Contributors
and a U.S. Navy Vietnam-era veteran.
With the BCG, David focuses on coaching executives and senior teams through personal, interpersonal, and organizational change in an experiential, facilitative, and on-going manner. His sum and substance is helping people create whole, natural, working systems from the inside out. A partial client list includes: General Electric; Leonard Rice Engineers; IBM; Partners Federal Credit Union; AT&T; TomTom; Disney; Ben & Jerry’s; General Motors; Orange County’s Credit Union; Ubisense; Exxon; RepairPal.com; Sharonview Federal Credit Union; Ascend Analytics; Western & Eastern Management Development Center; the State Department; OMB; IRS; Gambro; Baxter Healthcare; Level 3; NBC; Raytheon; Kimberly-Clark; United Artists; Bausch & Lomb; Connexus; Kaleida Healthcare; RochesterTel Company; Citizens Utilities; QWEST; Charles Schwab; Ciba-Giegy; Hewlett-Packard; Cummins Power; M W Kellogg; UST; StorageTek; Synaptics; Torstar; the UN; and, several Universities, Hospitals, Notfor-
profit Foundations, School Districts, and Municipal Governments.
David was born in Colorado, has climbed all 54 – 14,000 ft. peaks and has successfully climbed over 6,000 meters (20,000 feet), on more than 64 different peaks. In the fall of 2003, he stood on the south summit of Mt. Everest with the first team to do so in November. Dr. Burger was an avid student of Christian theology and studied Yoga both in India and in the U.S.A. He is listed in the National Register’s, Who’s Who in Executives and Professionals, 2000 edition. He spends his spare time climbing, gardening, skiing, woodworking, mountain and road bike riding, reading, racing sports cars, in spiritual practices, working on his handmade cabin in the Utah wilderness, or with his two adult children. David received his Ph.D. from the University of Colorado at Boulder, working in Counseling & Consulting Psychology, Experiential Education, and Organizational Behavior. His Master’s Degree is from the same University in Education, Philosophy, and Religious Studies. His BA is from Western State College of Colorado where he completed four majors and received a Colorado Teaching Certificate.
Dr. Susan Cain, Ed.D., LCSW | The Corporate Learning Institute.
Susan Cain, Ed. D., LCSW, is a business consultant and coach, author and speaker. Susan is a partner at the Corporate Learning Institute, an established consultancy firm based in Chicago, Illinois. She serves as adjunct faculty at several Chicago area business schools. Susan’s practice includes an international base of clientele. Susan helps clients create customized coaching and training solutions to optimize performance and personal efficacy at work.
James Herrera | Wounded Warrior Project, Director of Physical Health & Wellness
James received Masters degrees in Exercise Physiology and Psychology from the University of Texas at El Paso, where he also served as an instructor for the departments of Health Sciences, Professional and Continuing Education, and served as a strength coach to a number of collegiate athletes. He brings 25 years of professional coaching, nutritional guidance, and a lifetime of athletic experiences to his clients. James holds advanced coaching certification with USA Cycling and USA Weightlifting, and is a certified sports nutritionist and strength and conditioning specialist. He has held numerous licensures for sports performance, nutritional counseling, and classroom teaching over the years.
His research background, physiology expertise, and focus on sport-specificity training have allowed him to successfully design training plans for athletes and executives in a variety of competitive arenas. In the spring of 2005, James founded Performance Driven, a consulting company focusing on the advancement of athletic performance, health, executive fitness, and lifestyle balance. Soon after, he was hired on as a faculty member and lead trainer for the Center for Creative Leadership in Colorado Springs, an organization dedicated to leadership education, research, and unparalleled expertise in solving the challenges of senior leaders and organizations around the world. James was instrumental in developing the center’s fitness coaching model and currently consults with a number of the organization’s leadership program graduates to bring better health, fitness, nutrition, and lifestyle balance to their busy lives.
James serves as a mentor for junior coaches, contributes article and book content to a wide range of publications and websites, and has presented leadership, health, fitness, and nutrition related topics at seminars around the world. His athletes have stood on the podium at national and international athletic events at the professional and amateur levels. In 2007, he was asked to join forces with USA Cycling’s BMX program as a coach and consultant to help prepare our Olympic hopefuls for the sports debut at the Beijing games and later served as the National Team Coach from 2010-2014. He is the recipient of the 2011 US Olympic Committee Coach of the Year award and coached the team at the 2012 Olympic Games in London.
With an ongoing passion to be part of a mission greater than self, he joined forces with the Wounded Warrior Project in January of 2015 to direct the organization’s Physical Health and Wellness team, offering programs and services nationally to some 75,000 post 9/11 veterans. James has since added the Soldier Ride team to his directorship portfolio, while the veteran membership has neared 100,000. He spearheaded the redesign of the team’s program platform to deepen the impact on the health of the warriors they serve. Bringing life changing programs and services to US veterans, while being part of an amazing team, has truly opened his eyes to the healing powers of sound health and nutritional practices.
James has been a lifelong athlete in a number of sports, beginning his journey as a competitive swimmer, boxer, and cyclist. He participated in most all team sports through school age, transitioning to more individualistic pursuits as an adult. James currently spends his free time mountain biking, surfing, snowboarding, trail running, weightlifting, and climbing rock and ice. He has also spent decades training and instructing in several combat arts, achieving black belt ranks in Shotokan Karate and Bujutsu Kumiuche
Caroline J. Fisher, Ph.D. | President and Owner, Fisher Consulting Group, LLC
An arena of particular expertise for Dr. Fisher is corporate culture as it relates to bottom-line business performance. Her research has produced groundbreaking understanding of the link between a company’s culture and the results it achieves in the areas of profitability, sales growth, market share, quality, innovation, and employee satisfaction. She has worked in close partnership with Dr. Daniel Denison, of the University of Michigan Business School, in creating models, tools and intervention methodologies that have now been used by over 2,500 companies worldwide. Her research findings, publications, and consulting activities help corporate leaders to identify and build upon cultural strengths, to prioritize and address key cultural weaknesses, and to target business processes toward measurable business results.
Specialties: Communications, public relations, marketing internal corporate communications, and organizational effectiveness offers clients insight and precise strategy concerning performance issues at the individual, team, and organization-wide levels.
Brandi Stankovic, Ed.D. | Senior Vice President, Credit Union Engagement & Consulting
Dr. Brandi Stankovic is an organizational change expert, motivational speaker, professor, artist and mommy who inspires firms globally with her models of leadership, engagement, and award-winning education. She is a senior vice president with CU Solutions group and spends her time consulting with CEOs and their teams, driving a new product-led consulting strategy, creating a national network of consultants, writing books and developing products for leadership and organizational health, and speaking to audiences from across the globe. Prior to CUSG, Brandi was the Managing Partner of Mitchell Stankovic & Associates, Vice President of Marketing and Administration for Ventura County Credit Union and the Director of Education at Harland.
Brandi is the coauthor of The Strategic MVP, a book of 52 growth and leadership tools and the host of the energizing podcast, The Strategic Hotbox designed to help executives reach their greatest potential.
Brandi is a board director for the Nevada Council on Economic Education, Young Leaders vice chair for CMN Hospitals Credit Unions for Kids, the HRD Network Board advisor, director for University of Nevada Alumni Advisory Committee, and a Development Educator CUDE and I-CUDE. She is also the World Young Credit Union Professionals Committee chair and US Ambassador for the Global Women’s Leadership Network, World Council of Credit Unions, helping advance young executives and women in leadership across the globe. She is the recipient of the National Credit Union Foundation’s DE Individual Achievement Award 2017, Credit Union Times Under 40 Trailblazer 2016, California Nevada Credit Union League Tomorrow’s Star 2015, MAC Gold Award Financial Literacy and Community Outreach 2015, and the HRD Network Outstanding CU Professional 2014.
Brandi received her Bachelors in Finance and Economics at University of Nevada, Masters of Business Administration from University of San Diego and Doctorate in Organizational Leadership from Pepperdine University.