Leadership & Navigation

Heather Christie is a Certified Executive & Leadership Coach, Professional Speaker and "Recovering Attorney". She has consulted with hundreds of companies and addressed thousands of people in her talks and workshops over the last 12 years.  Prior to founding her Leadership Coaching firm, Evolve Global, Heather was Partner in a prominent Chicago law firm where she practiced as an international lobbyist. She co-authored the book “Bootstrap Business”. Heather has been recognized nationally and globally as a leader in the executive coaching industry. She is President-Elect of the National Speakers Association South Florida Chapter. You can find her at www.HeatherChristie.com.

As an HR Visionary, Samm has spent the last decade passionately pursuing the missing elements for employee engagement within organizations. 

This path led her to studies in Classical Oriental Medicine, and now as a certified Medical Qigong Therapist (pronounced “chee-gong”), Samm brings both Western and Eastern perspectives on wellness into workplaces to heal burnout.  She’s discovered that energetic health is key to building thriving workplaces. 

Samm founded a workplace wellness center called the HRart Center (pronounced “heart”). Also the author of four books, her most recent book Workplace Healers dives into her latest work.

Karlyn Borysenko, PhD is the force behind Zen Workplace. An organizational psychologist and executive/performance coach, she is a leader in integrating mindfulness strategies at work to increase productivity and creativity, reduce stress, and create better work experiences. Her practice is based in the greater Boston area and serves clients all over the world. She holds an MBA and a PhD in Psychology, is an experienced trainer and facilitator, coach, and award-winning speaker. She is the author of Zen Your Work: Create your ideal work experience through mindful self-mastery.

Gerry Valentine inspires people to build resilience—to overcome setbacks, to look at challenges in new ways, and to understand that adversity can become a source of resilience. Gerry’s a public speaker, executive coach, and business advisor with more than 25 years of Fortune 100 leadership experience. As the founder of Vision Executive Coaching, he is a trusted advisor to corporate executives, entrepreneurs, and entire companies.

Gerry is a TEDx speaker, is a contributor to Forbes.com, and has taught executive leadership at Colorado State University. Gerry earned a BS from Cornell University and an MBA from New York University.

Michael Lyons is a professional member of the National Speakers Association, and an author, actor, and former business executive for 40+ years in the hospitality industry.

Mike delivers talks in the U.S. and abroad on numerous topics, with a focus on leadership development and personal branding. His book “Set Yourself Free: Daydream it… Believe it… Achieve it!” was released in 2017 to widespread acclaim. 

A professional actor since 1990, Mike has dozens of credits in major films, TV shows, and commercials including speaking parts in “The Sixth Sense”, “All My Children”, “Veep”, “What Would You Do”, “Outsiders” and “House of Cards”, among others.

As an HR Visionary, Samm has spent the last decade passionately pursuing the missing elements for employee engagement within organizations. 

This path led her to studies in Classical Oriental Medicine, and now as a certified Medical Qigong Therapist (pronounced “chee-gong”), Samm brings both Western and Eastern perspectives on wellness into workplaces to heal burnout.  She’s discovered that energetic health is key to building thriving workplaces. 

Samm founded a workplace wellness center called the HRart Center (pronounced “heart”). Also the author of four books, her most recent book Workplace Healers dives into her latest work.

Karlyn Borysenko, PhD is the force behind Zen Workplace. An organizational psychologist and executive/performance coach, she is a leader in integrating mindfulness strategies at work to increase productivity and creativity, reduce stress, and create better work experiences. Her practice is based in the greater Boston area and serves clients all over the world. She holds an MBA and a PhD in Psychology, is an experienced trainer and facilitator, coach, and award-winning speaker. She is the author of Zen Your Work: Create your ideal work experience through mindful self-mastery.

Michael Lyons is a professional member of the National Speakers Association, and an author, actor, and former business executive for 40+ years in the hospitality industry.

Mike delivers talks in the U.S. and abroad on numerous topics, with a focus on leadership development and personal branding. His book “Set Yourself Free: Daydream it… Believe it… Achieve it!” was released in 2017 to widespread acclaim. 

A professional actor since 1990, Mike has dozens of credits in major films, TV shows, and commercials including speaking parts in “The Sixth Sense”, “All My Children”, “Veep”, “What Would You Do”, “Outsiders” and “House of Cards”, among others.

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.

As Owner of Evolve Global, she works primarily with Senior Leaders, High Potentials and Teams on: Leadership Development & Team Building. Heather is a Professional Member of the National Speakers Association and serves
on the Board of Directors as President-Elect for the Florida Speakers Association.

Using her expertise in behavioral analysis and executive alignment, Heather helps leaders grow their influence by developing others. As a professional speaker, she has mastered a practical and entertaining delivery methodology –
all of her program material is designed to inspire and motivate change. She gives each audience practical and actionable steps to apply each concept that she shares.

Heather’s guiding principle is to increase employee engagement and bottom line results through leadership development. She works with her clients to build their self-leadership; anticipate and embrace change; and to understand and adapt their behavioral style to improve communications and influence others to increase results.

Heather is also a Certified Speaking Professional (CSP). The CSP designation is the highest earned specification that can be achieved by a member of the National Speakers Association or Global Speakers Federation Member
Associations.