About Us

i perform provides high quality, results-based performance training to market leaders. Our training modules include team performance, personal performance and sales & service performance. Our facilitators include:

Timothy Millett - Director of Training & Development

Timothy’s training, sales and service excellence experience covers destinations as diverse as Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia, Japan, Singapore, Brunei, America, Australia, Switzerland, Germany, Russia, Poland, Spain, Ireland, Slovinia, the Netherlands, France, England, Africa and the Middle East ensuring cultural sensitivity and a broad base of experience in lecturing, teaching and training.

After graduating from the Ecole Hôtelière de Lausanne, Switzerland in 1980, Timothy began his management career in Australia with The Regent of Melbourne (now Sofitel Melbourne). During the 5 years he spent with Regent Timothy worked in the capacities of Assistant Manager, Front Office Manager, Guest Relations Manager and Public Relations Manager.

On leaving Regent, he worked for 4 years in various retail, restaurant and catering positions before becoming a founding staff member of the internationally renowned Blue Mountains Hotel School in Australia. With this company Timothy taught all aspects of Service and Rooms Division over a period of more than 5 years, as well as a variety of Leadership and Management subjects. His final role with the School was as Head of Admissions where he coordinated the sales function as well as the active recruitment of all students both domestically and internationally through his attendance at education fairs and exhibitions.

In 1996 Timothy moved to Asia with the prestigious Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group (MOHG), initially as Training Manager for both the Mandarin Oriental, Jakarta and Hotel Majapahit Mandarin Oriental, Surabaya before assuming the position of Group Training Manager for MOHG based in Hong Kong.

In early 1999 he was appointed Corporate Director Training for Mövenpick Gastronomy International based in Zurich, Switzerland responsible for the training strategy and implementation of this company with a turnover of over SFr600 million per year and a staff of over 6,000.

After two years with Mövenpick Timothy then returned to Asia Pacific providing training expertise for companies such as SWIFT, ABB, Amway, Conrad, Four Seasons, Reader’s Digest, L’Oreal, Sofitel Luxury Hotels, UBS, , Bendigo Bank and Mövenpick Hotels and Resorts, as well as a variety of other hospitality and tourism organisations throughout the world. Timothy also has worked since 2003 as an independent consultant for J D Power & Associates in Los Angeles.

Training Associates

Kelley Wacher

Kelley has been passionately involved in customer service and sales in the travel and hospitality industry for more than 20 years. She has worked for local and global organisations and even organisations that think global and act local, and continues to do so today.

Kelley is a follower and a leader and today an educator and a mentor. She has had the most wonderful and insightful experiences to learn from on a professional and personal level.

The two questions she asked herself every day are: “what gets me out of bed every day?” and “why do I do, what I do?

Her answer is that each day:

• o I am given the gift of experience
• o I am given the gift of experience
• o I seek, each day to learn something new
• o I am challenged and rewarded
• o I will laugh and be filled with energy, and as required, remain still and focused
• o I will share something that will impact someone else, and
• o I will listen to someone who will have an impact on me

No matter what her end goal, Kelley will always do her best along the way and enjoy the journey.

Kim Seeling Smith

Kim Seeling Smith was once described by her former boss as a "force to be reckoned with." Kim makes things happen: for herself and for others. Kim is passionate about helping others realise their full potential and operate at their peak. She is a dynamic trainer, speaker, coach and mentor.

Initially trained as an American CPA with KPMG, Kim has also started and operated two prior successful businesses, managed a small services firm and spent 15 years in recruitment working for large multi-nationals as well as smaller, boutique firms. During her time in recruitment Kim built the Auckland branch of Robert Half International from a cold start to the top brand in the city within 5 years. She hired and trained multiple "Chairman's Club" winners from two different countries and was a consistent individual top biller herself in three markets across the United States and New Zealand. Kim has also served on several community Boards and been Chair of two.

What makes Kim unique is her breadth of experience; from accounting to sales, from hospitality to professional services. Kim's humourous and warm manner instantly engages people, yet her integrity, passion, focus and action-oriented style will illicit long lasting results with her clients.

Kim specialises in training and coaching in the following areas:

• Sales skills
• Negotiations skills
• Peak performance
• Career and job search management
• People reinventing themselves professionally or personally

Marisa Galante

Marisa has a solid background in the highly competitive travel industry, working extensively for one of the largest retailers globally, The Flight Centre LTD group, for over 16 years.

Within 18 months of starting as a retail travel consultant, Marisa was in a managerial position, and she maintained this pattern of growth throughout her career, powering from one achievement to the next.

Marisa gained profound respect within the industry by repeatedly taking unprofitable businesses and turning them into ongoing successes. Her strong focus on developing skilled and motivated sales people as well as her high customer service ethic ensured a magic formula for success in all the businesses she developed within the FC Group, known as a highly performance-based company within the industry.

Marisa also offers an unparralled depth of management experience, having excelled in a broad range of leadership roles across many business disciplines, such as retail, operations, personnel, and learning and staff development. In 2004, she was appointed the Learning & Development Leader of the Flight Centre’s Learning Centre, where she was responsible for design, delivery and co-ordination of various in-house programs, from the beginner’s courses to the advanced.

Since leaving the travel industry in 2006, Marisa has pursued her passion for training and facilitation, contracting to many diverse companies primarily within the travel, retail and business sectors. Some of the companies she has facilitated for include Harvey World Travel, Jetset Travel Group, News LTD, Moreton Hire, Cope Transport, Review Fashion, Webster Holdings as well as her continued facilitation for the various businesses under the Flight Centre banner such as FCm, Travel Associates, Escape Travel, Student Flights and Flight Centre Retail.

Marisa has experience facilitating to a diverse audience, from small groups in a workshop setting, to large groups in a conference setting. Her practical background makes Marisa an expert in designing and delivering high impact training, rich in real life detail. She provides powerful and perceptive communication skills, combined with a genuine desire to draw from her own knowledge and apply it to every unique situation. She ensures that the learning experience is always practical, effective and most importantly, personally relevant to all participants.

Michael Jackson

As a service specialist, during his career Michael Jackson has worked extensively in luxury retail, including Georg Jensen and Theodore Fine Jewelry at David Jones, as well as in almost every area of the hospitality industry. This broad range of operational skills became invaluable in his training delivery when he worked for the Blue Mountains International Hotel School, as well as for a number of government funded projects, including the preparation of service staff for the hosting of the prestigious Brunei APEC meeting. Based in Indonesia for 12 years, Michael’s entrepreneurial skills assisted in the establishment of a successful business there representing some of Australia’s leading educational institutions, as well as assessing leading hotel companies like Le Meridien, Club Med and Sofitel in service and sales standards and delivery.

Peter Cullen

Peter’s comprehensive knowledge and outstanding training abilities are derived from the essential skills he learned and developed from his experience within the international aviation industry between 1975 and 2006. His most recent appointments included two of the best airlines in the world; Singapore Airlines and Thai Airways International.

Peter’s abilities and knowledge were developed over 31 years in positions such as frontline customer service, sales, advertising, marketing and management. These abilities and knowledge were further developed with internal training which included Customer Relations, Managing Change, Management Psychology, Conflict Management, Presentations and Public Speaking. During this time he engaged in external studies to further his professional development and progression within the aviation industry. These studies included Business Management, Marketing and Training.

In 2006, Peter followed his long held passion for developing and facilitating innovative corporate training programs which build performance under pressure. His expertise was soon recognised with clients such as Brisbane City Council, Hilton Brisbane, Accor Hotels, Jetset Travelworld and Queensland Museum to name a few. Conference presentations were also requested by the Australia and New Zealand College of Anaesthetists at their Annual Scientific Meeting in 2008 and the Association for Development and Alumni Professionals in Education 2008.

Peter’s expertise was also recognised in 2007 by the iconic Queensland newspaper The Courier Mail when they invited him to write a weekly column named Balancing Act for the Career One section of their Saturday edition which has a readership of over 850,000. Peter wrote nearly 80 columns over an 18 month period.

His real life experiences are reflected in his outstanding ability to communicate clearly and professionally to all levels of the corporate environment in a genuine and practical manner. He is passionate about his training which is delivered in an open, interactive way that engages and supports all participants in a positive and productive manner. Peter is equally comfortable with private training, small groups or conference presentations to large audiences.

Victoria Howard

Victoria brings, through action, 19 years experience, recognized expertise in and enthusiasm for Customer Service, Leadership Development, and Creating Loyalty.

Her capability has been strengthened through roles as International Trainer Sanctum Skincare, Business Development Manager for Lancôme NSW & ACT David Jones, Business Development Manager NSW/ACT & National Trainer for Jurlique. In addition to these corporate roles, Victoria works with Registered Training Oganisations delivering Certificate III Retail Supervision through to Certificate IV in Business and has worked with international students in the above certificates.

Victoria is recognized for her capability at building and motivating teams through an holistic approach. As a facilitator, she has demonstrated her ability to understand and work with diverse groups towards achieving a broad spectrum of learning outcomes. As an educator by profession and a highly motivated learner, she instills learning by means of motivation, fun and enjoyment, and a strong work ethic, all of which she perceives as crucial ingredients for positive change.

Victoria, in consultation, has worked with a diverse range of organisations and institutions including Beauty Sector, Retail, International Business College, and Tafe. Victoria is also a volunteer for the “Look Good Feel Better” program which is designed to assist people who are experiencing the effects of cancer.