Jerry and Neda Morrow's story was not unlike other stories of ordinary Americans shaped by the great depression and World War II.  The era demanded stout heartedness and self reliance and they rose to the challenge.

The Morrow forebears came from Scotland, Ireland and Germany; mixing in their cross-continent journey with the Cherokee. Jennifer's parents met in Tucson Arizona.  Soon after the marriage, they were swept into war production in Los Angeles at Douglas aircraft, where mom "bucked" rivets inside wings and engine nacelles.  Jerry and Neda were separated by his Army service in the Pacific and re-united at Fort Lewis, Washington when he mustered out.  The Northwest became the family home where Jennifer was born.

The Lanzars were Pennsylvania Dutch and Italian immigrants, settling in Philadelphia.  Ruth and John were married after his Naval service. John asked for the hand of his best friend’s war widow and adopted her two sons.  Ruth and Lucy were born in Glenside, PA.

Our parents were a little puzzled by our work, yet proud of our industry. They instilled in us the qualities that had seen them through the harshest deprivations of the twentieth century. In retrospect, founding a consultancy seems simple compared to the accomplishments of their generation.

From them we took the wisdom of self reliance that is missing from American culture today. We received the gifts of mental toughness and the awareness of the importance of dedication to family that has carried us over the hurdles of creating a business and a business culture from scratch.



Dale Carnegie

Originator of the Carnegie Courses and Author of “How to Win Friends and Influence People,” Dale Carnegie presented the idea that these skills were learnable.  The concept of the “self improvement course” took shape with the Dale Carnegie course and has never stopped growing.

“Tell the audience what you're going to say, say it; then tell them what you've said. “ -Dale Carnegie

“The ideas I stand for are not mine. I borrowed them from Socrates. I swiped them from Chesterfield. I stole them from Jesus. And I put them in a book. If you don't like their rules, whose would you use?” Honestly, as good as the category has become, it all began with “Father Dale.”


Dorothy Sarnoff

The doyenne of personal presentation skills coaching began at a New York City department store, and grew her business into a private coaching consultancy for heads of state and corporate leaders.  Dorothy Sarnoff did not spend energy putting her clients down, instead she simply played the video tape and inquired, “What would you like to improve about that?…”  We’ve attempted to improve on that approach with “What did you like?  Now, how would you like to improve?”

Peter Rogen

Starting a little company called ECS: Effective Communications Skills, Inc. in 1968, Peter and Bob brought more to the game than mere acceptability for individual speakers.  Soon the pair and the trainers they coached were teaching entire new business teams and growing their relationships with clients into long term executive counseling relationships.  ECS established that there is a three day “window of learning” required to get high quality results, paired with a small number of trainees to allow for the strongest connection between students and coaches.  This model of high quality work over a significant time span and a small number of dedicated learners is still the industry standard for quality.  We use it ourselves.  Two copyists of the ECS model became successful selling short sessions with twice as many people – demonstrating once again that a cheap copy of something good can still sell.  Peter is retired and reading the Poetry of Rumi to audiences all over the US to this day.


Frank Beaz

As Chief Financial Officer at both AXA and Met Life Investors, Frank was a wonderful client who became a trusted elder advisor as we grew our business into a new decade.  He boldly advised one of our clients, “Get ahead of this change in the market or in ten years, you will no longer exist!”  With the self assurance of their exalted market position, they boldly ignored him; and, they no longer exist.  Frank tells the story of being arrested under a bridge with a cordon of C4 over his shoulder, preparing for the Bay of Pigs invasion.  He and several of his high school friends were imprisoned together (killing them would have been unseemly, as their family lawyer also represented Mr. Castro…).  As they were being flown to Moscow for "advanced revolutionary education", they were able to deplane during a fuel stop in Miami, (passing immigration with visa stamps carved out of a potato, they requested political asylum and immediately joined the United States Army.  Each of them became citizens.)

Frank (and our parents) understood the value of a dollar earned the hard way.  He advised us not just about the financial functioning of the company but also about the inherent structure of every business: part factual, part financial and part heart…


Robert Thomas

It may not have escaped our clients that Fusion is rich in philosophy, technique and technology. That we owe to our co-founder Robert Howard Thomas.  Anyone who starts a business should have an elder colleague standing by quietly in the wings to mute the noise of building a company and to keep the Founder centered, sane and focused. If Jennifer St.John is the public face of Fusion, Mr. Thomas is the eminence grise she turned to daily for advice, counsel and conversation over Friday lunches. Friend of Fusion and Counselor to our team mates, Robert Thomas coined the phrase, “If you would teach me: first, be my friend.” We’ve found again and again over the years that the best results are achieved by students who feel both safe and well liked.  Mr. Thomas has not yet been fully acknowledged for his full time commitment as the Founder of “Holosophy,” but we’re confident that the ages will conclude that his work -  elevating, clarifying and improving the Perennial Philosophy - has powerfully continued “mankind’s long journey toward the truth.” His efforts here have made Fusion successful, warm, intellectually rigorous and fun. It was never “just a presentation skills workshop” and Bob is the soul in the undertaking.