When you work with SilkWeb Consulting and Development, you'll gain not only a world-class team but also a wealth of eLearning industry experience. Learn more about our leadership team comprised of our top Instructional Designers, eLearning Consultants, Project Managers, and Course Developers.

Dr. Michael Shaw - President

Dr. Shaw is the president and co-founder of SilkWeb Consulting & Development. SilkWeb is an education and business consultancy with a special focus on management consulting and corporate e-learning services. Prior to his role at SilkWeb, he developed leadership curriculum and managed new program development for University of Phoenix's School of Advanced Studies. Dr. Shaw remains with the University as an adjunct faculty member. Dr. Shaw earned his doctorate degree in Management and Organizational Leadership. He has developed numerous leadership and management oriented workshops throughout his career and has extensive knowledge of eLearning technologies. He has managed several large-scale curriculum projects for the nation's largest online university and provides consulting services to one of the top publishing companies in the United States. Dr. Shaw continues his research in the areas of employee retention and plays an active role with all of SilkWeb's clients. His research interests include online faculty quality, employee turnover in call centers, and values in the workplace. He has published several peer reviewed studies including Value-based profits: The relationship between employee organizational value fit and turnover in call centers, A New Model for Online Doctoral Course Development, Designing Innovative Student-Centered Curriculum in E-Learning , and A New Model for Online Doctoral Course Development with Faculty Quality assessment. In Value-based profits, Michael Shaw discovered many interesting relationships between CSR and organizational value congruence and turnover in the call center setting. These relationships frame his recently developed value -fit model. He also developed an online faculty quality model that is quickly becoming an industry standard. Dr Shaw continues to write about his leadership experience in higher education and corporate training for academia and his writing was recently included in the 3-Volume "E-Collaboration: Concepts, Methodologies, Tools, and Applications" published by IGI Global May 2009. Dr. Shaw's other contributions can be found in the following academic journals: International Journal of Information and Communication Technology Education, Journal of Leadership Studies, Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education, and the International Association for Development of the Information Society.

Laurel Silk, M.A.Ed. – Vice President

Laurel Silk is the Vice President and co-founder of SilkWeb Consulting & Development LLC. Laurel has been active in both higher education and training development since 2000. She has managed e-learning initiatives at three leading universities in Arizona. A skilled educator, she has created a virtual doctoral library for research students and designed and implemented a web-based Supervisor Development Program for new managers at a large corporation. Laurel is a skilled facilitator with extensive experience working with large corporate training departments to deliver instructor-led and hybrid training workshops in finance, soft skills, and customer service. As an experienced instructional designer she has created online leadership focused programs in higher education, business, and nursing for the private education sector. Laurel recently presented a workshop in conjunction with Dr. Shaw at the E-Learn Conference in Quebec City, Canada. The workshop, titled Designing Innovative Student-Centered Curriculum in e-Learning was well received by experts in the e-learning community. 
Laurel continues her work in higher education as an adjunct faculty member. Having served the needs of a diverse student population while working abroad she is skilled at adapting instruction to the needs of the learner and foreign cultures.  At SilkWeb she is responsible for managing the work of project managers and course writers and designing pedagogically sound curriculum. In addition, she is instrumental in designing e-learning strategies for corporate clients. Laurel earned a Master of Arts in Education in Adult Education and Educational Technology from University of Phoenix and a Bachelor of Arts in English from Arizona State University. Her research background is in adult learning theories and instructional media with a focus on language acquisition.  She is active in several professional networks and is a member of Women for Women International, NativeBiz American Indian Networking, and Arizona Small Business Association’s Education Committee.