About Jim Carlough

With over 30 years of leadership experience, Jim Carlough is an accomplished business

strategist, speaker, and author. Having successfully driven explosive growth for healthcare

organizations—from start-ups to industry leaders — Jim is a trusted expert in building high-

performing teams, revitalizing underperforming businesses, and guiding organizations through

transformational change.

Jim's core philosophy—leaders aren’t born; they’re developed—challenges the myth of innate

leadership.

In his book, The Six Pillars of Effective Leadership: A Roadmap to Success, Jim delivers

a practical and inspiring guide for leaders at every stage of their journey. His approach focuses on

six essential traits that empower individuals to embrace leadership as a skill that can be learned,

honed, and mastered through experience, mentorship, and intentional growth.

Aang Lakey is a distinguished leader with over 20 years of expertise in leadership development, violence prevention, and diversity and inclusion, honed through extensive experience in the U.S. Army and federal government. Aang excels in guiding leaders to integrate consciousness and emotional intelligence into their practices, emphasizing the critical importance of intentionality and reflexivity in leadership.
Throughout their career, Aang has advised leaders at various levels, helping them understand the profound impact their actions and behaviors have on organizational culture. Aang's approach is deeply rooted in the belief that effective leadership is built on a foundation of self-awareness, empathy, and a commitment to aligning actions with values. Aang’s work is particularly focused on helping leaders navigate the complexities of diversity, inclusion, and violence prevention, ensuring that these essential issues are addressed with both sensitivity and effectiveness.
Aang’s personal journey is a powerful testament to their commitment to this work. Having overcome significant socialization and unconscious biases from their upbringing in a challenging environment, Aang brings a relatable and authentic perspective to their teachings. They are passionate about helping others confront and overcome similar challenges, advocating for the practical application of leadership principles and appropriate accountability within organizations.

Mick Hoffman has been the Executive Director of the Washington Interscholastic Activities

Association since the spring of 2019. He is the Association's fifth executive director.

Serving at virtually every level of the WIAA, Mr. Hoffman most recently held the role of Assistant

Superintendent and Chief Operations Officer for Vancouver Public Schools. Before taking over

as an Assistant Superintendent, he served as the District Athletic Director for Vancouver Public

Schools from 2007-15. Mr. Hoffman also represented WIAA District IV on the WIAA Executive

Board from 2016-18 where he was a member of the Classification Committee and chaired the

WIAA Recruiting Committee.

Mr. Hoffman got his start as a language arts and social studies teacher at Fort Vancouver High

School and Hudson’s Bay High School in Vancouver, Washington. He has head coaching

experience with boys’ basketball as well as boys’ and girls’ golf.

Mr. Hoffman graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Education before earning a Master’s of

Education all from the University of Portland

Michael P. Johnson, PhD, PT is Chief Researcher, Home Care Innovation at BAYADA

Home Health Care in Moorestown, NJ. This is a new role where Dr. Johnson is

responsible for building an infrastructure that will support collaborative research efforts

across eight (8) specialty practices at BAYADA, partnering with academic researchers, industry leaders, as well as payors and policy makers, to advance the quality and accessibility of care in the home.

Prior to his role as Chief Researcher, Dr. Johnson spent nearly 10 years as President of the Home Health Practice which is comprised of over 120 offices in 22 states that provide care to nearly 29,000 clients weekly through a multidisciplinary team approach delivered by over 3,500 clinicians and staff. The practice focusesprimarily on geriatric home care services under the Medicare Program. He also served, concurrently as President of the Hospice Practice for 3 years, which is comprised of over 20 offices in 8 states that provide end of life care to nearly 1,400 clients daily.

Dr. Johnson has served as a member of the National Advisory Council for the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), a Steering Group member for the AQA Alliance, and as a consultant on the development and testing of quality measurements for use in the Physician Quality Reporting System (PQRS). He has also served in multiple elected and appointed roles within the American Physical Therapy Association (APTA) over the past 30 years, including as a member of the Scientific Advisory Panel (SAP) for the Center on Health Services Training and Research (CoHSTAR).

He lives just outside of Philadelphia, PA with his family - spouse of 33 years – Beth and three adult children – Lucas, Madeline, and Paige. He holds a BS in Physical Therapy from Northeastern University (Boston), an MS in Orthopedic Physical Therapy from MCP Hahnemann University (Philadelphia) and a PhD in Health Policy from the University of the Sciences (Philadelphia).

Marcelo Calbucci is an entrepreneur, innovator, technologist, and author. He’s been building software products for over thirty years, having sold his first software at age fourteen. He has worked at Microsoft (Exchange Server & Bing) and Amazon (People eXperience & Technology), leading software engineering, product, data science, and UX. He has founded six startups in Seattle and London and launched a dozen tech projects. He’s the inventor of eleven patents. Marcelo has been a community builder in Seattle, organizing dozens of meetups, events, and conferences. He has written over one thousand blog posts and articles on his web-site and other tech publications. Outside of tech and startups, Marcelo loves to cook elaborate meals for friends, run marathons (eight and counting), and travel with his wife and kids.

Tom Preston, co-author of COACHING POWER, is the founder of The Preston Associates, one of the world’s premier executive coaching firms. With decades of experience coaching leaders across industries and geographies, he has helped organizations achieve extraordinary outcomes. A former private equity executive and bestselling author of Coach Yourself to Success, he brings deep insights and practical wisdom to his work.

Luciana Nuñez, co-author of COACHING POWER, is an accomplished executive coach and former CEO with more than 20 years of leadership experience at Fortune 500 companies, including Bayer, Danone, and Roche. She blends her strategic expertise with a passion for mentoring, serving as a board member, investor, and advisor to entrepreneurs and executives worldwide.

Scott Marshall is the host of the As Unexpected Podcast and President and CEO of the Institute for Shipboard Education, a 61-year-old nonprofit that directs Semester at Sea, the world’s leading comparative study abroad program.

Prior to joining Semester at Sea, Marshall was a Professor of Management, Vice Provost and Interim Dean in the College of Business at Portland State University. Scott’s life-long commitment to global education and travel was born out of a study abroad program in Japan as an undergraduate. Scott, his wife, and their two children sailed on the Spring 2017 voyage of Semester at Sea, after which he joined the organization as Vice President of Academic Affairs. He has served as President since January 2020.

As a business professor, Marshall taught, researched, wrote and published over 40 articles, book chapters and case studies on management, marketing, entrepreneurship and international studies. During his time in academia, Scott also taught a wide range of courses in strategy, entrepreneurship and management. He earned his B.A. in Business Economics at Willamette University, his M.A. in International Affairs from George Washington University, and his Ph.D. in International Business from the University of Oregon.

David Heacock’s transformation from a successful Wall Street career to a game-changing entrepreneur is a story of bold decisions, resilience, and relentless determination. Walking away from a seven-figure finance job, David took a leap of faith to rebuild his family’s struggling business—Filterbuy.

With zero experience in manufacturing, he faced incredible challenges, yet turned what began as a small factory in Alabama into a $250M industry leader.

Today, Filterbuy disrupts the indoor air quality sector, producing millions of high-quality air filters and expanding into HVAC services, air purification, and automotive filtration, while creating nearly 1,000 U.S. jobs and serving over 7 million customers.

David’s journey has been anything but easy—he's overcome burned-down factories, near-fatal accidents, and countless setbacks along the way. Yet, through his grit and determination, he’s scaled his business without investors or shortcuts. His success story is a testament to what can be achieved when an entrepreneur is willing to face adversity head-on.

Now, David is sharing the raw, unfiltered lessons he’s learned from building a business from the ground up, inspiring others to take that same leap into entrepreneurship, no matter how daunting it seems.