Founder/CEO
Mark Christofaro is the high energy and charismatic co- founder and CEO of the ListenFirst” group. For over thirty years, Mark has been a stand for contribution — bringing out the inner leadership skills of others. His success in decades of work in the Sales and Marketing sector has come from an unyielding belief in the power of listening as the most potent force for human connection. As a “Team Management Leadership” coach with leaders and participants in life development courses over the past ten years, Mark brings tireless inspiration to all those with whom he interacts. He provides his students’ with an access to their own greatness.
Senior Workshop Leader
Ed Lisbe, former school psychologist and co-founder of ListenFirst, has led listening workshops throughout the world for the profit and not-for-profit sectors for forty years. His primary focus has been “people skills” training for Fortune 500 and 1000 managers and executives for companies such as Pfizer Pharmaceuticals, PepsiCo, Citigroup, Credit Suisse, UnitedHealth Group, United Technologies Corp., Autodesk, Inc., and Verizon. His other client populations include educators, mental health professionals, government employee and labor groups, and families. With all, Ed tends to be acknowledged foremost as a trainer for two unique qualities: how he brings the heart, spirit, mindset, and art form of listening into the work beyond the basic skills and techniques, and his extraordinarily clear simplification of the whole listening process as applied to real life.
Global Programming
Betsy Po, with her extensive international business experience, leads the ListenFirst Asian marketing effort. She has been leading a development team focused on the translation into Mandarin of a long-running, successful, three-day English interpersonal communication program. Born in Taiwan, Betsy is currently a US liaison for a Chinese spiritual leader working with a group of physicians and health practitioners in central New York. Under her coordination, the goal of their quarterly retreats is to design and develop an innovative five-year East/West healing curriculum.