Tom Tonkin, PhD

Co-founder & Chief Executive Officer

Dr. Tom Tonkin is an executive in professional services and software sales arena and has over 30 years of business and technology experience. He is the Co-Founder and CEO of the Conservatory Group and serves as the Dean of Students at the Sales Conservatory. In addition, he is the Head of Strategic Accounts at SAMI Games, the first crowd-sourced global solution for soft skills. He is also the CRO at the Liderança Group, offering consulting services that identify areas for sustainable growth with actionable strategies to ignite change. Dr. Tonkin holds an earned PhD in Organizational Leadership from Regent University (Virginia Beach, VA) and a Master of Science in Organizational Leadership, with a focus on Leadership and Management from Regis University (Denver, CO).

Dr. Tonkin holds multiple business certifications and is a leadership expert. In addition, Dr. Tonkin was an Adjunct Professor at the Forbes School of Business at Ashford University where he taught Leadership in Organizations, Organizational Behavior, and various other leadership and management courses. Dr. Tonkin is an award-winning researcher and author with several blogs, articles, and interviews to his name focusing on Leadership, DE&I, Learning and Development, and Sales Acumen.

Mark Tuggle, PhD

Co-founder & Chief Operations Officer

Dr. Mark Tuggle is a highly relational and results oriented executive with 25+ years of leadership experience focused on organizational and personal performance development, with special emphasis on sales, leadership, and educational success. He excels at identifying organizational, systemic challenges and collaboratively devising and implementing measurable, successful solutions. He is an expert facilitator possessing dynamic communication skills, with extensive presentation experience ranging from one-on-one interaction to speaking to groups of over 500 people.

Dr. Tuggle’s background and experience across various sectors – military, nonprofit, and for-profit business – have helped him to maintain a results-oriented, actionable focus when it comes to leadership, learning, and organizational success. His approach keeps his clients’ objectives in the realm of achievable outcomes, rather than lofty platitudes that never effect lasting change. His experience in developing and analyzing surveys and assessments provides the data clients need to truly measure change and success. Dr. Tuggle holds an earned PhD in Organizational Leadership with a concentration in Human Resource Development. His research emphasis is in self-directed learning and sales performance.

Mary Jo Burchard, PhD

Entrepreneur in Residence

The field of Organizational Leadership gave me a language and framework to probe the systemic “how” and “why” organizations kept growing or got stuck. My research can connect mindsets, organizational behavior, culture, and capacity, helping leaders move beyond easy answers and into long-term, systemic transformation. And I bring all I’ve explored with me to craft immersive, surprising, and fun interventions and learning engagements so leaders and organizations can learn and do the right things, the best way.