Patt Schwab

Dr. Patt Schwab holds academic degrees in History, Student Personnel, and Administration. She also holds the highest earned designation awarded by the National Speakers Association, the CSP, or Certified Professional Speaker.

A firm believer in taking humor seriously, Patt combines years of hands-on management, teaching and training with 11 years of working as a full time professional speaker in Europe, Canada and the USA. Her programs are packed with humor, insight, and practical tips for managing people, coping with change, and enriching work and home life.

Patt encourages her audiences to use humor to rise above workplace challenges, insisting that the fresh perspective humor provides helps reaffirm competence and identify what really matters. She raises the philosophical question: What if the Hokey Pokey IS What It’s All About?

Dr. Schwab's major interest has always been staff training and development. Her doctoral thesis, on team building, was titled: "People Support What They Help Create." That theme runs through presentations on managing organizational and individual change, coping with stress and the use of humor as a management tool.

Dr. Schwab has worked at a variety of colleges and universities, including Penn State, the University of California and the University of Washington, and supervised staffs as large as 150. She is currently the president of FUNdamentally Speaking, an international speaking and consulting firm, dedicated to putting the “fun” before “da mental!” Patt has been featured in numerous newspaper and magazine articles and has made frequent television and radio guest appearances in the USA and Europe.

Her business is 90% referral, largely because of her ability to tailor her remarks to the needs and issues of her audiences. Patt's clients have included groups as diverse as city officials in Holland, the Washington Medical Association, the US military in Germany, the California Fertilizer Association and the Mennonites in Kansas. Her programs inspire attendees to look inside themselves for a humorous perspective on workplace problems and challenges.

Dr. Schwab has served for three years as a citizen member on the Washington State Bar Disciplinary Committee and is president of the National Speakers Association/Northwest Chapter. She is currently developing a meditative martial art form for people suffering from Irony Deficiency. It is called Tai Chi Ken.

Patt's only notable award during college was winning the campus hog calling contest. She credits this dubious honor with starting her public speaking career.