About Our Authors

Here is a list of authors that are regular contributors to this blog site. If you would like to be an author please contact us.

Jim Zelem

Jim Zelem is a former VP of Operations who transitioned to be an effective leader that coached many successful teams. Jim started his career as a simple factory worker who held many positions such as Industrial and Manufacturing Engineer as he worked his way up to VP.

Jim currently resides in Madison, Wisconsin. He loves sports as he officiated high school football for 18 years. Jim still remains active as he volunteers for the Red Cross and the Senior Center. He enjoys walks in the woods, swimming, and golf.

Jim strongly believes that experience is a great teacher as it helped him throughout his career. He believes his experiences in leadership and teamwork can definitely help others. Jim created a blog site “urjustanumber.com” to share these experiences and has opened the blog site for others to tell their story as well.

Additionally, Jim has written the book “Stepping Stones of Leadership” which lists some essential steps that he believes will guide you on becoming an effective leader. Every step is supported by stories of his own personal experiences.  He is presently working on his next leadership book with more stepping stones.

 

Andy Towle

Towle was a professional photographer for 44 years. Much of his time as a photojournalist was spent at two newspapers in Northeast, and Central  Arizona. Show Low, AZ is home to The White Mountain Independent, where Towle worked for 10 years, while Payson, AZ is home to the Payson Roundup, where he retired in 2013.

Towle’s career as a photo-journalist often combined his photo skills with his writing talent, as he wrote many feature articles about local individuals with unusual talents or unique hobbies. His profession as a writer/photographer spanned 24 years altogether. Towle had worked for several other newspapers in Wisconsin, and Minnesota before making the move to Arizona.

During the other 20 years of his career, Towle managed to transition from a commercial photographer to working as a medical photographer to a scientific photographer and then finding an opportunity to operate his own studio, specializing in portraits and weddings. Towle’s wife’s health concerns resulted in the move to Arizona, where they planted new roots in Phoenix, AZ.

Not one to settle down however, Towle moved on to more exciting pursuits and found himself back in the saddle of photo journalism. He found his niche in small-town news, events, and local happenings in Show Low, and then Payson. Retirement did not seem that grand in a tourism state like Arizona, consequently, he realized he missed his home state of Wisconsin and moved back in 2017. Low and behold, Towle and Jim Zelem met while working part-time as Shuttle drivers for a local company and struck up a friendship. So, here we are, up to date, and writing and sometimes shooting images all over again.

 

Cynthia McMillan

Personal Growth Coach

Abstract Photographer

Being a human enthusiast for most of my life, the human species has always intrigued me.  I am addicted to meeting strangers. Our uniqueness never ceases to amaze me. As far back as I can remember I have always had a compulsion to help others. This led me to a variety of occupations over the last 25 years doing just that. From customer service, holistic health therapies, caregiving, Lyft rideshare driving, and personal growth coaching.

I am always open to anyone or anything that “makes me think” from a different viewpoint.  This is what helped my growth over the years and I am so grateful for that.

I’m hoping that you will be inspired when reading the blogs on this site and be open to letting life’s daily events and challenges help  “Make You Think”.

John Zelem, aka GolfAddict

As an accomplished physician for over 25 years, I transitioned into an executive-level position in the healthcare industry dealing with federal regulations, compliance, healthcare insurance, management, sales, client relations, and product development. Also, over the past 20 years have authored three books:

1. The Process of Becoming Healthy, Make the Decision to Start the Journey
2. I Want to Live, giving hope to patients and family dealing with cancer and chronic illnesses
   1. With the associated website www.Iwant2live.com 
3. The Process of Becoming Successful, Make the Decision to Win

Have also developed skills in:

• Motivational speaking
• Leadership
• Developing websites
• Various articles and presentations
• Process-oriented, success coach, empowering others
• Strong writing and presentation skills
• Team management 

Recently started my own Healthcare Consulting business www.streamlinesolutionsconsulting.com 

Hobbies include:

• Golf, hence, the name “golfaddict”
• Building 2000 piece puzzles
• Travel, and more

Tabitha Hapeman

Tabitha is a masters prepared nurse with a certification in case management through the American Nurses Credentialing Center.  She has been in healthcare for fifteen years, over half of those years in leadership. As the manager of a large team and multiple processes for a multi-hospital integrated healthcare system, she has worked to improve and standardize processes through increased efficiency, effectiveness, and sustainability. A change advocate and supporter of emerging leaders, she is passionate about sharing stories of growth and development in order to help others.