Lorella DePieri

Lorella DePieri has been the principal of Results by Design Consultants Inc. (RbD) since 1989. Specializing in sales performance and leadership training, RbD has a long list of clients that includes some of the country’s top corporations and government agencies. Lorella’s wide range of training expertise includes sales management and methodology, presentation skills and team-building, to name just a few.

RbD also directs the prestigious Masters Certificate in Sales Leadership program at York University’s Schulich School of Business.

Prior to establishing RbD, Lorella worked with Apple Canada Inc. as Director, Training Resources Group; and The Royal Bank of Canada in their Branch Administration Office program.

Raised in the small Ontario town of Acton (population: 2000), Lorella is the daughter of hard working Italian immigrants. Her mother urged Lorella to gain what were then called secretarial skills to improve her employment prospects. But Lorella had other ideas. “Even though I paid for my own education, the only way I could attend college was to tell my mom that I enrolled in secretarial school, rather than the Marketing program,” recalls Lorella. “Once I finished the first year she was quite proud of me for doing well in the business program and for my involvement in the Student Senate.”

Lorella made the most of her time at the college, holding the roles of Vice President and President of the Sheridan Student Senate (now the Student Union). “I have so many good memories of those years, the incredible connections and friendships that have lasted, and the pub nights!”

She also won’t soon forget the influence of wonderful instructors and mentors including retired business professor Dave Tinker, says Lorella, who went on to earn a (name of degree) from the University of Toronto after graduating from Sheridan.

In building her career over the ensuing years, Lorella has developed some cardinal rules to live by that have helped cement her reputation as “a remarkable leader and motivator” and “one of the best in her field” according to executives from Xerox and Telus.

Explains Lorella, “You must truly care about the people you are dealing with. Have honourable intent to add value to everyone you come into contact with. Really listen and ask questions before you respond.”

Above all, adds Lorella, fiercely maintain your integrity. “Do what you are passionate about, not necessarily what is ‘right’ according to mainstream thinking. Make decisions from your heart not based on your paycheque.”