International Panel on Hoarding Behavior

Carolyn Caldwell, Master Trainer, CPO-CD®, CPO®, Canada

Carolyn Caldwell is an award-winning and certified professional organizer and productivity coach with over 12 years’ experience in the professional organizing industry.  As the owner of Caldwell Evolution Inc., including Altered Organization, The Organizing Summit, and Evolution Coaching, she is committed to, and passionate about helping her clients simplify and organize their lives.  Focusing specifically on client goals, Carolyn and her team help clients, downsize, clear clutter and get things done. She has served on the Professional Organizers in Canada (POC) Board of Directors and is a previous Chapter Chair of the Toronto Chapter of POC. When not organizing, Carolyn teaches skiing and supports youth sailing in Canada.

Hilde Verdijk, CPO-CD®, MRPO®, The Netherlands

Hilde Verdijk has been a professional organizer since 2005. She specializes in working with chronically disorganized clients and clients with hoarding issues and their families. She also offers training about hoarding for related professionals and caregivers, both nationally and internationally. Hilde is a Master Registered Professional Organizer® with NBPO and one of only two CPO-CD® in Europe. She’s also a member of the Dutch National Hoarding Work Group, which strives to educate the public and serves as a network for professionals. Hilde also contributed a chapter to the first Dutch book on hoarding.

Wendy Hanes, CPO-CD®, CPO®, Australia

Wendy Hanes is a veteran of the organizing industry in Australia. Her passion is working with clients who hoard and educating others to work effectively in this challenging field.

Wendy is renowned for delivering results that meet the requirements of landlords, housing officers, and administrators while keeping the client’s well-being at the center of decision making. In 2018, she and colleague Angela Esnouf launched Hoarding Home Solutions Online Training and Resources. Their practical, collaborative approach has been applauded by peers, support professionals, and mental health providers.

As Australia’s most highly qualified hands-on worker in the field of hoarding, you will be amazed to hear her common-sense approach to dealing with this complex problem.

Mayumi Takahara, JALO President, Japan

Pioneering the organizing industry in Japan, Mayumi founded JALO in 2008. JALO has produced over 2,200 organizing professionals and over 20 authors. JALO partnered with ICD in 2011 and joined IFPOA in 2012. In 2018 Mayumi celebrated JALO’s 10^th anniversary at its annual conference, hosting over 400 international professional organizers from Japan, the US, Taiwan, China, and the Netherlands.

Prior to founding JALO, Mayumi worked extensively with exclusive clients as an interior coordinator in the interior consulting division of Takashimaya, a major department store in Japan. Over the course of her 12-year career, she became the top salesperson, annually consulting more than 600 projects and generating sales of 200 million yen.

Mayumi currently lives in Osaka and Tokyo with her family.

Nacho Eguiarte, CPO®, Mexico

Owner of nachOrganiza, Nacho Eguiarte is an Architect by trade, has a diploma as a Clinical Grief Counselor, and since 2012 has written a blog about organizing in Spanish. He collaborated with Rachel Seavey of Collector Care® in translating to Spanish ICD’s Clutter-Hoarding Scale®. NAPO Golden Circle Member, NAPO-U instructor in Spanish, Ambassador for new NAPO Spanish speaking members. Translated to Spanish Judith Kolberg’s Conquering Chronic Disorganization. He has ICD’s Level II CD Specialist and Level II Hoarding Specialist Certificates and earned his CPO® through NAPO. 

Katherine (Kit) Anderson, Master Trainer, CPO-CD®, USA

Katherine D. (Kit) Anderson has been a professional organizer for 24 years. In addition to a college degree in zoology and graduate work in physiology and biochemistry, she has studied for fourteen years with ICD, focusing on brain differences that cause chronic disorganization. She is a CPO-CD® and an ICD Master Trainer, the highest level of certification in the field. She holds all of ICD’s Level I Certificates of Study and all Level II Specialist Certificates. She routinely takes more than 50 hours/year of continuing education.
A widely recognized leader in the field, Anderson has taught professional organizers internationally and been interviewed by journalists in the United Kingdom, Canada and Australia including theThe Wall Street Journal and other American newspapers. She has appeared on both radio and television.
She served on the Board of Directors of ICD for seven years, functioning as Research Director and as President.