Leadership & Navigation

Magi The Evolutionist

Catalyst for Positive Change

Personal - Interpersonal - Team - Organizational

Using a unique combination of experiential coaching, science-backed development tools, and actionable strategies, Magi empowers leaders to evolve themselves and their organizational culture to meet the moment. Whether it’s change initiatives, new leadership, or cultural transformation, she partners with teams to catalyze positive change.

Magi has spent her life reinventing herself. From a single mother at 19 working at the first Cable TV company, to leading one of the fastest growing consultancies and becoming a best selling author in her field of expertise, Magi has continually taken challenges and failure as lessons and learned to move beyond her limits (both real and perceived) to live a life that inspires and contributes. Her body of work cuts through the personal, group, and organizational malaise stifling happiness, joy, and fulfillment at work. Her uplifting talks and groundbreaking courses uncover, catalyze, and optimize human potential, unite teams, and raise organizational effectiveness. 

Valerie helps companies improve their bottom line by elevating employees from tactical thinkers to strategic leaders.

She served in senior leadership roles at RollsRoyce Aircraft before helping to found InterActiveCorp, parent company to Expedia, Home Shopping Network and TicketMaster. She then went to work for Oprah Winfrey, helping to found the Oxygen channel which was later sold to NBC Universal.

Valerie obtained her mechanical engineering degree from Kettering University and her MBA from the Indiana University Kelley School of Business. Val’s book, Clash of the Generations: Managing the New Workplace Reality, helps leaders manage multiple generations in the office.

Jack Gottlieb is a results-driven senior executive with 20 years of experience in transforming and revitalizing organizations. As the CEO of Total Solutions Group, a strategic consulting and results-based training firm, he has a proven track record of aligning culture, strategy, and capability to achieve critical short-term and long-term goals. TSG has generated $3.25 billion in ROI for clients in growth, profitability, innovation, and efficiency, including leading fifteen M&As and ten turnarounds from inception to implementation. 

With extensive experience in the C-Suite and as an HR leader Jack has a deep expertise of how to drive organizational health and performance through an embedded employee experience. Jack has had global roles such as Chief Executive Officer, Chief Strategy Officer, & Chief Culture Officer in banking and currently is the Vice President of Global Capability & Transformation in a market leading test lab in the gaming industry. 
Jack has been one of the top rated speakers and thought leaders for SHRM both at annual and state council conferences. Jack also hosts the successful "L&D Transformation Podcast: How To Lead The Future Of Our Organizations Through Talent Development” which is in its third season with over 100 episodes.

Mary Abbajay, author of the best-selling Managing Up: How to Succeed with Any Type of Boss is the president of Careerstone Group, a full-service organizational development consultancy that delivers leading-edge talent and organizational development solutions to business and government. As a sought-after speaker, consultant, and trainer, Mary helps clients develop the strategies, skills and sensibilities needed for 21st century success. Mary is a frequent expert contributor for national media outlets where she provides practical leadership and career advice. She has appeared in the New York Times, Harvard Business Review, Fast Company, Forbes, The Financial Times, Money Magazine, Southwest Airlines Magazine, Monster, and the BBC.

Karl Ahlrichs specializes in helping professionals make order from chaos. He is a national speaker, author, and consultant, presenting on the people issues in all industries, and is often quoted in the local and national media. 

Karl’s experience is ideally suited to times of organizational change as he pulls on risk management and organizational development theories to replace “best practices” with “next practices”. He owes much of his communications mastery to working as a writer and editor in daily media, to on-the-job writing experience and to the process of becoming a published author.

He joined Gregory & Appel in 2010 after serving as a founding partner of ExactHire, bringing his HR, operations, diversity & belonging, and learning & development skills with him. Karl’s affinity for design, composition and learning started at a very young age, by taking and examining thousands of boring pictures with the goal of improving his craft. He loves deploying that practice-to-improve approach with all manner of hobbies including writing haiku, mastering cutting-edge technology and learning Spanish.

In 2003, he was named the SHRM Human Resource Professional of the Year for the State of Indiana. He is on the Boards of several organizations, including the Maryland CPA Society.  He has lived in Scotland and Spain and lives to explore new experiences with his wife and family.

Magi The Evolutionist

Catalyst for Positive Change

Personal - Interpersonal - Team - Organizational

Using a unique combination of experiential coaching, science-backed development tools, and actionable strategies, Magi empowers leaders to evolve themselves and their organizational culture to meet the moment. Whether it’s change initiatives, new leadership, or cultural transformation, she partners with teams to catalyze positive change.

Magi has spent her life reinventing herself. From a single mother at 19 working at the first Cable TV company, to leading one of the fastest growing consultancies and becoming a best selling author in her field of expertise, Magi has continually taken challenges and failure as lessons and learned to move beyond her limits (both real and perceived) to live a life that inspires and contributes. Her body of work cuts through the personal, group, and organizational malaise stifling happiness, joy, and fulfillment at work. Her uplifting talks and groundbreaking courses uncover, catalyze, and optimize human potential, unite teams, and raise organizational effectiveness. 

Valerie helps companies improve their bottom line by elevating employees from tactical thinkers to strategic leaders.

She served in senior leadership roles at RollsRoyce Aircraft before helping to found InterActiveCorp, parent company to Expedia, Home Shopping Network and TicketMaster. She then went to work for Oprah Winfrey, helping to found the Oxygen channel which was later sold to NBC Universal.

Valerie obtained her mechanical engineering degree from Kettering University and her MBA from the Indiana University Kelley School of Business. Val’s book, Clash of the Generations: Managing the New Workplace Reality, helps leaders manage multiple generations in the office.

Amy Hirsh Robinson, M.B.A., is Chief People Officer for King’s Hawaiian, a global producer of irresistible Hawaiian food. Amy was brought on to King’s Hawaiian to re-envision the employee experience and transform the People function from traditional HR to a strategic driver of business growth. During her time at the company she has worked to radically redefine the purpose, structure and activities of HR with significant results. Prior to her role as CPO, Amy ran a successful human capital consulting firm, The Interchange Group, helping executives and HR professionals retool and adapt their strategies to rapidly changing workforce expectations and business landscapes.

Brigadier General (Ret.) Carol Eggert is SVP, Military and Veteran Affairs at Comcast NBCUniversal. She provides strategic leadership to all aspects of Comcast NBCUniversal’s programs and outreach to the military and veteran community. Carol completed her distinguished military career in 2014 as the Assistant Adjutant General for the Pennsylvania National Guard and the Deputy Commandant for the Army War College. She served in a variety of command and staff positions and completed numerous overseas deployments, including a 15-month combat tour in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom as Chief of the Women’s Initiatives Division and Senior Liaison to the U.S. Embassy, Baghdad, and received numerous military awards and commendations, including the Legion of Merit, Bronze Star, and Purple Heart. 

Dr. Edward E. Hubbard, President and CEO of Hubbard & Hubbard, Inc., an International Business Performance Consulting Corp. specializing in Business Improvement, Diversity Return on Investment (DROI®) Measurement/Analytics, and organizational development.  Author of more than 59 DEI ROI and Business-related books, Dr. Hubbard is an expert in Organizational Analysis, ROI Measurement, Strategic Planning, and more. Dr. Hubbard was an honoree at the Inaugural International Society of Diversity and Inclusion Professionals Living Legends of Diversity Award Ceremony in Rio Grande, Puerto Rico where he received the “Living Legends of Diversity Award” for creating the “Diversity ROI Analytics” and “Diversity Measurement Fields and their associated Disciplines” and is recognized globally as the creator of these unique sciences and fields of study. 

Dr. Hubbard received the “Excellence in Global Leadership Award” from the World HRD Congress (the highest individual professional award given), the 2017 Distinguished Alumni Award from The Ohio State University College of Arts and Sciences, the Sentry Award from the U.S. Pentagon, and many others.

Dr. Hubbard serves on the Harvard Business Review, Diversity Executive Magazine and Strategic Diversity & Inclusion Management (SDIM) magazine Editorial Advisory Boards and serves on the Board of Directors for The Ohio State University African American Alumni Society. He also holds a Practitioner Certification and Master Practitioner Certification in Neurolinguistic Programming (NLP), a Neuroscience discipline. Dr. Hubbard earned Bachelors, Masters Degrees from The Ohio State University and earned a Ph.D. with Honors in Business Administration.