So much has been written and said about leadership, and it seems there are an infinite number of leadership coaches and mentors available around the world  offering their services. 

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Many of these leadership coaches have never actually lead  from the CEO chair you are sitting in. As a CEO, you understand the unique opportunities and challenges that are only known by those that have actually lead successfully from the CEO chair.

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I have invested over 35 years in various leadership roles and levels, and invested the last 16 years as the CEO of a global media organization in Colorado.

I have real life experience, expertise and a deep desire to come along side of you as the CEO, to help you successfully navigate the unique challenges you face as you maximize the performance of your organization. 

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We will discuss your unique circumstances and desired outcomes in the initial consultation and develop a customized proposal for you, complete with deliverables, time lines and costs for the services required.

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I’m here for my clients, wherever, whenever. If you’d like to learn more about how my consulting services can help you and your organization grow,  you can simply reach out to me (via email) and book an introductory meeting today.

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Bio/Experience

Founder – Chief Encouragement Officer 

LeaderShaping.com

As a CEO & Board Consultant - I help CEOs maximize organizational performance by shaping world-class board governance, transforming corporate culture, and leveraging your C-Suite.

 

We specialize in working with mid-sized organizations’ CEOs and Boards and provide consulting and coaching on the following:

 

• Shaping Best-in-Class Boards

• Shaping a High-Performance Culture of Innovation

• Shaping C-Suites teams into Leaders of Leaders

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I have invested almost 40 years in the publishing, media, and educational spaces of Music, Books and Curriculum. Like other industry spaces around the world, these industries have experienced mind-bending challenges and change. All of which brought opportunities to harness the new disruptive technologies, and make information and education more accessible to many more people around the world. 

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I've invested the last 16 years as the CEO of David C Cook, successfully re-imagining, re-investing and re-inventing the three, very different business units, of Music, Books, and Curriculum on global scale, while expanding Cooks global footprint and user base for each of them. 

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I led the strategic development and day-to-day management of a global media company with $70M in annual revenues and over 300 staff.

 

In this role:

• Grew enterprise value by over 300% by transforming company strategy and business model from physical content creation and distribution, to global digital content creation and distribution, while leading multiple mergers, acquisitions and divestitures of non strategic business units.

• Reversed $3M in losses to $3M in annual profits in three years by streamlining portfolio to focus on high-margin products.

• Improved corporate culture rankings from the bottom 10% to the top 7% of organizations participating in the Dennison Culture Survey by leading the development of new company culture.

• Expanded strategic partnerships with over 80 organizations across 65 countries to put the company back on the map as a global industry leader.

• Built a best-in-class Board by recruiting new board members, restructuring governance policies, and revising Board & Committee Charters.

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I traveled the world, working with leaders in many different types of organizations from, Government and Non-Government Organizations, to Business and Ministry Leaders, in order to best understand their unique needs and determine if David C Cook could align with them to serve their organizations and their stakeholders in meaningful ways.

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Prior to my recruitment as CEO, I invested 22 years with Zondervan Publishers, a division of HarperCollins and News Corporation. I developed and executed global growth strategies for a publishing company. I recruited and led an international team of 72 staff across Sales, Strategic Marketing, Customer Service, Credit, and Market Intelligence

 

During my tenure, I:

• Expanded annual revenues from $45M to over $360M (700%) by driving the development and execution of a multi-year, multi-channel global strategy.

• Improved marketing campaigns and customer insights by creating a new Market Intelligence team to quantify and qualify market opportunities.

• Increased sales and revenue forecasting accuracy by developing a new Supply Chain Management team.

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I have been in various leadership roles for over 35 years. Throughout my career I have been intentional about my own mentors and coaches, as a way for me to be the best leader I could possibly become. I'm an optimistic realist, with a deep desire to be shaping leaders to operate at their absolute best, while creating business relationships, alliances, and partnerships for specific outcomes that maximize organizational performance. When you work with me, you should expect candor, collaboration, transparency, consistency, and accountability from a leader who sat successfully in the CEO chair, reported to a board, and created a high-performance culture of innovation.

Cris served as Board Chairman for Evangelical Christian Publishers Association (ECPA), President of the Church Music Publishers Association (CMPA), and as Board Chair for Fellowship of Christian Athletes (FCA) for the Southern Colorado region, and served as a advisory member of the Economic Development

Committee of Colorado Springs. Also a member of the Institute of Coaching, an affiliate of Harvard Medical School.  

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My wife Trudy (of  39 years)and I reside in Colorado Springs Colorado and Holland Michigan. We have two married adult children, and two grandchildren. I'm a graduate of Calvin University in Grand Rapids Michigan and attended graduate courses on international business strategy and leadership at the University of Michigan.  

 

Born at Henry Ford hospital in Detroit, and grew up in West Michigan. I still carry a sense of pride for the city of Detroit with great hope for its future. I'm an avid reader, certified scuba diver, enjoy snow skiing, water skiing, boating, hiking, golfing, and motorcycling throughout the United States and Canada.