Wyatt learned he could be effective and influential with people the day he first heard the Steven Covey quote, “With people, slow is fast, and fast is slow.” Now he slides (and sometimes) rockets around The Yes Works reminding us “Be Kind (not nice),” and to, “Move the action forward,” at every opportunity.
“Slow down,” he tells us. “You’ll get there quicker.”

Yak-Yak stands for a brand promise, and like any good yak, he’s uncomplicated about it. For 9 years, he’s kept us honest. When it comes to our training… When it comes to our consulting and advising work… We promise:
No ineffective, boring, powerpoint lecturing yak-yak.

Aaron Schmookler is a visionary leader and business owner with a profound mission: elevating human dignity in the workplace. With a relentless commitment to enhancing both work lives and business outcomes, Aaron and collaborates with business leaders who know their people are their greatest asset.

Drawing from a diverse career spanning outdoor leadership, corporate contributions, theater founding and direction, and teaching theater and business communication in high schools and colleges, Aaron’s journey may seem non-linear, but there’s a cohesive theme that ties it all together. For nearly three decades, he has inspired individuals and teams to discover their intrinsic motivation, foster collaboration, and unleash their creative potential in service to others.

In 2014, Aaron co-founded The Yes Works alongside his business partner, Adam Utley. Together, they developed the innovative Teamification Culture Operating System and training model which Aaron and The Yes Works team employ to drive legendary communication, collaboration, and leadership within client companies.

The Yes Works team’s impact reaches far and wide, serving clients across industries and geographical boundaries. Renowned companies such as Microsoft, MOD Pizza, DiscoverOrg, SOG Knives, Sage Intacct, and Textainer have entrusted their workforce transformation to Aaron and The Yes Works because of their uncommon effectiveness. By fostering a high-performance culture that uplifts both people and profits, the Teamification approach proves that true genius thrives when the right engineered environment meets skill and mindset.

In the ever-evolving landscape of business, Aaron Schmookler stands in a commitment to humanness, dedicated to making work good for people and people good for work. With his guidance, your company can unlock its full potential to deliver growth, profit, and human fulfillment.

“Every team has genius at work. Only the best encourage and inspire the genius to emerge.”

Adam Utley has dedicated his work to help teams build habits that lead to higher accountability, more fulfillment, and work cultures that inspire people.

He does this by training people to practice a language he loves; the language of improvisation. What he’s found in working with leaders at every level of the businesses he serves is that this language resonates with people of all personality types. It helps to connect people with their teammates and paves the way for greater results with less effort.

Adam and his business partner, Aaron Schmookler, co-founded The Yes Works in 2014 and developed the Adeptability Model of collaboration and leadership training and the Adeptable Culture Audit that supports a collaborative culture of accountability.

The Yes Works serve clients across the country and across industries including Microsoft, MOD Pizza, DiscoverOrg, Burkhart Dental Supply, SOG Knives, 9th Gear, and Textainer to make work good for people and people good for work.

He is Wenatchee, WA raised and Pacific Lutheran University educated. He’s got 15 years under his belt making his passion his life’s work, and plans to amplify the genius of others through this work for many more fulfilling years to come.

“It’s never about the thing, it’s always about the relationship.”

Enna Cloudette Romales comes to The Yes Works with history as a Hospitality Management professional with over 8 years of experience in the Hotel and Customer Service industry.

Enna believes that the best marketing strategy in every business is providing an excellent quality of service that clients can recommend. Seeing clients satisfied and succeeding in their goals is the perfect advertisement a company can have.

As Client Experience Manager at The Yes Works, Enna employs her extensive experience in the customer service industry to ensure a stellar experience for our clients and everyone on their teams… She’s dedicated to our clients’ commitment to creating a work culture and environment where employees work together to achieve a common goal. Enna will do everything she can for you to ensure that the work we do with you at The Yes Works… works!

Belle Walker aligns organizations’ structures and processes with their strategic goals. She has recaptured lost efficiency and engagement for companies in tech, professional services, cannabis, the nonprofit sphere, and more.

While a Director of Engineering at HERE Technologies, Belle built several successful teams, including one responsible for the quality of High Definition Maps for autonomous vehicles. She also received a patent for the Quality Index, which allows digital maps to be incorporated into autonomous vehicle environment models. Belle began her career at Google, where she built a nation-wide aerial photography operation, and her experiences also include building Product Management and Customer Service organizations.

Belle has a Mechanical Engineering degree from Harvard and a Systems Engineering master’s degree from USC where her research studied organizations as systems.

Founder and President of HR-Rx, a leadership and organizational development consulting firm established in 2005, Jeannie has a proven track record of successfully helping people cultivate trustworthy relationships so that they can notably connect with themselves and others.

She partners with individuals and teams to identify and address blocks that are keeping them from achieving what they want, develop achievable action plans, and to build confidence to do whatever they set their mind to.

Jeannie has over 30 years of combined experience in positions of human resources generalist, manager, director, executive, inspirational speaker, facilitator, coach, and consultant. She has earned the following: Master of Science degree in Human Resource Management from Chapman University, Bachelor of Arts degree in Public Administration from San Diego State University. Senior Professional in Human Resource Management Certification, with the State of California add-on (SPHR-CA) from the Human Resources Certification Institute, Senior Certified Professional Certificate (SHRM-SCP) from the Society for Human Resource Management, Certified Professional Coach (CPC) and Master Practitioner (ELI-MP) from Institute for Professional Excellence in Coaching and NSight Success Executive Assessment Certified Coach from Meridiem.

Jeannie has a passion to help leaders and teams develop trustworthy relationships resulting in increased employee alignment, engagement, productivity, profitability, and connection. She is the developer of the Peace Program benefiting clients through leadership advisory, group and 1:1 coaching, team training and assessments.

Tricia Montgomery is a customer-obsessed marketing executive who has repeatedly helped companies accelerate revenue growth through brand transformation, innovative product launches and successful go-to-market strategies. Her 25+ years’ experience spans retail, technology, CPG, B2B and B2C businesses for both startup and global companies— Procter & Gamble, Starbucks, Microsoft and Coinstar. In 2018, Tricia decided to chart a new course and do the same work she loves, now independently. As an executive advisor and outsourced CMO, Tricia fills a critical gap on an executive team, providing leadership and action on customer insights, brand/marketing strategy and go-to-market planning to help ambitious companies achieve sustained market growth, brand relevance and increased revenue.

With The Yes Works, Tricia brings her extensive experience and inquisitive nature to helping companies discover and plan for the the interplay between brand and culture.

Tricia is a proud Seattle native and enjoys outdoor activities with her husband and three children. She holds an MBA with a Marketing concentration from The University of Cincinnati in Ohio and a BA in Psychology from Whitman College in Walla Walla, Washington. She has deep connections in the Pacific Northwest and currently serves on two non-profit boards: the Whitman College Board of Trustees as the Advancing Whitman Committee Chair and Board Director/Co-chair for Yellow Wood Academy.

Since 1994 Ann Amati has helped companies across multiple industries use guidance from their own current and past customers to grow future sales. She has a track record of creating positive turning points in her clients’ relationships with their customers leaving behind a legacy of improved competitiveness and strong customer retention. Ann helps companies “print money” by helping vendors hold onto customers longer, grow relationships bigger and add new business faster-all using customer advice.

A former strategic planner, Ann Amati has accurately defined problems and formulated solution-oriented retention and growth recommendations to emerging, established, and international companies for over twenty years. She has helped product firms diversify their offerings, service firms turn around troubled accounts and high-tech verticals deepen market penetration.

Before establishing herself as a customer relationship consultant, Ann Amati was a COO, strategic planner, consultant and project manager in health care, high tech, start-ups and banking. She has a Master’s in Hospital Administration from the University of Missouri.

With almost three decades of strategic public relations expertise, Dave has navigated a diverse range of challenging public events. From his origins as a U.S. Navy Public Affairs Officer to his roles as a Corporate Chief Marketing Officer and Non-Profit President, he excels in adeptly managing crises across sports, entertainment, non-profit, military, government, corporate, education, charity, and start-up domains.

Dave’s Crisis Communications repertoire extends to handling contentious issues involving high-profile, multi-generational family enterprises, as well as addressing employee and executive misconduct, cyber breaches, product recalls, large-scale layoffs, significant accidents, criminal inquiries, and civil litigation cases.

Recognized as a sought-after speaker, Dave also served as a dedicated professor, leading upper-division undergraduates through a comprehensive PR Media & Messaging course at San Diego State University. He is the author of multiple e-books available on Amazon and a co-producer of four instructive courses on LinkedIn Learning. Dave boasts accreditation as a seasoned PR specialist (APR) and earned his MBA from San Diego State University in 2004, following his bachelor’s degree accomplishment at the University of Maryland in 1991.