TEAM
Conscious Coalition is a collaboration of leadership consultants, entrepreneurs and business leaders who are dedicated to elevating human potential across multiple dimensions. Conscious Coalition brings an innovative, return-on-investment and efficiency-focused mindset, along with significant business and leadership skills, to support our international partners on the ground in each region we serve.
Michael Bezdek
Michael Bezdek is the co-founder of Conscious Coalition and serves in the role of Executive Director. He is dedicated to human flourishing and creating a better world full of possibility and hope. Michael is also a serial entrepreneur, investor, veteran business manager and senior executive who has served in the top ranks of major corporations. He is experienced in investment banking, mergers and acquisitions, mezzanine financing, venture capital and private equity. He spent a decade on Wall Street managing individual and institutional investment portfolios exceeding 1 billion in assets. He is also the managing partner and co-founder of both Conscious Capital Group and Sandia Energy Group. His past roles included SVP of Investment Banking at National Securities Corp and EVP institutional wealth manager over private individual and institutional investments for RBC / Dain Rauscher’s Private Client Group. Michael holds a BBS in Finance from the University of Southern California and has been educated at Cornell University in Conflict Resolution and VUCA, and numerous executive certifications. He is a board member of Conscious Capitalism Foundation, is a certified trainer with Arbinger Institute, and a trainer and coach in the leadership program offered by Landmark Worldwide Education.
Brett Thomas
Brett Thomas is the co-founder of Conscious Coalition, and serves as the "chief architect" behind the leadership strategies that form the foundation of Conscious Coalition's success. He is a veteran management consultant / leadership coach with two decades of experience advising and guiding CEOs and senior executives in companies of all sizes. A world class expert on leadership development, he is the creator of one of the most successful and respected leadership development programs in the world called the "Integral Leadership Program." He played a key role in pioneering the now-popular fields of "conscious business" and "conscious leadership" and he has helped hundreds of founders and senior executive teams scale their businesses into the tens of millions and hundreds of millions. Brett is best known for his groundbreaking work applying developmental psychology, human potential psychology and integral theory as one of the early pioneers of "conscious business" (aka Conscious Capitalism). As the director of Integral Institute's Business and Leadership Center, he worked closely with Ken Wilber and senior faculty to create a unifying theory of leadership and the now-famous "Integral Leadership Model." He co-founded the Stagen Leadership Academy in 1999 (with Rand Stagen) to help business become a "force for good" and to popularize "conscious leadership." He used integral theory and adult development theory to author the world-renowned "Integral Leadership Program" now in its 20th year with over 2000 graduates (mostly CEOs and C-Suite executives).
Isaias Medina III
Isaias is an international lawyer who fights for the rights of indigenous people worldwide, a counter-terrorism expert, a humanitarian activist, former United Nations Diplomat and legal adviser to the UN Security Council, cryptocurrency pioneer (Earth Dollar), a Mason Fellow at the Harvard’s Kennedy School of Leadership, a Vaishnava monk and a kite-surfing instructor. He is an expert in sustainable international development, investment state arbitration and distributed ledger technology (blockchain). He received international recognition when, in his role as United Nations diplomat from Venezuela, he publicly denounced more than 20 top state officials including the head of state to the International Criminal Court and publicly resigned in protest of human rights violations in his home country. He is a keynote speaker at Yale University the Resilience of the Oceans, implementation of SDG 14 in Latin America, Yale University Forestry and Environmental Studies on Marine Genetic Resources Policy and lecturer at Florida International University College of Law, JD International Law on “The Legitimacy and Authority of the United Nations Security Council”, Harvard Conservation Society, and MIT Water Summit on environmental leadership. He is an alumni of The Hague Academy of International Law at the Peace Palace in the Netherlands. He is a member of International Bar Association (IBA), London England; Latin American International Law Society (SLADI); the American Society of International Law (ASIL), and the Academic Council on the United Nations System.
Bernard Amadei
Bernard is a professor of civil engineering at the University of Colorado Boulder, founding president of Engineers Without Borders (USA), co-founder of the Engineers Without Borders-International Network, and founding director of the Mortenson Center in Engineering for Developing Communities. He is also a recipient of the Hoover Medal. In 2008, he was elected as a member into the National Academy of Engineering for the creation of Engineers Without Borders, leadership in sustainable development education, and research on geomechanics. In 2009, he was recognized with an Award of Excellence from Engineering News-Record. In 2012, Dr. Amadei was appointed as a Science Envoy to Pakistan and Nepal by the U.S. Department of State. More recently he co-founded Peace Engineers, a non-profit with the ambitious goal of helping to engineer peace in conflict-ridden regions throughout the world. He sits on numerous boards and collaborates with international change agents to promote peace, sustainability, and multi-dimensional development.
Anselmo Cassiano
Anselmo Cassiano has an MBA in corporate communication FIA/USP. He is a specialist in Negotiation, Mediation by Program on Negotiation (PON) Harvard Law School, Specialist in Crisis Emergency and Business Continuity by MIT. Specialist in Conflict Management by Princeton University and Strategy, Conflict and Cooperation by Harvard Economics. He also as 1st Lieutenant worked for the United Nations as UN Peacekeepers Force in East Timor.
He loves sports and he was MIT Shotokan Karate Captain for several years and now he is MIT Triathlon Captain. He studies as a Research Affiliate Water Diplomacy at MIT and Expert in Humanitarian Response to conflict zones and Refugee rights by Harvard Humanitarian Initiative and Amnesty International. He has been a member of Harvard Law School Negotiators and Judge of USA Stockholm Junior Water Prize since 2018. the World’s most prestigious Water Award. He has been a member of MIT Water since 2017 as co-chairman of the Lecture Series
Jeff Banman
Jeff is a former Firefighter, US Army Ranger and CIA Counterterrorism Operator, Jeff has dedicated hi life to discovering what separates success from failure. He has conducted operations and been responsible for producing powerful results in over twenty-three countries including two combat zones and multiple high-threat environments. Today, he continues to contribute to his community through the Operational Mindset Foundation and podcast, Mindset Radio with the mission to mentally, physically and emotionally prepare those who choose to place themselves in harms way.
Lydia Radnik
Lydia is a professional executive coach certified by the International Coach Federation. Coming from a dual career in public accounting and academia, Lydia led industry practice groups as an audit partner in the Dallas office of Grant Thornton, LLP and also served as the Professional in Residence at UNT’s College of Business Accounting Department. Lydia has always been passionate about motivating people to activate their highest personal and professional potential. Lydia’s coaching practice includes a diverse mix of clients, including partners, directors and senior managers in public accounting, CFOs, COOs, HR leaders, consultants, marketing and sales executives, mental and social health professionals and leaders in academia. Lydia coaches individuals and teams to realize their full potential by being honest, caring and courageous enough to implement lasting, positive changes to achieve better results. Lydia is a CPA and graduated from The University of Texas at Austin, earning a Masters in Professional Accounting and a Bachelor of Arts in Business Administration. She volunteers her time as a financial coach, yoga instructor and generally supportive listener and encourager at juvenile and women’s detention centers.
Tony Ricciardi
Tony Ricciardi is a serial entrepreneur and investor with deep operational experience. He co-founded and served as president of ListenTrust the leading bilingual call center for multi-lingual language services. In only 7 years, he grew the company to 800+ employees and over $15 million in revenue. He is passionate about leveraging conscious capitalism to raise consciousness.
Jeff Mitchell
Jeff Mitchell is a veteran entrepreneur and senior executive in real estate, telecommunications, music and entertainment. He has served as VP of sales, operations, and as managing partner of multiple real estate brokerages, leading teams up to 50 people, generating hundreds of millions in sales during his career. He is also a record producer, record label owner, musician and event producer.
David Riordan
David Riordan is a transmedia director and producer for Story Studio. He was the Executive Producer for the award-winning documentary film “Lost in Woonsocket”, and Producer for the Random 1 documentary television series on A&E Networks. He also directed the documentary film “The Future of Christianity” and co-created the Ken Wilber Biography Project and Google Ocean. Prior to becoming a convergence producer/director, David directed interactive production groups at Time Warner, Disney and Philips Media. He has won numerous awards from major interactive societies including seven Interactive Academy Awards.
Rob McNamara
Rob McNamara is an author, advisor, consultant and leadership coach with an expertise in adult development and human performance. He is a co-founder of the advisory firm Delta Developmental and is the Vice President of Strategy and Innovation at the World Communiversity educational initiative. Rob serves on faculty at the Ivey School of Business' LIFT Advanced Coaching Program. McNamara currently advises and coaches initiatives advancing National Security efforts and provides learning, development and educational direction for individuals, organizations and governments navigating civilizational transitions. Rob is an Integral Zen Dharma Holder training under Diane Musho Hamilton Roshi. Rob’s current areas of focus join meta-psychology, ethics, leadership development and human performance. He’s known for his big heart, radical embodied presence and purpose-driven commitment to enacting new visions of the future of humanity. Rob Holds an MA in Psychology and Harvard University Teaching Fellow.
Erica Patterson
Erica is an experienced Brand Strategist who specializes in creative marketing for startup businesses and eCommerce. Her mission is to create content and branding for businesses to further enhance their platform as well as develop a plan to focus on current market trends and future forecasting.
Her biggest passion lies in nonprofit work and helping to make a substantial impact in the daily lives of others, which was immensely inspired by her travels around the globe.