Originally from Nashville, Tennessee, Joan Cozart has been certified as a Lean Six Sigma Black Belt and Kaizen Facilitatorby the prestigious George Group, and is recognized as an industry leader in Corporate Strategy Services, Leadership Development and Process Management.
As co-founder of OpXGroup, she brings over 20-years of experience in businesses ranging from manufacturing to high tech software design. Joan has held various positions in Strategic Human Resources and Organizational Development Sectors at Lucent Technologies, Nortel Communications Systems, Computer Sciences Corporation and Intrawest Resorts. At Lucent Technologies, Joan was a member of the Corporate Leadership Team, the senior strategic planning group in the company. Joan partnered with all corporate business units to develop strategies and implementation plans to propel the company’s management to achieve national acceptance in organizational leadership and team development. Joan’s efforts included such initiatives as breakthrough partnerships between diverse business units and the Talent Acquisition function. At Nortel Communications Systems, Joan was a member of the Strategic Planning Team reporting to the company’s CEO leading the Executive Committee through multiple strategic planning initiatives. Recently, Joan was a pioneer and leader in Intrawest’s ground-breaking Operational Excellence project and change management initiatives. Her expertise extends from customer service in retail, increasing sales in food and beverage and reducing expenses in hospitality operations. She has an undergraduate degree in English from the University of Miami, a Master's of Education from Vanderbilt University and an Advanced Master’s degree in Organizational Development and Leadership from George Washington University.
OpXGroup is the American Chamber Commerce Executive (ACCE) "Preferred Provider" for Operational Improvement, Strategic Planning Board & Staff Retreats and Membership Sales Development, ACCE National, Regional & State Convention Speakers, often published in the ACCE Chamber Executive Magazine and on the faculty of the U.S. Chamber Institute of Organizational Management.
“Joan Cozart is a true professional and perhaps one of the smartest people I know. But more than just being intelligent, she has a great personality and a unique ability to work with teams and individuals to solve problems. Having worked with Joan at the same company years ago, she was helpful and resourceful, always thinking "outside the box" to develop solutions to any issue that arose. I would recommend Joan and her company to any business in need of a results-oriented, personable, strategic thinker.” Janine Winnard, Creative Services Director, First American Corporation
“Joan and I were both Lean Six Sigma Black Belts at Intrawest. Joan's ability to grasp difficult concepts and explain them to others so that they too can grasp them is excellent. Her facilitation skills and ability to get agreement/consensus with a group is very good as well.” Chris Durso, Lean Six Sigma Black Belt, Intrawest
“Without a doubt, Joan has been one of the most influential people in my HR career. As my manager, Joan mentored me and had the ability to recognize my potential and willingly went out of her way to provide me with developmental opportunities. Joan is a great coach and thought me to think strategically and focus on results. Joan made working under her fun yet challenging. I am and will forever be grateful for having had the pleasure to work for Joan.” Mary Savona Scala, Senior Human Resources Generalist, Royal and SunAlliance
"Pyramid Real Estate Services, LLC performance has improved and we have received positive feedback from each of our management team members since engaging OpXGroup in June 2007. Our team came away with tools and knowledge necessary not only to launch the changes from these projects but to analyze and process map other areas of our company. Through our continued work with OpXGroup in 2008 and the combined knowledge and expertise of Joe and Joan to help us analyze and streamline our processes, they have assisted in guiding our company to remove non-value-added steps and determine we needed to have a more balanced work load for each of our team members. OpXGroup has demonstrated their expertise by having a very methodical and focused approach and their leadership style works well with our team. Our process improvement work with OpXGroup has been a much needed learning experience for our organization and we look forward to continue our process improvement work with OpXGroup in 2008." Marcy Smith, Chief Information Officer, Pyramid Real Estate Services, LLC
“Joe and Joan conducted an employee staff retreat that I attended; and they did an outstanding job. I felt that I knew my colleagues better and came away with ideas to build on my relationships with them to be even more effective at work.” Catherine Lada, Vice President, Community Advancement at the American Chamber of Commerce Executives, May 20, 2008
“Joe and Joan Cozart are top notch professionals in their industry! It has been a pleasure getting to know them and getting to see their success in the work they have performed with their clients. Our industry is lucky to have great advisors like the Cozart duo.” Ben Wolf, Vice President, Member Services, Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce, May 29, 2008
“Joe was right on with the advice he gave us as an organization. He made us see things a little differently. We look forward to moving forward with his recommendations. We easily understood his methodology, processes and planning advice. And he's just a good person!” Shane Moody, President & CEO, Destin Area Chamber of Commerce, July 2, 2008
"Joe, in partnership with his wife Joan, did a Membership & Marketing Kaizen Project the goal of which was to identify areas of pain for the M&M team and to brainstorm and solidify solutions to relieve some of the pressure the staff was feeling. Ultimately it was to encourage everyone to think of new ways to evaluate and think about their roles and the way they do things." Paul Laskowski, Vice President, Chamber of Commerce St. Joseph’s County, IN
“Joe Cozart is a dynamic individual with extraordinary perception. He is able to view a situation and bring new and innovative solutions to any problem. Not only does he provide amazing analysis but also the motivation to successfully accomplish any given task.”, Sara Bowers, Finance Director, City of DeFuniak Springs, FL
“Joe & Joan Cozart are strategic, business minded thinkers. They strive to build relationships and processes so as to best understand customer/client needs. Their partnership provides great synergy to serve their nationwide customer base, both in the nonprofit and private sectors.” Ray San Fratello, President, South Lake Chamber of Commerce
“I have engaged the services of Joe and Joan Cozart and the OpXGroup on several occasions to present on the value of, and tools for, Organizational Excellence. Their presentations have been very well received and informative. Their presentation and command of the subject material is very engaging. We are working on bringing the OpXGroup into our organization to assist us with fine tuning our planning and strategies.” Debbie Bodenstine, Director of Membership, Business Retention & Expansion, EDC of Okaloosa County
“Joe and Joan Cozart are extremely conscientious and follows through with all of their clients. They are also committed to ensuring the long term success for their clients.” Harvey Schmitt, President and CEO, Greater Raleigh Chamber of Commerce
"Though I have yet had the opportunity to work directly with Joe and the OpXGroup I have been extremely impressed. Their commitment to understanding the challenges faced by chambers and those who lead them is excellent. I am confident that OpX will be a resource to professionals in the chamber industry for many years." July 14, 2008, Doug Holman, Vice President, Membership, San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce
"Joseph is a wonderful person and an industry expert. He is a committed and dedicated professional who will always go the extra mile for his clients. Joseph has the talent to creatively structure programs that greatly improve organizations' processes and productivity. I highly recommend him and I look forward to the opportunity to work with him on future projects."
Katie Ivey, Director of Business Development at Sight & Sound Productions
“I worked with Joe Cozart and the OpXGroup to evaluate many of our business practices and streamline our operations. The process was extremely valuable and led to some great changes to improve productivity and have all staff understand each other’s roles in the organization. We enjoyed working with Joe and Joan Cozart in this important work.” Jodi Ann LaFreniere, CCE, President/CEO, Wake Forest Chamber of Commerce
“I've had several opportunities to watch Joe in action and he delivers! His subject matter expertise is second to none, and his interpersonal skills in dealing with varied audiences is another tremendous asset. He will be a positive addition to any team looking to improve.” Jeff Fanto, President, Economic Development Services LLC
“Joe and Joan Cozart came to Anguilla, BWI, to work on a five year strategic plan for the Anguilla Chamber of Commerce and Industry. They quickly got to grips with the Chamber's priorities and were able to deliver on their promises. They were also able to think on their feet when approached by this writer on behalf of the Anguilla Chamber of Commerce and Industry's newsletter for an impromptu interview.” Penny Legg, Editor and Writer of ACOCI Connection, In-house newsletter, Anguilla Chamber of Commerce and Industry Ltd.
"Joe Cozart and his wife Joan are the dynamic duo! They work well together and carried out a great Board retreat for us. I look forward to working with them again in the very near future." Wil Pineau, CEO, Cayman Islands Chamber of Commerce
