Profiles in Leadership

Carla is the Managing Director of THAXA, Inc. THAXA works with clients who are pursuing ambitious goals in the business and non-profit sectors achieve greater success through brutal focus. Bringing the best research from performance science to her work with clients, she helps them identify the most critical factors to reaching their goals to maximize their impact.

Prior to founding THAXA, Carla attended Brown University, where she graduated magna cum laude with a BA in Human Biology. She then completed her MD PhD at the University of Washington, researching cancer immunology at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. Continually passionate about high performance environments, she chose to complete her intern year in the field of general surgery at Stanford University. Following this, Carla returned to Seattle to found THAXA and apply her science background to conversations about performance to benefit clients.

Outside of work, Carla enjoys running, hiking, and skiing the many trails and mountains of the Pacific Northwest. Her community involvement includes being a partner at Social Venture Partners where she has helped launch and moderate a new Jeffersonian dinner series around big ideas and challenges in philanthropy

Carla is a member of the Washington Women’s Foundation and Seattle Rotary and chairs the Board of Trustees for Bloodworks Northwest.

Stephen McGarvey is the author of Ignite a Shift: Engaging Minds, Guiding Emotions and Driving Behavior and Founder & President of Solutions in Mind, and a world-leading authority on unconscious communication, positive persuasion and influencing with integrity. He has worked with businesses around the world to optimize their performance by helping them understand how their staff and their customers think, and what unconscious elements and patterns drive their behavior. He is a sought-after speaker, presenting to a variety of international audiences in a myriad of venues, ranging from the American Psychiatric Association Conference to numerous Fortune 500 companies. 

Chris Reading is the President and CEO of USPT (USPh).  He is been in this position for 18 years.  He started his career as a Physical Therapist as a sports ortho PT.  He later joined Healthsouth in a management position and then joined USPT as their COO.  He later became the CEO.  He lives in Houston and has 5 children.

Dr. Christopher is the Founder and CEO of The Responsibility Company, one of the go-to organizations for executive leadership development and change management training. They have been in business for over 30 years.

What makes them different is they teach their clients The Responsibility Process, a unique and thoroughly researched approach to teamwork and leadership, which they can use to lead themselves and others to results that matter.

The Responsibility Process has been used by leaders at top companies, including Microsoft, Whole Foods Market, Verizon, PayPal, eBay, and Wells Fargo. 

Dr. Christopher is an author who has written two books, Teamwork Is An Individual Skill, which shows readers how to develop skills that will enable them to thrive in any team and under any circumstances, and The Responsibility Process: Unlocking Your Natural Ability to Live and Lead with Power. This book offers practices obtained from 25 years of applied research on responsibility-taking and leadership.

Dr. Christopher is also a speaker who is popular with audiences interested in agility, effective leadership, and results that benefit an organization and its employees.

As President of the Washington Commanders, Jason Wright is responsible for leading the organization's business divisions, including operations, finance, sales, and marketing. In addition to leading a historic transformation of a sports franchise, he is the first Black team president in the history of the NFL and currently is the youngest team president in the League. He is the fourth former NFL player to become president of a team.

Prior to joining the Washington Commanders, Jason was a partner in McKinsey & Company's Washington DC office. His work focused on expanding the value of large, complex organizations through operations and culture transformations. Jason specialized in steering companies through their toughest moments - in crisis and turnaround scenarios. From systemic personnel misconduct to financial distress to COVID-19 response, Jason's tenure at McKinsey supported a range of multi-national, corporation-specific challenges, while also leading the company's global inclusion and anti-racism strategies.

His deep passion for intentional change that profoundly expands opportunities for historically marginalized populations resulted in his work co-founding McKinsey's Black Economic Institute. A research entity that analyzes the racial wealth gap, the Institute today serves as a prominent voice in public discussions regarding racial equity in corporate America. This advocacy, combined with his data- and results-oriented approaches, have been sought out by leading organizations, such as The Greater Washington Partnership, where Jason helps lead its Inclusive Growth Strategy Council as co-chair. The Inclusive Growth Strategy Council is a regional collaborative that dissects and identifies a blueprint for the region to address long-standing gaps in income, services, employment, and access to capital for lower-income populations.

Jason's commitment to faith, family, and community is marked by his service on the Board of Trustees at Union Theological Seminary, where he is helping the institution better equip a changing student body focused on community organizing and social entrepreneurship.

His leadership, passion for community change, and business acumen have been noted nationally and regionally, with Jason being awarded as a "Top 40 under 40" by Black Enterprise magazine, Sports Business Journal's "Best Hire of 2020," and standing as a member of The Economic Club of Washington D.C., where he serves alongside DC-based executives supporting a range of initiatives in the DMV.

Jason spent seven years as a running back in the NFL and was team captain and NFLPA player representative for the Arizona Cardinals during the 2011 NFL lockout. He has a B.A. in psychology from Northwestern University, where he was an Academic All-American student athlete, a two-time All-Big Ten football selection, and the president of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity and the Fellowship of Christian Athletes. He received his M.B.A. in Operations and Finance with honors, from the University of Chicago-Booth School of Business.

Dr Stanley Paris a New Zealand trained physiotherapist came to America in 1966.

His career has combined practice with education and he has made time for sports participation.

He founded and was the first president of the Orthopaedic Section.

Founded and was the second president of the International Federation of Orthopaedic manipulative Therapy – the first sub section of WCPT.

Founded the University of St. Augustine which grew to four campus’s nationwide when he sold it in 2015.

Has received the highest honor in the APTA that being awarded the Mary McMillian Lectureship and then again the same within the World Confederation of Physical Therapy, the Mildred Elson Award.

He has received five fellowships including becoming a FAPTA and an honorary doctor of laws from his alma mater, the University of Otago in New Zealand.

Currently at 85 years he is retired but is:

• Honorary member of the board of trustees of the FPTR
• Vice president of the English Channel Swimming Association

John Robertson is the Founder and President of FORTLOG.  John built his services with a focus on an encouragement based approach, resolving root causes as opposed to treating crisis and tradition in the workplace symptomatically, as is often the practice.  A trusted thinking partner with 30+ years of assisting individuals and organizations manage all forms of crisis/change, John leverages a values-anchored ethos as a leadership development specialist, helping organizations and individuals to define the new norm and thrive.

Over the years, Hohn has gained extensive and diverse experience working with Indigenous peoples (First Nations), first responders, small to medium businesses, non-profits, churches, communities, municipalities, educational health care, families, and EPA's.  John's qualifications include, Conversational IQ, psychological health and safety advisor, ICF Coach, Resilient Leadership, crisis intervention instructor, numerous psychometric tools, Certified Treatment Specialist (CTTS), Certified grief counselor, and Masters and Bachelors degree. 

Chuck “Charlie” Mollor is founder, CEO, executive coach, and advisor at

MCG Partners. An organization that specializes in leadership and talent

optimization, aligning business and people strategy for maximum results. He

is the author of his new and best-selling book, The Rise of the Agile Leader: Can

You Make the Shift?, an Amazon’s #1 best-selling book on management.

As a recognized expert in leadership effectiveness, a former Harvard Business 

School executive coach, and a member of the Forbes Coaches Council, Chuck 

specializes in coaching and advising senior, global executives and leadership

teams through times of rapid-growth, M&A, and change. For over 35 years,

He has advised, coached, and consulted executives and organization across

Industries, from startups to Fortune 500 and not-for-profit organizations.

Chuck has served on several boards, was a Cranberry Grower-Owner of Ocean Spray, and is a fundraiser and rider for the Pan-Mass Challenge (PMC), a 192-

mile bike ride for the fight against cancer. Chuck has four children, three dogs,

and is a first-generation American.

A conservatory-trained professional bassist, Gerald J. Leonard offers a unique approach to accomplishing more in the workplace. He is the CEO of Principles of Execution, a Certified Minority Business Enterprise and consulting practice with over 20 years’ experience working with federal and state governments and multinational corporations. Past and present clients include Verizon, Center of Medicaid and Medicare, Freddie Mac, Hewlett-Packard (HP), GEICO, and many more.

ERIC PLINER, Chief Executive Officer of YSC Consulting, has more than 20 years’ experience in leadership development, organizational culture, and diversity and inclusion initiatives. He is a Board Director of Hip Hop Public Health, co-founded by Doug E. Fresh and Dr. Olajide Williams. Eric has coached teams and leaders throughout the FTSE 100 and Fortune 500, across advertising, media, entertainment, and sports; fashion and luxury; private equity; life sciences; financial services; FMCG; energy and utilities; government, non-profit social change and more.​ He lives in Brooklyn, NY, with his husband and three children.