Our Team
Penny Pearl, Founder and CEO
Penny is a skilled online networker, career strategist and certified business coach for professionals that are ready to advance their career by learning how to strategically network and building key relationships. Clients include technical leaders and scientists ready to approach their career strategies though skills development and an outreach system for building key relationships. 2Actify programs are also offered by universities to their PhD post doctoral graduates and alumni professionals .
The 2Actify program is a networking system that empowers career professionals for success by building professional relationships. Candidates, both passive and active, generate their own career opportunities instead of relying on job boards. They strategize their career and have fun as they build their resources and learn new skills.
Penny coaches and trains through one-on-one meetings or collaborative group coaching. Mid and late career technology professionals invest in learning more about their core value proposition and are ready to develop business relationships for their career future. They succeed and progress in their careers.
Director, Digital Products & Analytics
Evelyn loves creating with technology, integrating applications and supporting customer challenges. She is an expert at WordPress and is known for being a teacher and mentor for clients.
Her background includes leadership positions as a senior software designer, programmer and trainer, and assisted in the design, development, testing, and customer support/training of an Interactive Video Distance Learning System.
Evelyn became a member of the 2Actify team to provide technology expertise for the development of a training program for students and alumni career seekers. She drives the website development, technical support, consulting and implementation assistance for the 2Actify program and its customers.
Evelyn is also the Founder of her company, Technology for Tender Hearts, which builds websites and provides network and computer support for businesses and individuals. In addition, she is a consultant for the Sierra Small Business Development Center, providing technology mentoring for small businesses.
Evelyn is Bilingual Spanish/English and a Certified Massage Therapist and Certified Archetypal Consultant (Carolyn Myss - CMED).
Boni LaValley, Certified Coach
Coaching, consulting, and mentoring is what Boni calls her “third act” career. In it, she is able to bring the value of her experiences, skills, education and training together to serve professionals as they develop and advance in their careers. Boni is a member of the 2Actify team for delivering business results training.
As an accomplished coach and entrepreneur, Boni has developed and led numerous businesses over her career ranging from a global high fashion handbag manufacturing company, to restaurants, to a language school for international high-level executive leaders.
Boni is a Professional Certified Coach with the International Coach Federation (ICF) and has furthered her coaching credentials through studies in Neurobiology for Coaching and training and certification from Newfield Network Ontological Coach Training and with the Tony Robbins Coach Academy. Boni’s degrees include a BA in English Literature from UC Berkeley and a MS in Environmental Systems Engineering from Humboldt State University. She brings both creative and analytical thinking skills to all she does, which gives her a unique and valuable perspective to 2Actify clients.
Melissa Weiksnar, Senior Advisor
Whether in the corporate world or as a math teacher, Melissa Weiksnar has always taken an interest in mentoring young talent. She has worked (and hired) in diverse workplaces, including a Houston-based oil company, a hi-tech startup she co-founded near Boston, the Fortune 500 company that acquired the startup (including a two-year stint in London), several types of high schools, and her publishing company Amelibro Press LLC. Years later she stays in contact with many of those she hired or taught. Most recently she has focused on writing, speaking, and advocacy work, and has assisted numerous fledgling companies with business development. She has also published two books, It's Not Gunna Be an Addiction: The Adolescent Journals of Amelia F. W. Caruso (1989 - 2009) [2014] and Heroin's Puppet -Amy (and her disease) [2012].
Melissa attended Wellesley College, and earned degrees from MIT (SB), Harvard (MBA), and University of Houston (MS). Melissa recently repatriated to her native Buffalo NY with her 2 rescue dogs and 3 cats where she is enjoying the arts and food scene, the bicycle Slow Roll, family, and friends.
Dan Abouav, Business Advisor
As the VP of Global Delivery at HPs corporate HR organization, Dan led a team consisting of 300+ HR professionals and an extended team of 400+ offshore HR employees. His organization was responsible for the delivery of HR services to over 320,000 HP employees.
Dan has been in the high-tech industry since 1970. He joined HP in 1975 and held various positions in R&D, Field support, Technical Support, Marketing, Consulting, Telecom, Sales Support, and Human Resources. In 2005, Dan joined HR at HP to help drive transformation and cost reduction of the workforce and service delivery model.
Since retiring from HP, Dan has been busy consulting with companies on business optimization, operational success and business development.
He also was the founder and CEO of MapHR, a technology hub and market place for HR solutions and services and is one of the founding members of the Jewish High Tech Community Mentorship Program, a program that consists of Mentorship and a Professional Development Series (PDS) designed to strengthen professional skills and career directions
In his spare time Dan enjoys photography, nature, and spending time with his family.
2Actify is pleased to have Dan as an advisor. His advisory board experience includes: OverX, Right Order, Talentology, Workzeit, Talent Circles and Collective HR Solutions. Dan also served as a Board Member at Pro Career Management.
