The Adaptive Leader Program

Michael Sherrod joined TCU Neeley in 2011 after a successful career of entrepreneurial thinking, innovation and creativity. He began his career in 1976 by starting a magazine publishing company right out of grad school. He transitioned from the print world into the online world in 1985 when he helped manage a video-text news service for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. In his career Michael has founded or co-founded 15 companies, including Black Dove Media, DigitalCity.com, AOL Local and Examiner.com. Additionally, he has served in senior management roles and started new companies inside CapCities/ABC, AMR Information Services, AOL, Ancestry.com, and The Anschutz Companies. In 2010, he served as the first Publisher of The Texas Tribune (www.texastribune.org), a non-profit, non-partisan media site covering Texas government, politics, and public policy and is founding board member.

Michael is Chairman of the Board of the Urban Library Council, Past Chair of the Board of Trustees of the Kinsey Institute, the world’s leading research institute for sex, gender and reproduction, and a former board member of the Craigslist Foundation. He also serves as board member and advisor to a number of online organizations around the world and is an active Angel investor. Michael is an author and frequent speaker on online, cultural and media issues. Michael holds a B.A. from the University of Notre Dame, where he studied in the interdisciplinary Great Books Program, an M.A. in Journalism from the University of Missouri at Columbia and an MBA from The Neeley School of Business at TCU.

Cindy has more than 25 years of leadership experience managing teams of 20 employees up to several hundred employees in size. Her experience is focused primarily as a senior human resources leader with additional expertise in operations and business management. Cindy is currently the Senior Director of Talent Acquisition and Employee Development for Elbit Systems of America in Fort Worth Texas. Prior to her role at Elbit, she was the Vice President of Human Resources at the Options Clearing Corporation and was previously a Senior Vice President at AmeriCredit. Her depth of expertise in the human resources function includes talent acquisition, employee relations, HR systems, organization development, culture, business partnerships, training, and total rewards. She has developed a multitude of learning and development programs targeted at individual, team, and organizational development. Cindy is also a partner in her family’s agricultural business based in the Fort Worth area.

She holds a Bachelor’s of Business Administration and Master’s in Human Resources Management from Dallas Baptist University. From the same university, she is currently a PhD candidate in Leadership Studies, basing her research on the confidence of women leaders who work in male-dominated organizations. She is certified in 360^o degree feedback from the Center for Creative Leadership, certified in Hogan Assessments, and is a certified coach from the International Coaching Federation.

Dr. Cameron Potter is the Human Resources Manager of Employee Success at Texas Christian University (TCU). Cameron has also served as a Professor in the TCU Honors College, College of Education and Harris College of Nursing & Health Sciences. At TCU, Cameron’s work is focused on the growth of Executives, Managers, and Supervisors – dynamically developing leaders to succeed through experiential coaching, creative problem-solving, influential decision-making, and implementation of meaningful feedback systems.

Cameron’s expertise lies in the intersection of values and action – an area of personal and leadership congruence he calls “Praxis”. He draws on his experience as a school principal, experiential educator, certified coach and trained facilitator to design leadership inflection points.

Prior to joining TCU Cameron served as a Senior Learning Partner for Carskadon & Associates (C&A). During his time with C&A Cameron partnered with local nonprofits, businesses, and private/public schools – including Los Angeles Unified School District – to train, develop and assess senior executives and administrators. In addition to facilitating training sessions, Cameron accomplished this through collaborative coaching, change navigation, transformational learning and formal accreditation reviews (e.g. Western Associated of Schools and Colleges/WASC).

He is credited with multiple publications and presentations including; Ethical and Moral-Meaning Making Through Intercultural Initiatives, Development of Situational Judgment, and The Promise of Systematic External Review for Professional Leadership Education Programs.