512-963-2263
alysia@opportunitystrategies.com

About Opportunity Strategies

Alysia at a Glance

High energy level to keep participants enthusiastic, on-track, and results-focused
Helps the group excel as a team
Effectively manages individual and group dysfunctions
Uses a proven approach for success
Has many repeat clients and regular referrals
Respects the expectation of being a neutral party
Will offer advice and recommendations if/when that is part of the assignment; otherwise provides neutral services
Extensive experience working with strong personalities including elected/appointed officials, vocal citizens, teenagers, protestors, and executives
Nimble…able to shift gears quickly to adapt to changing situations

Alysia Cook headshot1Alysia A. Cook, PCED, IOM

Alysia is Principal of Opportunity Strategies LLC, a professional facilitation, customized training, and strategic planning firm in Austin, Texas.

Her specific skills include performing organization operations audits, professional facilitation, the design and delivery of chamber of commerce and economic development strategic plans, and board member development. She has extensive experience developing strategic plans for economic development organizations, chambers, local and state governments, associations, and other non-profits. She has designed and presented hundreds of training programs for elected officials, community leaders, adult and youth leadership groups, business owners, staff, and volunteers. Her programs are designed to improve operations and relations within organizations, as well as prepare communities to attract and retain quality businesses.

Alysia is an international public speaker. She has been a professional facilitator and trainer for 29 years, serving many communities across the U.S. and Caribbean and training thousands of economic development & chamber professionals. She has led the public input process for numerous town hall meetings and public hearings for economic development and strategic planning projects. For five years, she served as a curriculum developer and instructor while a member of the faculty of the Georgia Academy for Economic Development, a multi-day regional training program encouraging multi-county collaboration throughout the State of Georgia. She has served as a curriculum developer and instructor at the Texas Basic Economic Development Course for the past 17 years. Alysia is a member of the faculty at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Institute for Organization Management and an instructor at Community Development Institute. She is a member of the Association of Chamber of Commerce Executives (ACCE,) the Southern Economic Development Council (SEDC,) Texas Economic Development Council (TEDC,) the Texas Chamber of Commerce Executives (TCCE,) and the Chamber of Commerce Association of Alabama (CCAA.) She recently served on the board of directors of the Texas Downtown Association (TDA.) She has completed the Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School.

A native of Shreveport, Louisiana, Alysia graduated from Louisiana State University in Shreveport, where she earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Marketing. She is a 1995 graduate of the Basic Economic Development Course at Texas A&M University, a 1997 graduate of the Economic Development Institute (EDI) at the University of Oklahoma, a 2002 graduate of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Institute for Organization Management (IOM/Chamber Institute,) and a 2009 graduate of Community Development Institute (CDI.) Alysia earned her Professional Community & Economic Developer (PCED) certification in 2009 from the Community Development Council.