Stephen Miles has 25 years of experience working with CEOs, emerging C-suite talent, and boards of directors – from the largest global corporations to high-growth start-ups. He has helped these leaders handle some of the most critical leadership challenges and decisions companies are facing today.
A specialist in CEO succession, Stephen has partnered with numerous boards of global Fortune 500 companies to ensure that a successful leadership selection and transition occurs. Stephen is a recognized expert on the role of the chief operating officer, and has worked with numerous companies on the establishment and the effectiveness of the position and supporting the transition from COO to effective CEO.
Stephen is a coach to many CEOs and COOs around the world. He and his CEO advisory services were profiled in the Bloomberg Businessweek article “The Rising Star of CEO Consulting.”
Speaking frequently to organizations on strategies for coaching C-level executives and developing high-potential talent to high performance, Stephen has been featured in the Harvard Business Review, The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Fortune, Entrepreneur, and Chief Executive. He collaborates frequently with the Stanford Graduate School of Business on research around CEOs and boards.
Stephen is a director at CDK Global (NASDAQ: CDK), where he serves as a member of the Nominating & Governance Committee. He holds a bachelor’s degree in psychology and a master’s of business administration, both from Queen’s University in Kingston, Canada. He also holds a master’s degree in psychology from the University of Victoria. Stephen currently resides in Atlanta, Georgia. He has lived in Kenya, South Africa, Iraq, Argentina, and Canada.

Podcasts
Leading During the Coronavirus Crisis
10 Critical Keys to Business Survival
Dealing with Sudden Change
The Agent Problem: Becoming a Better Advocate for Your Best People
SocQ: The New Leadership Skill Required for the Social Economy
Managing Your Most Difficult But Most Valuable Employees
When the Right Person Is in the Wrong Role
Fostering Idea Conflict
How to Avoid Having Another Worthless Meeting
Stasis vs. Growth Mindset
How the Smartest CEOs Are Preparing for the Next Recession

Publications
“The Double-Edged Sword of CEO Activism” – Stanford Closer Look paper from the Corporate Governance Research Initiative (CGRI) at the Stanford Graduate School of Business, co-authored with Stanford Professor David Larcker, researcher Brian Tayan, and Kim Wright-Violich
“How Boards Should Evaluate Their Own Performance” – Harvard Business Review, co-authored with Stanford Graduate School of Business professor David Larcker, researcher Brian Tayan, and Taylor Griffin
“How Board Evaluations Fall short”– Veritas Executive Compensation Consultants, co-authored with Professor David Larcker, Brian Tayan, and Taylor Griffin
“Board Evaluations and Boardroom Dynamics” – Stanford Closer Look paper from the Corporate Governance Research Initiative (CGRI) at the Stanford Graduate School of Business, co-authored with Professor David Larcker, Brian Tayan, and Taylor Griffin
“10 Talent Management Mistakes Your Company Can’t Afford to Make” – Chief Executive

Books:
Leaders Talk Leadership: Top Executives Speak Their Minds – Co-edited with Meredith Ashby
Riding Shotgun: The Role of the Chief Operating Officer – Co-authored with Nate Bennett
Your Career Game: How Game Theory Can Help You Achieve Your Professional Goals – Co-authored with Nate Bennett

Taylor Griffin works with CEOs, senior executives, and boards of directors across a broad range of company size and stage – from the largest Fortune 50 global corporations to private-equity portfolio companies and emergent VC-backed firms. She works with leaders to continuously attain higher levels of performance, grow successfully into new roles or new organizations, and build their viability as succession candidates for the C-suite or the CEO role itself. With boards and management, she draws from her deep experience working on top talent development and succession projects to help fortify organizations in their talent needs for the future. As COO, she is responsible for the overall operations and management of the firm.
Prior to helping establish TMG, she was with Heidrick & Struggles’ Leadership Consulting Practice. Before joining Heidrick & Struggles, Taylor was an attorney specializing in commercial litigation and bankruptcy matters in state and federal court. Taylor holds a bachelor’s degree in political science, cum laude and with honors, from the University of Arizona, and a juris doctorate from Emory University School of Law. She lives in Phoenix, Arizona.

Podcasts
Dealing with Sudden Change
Managing Underperformance
Dealing with Difference: Adapting to a Diverse Global Workforce
The Importance of Asking Questions
Working For a Tough Boss – One of Bizwomen’s Favorite Podcasts in 2019

Publications
“When High Performers Behave Badly” – C-Suite magazine, co-authored with Courtney Hamilton
“How Boards Should Evaluate Their Own Performance” – Harvard Business Review, co-authored with Stanford Graduate School of Business professor David Larcker, researcher Brian Tayan, and Stephen Miles
“How Board Evaluations Fall Short” – Veritas Executive Compensation Consultants, co-authored with Professor David Larcker, Brian Tayan, and Stephen Miles
“Board Evaluations and Boardroom Dynamics” – Stanford Closer Look paper from the Corporate Governance Research Initiative (CGRI) at the Stanford Graduate School of Business, co-authored with Professor David Larcker, researcher Brian Tayan, and Stephen Miles
“Board Evaluations: Good Defense and Good Offense” – Ethical Boardroom, co-authored with William Stern

Courtney Hamilton has worked on numerous CEO successions, partnering closely with boards and key stakeholders to ensure seamless transitions. Her experience crosses a number of industries, including financial services, technology, transportation, media, industrial products, consumer products, manufacturing, and healthcare. Courtney has been with TMG coaching top executives for years; she has deep experience assessing and developing senior executives across multiple Fortune 500 companies.

Prior to joining TMG, Courtney served as Regional Manager for livingsocial in Asia, where she was responsible for market entry strategy, acquisition integrations, and retail e-commerce expansion. She also held roles in marketing and investment banking with American Express in Beijing and FBR & Co. in New York. Courtney holds a master’s in business administration from Harvard Business School and a master’s degree in Chinese Studies from the School of Oriental and African Studies in London. She earned her bachelor’s degree from Georgetown University, with honors in Chinese. She lives in New York.

Podcasts
The Talent Private Equity Firms Are Looking For
Protecting Your Job in a Merger or Acquisition

Publications
“Where Does Human Resources Sit at the Strategy Table?” – Stanford Closer Look paper from the Corporate Governance Research Initiative (CGRI) at the Stanford Graduate School of Business, co-authored with Professor David Larcker, researcher Brian Tayan, and Stephen Miles
“When High Performers Behave Badly” – C-Suite magazine, co-authored with Taylor Griffin

Elizabeth Kelly is a managing director at The Miles Group where she partners closely with clients of high-performing organizations in several leadership development and coaching capacities. Elizabeth has advised on numerous CEO succession projects across a variety of industries including media, energy, technology, manufacturing, food services, and consumer goods. She also brings a depth of experience assessing C-suite and other senior executives among distinguished Fortune 500 clients.

Prior to joining TMG, Elizabeth practiced law as a civil litigator in New York and Michigan. She also worked at KPMG within its People & Change practice, specializing in change management strategies and communications. Before her current role, she created bespoke learning and development programs rooted in psychological research at The Mind Gym.

Elizabeth graduated from the University of Michigan, majoring in Psychology and Sociology, and received her juris doctorate from the University of Iowa. During law school, she taught and led undergraduate courses for the University of Iowa’s psychology department. Elizabeth is based out of TMG’s New York office.

Stephanie McCoy Loquvam is a managing director at The Miles Group. She advises clients across many dimensions of leadership, including executive selection, senior team effectiveness, succession planning, and scaled leadership development. Stephanie supports senior leadership teams and individual executives through 360 assessments, individual and group coaching, and team assimilation / alignment programs. She also has experience working with the Boards of Directors of publicly traded companies to assess board composition and enhance overall effectiveness. Stephanie brings diverse perspectives based on experience across industries including technology, financial services, construction, oil and gas, and food services.

Before joining TMG, Stephanie was an attorney in private practice representing businesses of all sizes in commercial disputes, regulatory issues, corporate governance and constitutional matters.

Stephanie holds a bachelor’s degree, a master’s degree in forensic psychology, and a master’s degree in business administration from Tiffin University, as well as a juris doctorate from the Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law at Arizona State University, where she served as an editor of Jurimetrics: The Journal of Law, Science and Technology. Stephanie lives in Phoenix, Arizona.

John Nasr is a managing director with The Miles Group, where he focuses on executive coaching, assessments, and C-suite succession planning. John serves as an executive coach for business and functional leaders across industries, including airlines, defense, technology, utilities, financial services, homebuilding, consumer packaged goods, oil and gas, healthcare, manufacturing, and professional sports. John is also a trusted partner to Boards and senior management, having consulted on talent development initiatives, including CEO and other C-suite succession planning, for several large, multi-national corporations.

Prior to joining TMG, John worked in operations accounting for one of the country’s largest oil and gas companies in Dallas, TX. Following his work as an accountant, John practiced law at a large firm in Phoenix, Arizona, where he represented primarily institutional clients, including publicly traded banks, in commercial bankruptcy and related matters and was recognized by SuperLawyers as a Rising Star.

John holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration (finance and accounting double major) from the University of Oklahoma. He also holds a juris doctorate from the Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law at Arizona State University and a master’s degree in business administration from the W.P. Carey College of Business at Arizona State University. John lives in Phoenix.

Samantha Smith is a managing director with The Miles Group focused on CEO and executive succession planning, leadership coaching, executive assessment, board effectiveness, and team effectiveness. She partners with public companies, PE-backed companies and VC-backed companies across all sectors, advising them on their most important leadership and talent decisions. Prior to joining TMG, she was a principal at Heidrick & Struggles, where she was a member of the CEO & Board and Global Technology practices. Samantha successfully completed C-level searches for board members, Chief Executive Officers, Chief Operating Officers, General Managers, Chief Financial Officers, Chief Product Officers, and other functional leaders. She was actively involved in the firm’s leadership consulting efforts and advised companies on succession planning, executive assessment, and onboarding.

Samantha holds a master’s in business administration from Columbia Business School and a bachelor’s degree from Colby College. She lives in New York City.

William (“Billy”) Stern is a managing director with The Miles Group. His client work focuses on CEO and senior team succession planning, CEO and senior executive coaching, executive assessments (including pre-hire or pre-invest assessments), board evaluations and optimization, and top team effectiveness services.

Prior to joining Ancestry, Billy was General Counsel at Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, Inc. (“MSLO”), where he represented MSLO in a wide array of licensing transactions, SEC matters, acquisitions and general corporate matters. Prior to joining MSLO, Billy was a Principal at Fish & Richardson P.C., and a Partner at Morrison & Foerster LLP. At Morrison & Foerster, he was also the hiring partner for the New York office. Billy received his bachelor’s degree from Brown University in 1986, and his juris doctorate and master’s in business administration from The University of Chicago in 1992.

Podcasts:
The Talent Private Equity Firms Are Looking For
What Does a General Counsel Do?

Publications:
“Top 10 talent management mistakes CEOs can’t afford to make” – BizJournals
“Board Evaluations: Good Defense and Good Offense” – Ethical Boardroom, co-authored with Taylor Griffin

Christina Woodard works on talent assessment and planning for numerous Fortune 500 and private equity clients, and serves as an executive coach for leaders in a range of business and functional roles. Before joining TMG, Christina was director of growth operations for NorthStar Anesthesia, a TPG Growth company. Prior to that, Christina spent five years with the New York office of McKinsey & Company. There, she led professional development for McKinsey’s Northeast office block, advising on career and leadership development issues, designing and implementing strategic human capital initiatives, leading review and talent development processes, and coaching consultant through partner-level colleagues and teams around effectiveness.

Christina was also a senior engagement manager with McKinsey, where she advised clients across industries on a variety of strategic, growth, and organizational design issues, bringing particular expertise on the issues surrounding mergers and acquisitions, including top team success and onboarding, cultural integration, organization design, operational and financial integration, and value creation / value capture. Earlier in her career, Christina worked for the consulting firms GreenOrder and Booz & Company (now Strategy&).

Christina holds a master’s in business administration from Harvard Business School and a bachelor’s degree in finance from Southern Methodist University. She splits her time between New York City and Boulder, CO.

Jenny Bush is a senior consultant at The Miles Group, where she provides support for client engagements across the firm’s practice areas.

Prior to joining TMG, Jenny worked on the strategy team at JUUL Labs, supporting international go-to-market strategy, operational optimization and organizational restructuring and alignment. In addition to focusing on the organizational strategy through these changes, Jenny worked across a number of business challenges, including operational optimization, international market strategy and portfolio strategy. Prior to JUUL Labs, Jenny spent time working in early-stage startups and venture capital.

Jenny graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, majoring in organizational communications with honors. She received her master’s in business administration from Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern, where she focused on marketing strategy and managing organizations. She currently resides in Denver, Colorado.

Felicia Munion is a senior consultant at The Miles Group where she works closely with clients to enhance their leadership through 360 assessments, executive coaching, and succession planning. Felicia has extensive experience in the for-profit healthcare and technology sectors.

Prior to joining TMG, Felicia worked in several start-ups before founding and growing a multi-million-dollar healthcare company. In her early career she practiced law at Lewis & Roca LLP where she focused on intellectual property and commercial litigation. Felicia also completed a clerkship with Judge Harris L Hartz on the United States 10th Circuit Court of Appeals.

Felicia graduated from Bryn Mawr College magna cum laude and earned her juris doctor from Cornell University where she was an editor of the Cornell Law Review and the Legal Information Institute. She holds a master’s degree in international business law from the Sorbonne University in Paris and is a certified professional coach. Felicia lives in Phoenix.

Julia Henry is a consultant with The Miles Group, providing support across the firm’s various practice areas.

Prior to joining TMG, Julia worked as a paralegal within the litigation, real estate and bankruptcy departments at Kleinberg, Kaplan, Wolff & Cohen, P.C. In this role, she supported clients involved in commercial, corporate, bankruptcy and employment law litigation in state and federal courts, and real estate transactions including acquisitions, joint ventures and preferred equity investments, construction and development, mortgage and mezzanine financing, and hospitality asset investments.

Julia graduated from Yale University with a bachelor’s degree in political science. She currently resides in New York City.

Maizie Nelson is a consultant at The Miles Group where she provides support across executive assessments, leadership development and senior team succession planning.
 
Prior to joining TMG, Maizie was a member of Deloitte Consulting’s Human Capital practice. In that role, she advised clients on large scale enterprise transformations. She led numerous technology implementations and process optimization projects across HR, IT and financial management organizations. Maizie also developed a deep understanding of organizational change, stakeholder management and communications through her work at Deloitte and previous experience at a public relations agency.
 
Maizie graduated from The College of William & Mary, majoring in History and Environmental Policy. She currently resides in Washington, DC.

Brittnie Shepherd is a consultant at The Miles Group where she focuses on executive assessment, leadership development, and succession planning. Based in Atlanta, she has advised clients across geographies and industries including utilities, healthcare, manufacturing, and professional services with a particular focus in financial services.

Prior to joining TMG, Brittnie was a member of the Leadership & Succession and Culture Advisory practices at Russell Reynolds Associates. In this role, she specialized in executive assessment and development, senior team effectiveness, and organizational culture, seeking to facilitate a deeper understanding of the behaviors and values that support the growth of both the organization and the individual leaders within it.

Brittnie graduated from Portland State University, majoring in Psychology with Honors. She received her Masters and PhD in Applied Psychology with a concentration in Industrial- Organizational Psychology, Occupational Health, and Quantitative Statistics from Portland State as well. During her time at PSU, she taught undergraduate courses in the business school and co-authored several articles and a book chapter in the field of organizational psychology.

Lucy Stan is a consultant with The Miles Group, where she provides support for client engagements across the firm’s practice areas.

Prior to joining TMG, Lucy was a member of the Technology Officers Practice at Heidrick & Struggles, where she specialized in the recruitment of Chief Information Officers, Chief Digital Officers, and Chief Technology Officers within Fortune 500 and private organizations across all industries and geographies.

Lucy earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology and sociology with honors from Colgate University. She currently resides in Boston.