Our People

Be Courageous Team

We’re excited to partner with you

The Be Courageous leadership team brings together decades of experience across multiple industries and disciplines. Our diverse yet united perspectives will help you and your organization unlock moments of courage when your future is more important than your past.

Kyle Hermans

CEO & Co-Founder of Be Courageous

Kyle guides leaders and their organizations to transformative breakthroughs and systemic change – having collectively facilitated, advised, coached and trained 2,500+ sessions with the senior leaders of 300+ Fortune 1000 companies and hundreds more SME’s and start Up’s across multiple countries and industries, generating billions in ROI.

Kyle holds a BA in Marketing and Design from the Cape Peninsula University of Technology in South Africa, is a certified master practitioner of NLP in both North America and Europe, a certified master facilitator and master practitioner of TRIZ problem-solving patent methodology and a certified master facilitator in innovation and creative problem solving and a Council member of the Forbes Business council of San Francisco.

Kyle is an international speaker, recording musician and endurance athlete.

Jenna Z. Hermans

COO & Co-Founder of Be Courageous

Jenna is a Human Resources, Operations, and Business leader, with 15+ years experience, bringing her passions of inspiring and cultivating human capital, and infusing efficiency into business practices. Jenna guides companies to enhance business operations and organizational culture through the human lens, working in close partnership with leaders and employees to achieve their organization’s goals. Jenna is driven to embed social and environmental responsibility both into and out of the workplace.

Jenna holds a Master’s Degree in Organizational Management from Antioch University, Los Angeles, and a B.S. in Psychology from the University of California, Davis, she is a trained Synectics Innovation Facilitator and a certified high performance Coach.

Jenna is the author of Chaos to Calm, an avid reader, spent 10+ years competing in triathlons and distance running races, and currently loves to go on long hiking adventures and cook with her children.

Paul D. Roberts

Partner & Chief Knowledge Officer

Paul is an exponential guide helping organizations see the future and find their place in it. He is a sought-after international speaker, heard by thousands of executives globally, he has given 260+ talks and over 80 programs to global audiences on a range of topics including multiple Exponential Technologies, the Power of Platforms and Network Effects, Digital Transformation, building Exponential Organizations, Exponential Innovation, and Exponential Leadership, and Navigating Change.

Paul is a Singularity University Exponential Innovation Expert and an Economist. He worked for several years at IHS Global Insights in Washington D.C. and Toronto (formerly Standard & Poor’s DRI) synthesizing emerging trends across multiple sectors to produce Economic Impact Studies and Forecasts for a diverse private and public sector client base. Paul has a Masters Degree in Economics, focused on Development Economics and the Secondary Market buy-back of Sovereign Debt, he also earned an undergraduate degree in Life Sciences, both from Queen’s University, Canada.

Paul spent eight years as a professional actor, host, screenwriter, and filmmaker in Hollywood
with 50+ professional acting credits on IMDB.

Frank A. Litjens

Partner & Digital Strategy

Frank is a data-driven digital experience expert with over 20 years of operational, entrepreneurial and consulting experience. He uses his innate talent to understand complex systems and has the intuitive ability to simplify execution and achieve optimal understanding.

He directed Digital & Data operations and consulted Senior Leaderhip across the world’s most renowned consumer brands on Agency as well as Client side. By using his guidance and motivational skills he is driven by achieving measurable results and has done so in the fields of Media, Entertainment, Sports, Fashion, e-Commerce and Saas.

Originally trained and graduated with honors as an Interaction Designer in the Netherlands, Frank quickly found out his love for data, facts and science when he founded his first agency where he created immersive digital marketing experiences. Whilst the creative aspect was very fulfilling Frank had a stronger urge to know how, why and which factors contributed to a digital product’s success or failure.

Today he helps our esteemed clients plot their path to success, operational happiness and efficiency in the increasingly competitive global digital arena using data as the driver and foundation of decisions.

María Baidenbaum

Project Management and Customer Success

María Baidenbaum is Executive Assistant, Project and Customer Success Manager at Be Courageous, where she helps push forward projects that help organizations unlock the breakthroughs necessary to transform their businesses.

Born and raised in Mexico City, María has over twelve years of experience in the fields of entertainment, hospitality, account and project management.

Maintaining excellent relationships with her customers and suppliers has been a key aspect of her work philosophy, which has allowed her to transition into an international workplace in the areas of Project Management, Customer Success and Translation.

In 2019 María became part of the Be Courageous team as a Remote Executive Assistant and Project Manager, all from a beach town in Mexico. She’s also an entrepreneur in the area of Hotel Management and is expected to have her first business up and running by mid-2023.

Shannon Geher

Content Strategy

Shannon Geher is a writer, content strategist, and coffee addict. She has led editorial teams at top pregnancy and mental health websites, penned hundreds of articles in nearly every industry, and authored three books. Her passion is writing compelling content that connects with others, helping individuals and businesses achieve their goals.

Mark Bonchek

Courageous Partner

Mark Bonchek guides leaders and organizations embrace new mental models for exponential results. He has been a pioneer on the digital frontier since predicting social media in his 1997 PhD. Mark is the founder and CEO of Shift Thinking, a frequent author for Harvard Business Review and on the faculty of Singularity University. His latest interest is the effect of blockchain technology on distributed leadership and network organization.

Melinda A. Lehman

Courageous Partner

One of North America’s leaders in catalyzing innovation, Melinda is Founding Partner at GIG.inc, a Strategic Innovation Firm. Former Partner and Founder of Happen North America, the global innovation firm (acquired by Accenture). Melinda has 20+ years of experience in customer marketing and strategy, with particular expertise in customer experience, new product innovation and brand positioning. She is a certified Practitioner of NLP and has an MBA from The Richard Ivey School of Business. She recently completed Haute Route Alps, the toughest amateur cycling race in the world and is a founding member of Les Domestiques, a philanthropic movement committed to promoting a safe and vibrant culture of cycling in Canada.

Gianna Wurzl

Courageous Partner

Gianna Wurzl, serial entrepreneur, strategist, and experience designer to international fortune brands. She is the Co-founder of One Roof, the leading co-working and community brand in Australia, Co-Founder of Quilt, using technology in a more meaningful way to facilitate offline experiences for thousands of women. Co-Founder of Berries Design, advising startups, and innovating the way we design spaces and experiences. Leading with the feeling you want to elicit first.

Tres Jiménez Fontaine

Courageous Partner

Tres Jiménez is an organizational effectiveness and strategic thought partner with expertise in Leadership Development, Innovation, Change Management, and Diversity Equity and Inclusion.
Her collaborative style brings a balance of support and challenge that lead to courageous risk taking and growth.
Her decades of experience in leading large manufacturing and buying teams bring real-life experience to her audiences.

Sura Al-Naimi

Courageous Partner

Sura Al-Naimi, MA, is an innovation and creativity cultural transformation facilator, Happiness Advantage Coach, who understands the power of thinking differently together. A former Disney Global Innovation director, for two decades, Sura has been at the forefront of massive systems change – spurring on the brightest minds to go from stuck and overwhelmed to confidently collaborating to solve the challenges that matter and make a difference.

Kristin Joy Ekkens

Courageous Partner

Kristin Ekkens, MA, CDE, CHPC is an award-winning cultural strategist, solutions architect, high performance coach, and TEDx Speaker. Her passion and area of expertise is helping individuals and organizations drive culturally intelligent innovation.

Lene Andersen

Courageous Partner

Lene is the Founder and Senior Advisor at Teleportec. She is specialized within financial research, business planning and organization. Lene also has extensive experience in event management, educational programs, and innovative partnerships working with individuals/families, businesses, institutions and investors. Lene understands cutting-edge technologies, and how to utilize these technologies to help large organizations move beyond business-as-usual and develop new transformative solutions. She holds an MBA in International Business and Finance from Thunderbird School of Global Management.

Dr. Leeno Karumanchery

Courageous Partner

Leeno is Co-Founder and Head of Behavioural Sciences at MESH/Diversity. He has over 28 years of experience and is world renown for his expertise in the fields of Emotional Intelligence and Diversity. Leeno’s research underpins the MESH/Diversity platform.

Mike Wright

Courageous Partner

Mike is Co-Founder & CEO of MESH/Diversity and has over 18 years of experience in business and IT and was a key player in a successful exit. With Mesh/Diversity, Mike has turned to his passion, helping create business cultures that thrive.

Angel Gambino

Courageous Partner

Since starting her career path as a public interest environmental lawyer, Angel Gambino has passionately advocated for a healthier, happier world. Over the past 20 years, she has orchestrated campaigns for the Clean Water Act, overseen legal advocacy of animals, and served as an advisor to numerous companies that promote stronger, healthier communities. Nowadays Angel spends time fostering her own community of innovators who want to launch life-changing companies that improve everyday life.

Barry O'Reilly

Courageous Partner

Barry O’Reilly is a business advisor, entrepreneur, and author who has pioneered the intersection of business model innovation, product development, organizational design, and culture transformation. Barry is author of two international bestsellers, Unlearn: Let Go of Past Success to Achieve Extraordinary Results, and Lean Enterprise: How High Performance Organizations Innovate at Scale—part of the Eric Ries series, and a HBR must read for CEOs and business leaders. He writes for The Economist, and is faculty at Singularity University.

Be Courageous Network

To activate one billion moments of courage requires we harness the power and experience of our global community and network of courageous practitioners. The advantage for you is that we have access to the brightest leading edge minds making real impact in the world and can scale our projects, programs and experiences to include their expertise and perspective.

Our Courageous Network Includes: