research led to a new model and assessment scale for team creativity. She also holds a Master of Science degree in Outdoor Education from University of New Hampshire and a Bachelor of Science degree in Biology from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. She is trained or certified in Creative Problem Solving, Immunity to Change, and the FourSight Thinking System.

On the side, Amy also leads wilderness leadership courses for Outward Bound. She is certified as a Wilderness First Responder, American Canoe Association River Canoe Instructor and Open Water Sea Kayak Instructor, and a Challenge Course Manager. She lives in Asheville, NC with her wife Julie.

Short Version, 100 words

Amy Climer focuses on helping individuals and teams reach their capacity to be creative. Since 1995 she has worked with hundreds of groups teaching creativity, leadership and change, team development, and facilitation skills. She is the designer of Climer Cards, a tool used to evoke metaphors and generate ideas. She hosts The Deliberate Creative, a podcast designed to teach others how to lead innovation in teams. She has a PhD in Leadership and Change from Antioch University. In 2016, she received the Karl Rohnke Creativity Award from the Association for Experiential Education. Learn more about Amy at climerconsulting.com.

If you are an event planner and need a specific length bio or high resolution photo of Amy Climer for your materials, please contact Amy.