Our Authors

A middle-aged man with a beard, wearing a dark blue shirt and jeans, sitting on a beige sofa in a well-lit room with a large window and light-colored walls.

ANDRE THORNTON

Andre W. Thornton is the Founder and CEO of Whitman Consulting, a top ten leadership development firm that helps organizations grow their people faster than their challenges.

A former Engineering Director at Lockheed Martin, Andre spent sixteen years leading teams on advanced aircraft programs and capturing over $1 billion in new business before discovering his true calling: developing leaders.

His book, Disrupted, introduces the 2 Stabilizers and 7 Accelerators that turn chaos into growth—a framework drawn from neuroscience, engineering, and two decades of coaching experience.

Author of Disrupted, Founder & CEO of Whitman Consulting
A woman with shoulder-length light brown hair smiling, wearing a navy blue sweater, sitting at a table with a green apple in front of her.
A smiling middle-aged man with gray hair, wearing a dark suit jacket and a white shirt, standing against a plain white background.

Karen Malkin

Karen Malkin is a National Board-Certified Health and Wellness Coach. She holds a Master of Arts in Health and Wellness Coaching from the Maryland University of Integrative Health, bringing together 15 years of clinical practice with graduate-level academic rigor in behavior change science, motivational interviewing, and health psychology.

Karen founded Karen Malkin Health Counseling in 2010 and has worked with thousands of individual clients, specializing in integrative nutrition, metabolic health, brain health, and lifestyle transformation for women in midlife and beyond. She currently works with a focused brain health coaching model, drawing on her extensive credentialing in precision medicine and genomics.

Author of Queenager, Owner of Karen Malkin Health Consulting

Jay abbasi

Author, TEDx Speaker, Host of Unstuck with Jay Abbasi

Jay Abbasi is a global keynote speaker, TEDx speaker, coach, and former Tesla leader who helps professionals thrive under pressure without burning out. At Tesla, he led national training programs for over 1,000 employees, and has since coached leaders at Google, Amazon, TikTok, Wells Fargo, and many more.

Jay has been featured in Forbes Founder, Authority Magazine, and Medium, and is the host of the top-rated podcast Unstuck with Jay Abbasi. Blending corporate experience with deep expertise in mindfulness, resilience, and well-being, Jay offers a powerful message: success isn’t about avoiding challenges, but mastering them with clarity, energy, and purpose.

Damon lembi

Author of The Learn-It-All Leader, CEO of Learnit

Damon Lembi believes great leaders aren’t born or made—they’re in the making. As CEO of Learnit for nearly three decades, he’s helped upskill more than 1.9 million people and partnered with thousands of organizations to build stronger, more adaptable teams.

A former Division I baseball player, Damon brings an athlete’s focus and grit to leadership, learning, and life. He’s a sought-after keynote speaker, podcast host, and author of the bestselling book The Learn-It-All Leader, which explores the mindset, traits, and tools today’s leaders need to thrive.

Christa Hill

Author of A Journey to Power, CEO of Tacit Edge

Christa Hill guides leaders how to think clearly in a world being rewritten by AI. As the Founder of Tacit Edge, and CLO at Learnit, she has trained executives, boards, educators, and frontline teams to build something more durable than technical skill: the judgment to decide well when the rules keep changing. Her message cuts against the hype. AI is not magic and it is not the enemy. It is leverage, and leverage rewards the people who know what they actually want.

Her book, A Journey to Power, turns that lens on the question she keeps being asked by women who refuse to be left behind: what does power look like when you build it on your own terms? Christa writes the way she teaches, with warmth, candor, and zero patience for fluff, giving capable women permission to stop feeling behind and start leading.

Headshot of a smiling man wearing a blue suit jacket and a light blue collared shirt, against a white background. 
Author of The CEO Ego, Board Director, CEO, & CEO Advisor

Brian turner

Brian Turner is a seasoned Board Director, CEO, and C-level executive with over 30 years’ experience growing and transforming professional services organizations. Brian has advised senior executive teams of Fortune 500 companies and mid-market organizations on large-scale transformation, including entering new markets, launching new products, integrating new companies, and implementing new technologies.

He currently serves as the Managing Partner and Board Director for CFO Selections, focusing on bringing financial leadership talent to small- and medium-sized businesses. He also serves as Vistage Chair coaching CEOs in the Seattle area, Board Advisor for Falconi US, and Board Director for the Seattle Gymnastics Academy.