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

Evan Graff is the VP of Operations at The Miles Group, where he leads cross-functional strategic initiatives to position the firm for rapid and sustainable growth. Evan works proactively across the firm to optimize processes, drive enablement and automation through technology, and activate data for key decision-making. With deep expertise in program governance and change management, Evan ensures that TMG is ready to deliver on its promises both today and in the future.

Prior to joining TMG, Evan led the business and revenue operations organization at a management consulting firm specializing in go-to-market strategy and revenue growth. Evan has also worked extensively during his career to define and improve operational strategies, build insights-generation engines, manage complex cross-functional programs, and coach diverse teams across the legal, digital advertising, and professional services industries.

Evan holds a bachelor’s degree from Bowdoin College where he studied biology and economics. He currently lives in Chicago.

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 senior 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.

Shawn Serrano advises clients in building top tier leadership. He works with clients across a myriad of issues including succession planning, executive assessments and coaching, and senior team effectiveness. As Vice President at TMG, he is also responsible for driving the long-term growth agenda for the firm.

Prior to joining TMG, he worked with Deloitte Consulting where he led flagship projects across workforce strategies and innovation (e.g., succession strategy, executive performance, hybrid workforce strategies, etc.) for Fortune 500 companies, private investment firms, and top-tier universities. He later served on the management team to translate projects into new practice areas for the firm. He also worked for The Walt Disney Company, State of California, and Intel Corp. delivering targeted coaching, enhancing team and organizational effectiveness, and designing the future of work.

Shawn holds a bachelor’s degree in psychology from California State University, Sacramento, a master’s degree in organizational behavior and evaluation sciences from Claremont Graduate University, and PhD in organizational behavior from Claremont Graduate University. He lives in Knoxville, Tennessee with his family.

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 The Miles Group, Billy was the Chief Legal Officer at Ancestry.com (“ACOM”). At ACOM, he was responsible for ACOM’s initial public offering, secondary public offerings, domestic and international acquisitions, SEC and regulatory compliance, Board relations and communications, and other corporate matters. In addition, Billy oversaw security, privacy, and many aspects of HR and IR. He also led the legal negotiations in ACOM’s sale to an investor group led by Permira Advisors, related debt offerings and recapitalization, and subsequent sale to a consortium including Silver Lake Partners.

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.

Maizie Nelson is a senior 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 senior consultant at The Miles Group where she focuses on executive development and senior team effectiveness. Based in Atlanta, she advises clients across geographies and industries and is particularly passionate about helping new executive teams accelerate the process of building trust. She brings deep expertise across a number of psychometric tools that she leverages to help clients gain deeper insight into how their leaders / candidates show up and what they value.

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 & development and organizational culture, helping to develop and roll out an innovative approach to assessing organizational culture called Culture Analytics. Before joining RRA, she was a member of the Culture and Engagement team at PepsiCo where she helped to revamp the enterprise engagement survey and validate a new measure for employee well-being.

Brittnie earned her PhD in Applied Psychology from Portland State University with concentrations in Industrial Organizational Psychology, Occupational Health Psychology, and Quantitative Statistics. During her time at PSU, she taught undergraduate courses in the business school and co-authored several academic articles and a book chapter in the field of organizational psychology. She is also a certified integrative health coach from the Institute for Integrative Nutrition and a registered yoga teacher.

Natalie Frost is a Consultant with The Miles Group where she provides support across the firm’s practices. 

Prior to joining TMG, Natalie worked at Bessemer Venture Partners, where she led executive talent for GTM roles across Bessemer’s growth-stage portfolio. Before Bessemer, Natalie worked at Heidrick & Struggles in the CEO & Board Practice, assisting in CEO succession and Board searches for both large-scale and growth-oriented technology companies. 

Natalie graduated from Bates College with a BA in Psychology. She currently resides in San Francisco. 

Sakina Qadir is a consultant at The Miles Group, where she provides support across the firm’s practices through executive assessments, leadership development and senior team succession planning.

Prior to joining The Miles Group, Sakina was a member of Deloitte’s Human Capital Practice where she led change management and communication strategies, supporting companies navigating strategic transformations. Notably, Sakina played a key role in leading CEO succession projects, benchmarking insights, and leadership requirements to create successful transition toolkits.

Sakina holds a Bachelor of Science in Biology with a Minor in Global Health from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). She currently resides in New York City.

Laura Stern is a consultant with The Miles Group where she provides support across the firm’s practices.

Prior to joining TMG, Laura was a member of the Talent & Performance Strategy team at WeWork, where she designed and program managed all company-wide performance processes, such as goal setting, feedback moments, talent reviews, succession planning, and more. Before joining WeWork, Laura was a Managing Strategy Consultant with IBM’s Chief Analytics Office, with a focus on People Analytics. She also led the Engagement Committee for the Chief Analytics Office, where she collected feedback on employee pain points and recommended actionable steps to drive employee engagement.

Laura graduated from The College of William & Mary with degrees in Finance and Public Policy. She currently resides in New York City.

Yewon Choi is an analyst with The Miles Group, where she focuses on providing support for consultants on various projects and research assignments (including executive coaching, assessments, and C-suite succession planning).

Prior to joining TMG in June 2023, Yewon was a senior associate at AlphaSights in the Capital Markets Content business unit. During her time there, she was responsible for market research, client services, sales management, and content creation for long and short hedge fund clients in NYC. She gained exposure to industries ranging from Healthcare, TMT, and Consumer Retail & Leisure, and conducted short-term consultations, connecting subject-matter experts with her clients and getting them up-to-speed with emerging trends and company growth outlooks.

Yewon holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Virginia, where she studied Global Studies & Entrepreneurship. She is currently based in New York City.

Arsh Dhillon Sekhon is an analyst at The Miles Group, where she provides support across the firm’s various practice areas.

Prior to joining TMG as an analyst, Arsh interned for TMG, conducting research on the neurological, biological, and psychological aspects of expertise and decision-making and on corporate leadership and management practices. Before TMG, she worked as a paralegal for a global law firm specializing in renewable energy project financing, as a consulting fellow for a venture capital firm in education tech, and as an intern for multiple media and entertainment companies.

Arsh recently graduated from Harvard University, majoring in History and Film. She resides in New York City.