ABOUT OUR
DEPARTMENT LEADERS

Susan founded Fierce in 2001 after 13 years leading CEO think tanks and more than 10,000 hours of conversations with senior executives. Over the past two decades, she has shared her expertise with clients through her keynote presentations, TedX Talks, and award-winning books, Fierce Conversations: Achieving Success at Work and in Life, One Conversation at a Time, and Fierce Leadership: An Alternative to the Worst “Best” Practices of Business Today. She holds a Bachelor of Art degree in English from Hobart and William Smith Colleges.

Susan is a popular and sought-after Fortune 100 public speaker, and renowned leadership development architect. Known for her bold yet practical approach to executive coaching and leadership development, Susan has been challenging people to say the things that are hard to say for over two decades.

Ed brings 20 years of expertise in finance and operations and has been a leader at Fierce since 2017. He holds two Bachelor of Science degrees from Arizona State University in Accounting and Computer Information Systems, and an MBA from the University of Michigan. He has held an active CPA license since 2004 and holds certificates in Entrepreneurship from Wharton and Harvard.

Prior to joining Fierce, Ed was Head of Finance with large multinational organizations such as Agilent Technologies, Avnet Inc., PricewaterhouseCoopers, Arthur Andersen as well as advising and supporting start-ups and early-stage companies.

Ed is an avid road bike cyclist clocking 120+ miles a week year-around helping his mental, physical, and spiritual balance as he puts it. He is passionate about helping those who don’t have the privilege, background, or resources to be fully prepared to engage in effective conversations at different levels in life (College, Professional, Personal, Parenthood).

Gabe brings more than 14 years of industrial and organizational psychology experience to the Fierce Team. He earned his Ph.D in Industrial/Organizational psychology from Bowling Green State University in 2008, and has published work in journals such as the Journal of Addictive Behaviors (an international peer-reviewed journal), and edited books such as The Handbook of Employee Engagement, which is considered an invaluable resource for organizational psychologists.

Prior to joining Fierce, Gabe spent over 7 years at The Naval Center for Combat and Operational Stress Control, where he was responsible for understanding and enhancing organizational factors impacting performance among sailors and marines.

Gabe loves the outdoors and enjoys surfing, biking, and snowboarding, and especially hiking with his wife. Read More

View his authored whitepaper on the impact of stress in the workplace

Download Whitepaper

Jaime brings more than 10 years of expertise as a Sales and Marketing professional and has been a leader at Fierce for the past 5 years. She holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from Cornish College of the Arts.

Prior to joining Fierce, Jaime has worked at Amazon, start-ups, and has spent a collective 8+ years with Fierce, recently moving into the VP of Sales role in late 2019. Prior to the VP of Sales role, she was the VP of Global and Channel.

She is a mother of two feisty and fierce girls and is married to her college sweetheart. Her passions are writing, reading, baking and exercise.

Gracien brings more than 15 years of experience in project management, program management, and product development and has been a leader at Fierce since early 2020. Gracien holds a Bachelor of Arts degree and a degree in Public Relations Management from McGill University, as well as a PMP certificate from Project Management Institute.

Prior to joining Fierce, he spent 7 years at Starbucks, where he served in various management positions in R&D, Supply Chain, and Technology. Before Starbucks, Gracien spent 10 years as a senior IT consultant at Fujitsu Consulting. Gracien is a Board member of Seattle United FC.

When not volunteering, Gracien enjoys practicing martial arts, going on rides, and planning the next soccer adventure with the kids.

Paul brings more than 20 years of experience in Organizational Development with a variety of organizations, domestic and global. He has worked with pre-supervisory leaders all the way up to the C-Suite, helping leaders achieve individual and organizational success.

Prior to joining Fierce, Paul held leadership positions in a variety of industries such as radio, institutional food service, and pharmaceuticals. He designed and was the main facilitator for a high-potential leadership development program for a global pharmaceutical organization, leading cohorts in the US, UK, Ireland, Belgium, India and more.

A former Vocal Performance Major, Paul enjoys all things Broadway, along with the (unfortunately, very infrequent) round of golf, and anything that allows him to gather with family and friends.

Luis brings more than 25 years experience in helping improve business outcomes for global organizations via training and coaching.

Prior to joining Fierce, Luis developed and facilitated training workshops for Microsoft’s global effectiveness, intercultural communication, and other targeted training sessions to improve customer satisfaction, intercultural competency, and communications of customer support engineers working with premier Microsoft accounts in the U.S.

With more than 15 years of experience with Marriott International and the Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company, Luis brings extensive hospitality leadership experience and a keen sense of customer service. At the Ritz-Carlton, he directed the implementation of Total Quality Management strategies, helping to win the prestigious Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award twice as a result.

A native English speaker, Luis also speaks Spanish fluently and is conversant in Portuguese. His passions include music of all kinds, world travel, yoga, and surfing.

Caroline brings more than 7 years of experience across people operations, customer service, and administration.
For the past 4 years, she has held multiple roles at Fierce and is passionate about the impact of cultural and cognitive diversity at home and in the workplace.

She studied Applied Business at Bellevue College and continues to be a lifelong learner.

Prior to joining Fierce, Caroline worked in customer centric roles where she built trusted partnerships and relationships.
After serving for 2 years, she currently oversees the Culture Committee at Fierce and works closely with cross-functional teams to promote and drive company culture.

Caroline is a gatherer of experiences, she’s happiest when surrounded by friends and family. Caroline spends her time immersed in music, the arts, and is an avid world traveler.

Christina brings over 10 years of finance and operations experience. She holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Accounting with honors from Colorado Technical University. She has been part of the Fierce tribe since 2014.

Christina has always had a passion for gaming, having grown up playing Nintendo, PlayStation, and later World of Warcraft. Outside of work, Christina enjoys ballroom dancing, playing softball, and is passionate about health & fitness.