Our Authors
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Andre Thornton
Author of Disrupted, Founder & CEO of Whitman Consulting
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.
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Brian Turner
Author of The CEO Ego, Board Director, CEO, & CEO Advisor
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.
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Karen Malkin
Author of Queenagers, Owner of Karen Malkin Health Consulting
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.
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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.
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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.
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Julie Stone
Author, CLO and Group VP at TTEC
Julie Stone is a transformational talent leader with more than 20 years of experience driving enterprise workforce strategy, leadership development, and learning innovation at global scale.
As CLO & Group VP at TTEC, she leads learning for a 50,000-person workforce, pioneering AI-enabled learning and coaching solutions that have significantly improved speed, efficiency, and employee outcomes. Previously, at eBay, she built global talent and leadership programs and helped shape future-of-work strategies that dramatically accelerated time-to-proficiency and strengthened cultures of growth and belonging.
A sought-after speaker, Julie shares insights on the future of work, workforce transformation, and how organizations can unlock human potential at scale.
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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.