Chick-fil-a LeadertourA New Day 09.20.11 okc

Jeremie Kubicek

Jeremie Kubicek is President and CEO of GiANT Impact, a global leadership company. Jeremie uses his creative entrepreneurial vision to encourage leaders to build extraordinary new ventures. Today, his company develops some of the most influential concepts in America, including Chick-fil-A Leadercast and the Catalyst brand.

With a mission to transform the leadership culture of America, Kubicek encourages leaders to become significant and give of themselves and see the change they desire in themselves and in their organizations.

Dan Cathy

As President of one of the nation’s largest family owned businesses, Chick-fil-A’s Dan T. Cathy represents the next generation of leadership for the Atlanta-based quick-service chicken restaurant chain.

Since 2001, Dan has served as the President and Chief Operating Officer of the 1,480-plus unit chain (as of February 2010), which includes 57,000-plus employees. Dan’s nearly lifelong career at Chick-fil-A began at age 9 as he sang songs for customers and did radio commercials for the chain’s original “Dwarf House” restaurant in Hapeville, Ga. He has served as Senior Director of Operations, Vice President of Operations and Executive Vice President prior to being named President and Chief Operating Officer.

In early 2008, BusinessWeek and J.D. Power and Associates named Chick-fil-A among the top 25 “Customer Service Champs.” In 2009, Chick-fil-A received Restaurant & Institutions magazine’s “Choice in Chains” award for the 16th time in 16 years.

David Butler

David is responsible for how they think and what they do with design at The Coca-Cola Company. This includes leading the global vision and strategy for design, building the organization’s capability and external reputation as a design-driven company, and leading the global design function.

He began his career as a graphic designer for a wide range of global brands, companies, and NGOs. In the late nineties, David joined Studio Archetype to focus on the explosive growth of “Web 1.0” designing large-scale, integrated branding systems, websites and interactive applications for UPS, Gucci, Bank of America, and United Airlines. He then built and led a global strategic planning function with Sapient. David joined Coca-Cola in 2004 to sharpen Coca-Cola’s focus on design as a competitive advantage.

David is a frequent lecturer and active member of the Board of Directors at the Museum of Design, Atlanta. For over a decade, David has also been an advocate for design education.

Dr. Henry Cloud

Dr. Henry Cloud is a leadership consultant and coach. His background as a clinical psychologist and business consultant bridges the gap between what a business needs and what leaders have to do to make that work.

He has extensive experience as a CEO and Executive Team coach, as well as an organizational consultant in a wide range of companies from Fortune 500 to family-held firms and many boards. In addition, he built a health care company, which operated treatment centers in forty markets in the Western U.S., and he directed it for ten years.

The author of more than twenty books, including Necessary Endings, Integrity, and 9 Things A Leader Must Do, he has been featured and reviewed in many publications, including The New York Times, The Wall St. Journal, The Los Angeles Times, and The Boston Globe.

MIke Holder

In 32 years of leading his alma mater’s golf program, Holder’s name became synonymous with success not only on the golf course, but in fundraising, facility development and the academic performance of his student-athletes. In fact, a strong case could be made that Holder took Oklahoma State’s already strong golf program and transformed it into America’s top collegiate program.

Those same leadership skills have served him well in his short time guiding OSU’s athletic department. His plan and vision for the betterment of Cowboy and Cowgirl athletics have already begun to take shape, most notably with the completion of Boone Pickens Stadium.

Joe Castiglione

Since arriving at OU in 1998 after an outstanding administrative career at Missouri, Joe Castiglione has seen the Sooners finish in the top 30 of the Learfield Director’s Cup in 10 of the last 12 years. OU finished 12th after the 2009-10 academic year, a position that marked an all-time best performance in the annual ranking of programs that succeed across the board. Through direct and indirect support, OU Athletics, under Castiglione’s leadership, provides more than $7 million annually to OU’s Academics Budget.

In recognition of the performance of OU’s teams on the field and in the classroom, of the fiscal stability created during his tenure, the dramatic increases in donor giving, facility construction and renovations, and the cutting-edge programs that the department has begun during his tenure, Castiglione was named National Athletic Director of the Year in May 2009 by the Sports Business Journal.

In October 2004, the Bobby Dodd Foundation named Castiglione Athletics Director of the Year. In 2003, he was inducted into the National Association of Collegiate Marketing Administrators Hall of Fame. In June 2001, he received the General Robert R. Neyland Athletic Director Award for lifetime achievement from the All-American Football Foundation. The National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics (NACDA) named him Central Region AD of the Year in 2000.

Castiglione chairs the NCAA’s Football Academic Progress Rate (APR) Working Group and is currently serving on the Gatorade Collegiate Advisory Board and the National Football Foundation and College Football Hall of Fame Board of Directors.

Local Leaders

Discussions with influencers who are making an impact on the city.

General Hugh Shelton

General Shelton spent 38 years in a variety of command and staff positions in the continental United States, Hawaii, and Vietnam. He served two combat tours in Vietnam, the first with the 5th Special Forces Group and the second with the 173rd Airborne Brigade. Also, he commanded the 3rd Battalion, 60th Infantry in the 9th Infantry Division at Fort Lewis, Washington; served as the 9th Infantry Division’s Chief of Staff for operations; commanded the 1st Brigade of the 82nd Airborne Division at Fort Bragg, North Carolina; and, was the Chief of Staff of the 10th Mountain Division at Fort Drum, New York.

After serving in many other military roles, General Shelton became the 14th Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff on October 1, 1997, and served two two-year terms, retiring on September 30, 2001. During his tenure, General Shelton worked tirelessly on behalf of service members, their families, and military retirees by championing a number of landmark quality of life initiatives, including the largest military pay raise in 18 years, pay table and bonus reform, and critical improvements in both retirement and healthcare programs.

Among his many military awards, General Shelton has received four Defense Distinguished Service Medals, two Army Distinguished Service Medals, the Legion of Merit, the Bronze Star Medal for Valor, and the Purple Heart. He has been decorated by 16 foreign governments. In 2001, he was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II. For his exemplary service to his country, General Shelton received the Congressional Gold Medal in 2002.

Laura Ling

Laura Ling is the host and reporter on E! Investigates, a documentary series on the E! Network. Previously, Ling served as Vice President of Current TV’s journalism department and created Current’s weekly investigative documentary series Vanguard. Ling also has reported from dozens of countries and has covered subjects including slave labor in the Amazon, Mexico’s drug war, Internet censorship in China, and women’s rights in Turkey. Her work has appeared on ABC’s Nightline, NBC, PBS, and the WB.

In March 2009, while reporting on the trafficking of North Korean women, Ling was detained by North Korean soldiers along the Chinese-North Korean border. She was held captive in North Korea for 140 days. She has since sought to shine a light on the issue of trafficked women and the plight of other imprisoned journalists around the world.

Ling is co-author of Somewhere Inside: One Sister’s Captivity in North Korea and the Other’s Fight to Bring Her Home, which she penned with sister Lisa.

Graham Colton