Pat Boyd is president and co-founder of the Excellence in Speaking Institute®. She has been an ESI coach since 1988, and also does private consultations through our Executive Partnership program. With her direct, warm style, Pat helps students become more capable, confident speakers and presenters.

She brings decades of experience to the job. Early in her career, she represented the cotton industry worldwide on stage, radio and TV as the National Maid of Cotton. "I gave up to three speeches a day," she recalls. Pat also worked with Merv Griffin in New York as a model, and appeared in a variety of television commercials.

Following the ultimate communication challenge-- raising six children-- Pat opened Charlotte Visitours, a company that gave tours of her hometown, Charlotte, N.C., to spouses of corporate executives. Pat ran that company for five years before deciding to devote herself full- time to ESI. "This was absolutely the best place for me," she says. "I'm here to help executives-- and all kinds of business people-- fine-tune their innate skills."