Niki Flacks founded The Bergerac Company in 1986. Ms. Flacks brings a unique blend of expertise to the daily challenges of communication under pressure. She is an award-winning actress, respected psychotherapist and co-author of PowerTalk (Macmillan 1982). She is recognized as the creator of the most innovative training programs in the communication arena: PowerTalk, CustomerTalk, SuccessTalk,
MeetingTalk, TrainerTalk, LeaderTalk and InterviewTalk.

With the launch of the groundbreaking program PowerTalk, Ms. Flacks proved that presentations produce results, drive decisions and enhance careers when they are delivered with passion, energy and a psychological understanding of each audience's needs. SuccessTalk and CustomerTalk followed, rooted in the psychology of how emotions drive interactions. Flacks adapted the skills of improvisational theatre to produce agility of thinking and flexibility of response, no matter how challenging the situation.

Ms. Flacks, an assistant professor in theatre at Southern Methodist University for several years, earned her bachelor's degree in theatre from Northwestern University. As an actress she starred in the television soap opera One Life to Live, and on Broadway worked with Maggie Smith, Sir John Gielgud and Harold Prince. As a theatre director, she has worked both in London and the US. To round out her understanding of the connections between theatre/psychology and verbal communication, she received her masters in social work/psychotherapy from the University of Texas. Continuously learning, Flacks works with a noted neurologist to enrich her understanding of how the brain receives and processes information, how it copes with performance anxiety, and how tapping into emotions can influence the function of memory.