Meet Our Team

We started researching the topic of Employee Work Passion almost two decades ago, and our passion for pure research led us down a different path. We found there were a lot of things missing in the employee engagement space. Largely, the lack of explanation or understanding about how it’s formed, the lack of an agreed upon definition that was backed by science, and a lack of measurement in the upper ranges of engagement. This fueled our desire to be better and to go further and it’s what led us to where we are today.

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Drea Zigarmi

Drea is one of three Founding Partners of the Employee Work Passion Company. Drea has published five books on leadership including Achieve Leadership Genius (2007) and The Leader Within (2005), and authored numerous articles in various academic journals. He also teaches at the University of San Diego in the Masters of Science in Executive Leadership Program. He received a M.S degree in 1970 and E.D. from the University of Massachusetts in 1974.

As one of the originators of the Employee Work Passion assessment he brings a decades of research experience to the company as well as authoring dozens of training programs and assessments in the area of leadership development, trust, and human resource development.

A member of our research team since 2006 team he has been instrumental in developing the EWP assessment. He was instrumental in guiding the team regarding development, validation, and statistical reporting, which was foundational in the evolution of the assessment.

His primary responsibilities include consulting and interfacing with clients to maximize the results of the assessment findings.

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Dobie Houson

Dobie is a Founding Partner of The Employee Work Passion Company and was one of the developers of the Employee Work Passion assessment. She brings more than 36 years of research and marketing experience to the company.

A member of the Employee Work Passion research team since 2006, Dobie was involved developing the EWP assessment since its inception. This included developing the dimensions and items for the assessment, working with clients during beta testing, and later supporting the deployment of the assessment with clients to  understand their data and form meaningful conclusions about the results.

Formerly the Director of Marketing Research for The Ken Blanchard Companies, Dobie was responsible for competitive intelligence, market analysis, customer intelligence, thought leadership, and white papers. Prior to that she was Director of Marketing Communications for The Ken Blanchard Companies winning numerous awards for research and creative projects.

Email: dobie.houson@theemployeeworkpassioncompany.com

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Jim Diehl

Jim Diehl is one of three Founding Partners of the Employee Work Passion Company and serves as our Treasurer. Jim’s vision of establishing a company to extend the reach of the Employee Work Passion assessment brought us together to create our company.

As one of the originators of the Employee Work Passion assessment he brings a dozen years of research experience to the company. Jim also has experience serving as a Financial Analyst, Product Development Researcher and as a Project Manager, as well as owning and operating a small business.

As a member of our research team since 2008 team Jim has been instrumental in developing the EWP assessment. His contributions in crafting questions, collecting, processing and analyzing data, were foundational in the evolution of the assessment and subsequent reporting features.

Jim’s currently responsibilities include managing the business operations and customer support functions related to delivering the assessment in client organizations.

Email: jim.diehl@theemployeeworkpassioncompany.com

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