Complimentary One-on-One Coaching Returns for Forensic Leadership Alliance Members at ISHI
The Conversation You Don’t Usually Get to Have
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Leadership in a forensic DNA lab is hard, and most of what makes it hard doesn’t show up anywhere near a job description. Staffing calls. Backlog triage. What to tell command staff who don’t understand forensic timelines. Decided alone. Carried alone.
This is the kind of help that actually understands it. At ISHI 2026 this October in Providence, Forensic Leadership Alliance members can request a short, one-on-one coaching session with a mentor who has run a lab and made calls like these. No audience. No slide deck. Just a working conversation.
Each of the four mentors comes at leadership from a different angle.
John Collins starts from a simple premise: the top job of any leader is creating conditions where people bring real energy and enthusiasm to the work. He pushes back against hierarchy for its own sake, building instead on encouragement, self-awareness, and teamwork.
For Dr. Pamela Marshall, that same commitment points upstream: advancing forensic science itself through research, rigorous standards, and mentorship. Integrity and continuous learning aren’t separate values in her framework. They’re what it takes to grow the next generation of forensic scientists.
Julie Sikorsky frames leadership as presence and service before anything else. She leads with loyalty and purpose, models integrity, and works to create room for the people around her to learn, contribute, and actually thrive.
Dr. Ray Wickenheiser’s approach runs on inclusion, engagement, and empowerment: a blame-free culture built around identifying and clearing hurdles, collaborating across roles, and celebrating wins as a team’s, not one person’s.
Bring whatever you haven’t talked through with anyone yet.
Most Labs Don't Plan for Succession. They Survive It.
Monday, October 26, 2026 | 8:00 AM – 4:00 PM | Rhode Island Convention Center, Providence, RI
Most forensic laboratories do not intentionally plan for succession. They survive it, and the consequences follow a predictable pattern. Leadership transitions are often rushed and reactive, driven by fear of vacancies rather than readiness or desire. The result is predictable: reluctant leaders, disengaged teams, and repeated cycles of burnout.
This full-day workshop reframes succession planning as the natural outcome of intentional brand building at three interconnected levels: the individual leader, the laboratory, and the emerging leader. Participants will examine how leadership brand and organizational culture influence whether leadership roles are viewed as opportunities to pursue or obligations to avoid. When leadership identity is clear and culture is healthy, future leaders step forward because they want to, not because they were pressured.
Grounded in real-world forensic leadership experience, the workshop combines discussion and applied exercises to help attendees assess leadership signals, identify cultural barriers, and intentionally build leadership ecosystems that attract and develop successors long before a vacancy exists.