About Us
Your Focus Determines Your Future
Our Story
We live in an age of distraction! Many people are wasting away hours on social media, gaming and other distractions that are not producing any benefits to achieve their goals and objectives in life. Post-secondary educators for colleges, universities and technical schools are saying that only 20% of high school students are prepared to enter these institutions. Employers have been saying for years that graduates from these institutions are not prepared for the workplace! We have the SOLUTIONS!
Meet Our Leaders
Ed Turose
CEO and President
His practical expertise as a behavioral consultant, Fortune 500 manager and trainer provides the basis for his curriculum, books and development tools that deliver the essentials skills needed for individuals and students to be prepared and advance in their careers and in the workplace.
Ed Turose, CEO of The Focus Life Institute LLC, has a passion to equip, train and mentor individuals with the practical skills to impact and positively influence society. Ed has over 40 plus years of leadership and business experience as a people manager, trainer, consultant and strategic planner for two Fortune 500 Companies, Unilever, one of the largest packaged goods company in the world and for the past 27 years as a manager and trainer for The Coca-Cola Company before retiring in June 2017 to focus on his new assignment.
Mr. Turose is known as “The Focus Coach” and has authored books, multiple development tools and marketplace resources. His Focus Life development tools meet the needs of all ages and have been implemented in schools, colleges, organizations and businesses.
Ed is a graduate of Geneva College, Beaver Falls, PA.
Jim Sanderbeck
Educational Director
Jim Sanderbeck holds a Bachelor of Science degree (Slippery Rock University of PA) and a Master of Arts degree (University of Pittsburgh). He is a certified teacher, a qualified experiential education facilitator, and a certified personality and behavioral profiler for education and business. He has taught and coached in the public sector, developed the first indoor experiential education center in the United States and served as the lead administrator in an educational academy.
Jim has utilized his educational experience to help co-create the Focus Life Institute development tools. He was a successful high school coach in track & field for 42 years producing state and national champions. He is the President of Rock Solid Administrative Services – a non-profit corporation designed to provide administrative resources and consulting services to both profit and non-profit marketplace leaders and entrepreneurs.
Don E. Goodlin, Jr.
Information Technology Director
Don holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Mathematics and a Master of Science degree in both Mathematics and Secondary Education. He also holds the following Cisco certifications: CCNA, CCDA, CCNP-Voice, CCNP-Security. Don has worked in the banking industry as a software engineer, has owned his own company offering software engineering services to corporations within the Pittsburgh, PA area and serves as a Principal Network and Telecom Engineer and Operations Manager at a well respected college. Don is the developer/webmaster for the Focus Life Institute website. Don has a heart for seeing other succeed to their fullest potential and finding their true purpose in life.
Don has taught Mathematics and Computer Science at Penn State University and Youngstown State University. Don also servers on several Executive boards which are dedicated to developing new business ventures within the New Castle PA and surrounding area.
Theresa Burnworth
Curriculum Director
Theresa Burnworth has a passion to help students to become life-long learners and to be able to correctly identify their goals in life to fulfill what they are born to do! She has worked with children from the nursery age through high school with various teaching and volunteer positions. Theresa graduated from Grove City College with a B.A. of English-Secondary Education in 2003, and completed her M.A. as a Reading Specialist from Westminster College, New Wilmington, PA in 2009. She has continued her education through her English/Reading teaching position for 6 years at Butler Junior High School, parenting experiences, homeschooling, and her role as nursery director and preschool teacher at her church, as well as her involvement with her children’s school programs.
While working for the Butler Area School District, Butler, PA, she created a reading test preparation curriculum from a variety of materials, and many of her own creations. This curriculum met every reading standard between 5th and 8th grades. Many students improved greatly on the PSSA tests, many even moving to the advanced scoring level. She saw over 70% of her students improve their test scores. She also served on the curriculum committee while at Butler, and helped research and select new curriculum materials for the English Department. While teaching, her experience widened greatly from instructing honors’ level students, average track students, and working with students with special needs, as well as co-teaching with the special education department.
Tracey Colston
Video Production Director
Tracey Colston, Video Production Director Tracey has multiple years of experience in the video editing, camera and production work on multiple projects and ventures. His expertise is being utilized with The Focused Life Institute on production, creating, and editing videos that have been applied to all curriculum, development tools and e-courses. Tracey has an Associate of Arts in Management Information Systems degree from Liberty University. Tracey is the CEO of Colston Creations LLC, a production and video editing company.
Dr. Jim Dittmar
Leadership Director
Dr. James K. Dittmar is the founder, President, and CEO of 3Rivers Leadership Institute. The 3Rivers Leadership Institute provides leadership development and training that is transformational. Utilizing the insights gained for over the past 37 years as a leader, teacher and trainer of working professionals, Dr. Dittmar creates learning experiences that are exceptional in content and that are interactive and engaging in process. He is actively involved in bringing his expertise of leadership into the Focus Life Institute.
A major focus of his leadership sessions are the practical application of the most important principles, concepts, and challenges that impact leaders in their everyday work experiences. Based on the L.E.A.D.E.R.S. model developed by Dr. Dittmar, his presentations provide a strong grounding not only in the “what” that leaders face but also in the “how” and “so what” in terms of driving these issues to the practical, behavioral level. It is during this process of reflection and application that participants can experience the transformational nature of leadership development offered by Dr. Dittmar
Number Speaks
65%
Graduates Not Employed In Their Major
80%
College Students That Change Their Major 1 to 3 Times
30%
Students Who Drop Out Of Post-Secondary Education
100%
The Effect Focus Life Institute Has On Your Life
What Our Students Have to Say
