ABOUT

For the last several years, I’ve been asking a set of questions that have shaped both my doctoral work and four decades of coaching, leadership, teaching, and building programs for others:

How do we translate important theories, scientific discoveries, and evidence-based practices into actions people can actually apply—and sustain over time? How do we integrate knowledge across disciplines to create meaningful, whole-person transformation? And in a world where rates of physical and mental health challenges continue to rise, how do we create solutions that truly work for the long term? How should our understanding of biological aging influence the way we help people grow, perform, and thrive?

Throughout my career working with leaders, entrepreneurs, athletes, therapists, educators, and coaches, I noticed something important: most of us naturally stay within the one or two disciplines we know best. Yet people do not live in isolated categories. We live and lead as integrated systems. Physical capacity influences cognition. Relationships influence resilience. Identity shapes behavior. Meaning influences persistence.

That realization led me to spend the last several years developing a multidimensional, interconnected approach to human performance through doctoral research, coaching, and real-world application. I believe knowledge is incomplete until people can use it in everyday life.

My path has included graduate study across multiple disciplines, competitive sport, international leadership experiences, executive roles across industries, and four decades of helping people grow and perform at their best. Over time, I discovered that one of my strengths is helping people take complex ideas and turn them into practical tools, assessments, conversations, and daily practices that create measurable change.

If any of these ideas resonate with you, I’d love to connect. Join a program, exchange ideas, challenge assumptions, or simply start a conversation. Now in the second half of life, I'm still learning, still building, and more convinced than ever that strength, growth, and meaningful transformation can continue far longer than most people imagine.

Education & Certifications

Evidence-Based Foundation
PhD Human/Leadership Development
MS Exercise Physiology
MS Organization Development
MBA Business
MA Human Development
BS Exercise Science

Executive & Applied Leadership Experience
Chief Marketing Officer
Chief Experience Officer
Vice President, Sales and Client Services
Vice President, Training and Development
Founder – Consulting and Integrative Wellness Programs

Coaching Certifications and Training
Personal Training (NASM)
Physique/Bodybuilding (NASM)

Nutrition (ISSA)
Brain Fitness (NESTA)
Mental Toughness (MTQ)
Track & Field (USATF)
Myers-Briggs Type Indicator MBTI (Wulf Group)
Wilderness First Aid (NOLS)

Athletic Experience
USA National and UCLA Volleyball Teams

UCSB Hall of Fame Team
Age Division Winner – Triathlon
Age Division Winner – 10K

Publications

Leaver, M. (2025). Scaling through connection. In JP Isbouts (Ed.), Organization development today: How individuals, groups, and organizations can flourish in today’s volatile world (pp. 58-89). Fielding Graduate University.

Leaver, M. (2025). Exploring strategic relationship-building among successful high-growth entrepreneurs. [Doctoral dissertation, Fielding Graduate University]. ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global.

Michele LaFleur Leaver, November 2025

Washington D.C.

TESTIMONIALS

Consulting Projects

"Michele has a greater innate understanding of integrative wellness than anyone I have ever met. She can produce prodigious amounts of quality work in short order. She has a remarkable ability to draw deep insight out of complex and often contradictory circumstances. This ability extends broadly across customer service, operations, marketing and strategic thinking in a way that can transform organizational focus and performance."

Sandi Cutler

Former Senior Vice President

"Michele creates exceptionally positive relationships and quickly discerns key issues across all levels and functions. She gathers the right people together to achieve results, inspires the team to action and rolls up her sleeves to do what it takes. Michele recognizes when company values are not consistent across every customer touch point and knows how to bring even small details back into alignment."

Chris White

Senior VP, Planning/Design Services

"Michele had a truly amazing impact on our company- and it started on Day 1. Our CEO said she made more positive impact more quickly across all departments than he had every seen! She came in to assess the customer experience at every point along our long and rather complex customer journey, mobilized teams and developed emotional intelligence and empathy training that we launched company-wide. She pulled people together in a way that has changed our company, our teams and my life in exceptional ways.”

Brenda Reynolds,

Director, Coaching Services

"Michele is personable and energetic, and humble despite her many accomplishments. I was able to see first-hand the enthusiasm she kindled in our clients. Her breadth of experience and education gave her a sage-like aura, and yet she is a down-to-earth, roll-up-your-sleeves leader and a great teammate.

Thomas Beek

Software Engineer and Technical Liaison

Coaching

"Seeing a decline in my capacities was a rude awakening in my late forties!! Being an over achiever and high performer all my life, it meant that I had to accept my decline and take the back seat in my life! But I saw there’s another option by participating in Michele's coaching program! She has put together a concrete and comprehensive interdisciplinary framework for optimal strength in all the fronts of one’s life. She has given me the science, tools and personal mentorship to over come my flaws and improve my strengths! Her program has a cohesive holistic framework and tools to strengthen beliefs and relationships which are all necessary to sustain and improve one’s professional and personal strength and performances!"

Safoura Massoumi, DDS

“I especially loved the scientific approach behind her programs. I have taken many managerial courses, but I’ve never been part of one that addressed body, spirit, and mind. The course connected physical and mental strength and explained how they influence performance, readiness for change, and our ability to achieve goals. I appreciated the supportive and welcoming environment that was created and how self-reflection was encouraged without ever feeling forced or overwhelming. I walked away with valuable tools, a fresh perspective, and a realistic plan that I can actually stick to. You can tell that a tremendous amount of research, care, and intention went into creating her courses, and Michele not only talks the talk, but she also walks the walk.”

Andrea Fox, Founder & CEO

Clue Dental Marketing