Profiles in Leadership

AndyMoyeis a seasoned commercial leader and corporate development executive who has worked across the molecular diagnostics, biotechnology and life sciences industries.    Moyeserved as a Lieutenant and flight officer in the U.S. Navy, completing missions in Bosnia, Kosovo, Iraq, Europe, and South America. He received a Ph.D. in health economics from Walden University, MBA from the University of Florida and B.S. in physiology from the University of Arizona.  

Brad Newbury, MPA, NRPBrad Newbury, MPA, NRP, is President and CEO of the National Medical Education & Training Center (NMETC) and co-author of The Saved Effect and The First Responder Advantage. With more than 40 years of experience as a firefighter, paramedic, educator, and leader, Brad has dedicated his career to preparing others to act confidently in emergencies. He is a nationally recognized speaker on EMS leadership, disaster preparedness, and emergency response.   Kiera Newbury, BA, NREMTKiera Newbury, BA, NREMT, is a Nationally Registered Emergency Medical Technician and co-author of The Saved Effect. With a background in psychology and emergency medicine, she combines clinical experience with a passion for storytelling to inspire others to be prepared and willing to act. Kiera has contributed to disaster medicine research and speaks on emergency preparedness, CPR, and mental health awareness.  

Mike Krupit is the founder and CEO of Trajectify, where he helps growth-stage technology, manufacturing, and professional services companies bridge the gap between early success and scalable leadership. With more than 30 years of experience as a CTO, COO, and CEO, Mike has led organizations through rapid growth, IPOs, M&As, and even bankruptcies—giving him rare, real-world insight into what actually works when the stakes are high. Known for his practical, candid approach, he helps founders and CEOs build courage, align their organizations, and unlock momentum from the inside out.      

JamesLoeffleris Felix Posen Professor of Modern Jewish History at Johns Hopkins University, and Kogod Senior Research Fellow at the Shalom Hartman Institute of North America. He writes widely on modern Jewish history from antisemitism to Zionism, with a focus on the overlooked ties between the Jewish past and the global present in politics, law, and culture. Antisemitism in the United States—from 1940s anti-Jewish riots to the Nazi march in Skokie to the Unite the Right Rally in Charlottesville—has long been on the frontline in our wars over freedom of speech and the nature of American liberalism. InEXCEPTIONAL HATRED: Antisemitism and the Fight over Free Speech in Modern America, leading Jewish historian and Johns Hopkins professorJamesLoeffler offers a revelatory exploration of this idea and acritical perspective on today’s debates over antisemitism and racism, free speech and hate speech.

Ashley Stahl is an entrepreneur, international bestselling author (You Turn), podcast host (You Turn Podcast) and internationally recognized speaker. She stepped onto the TEDxBerkeley stage in 2013 and the TEDxLeidenUniversity stage in 2019. Both of her talks went viral at 2 million and 10 million views, respectively. Her talk in 2013 (“Three Questions to Unlock Your Authentic Career”) also happened to be the first speech she’s ever given in her life. At the time, she’d just finished working in counterterrorism for the Obama Administration, where she learned everything she knew about speaking through writing tips from colleagues who wrote speeches for key members of the administration. Her second talk (“How to Figure Out What You Really Want”) in 2019 went even more viral, and is one of the top 100 most viewed talks on YouTube’s TEDx channel. Knowing the impact these talks had on her career, she was inspired to build Wise Whisper Agency and help other inspirational professionals create their own signature talk and land their spot on stages around the world so they could make more of an impact, generate more leads for their business, and establish themselves in the speaking arena.

Maximos Lih is an Executive Coach and founder of Emboldened LLC, where he helps small teams scale without losing their edge and leaders grow with purpose and trust. His leadership philosophy was shaped by his grandfather—a self-taught orphan who became a four-star general—who taught him that true greatness is measured by how you make people feel. After immigrating to the U.S. and graduating from UC Berkeley, Maximos joined Google, where he specialized in recruiting top engineering talent before moving to Google Ventures. There, he guided hundreds of founders through rapid growth, witnessing companies like Uber and Flatiron Health scale at remarkable speed. Today, he draws on those experiences to coach the next generation of leaders in building mission-driven, high-performing teams.      

Julie Castle has dedicated her life to saving animals. Since joining Best Friends Animal Society in 1996 as employee #17, she has grown with the organization and advanced its mission to save the lives of dogs and cats in America’s animal shelters.   Now CEO, Julie has helped guide Best Friends through a period of significant growth, including expanding the organization’s fundraising from $60 million to more than $130 million. Under her leadership, Best Friends has been recognized as a Harris Poll Brand of the Year four times and named one of Fast Company’s Most Innovative Companies. Throughout her career, Julie has championed an approach rooted in collaboration, helping bring together shelters, rescues, and communities around our shared commitment to lifesaving.   Celebrating 30 years with Best Friends in 2026, Julie remains focused on strengthening the partnerships, policies, and momentum needed to help every shelter and every community reach no-kill. She leads a team of nearly 1,000 employees working toward one shared mission: Save Them All.  

KennethRoMD.com is a double board-certified Internal Medicine and Emergency Medicine physician who has treated more than 170,000 patients across a 35-year ER career. His book PRIME reframes midlife as a powerful awakening rather than decline. He created the RECLAIM™ Method to restore men’s vitality, identity, and purpose through precision medicine, neuroscience, narrative psychology, and emotional reintegration. He is a medical expert in filmmaker Charles Mattocks’ upcoming international docuseries about sleep and health, bringing attention to the invisible epidemic of sleep disorders destroying men’s vitality. Dr.Rospeaks to corporations, executive teams, and healthcare organizations about the silent burnout dismantling men’s performance in midlife— and teaches organizations how to rebuild resilience using precision-health tools and his RECLAIM™ framework.  

DuncanBrandis a leadership and organizational effectiveness advisor, author ofMind the Gap, and founder of Intrinsic Leader. He has worked with nearly 100 organizations across healthcare, technology, finance, and the public sector, helping leaders strengthen culture, succession planning, and team effectiveness. Drawing from firsthand experience during the financial crisis at the Federal Reserve and throughout COVID-era healthcare challenges,Duncanfocuses on helping organizations move beyond outdated leadership models and build people-first systems that support adaptability, engagement, and long-term effectiveness in the modern workplace.

Nelson Nigel is the Founder and CEO of Moto Nation.    Back in 2016 Nelson as an Uber driver noticed that taxis and car services do not offer installed child car seats, and parents are helpless. He found a void in the transportation marketplace that Uber and Lyft have explicitly left open.    Nelson created a mobile app to provide a convenient and safe alternative to lugging car seats to and from airports to change how parents travel with small children.   Today, Kidmoto is a trusted brand that connects parents to a network of professionally trained drivers that provide airport transfers with secured child car seats for safe and convenient airport travel in 52 US cities.   After operating for 6 years Kidmoto has over 40k completed rides, 40 part-time employees, 500 independent drivers nationwide, over a 7-figure revenue for 2024 and is valued at $25 million.  

Dr. Jennifer Berry  Dr. Jennifer Berry is a transformational leader driving purposeful collaboration between education, industry, and community ecosystems. As CEO of SmartLab, she champions mission-driven innovation that equips learners for tomorrow's workforce and fosters systemic change that matters for partners, funders, and communities. Her work accelerates strategic partnerships, measurable outcomes, and shared impact at scale.  

Andrew Johnson is a leadership advisor and author of Iron Sharpens Iron, where he explores how the operating systems of elite sport can help businesses build stronger accountability, execution, and performance cultures. Drawing from lessons in professional sport, particularly the NFL, Andrew translates concepts like scoreboard clarity, roster discipline, standards under pressure, and “tape review” into practical frameworks leaders can apply inside modern organisations. His work focuses on helping companies move from average to elite by creating cultures where accountability is visible, standards are consistent, and performance improves because there is nowhere to hide. As a podcast guest, Andrew brings a practical and thought-provoking perspective on leadership, competition, talent, and sustained high performance.  

Jon is the co-founder of Pickle, as well as a Physical Therapist. He’s been featured by organizations such as NYU, the University of Oxford,  WebPT,  and the United Nations, working with healthcare executives around the globe on workforce strategy and big data analytics.   Jonathon holds an MBA from the University of Oxford (UK) and a DPT from Virginia Commonwealth University. He is also a board-certified orthopedic clinical specialist, and fellow of the American Academy of Orthopedic Manual Physical Therapists.  

Sandra Crespo, LCSW, is a sought-after speaker, executive coach, and mental health professional who helps organizations build workplaces where “neurospicy” talent can thrive. Her work sits at the intersection of mental health, systems thinking, and leadership development, reframing how ADHD shows up in high-performing environments beyond pathology or productivity fixes to real-world experiences like communication, burnout, creativity, and decision-making. She has spoken on major stages including AfroTech, created the S.P.I.C.Y. Framework to help organizations turn neurodiversity into a meaningful advantage, collaborates with the National Association of Social Workers, serves on the board of CHADD, and is pursuing doctoral research focused on ADHD.      

Dr. Rebecca Homkes is an economist and high-growth strategy specialist who advises CEOs and executive teams focused on growth and success through uncertainty.   Uncertainty isn’t new and we've pretty much "normalized" it at this point—but what’s different now is the stacking of uncertainty. Tariffs, AI disruption, shifting policy signals, and constant organizational change are all hitting leaders at once. The result isn’t just uncertainty—it’s chaos. And chaos has a cost.Dr. Homkes helps leaders understand why uncertainty is inevitable, but chaos is optional— and how the best leaders can build clarity, momentum, and growth even when the external environment is unpredictable and ever-changing.    Dr. Homkes is a Lecturer at London Business School and Duke Corporate Executive Education, and the director of the Young Presidents' Organization (YPO) global Active Learning Program. She's also the author of Survive Reset Thrive and a frequent contributor on Bloomberg and CNBC

Ingrid Curtis -- she spent 17 years helping build one of the most ambitious digital transformation platforms in enterprise. She then became its CEO, and her first move was to say the whole thing needed to be rebuilt.    She has a rare kind of credibility; she didn’t just form opinions about why enterprise aI initiatives keep failing, she helped build the infrastructure that’s now becoming the bottleneck. And rather than quietly course-correct, she’s calling it out openly.    As CEO of Sparq, she’s repositioning the company from digital-first to data-first, and she believes this shift is about to become the defining leadership challenge in enterprise.   

Andy Freed is the CEO of Virtual, Inc., a strategic consulting, marketing, and professional services firm that supports mission-driven organizations facing multi-dimensional challenges in technology, healthcare, financial services, and life sciences. These include membership groups that unite some of the world’s largest brands — like Microsoft, Meta, and Google — to collaborate on shared industry goals. Virtual has been recognized as a best place to work, guided by integrity, collaboration, and client-first values.   With more than 30 years of experience leading organizations through growth and transformation, Andy knows that the best leaders succeed through clear, compelling communication. He has a rare gift for crafting stories and messages that resonate deeply, sparking action, inspiring alignment, and elevating performance — whether he’s uniting global coalitions, coaching CEOs, or building high-performing teams.   Andy is even more fanatical about communicating to inspire than he is about Bruce Springsteen (and that’s saying a lot) — it’s his life’s work. From keynote performances to small-group strategy sessions, he brings energy, clarity, and intention to every interaction.  Andy’s passion for leadership communication shines through not only in his professional work but also extends to his deep commitment to community engagement. He chairs the boards of MelroseWakefieldHealthcare and Friends of Harvard Water Polo and serves on the boards of Tufts Medicine, Harvard Club of Boston and the Sustainable Media Center. He’s also a former Chair of the Harvard Varsity Club and served on the board of the Massachusetts Hospital Association.  

Greg Hawks is a keynote speaker, author, and corporate culture specialist who challenges leaders and teams to Act Like an Owner. For more than 25 years, he has partnered with organizations across the country to reshape culture, deepen trust, and activate ownership mindsets.  Earlier in his career, Greg spent a decade as Executive Director of a nonprofit, leading teams through complex challenges and building environments where people contributed their best. That experience became the foundation for his work with companies of every size, from ESOPs and credit unions to Fortune 500 corporations and national associations.     In his upcoming book, Act Like an Owner: Five Unlocks for Creating Culture People Love and Results Leaders Need, Greg introduces vivid metaphors and frameworks such as Owners, Renters, Vandals, the Five Unlocks, and the 3D Plan for designing culture intentionally. Known for his energetic presence, distinctive language, and practical strategies, Greg equips executives and employees alike to re-engage, increase accountability, and spark growth.  Today, his work transforms workplaces into ecosystems where an ownership culture becomes the competitive advantage.  

ChristoffelSneijdersis an MCC coach, behavioral expert, and creator of the 3 Brains Intelligence Theory—an approach that integrates neuroscience, coaching, and emotional intelligence by aligning the Head, Heart, and Gut. He has trained over 12,000 people in 33 countries and speaks on leadership, trauma, burnout, and personal transformation from a deeply embodied, science-based perspective.

Atiba de Souza is an author, entrepreneur, and relationship mentor who helps leaders break free from burnout and build teams that take ownership. He wrote The Delegation Trap: It’s Not Them, It’s You, a story-driven guide teaching leaders how to let go of every task and get results that shine. With 25+ years running gyms, bakeries, and food service companies and coaching National Championship youth football teams, he knows firsthand what it takes to turn average performance into excellence. His mission is simple: transform overwhelmed bosses into confident leaders of teams that thrive, even when they’re not in the room.      

Ty Givens Ty Givens is the Founder of CX Collective and a trusted partner to brands that want their customer experience to be a competitive edge. She’s known for turning messy operations into scalable, human-centered programs that drive loyalty and growth.  

Julie Colombino-Billingham In the wake of Haiti’s 2010 earthquake Julie left behind everything she knew to answer an impossible call.  What she found was heartbreak and a new beginning.  Her book From Loss to Legacy, tells the remarkable true story of how compassion, courage, and creativity built a fashion brand from the rubble, proving that hope and dignity can outlast disaster. She is the founder of Deux Mains, a fair trade fashion company in Haiti creating sustainable jobs and lasting impact.  Julie is a humanitarian entrepreneurand her company, Deux Mains haspartnered with Nordstrom, the United Nations, and Eileen Fisher. A former aid worker, she is recognized internationally for her innovative leadership and holds an MBA from Rollins Crummer Graduate School of Business. 100% of the Profits from her book are being donated to REBUILD Globally, a non-profit organization she founded to provide programs for fighting poverty in Haiti.  

Betsy Kauffman is a globally recognized executive leadership coach and organizational agility consultant with over 25 years of experience transforming Fortune 500 leadership teams into high-performing, aligned powerhouses. As Founder and CEO of Cross Impact Coaching, she partners with CEOs and their executive teams—primarily in HealthTech and FinTech—to align strategy, execution, and team dynamics for lasting results. Her signature Leadership Alignment Lab blends executive coaching, proprietary 360 feedback, and strategic offsites to help C-suites turn vision into action. She also co-owns Kauffman & Co. Furniture, giving her a unique perspective on scaling and leading both service- and product-based businesses.      

Andy Clark is the bestselling author and business strategist behind The Whole PIE SystemTM, a framework that helps small business owners build companies that are more Profitable, Impactful, and Enjoyable. With a background in business law and two decades of advising and running businesses, Andy saw firsthand that most entrepreneurs aren’t failing from lack of effort—they’re overwhelmed by complexity and constant firefighting. Determined to offer a better path, he created a simple, practical system that helps owners get out of the weeds and lead with clarity and confidence. Andy has since worked with business owners across North America to streamline operations, strengthen teams, and create businesses that grow sustainably without burning them out. His philosophy is direct: structure creates freedom, and small changes can unlock massive results. Known for making business feel achievable again, Andy gives overwhelmed founders the tools—and the belief—to reclaim their time, increase profit, and rediscover the joy in their work.  When he’s not coaching entrepreneurs, he’s traveling between Canada and Costa Rica with his wife and four children.

PATRICK ENGASSER is a unique and sought-after bestselling author, business coach, and motivational speaker. He began his career as a top sales representative for a Fortune 500 insurance company, earning “Top Account Closer” by his third year and later becoming a district manager. Patrick built and led a seven-figure sales team, coaching many agents into successful outside sales careers.  He is a three-time recipient of the company’s Top Award for Management Excellence, recognized for his outstanding leadership and coaching skills.  Blind since birth, Patrick inspires audiences by sharing how he overcame adversity and how others can achieve success despite their own challenges. He has delivered hundreds of presentations and trainings nationwide for corporations, sales teams, leadership groups, universities, and youth organizations.  As a coach, Patrick works with professionals, sales reps, executives, and entrepreneurs—helping top performers overcome obstacles and reach their goals faster and with less effort. 

Crispin Thompson has spent more than twenty-five years shaping how people lead, communicate, and grow. In senior roles at Hewlett Packard Enterprise, TaskUs, and QSC, he managed large international teams and drove major transformation programs—experiences that revealed how easily careers stall when strong managers are promoted without the confidence or presence to step fully into leadership.That observation became the foundation forThe Leadership Studio, where Crispin helps leaders bridge the gap between how they see themselves and how others experience them. His coaching focuses on practical shifts that carry real weight in the room: learning to project calm under pressure, making decisions when information is incomplete, and moving past the perfectionism that undermines confidence. He often draws on his own missteps or on vivid historical examples, turning abstract ideas into stories and exercises that leave a lasting mark. 

Leidy Klotzis a behavioral scientist and engineering professor at the University of Virginia who studies how and why humans design. He has written for the Washington Post, Fast Company, Scientific American, and Harvard Business Review; has published his work in top journals like Nature and Science; and has been interviewed on Hidden Brain, Freakonomics, Mindscape, and The Atlantic’s How to Build a Happy Life. Klotz has advised clients ranging from the Departments of Energy and Homeland Security to CapitalOne and Amazon.

Wendy Sue Swanson, MD is a healthcare blogger @Seattlemamadoc, a Pediatrician, an executive in digital health, keynote speaker, TED Talk speaker, and advocate for using technology with patient care to reduce costs and increase intimacy with the provider/patient relationship.