About the Authors

Dennis Reina, PhD and Michelle Reina, PhD are cofounders of Reina, A Trust Building Consultancy: Transforming Workplaces Through Trust. In the field of organizational trust, Dennis and Michelle are considered pioneers.

When they started consulting together in 1991, Dennis and Michelle’s practice focused on how to create self-directed work teams and repair broken change efforts. At the time, a few people talked about how critical trust was in accomplishing those things, but no one gave explicit instructions on how to build trust or recover trust when it had been broken. Dennis and Michelle went to work on closing that gap. They began a comprehensive, “in the trenches” study of trust building. They then applied their learning to building high-performing, trust-fueled cultures in organizations around the world.

Through more than two decades of research, consulting, and frontline experience, the Reinas have developed a Trust Building system that includes statistically valid trust measurements at the organization, team, leader, and individual levels. They also develop thoroughly customized solutions to support people in their efforts to build more trustworthy relationships.

Sought after consultants, workshop leaders, speakers, and executive coaches, Michelle and Dennis have worked with thousands of people in more than two hundred organizations around the globe.

Trust building is not just what Dennis and Michelle do professionally. It’s their life’s work. They bring trust, healing, and renewal to the world from the inside out. They find particular satisfaction in how their clients integrate their Trust Building concepts into all aspects of life. Time and again, people tell them: “Not only has my company’s culture transformed, my relationships outside of work have been transformed, too. I’ve been able to teach these trust building principles to my family and friends. My life has been changed.”

Dennis and Michelle’s clients include American Express, Ben & Jerry’s, Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, Harvard University, Johnson & Johnson, Lincoln Financial Group, MillerCoors, Nokia, Toyota, Turner Broadcasting, Walt Disney World, the US Army, and the US Treasury Department.

The Reinas have written two award-winning, best-selling business books, which have been published in multiple languages: Trust and Betrayal in the Workplace: Building Effective Relationships in Your Organization and Rebuilding Trust in the Workplace: Seven Steps to Renew Confidence, Commitment, and Energy.

The Reinas’ Trust Building work has been written about in Bloomberg BusinessWeek, Harvard Management Update, the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, Time magazine, and USA Today, and it has been featured on TV and radio networks such as CNBC and CNN.

Dennis and Michelle have received several thought leadership awards, including the World HRD Congress Global Strategic Leadership Award and Top 100 Thought Leaders in Trustworthy Business.