About Judy

Judith W. Umlas is Sr. Vice President, author and trainer at International Institute for Learning (IIL), a global corporate training company.  She is the publisher of IIL Publishing, New York. She is the author of the ground-breaking book, The Power of Acknowledgment ©2006, IIL Publishing, New York, which has been credited with changing workplaces and lives by making use of the 7 Principles of Acknowledgment she developed. Her book on Grateful Leadership: Using the Power of Acknowledgment to Engage All Your People and Achieve Superior Results was published by McGraw-Hill Professional in association with IIL in early 2013 and You’re Totally Awesome! The Power of Acknowledgment for Kids was published in late 2013 by IIL Publishing.

Judith delivers inspiring, motivational and transformational keynote addresses on Grateful Leadership and The Power of Acknowledgment all over the world. She also leads webinars and teaches full day virtual and traditional courses to organizations such as Volvo, the U.S. Army, Prudential, JMP Engineering, the World Bank, Fannie Mae, IBM, AT&T, Google, Amway, the New York Police Department and many others. She has trained tens of thousands of people through her leading edge, highly interactive and engaging courses and keynotes – with outstanding and long-lasting results. Grateful Leadership and The Power of Acknowledgment are Judith’s passion, her mission and her purpose!

EARLY CAREER

Judith attended New York University, graduating cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa with a Bachelor of Arts in English. After a year of high school teaching, she then entered the television industry, working for WCBS-TV as a writer / producer and manager for the next twelve years. During her time there, she was presented with the Heart of New York Award by then New York City Mayor Abraham Beame for an editorial she wrote and produced for the station.

After leaving CBS in 1983, Judith went on to spearhead the leased time programming efforts at a New York City public television station (WNYC-TV), where millions of dollars were raised to support a first class prime time programming service. This was followed by a position as Director of Sales for a cable television service featuring global programs.

INTERNATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR LEARNING

In 1992, Judith joined International Institute for Learning (IIL) as the Executive Producer of Global Satellite Broadcasts, featuring such renowned speakers as Dr. Joseph Juran, Dr. Genichi Taguchi, Dr. Margaret Wheatley and many others. At IIL, Judith formed IIL Publishing with IIL CEO E. LaVerne Johnson. She is currently the Publisher of IIL Publishing as well as an IIL Grateful Leadership Trainer. She travels around the world teaching courses and delivering keynote addresses on Grateful Leadership and The Power of Acknowledgment to corporations, associations and government agencies. With the launch of IIL Publishing, she officially began her book writing career.

MOVE INTO AUTHORSHIP

Judith has written for numerous publications, including: Working Woman magazine, The New York Times, and The Chicago Tribune. Her books have been featured in Ladies Home Journal, Forbes, Huffington Post, Mondo Brasil, and Better Homes & Gardens. Her writing career began while pregnant with her first child and working fulltime at CBS. In 1986, she penned an article published by Working Woman Magazine: How NOT to Talk to a Pregnant Businesswoman. The piece unexpectedly made her the go-to expert on the topic, leading to a feature appearance on Good Morning America as well as a guest spot on about 200 radio programs. Since 1986, she has authored three books: The Power of Acknowledgment, Grateful Leadership: Using the Power of Acknowledgment to Engage All Your People and Achieve Superior Results, and the more recent You’re Totally Awesome! The Power of Acknowledgment for Kids.

SPEAKING EVENTS

Judith regularly leads both onsite and virtual courses on Grateful Leadership and The Power of Acknowledgment. She has led many Project Management Institute (PMI) chapter meetings and was a featured speaker at the PMI ISSIG Annual Conferences in ’07 and ’08 . Judith also co-led a session at the PMI Global Congress in 2007 and was chosen again to present in 2008 at both the Global Congress and the Leadership Institute. In 2009, she delivered a keynote address at the IPMA Conference to 800 project managers in Helsinki, Finland, the closing keynote address to Recognition Professionals, International in 2010, and the American Society of Association Executives Executive Leadership Forum in Quebec City in 2013. She was the keynote speaker addressing 500 project managers at PMI’s Mega Seminars World Conference in 2011.Judith has taught onsite courses at many organizations, including Armstrong Industries, T-Systems, Gateway Engineers, The World Bank, Volvo AB, MD Anderson, Wartsila in Finland, the NANA Development Corporation, headquartered in Anchorage, Alaska and the Westervelt Company. In 2016 she gave the keynote address at University of Maryland University College for Women’s History Month. She has delivered many programs to corporate audiences at major companies such as Ericsson and HPE.