20+ YEARS
Leadership Experience

4×
Global C-Suite Executive

FORMER
Google Sales Leader

EXECUTIVE COACH
KEYNOTE SPEAKER
AUTHOR

PODCAST HOST

Future leaders are already sitting inside most organizations.

The challenge isn't identifying potential. 

It's developing that potential into leadership capability before the organization needs it—and creating enough opportunity for those leaders to want to stay.

That's why I founded Upward Trajectory.

Through Leadership Optimization™, I help organizations develop high-potential talent by focusing development on what matters most for the leader, the organization, and the future role.

My approach is informed by more than two decades of leadership experience in high-growth global organizations, including serving as a former Google sales leader and four-time global C-suite executive. I've experienced firsthand what it takes to move from high performance to broader leadership—and the difference between simply working harder and learning how to lead differently.

I'm also an executive coach, keynote speaker, author of Balls & Brains, and host of the podcast Leadership Optimization with Chris Woods.

Through the podcast, I speak with accomplished executives, CHROs, and other leadership experts about what it really takes to develop leaders, build stronger organizations, and prepare high-potential talent for what's next.

My perspective on leadership was further shaped by a life-changing experience: I flatlined at 40. That experience fundamentally changed how I viewed success, leadership, and what it means to build a meaningful career and life.

Today, I bring those experiences together to help organizations get more from one of their most important investments:

The goal isn't to develop everything. It's to develop what matters most.

Helping leaders—and the organizations that depend on them—move from working harder to leading differently.