Our talented team of subject matter experts brings together multiple years of experience from working with more than 350 public school districts. Knowing perception is reality, we use our various areas of expertise, both personal and professional, to assist our clients in providing the highest quality service and education to their staff, parents, students and the community as a whole.
Rick Nobles
President
When he isn’t getting his nails painted by his granddaughter or watching “sorta-scary” movies with his grandson, Rick Nobles (aka Paw Paw or aka Dr. Rick), our crazy, irreverent and hilarious founder, is using his 12 years of professional experience to assist our K-12 clients with providing a top-notch education for their kids, while serving as our resident expert on Perception Management and pre-election research. Rick has a degree in communications from the University of Texas (but please, don’t hold that against him). He has helped world-class brands, such as Coca-Cola, Sprint, Midas, Subaru, Chili’s and the United Methodist Church, manage their brand perceptions and taught Perception Management at the collegiate level for eight years.
913-484-0920rick@excellencek12.comElaine Warren
Director of Client Services
As the mom of two busy teenagers – whose activities range from high school soccer games to creating spectacular artwork – Elaine has a unique perspective on navigating communications and time management. She uses these skills to manage our day-to-day business and client projects. In this very hands-on role, Elaine is dedicated to building relationships and delivering on clients’ goals and objectives. Elaine has a public relations degree from the University of Central Missouri and tons of client-side experience, including 17 years as marketing director at the University of Kansas Edwards Campus.
elaine@excellencek12.com
Susan Nenonen
Content Manager
The only time you’ll see Susan on the sidelines is when she’s watching her son play soccer, basketball or baseball or move up the ranks in Boy Scouts. Otherwise, she’s right in the thick of things, using her 12 years of K-12 experience and her more than 20 years of communications experience to provide her expertise on research reports, web content and all other written material related to Perception Management. She has a bachelor’s degree in journalism from the University of Kansas, a master’s degree in management from Webster University and an honorary Ph.D. for keeping Rick on track.
913-481-7080susan@excellencek12.comBrad Stefanoni
Senior Strategist
As a father of two teenage sons, who are both active in the performing arts and tennis, Brad finds himself busy attending performances and trying not to get hit by errant tennis balls. When he’s not working, you also can find him enjoying the outdoors with his family. Brad brings a boatload of K-12 experience to the table, having worked for the Southeast Kansas Education Service Center at Greenbush for 18 years. Brad excels in helping schools think and act strategically – and keeping everybody in stitches with his wry sense of humor. Brad has a bachelor’s degree from Pittsburg State University.
620-249-3635brad@excellencek12.com
Robin Wahlquist
Senior Associate
Robin is our ultimate “mommy,” with two children and anywhere from five to 12 dogs, depending on the week. Robin works with several local shelters fostering and adopting rescue dogs. In certain circles, Robin is known as the “Chihuahua whisperer” for her success with feral Chihuahuas. Robin manages our data-gathering team for Perception Management and is our resident expert in all things early childhood. Robin has her master’s degree from Mizzou.
