About Us
BK Authors is a 501(c)3 nonprofit community of nonfiction authors, including authors published with Berrett-Koehler Publishers and other nonfiction authors writing on leadership, social change, personal development, and similar topics. Our mission is to help authors get their message out to the world, connect with each other to revitalize our spirits, collaborate on mutual passions, and provide a supporting community to aid in creating a world that works for all.
OUR VALUES
As a collective, we work to:
- Be in service to the whole
- Elevate the world to a higher standard of integrity
- Engage and be engaged through open curiosity about the world and those who live in it
- Be passionate about creating inclusive, collaborative, and just communities
- Nurture relationships grounded in love, support, and encouragement for each others’ work
- Create a better world through our intentions, actions, joy and imaginations
- Supporting the mission of BK Publishers: Connecting people and ideas to create a world that works for all.
HISTORY & MISSION
The BK Authors Council was founded in 1998 to create a more connected community. It became the BK Authors Co-operative in 2006. In 2016, the organization was incorporated as a California Public Benefit Corporation. As a consequence, we had to change our name. We are now known as BK Authors, Inc. No longer a “co-op,” we remain a community.
Our community includes both authors published with Berrett-Koehler Publishers and other nonfiction authors writing on leadership, social change, personal development, and similar topics.
We are a community committed to helping shape—through our unique and collaborative voices—a world that works for all, and to live in ways that authentically embody our messages.
BK Authors, Inc. is owned and operated by members and is stewarded by a board of directors governed by a set of bylaws.
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Julie Winkle Giulioni
President
Julie Winkle Giulioni is a champion for workplace growth and development and helps executives and leaders optimize talent and potential within their organizations. One of Inc. Magazine’s Top 100 speakers, she’s the author of Promotions Are So Yesterday: Redefine Career Development. Help Employees Thrive and the co-author of the international bestseller, Help Them Grow or Watch Them Go: Career Conversations Organizations Need and Employees Want, translated into seven languages.
Julie is a regular columnist for Training Industry Magazine and SmartBrief and contributes articles on leadership, career development, and workplace trends to numerous publications including The Economist.
Gerald Harris
Vice President
Gerald Harris is president of the Quantum Planning Group (QPG), which he founded in 2009. His company specializes in assisting businesses and non-profit organizations in strategic and business planning using the tools of scenario analysis. Currently and since 2011, QPG has served as the lead consultant to the Western Electric Coordination Council for scenario analysis supporting long term (20 year) reliability assessments. This work has included creating custom scenarios for transmission system expansion, the development of related metrics for modeling, and trend analysis to maintain longer term learning about emerging issues and trends in the energy sector.
During his career Gerald served as a senior consultant with Global Business Network for 15 years where he became a specialist in scenario analysis. While there Gerald worked with a wide range of organizations in the business community and non-profit sector. Prior to joining GBN, Gerald spent 13 years at Pacific Gas and Electric Company, northern California’s largest utility. As director of business planning for the engineering and construction division, he was responsible for providing strategic and business planning services to a 4700-person business unit. He started at PG&E in the Corporate Finance Department where he specialized in project and asset-based financing. Before joining PG&E, Gerald was a financial analyst in international project finance at Bechtel Corporation.
Gerald received his BA in economics from Morehouse College, where he graduated as a member of Phi Beta Kappa, and an MBA in finance and business economics from the University of Chicago Booth School Of Business. Gerald’s first book, The Art of Quantum Planning, Seven Ideas from Quantum Physics for Breakthroughs in Creativity, Innovation and Leadership, was published by Berrett Koehler Publishing in August, 2009. He has published articles in several business journals and is a sought-after speaker on developments in energy markets and strategic planning.
Sandra Rowe
Treasurer
Sandra F. Rowe, PhD, MBA, MSCIS, PMP, has more than 30 years of project management experience. Her responsibilities have included leading information technology and process improvement projects, developing project management processes, tools, and techniques; and designing, developing, and delivering project management programs. She has also taught MBA courses and project management professional (PMP) certification classes.
Dr. Rowe speaks regularly at project management conferences on a variety of topics related to project management processes, project management for small projects, the project office, and knowledge sharing. She also leads virtual discussion groups on project management and leadership topics.
Dr. Rowe has a PMP (Project Management Professional) certification, SAFe Agilist and SAFe Product Owner/Product Manager certification. Her hobbies include scrapbooking and golf.
Nayelli Gonzalez
Secretary
An alumnus of Berrett-Koehler Foundation’s inaugural Action Learning Fellowship in 2018, Nayelli served for several years as the Interim Executive Director of the Berrett-Koehler Foundation, where she supported its mission of aiding changemakers in co-creating a world that works for all. Nayelli is also the founder & CEO of CreatorsCircle, a resource hub that connects diverse youth with opportunities to create a life of purpose and impact.
Throughout her 20+ year career, Nayelli has worked on pioneering sustainability and social innovation programs with startups, nonprofits, small businesses and Fortune 100 companies in the education, sustainable business and social impact spaces. A trained journalist with an MBA, she also writes about sustainable business and social impact trends for a variety of publications. Nayelli is a graduate of Boston University, Cal, Stanford and the Presidio Graduate School and is a systems thinker who loves to learn, share knowledge, and help others connect the dots.
John Kador
Board Member
John Kador is a business writer focusing on leadership and finance. He is the author of over 15 books plus, as a ghostwriter, dozens more. His BK book is Effective Apology: Mending Fences, Building Bridges, and Restoring Trust. A former president of BK Authors, he lives in Lewisburg, PA.
Jeevan Sivasubramaniam
Board Member
Jeevan Sivasubramaniam serves as VP for Editorial at Berrett-Koehler Publishers. He started with legal publishing and documentation in his first job after college and continued with faculty publishing programs in grad school, followed by other adventures elsewhere prior to joining BK. He has had the pleasure of working on over 800 books in various capacities but strives to maintain a learner-mindset. Jeevan is also a touch cranky, still has no driver’s license, has a cat that only just seems to tolerate him, and can barely microwave let alone cook.
Manoel Amorim
Board Member
Manoel Amorim has served as President/CEO/Partner of several companies in different sectors in Brazil, Latin America, Europe, and the USA. He also served as a director in several corporate boards in six different countries.
He is a founding partner of MXF Investments, a family office with investments in real estate and technology startups, out of Orlando, FL. He is a founding partner of K2A Partners, a telecommunications and IT consulting practice servicing medium and large size corporations in Latin America and the USA, out of Sao Paulo, Brazil, and a partner with Peak Capital Partners, a large real estate investment company in Provo, UT.
Mr. Amorim served as CEO of Abril Education, a startup launched with investments from the Civita family and from the private equity firm BR Education in Brazil, which he took public in 2012 and quickly became the 7th largest K-12 education company in the world. Prior to that, Mr. Amorim served as president and CEO of Globex, a leading consumer electronics and appliances retailer in Brazil, Executive Chairman of the Board of Vivo, the largest cell phone company in Latin America, Managing Director of the Telefonica Residential Business Unit for Latin America, out of Madrid, Spain, with operations in 6 different countries, CEO of Telefonica Brazil, the largest wireline and broadband telecom operator in Latin America, President of America Online Brazil and General Manager of Procter & Gamble Latin America’s second largest division and member of the Baby Care Global Leadership team, out of Cincinnati, OH.
Mr. Amorim served in several Boards of Directors in different capacities. He was a full time, Executive Chairman of the Vivo Board, Chairman of the Investcred Bank and Pontofrio.com Boards, Vice-Chairman of the Boards of Abril Education and of the American Chamber of Commerce in Brazil, and Director on the Boards of Mastercard International in the USA, and of all of the Telefonica International controlled companies in five different countries.
Mr. Amorim was named the International Executive of the Year by the Marriott School of Business in 2007. His leadership on cultural and business transformation ahead of Telefonica Brazil became a case studied in the class of Corporate Entrepreneurship at the Harvard Business School. He was awarded best executive in the Telecom industry in Brazil three times and one of the top 20 CEOs of Latin America by the Miami based Latin Trade Magazine twice.
Mr. Amorim is an active member of the Young Presidents Organization. He graduated as an Engineer from the Instituto Militar de Engenharia in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and holds an MBA from Harvard University.
He and his wife Marcia are parents of three children and of ten grandchildren and split their time between their homes in Florida and in Utah.
Jennifer Zach
Board Member
Jennifer Zach is a catalyst for embodied leadership and workplace well-being. She combines somatic awareness, nervous system regulation, and applied neuroscience to help leaders integrate body and mind, navigate stress, and build trust—driving regenerative growth, stronger team performance, and higher engagement. She is the author of Somatic Awareness: Leading with Body Intelligence and creator of the 3N Model™—Notice, Name, Navigate.
Jennifer’s thought leadership has been featured in leading coaching and learning publications, and she is a sought-after speaker on the intersection of executive leadership, presence, and body intelligence. She serves on the advisory board for the Association for Talent Development (ATD) Hawkeye Chapter.
Dianna Bensch
Board Member
Dianna has spent over two decades at the intersection of technology, strategy, and consciousness—helping visionary authors and mission-driven organizations bring their highest ideas into practical, scalable form. A strategist, systems thinker, and conscious business architect, she guides leaders to innovate with purpose and align their vision, values, and systems for sustainable, values-aligned growth.
Known for her ability to translate complex ideas into clear, actionable strategies, Dianna integrates systems thinking with somatic and energetic intelligence—helping individuals and teams move beyond linear problem-solving into coherence, creativity, and meaningful impact. Her work blends business acumen with holistic wisdom and conscious leadership principles, raising the frequency of how we live, lead, and create.
As a board member with BK Authors, she brings a unique synthesis of strategic clarity, creative insight, and heart-centered leadership—championing a future where business and consciousness evolve together.
Allan Rennebo Jepsen
Board Member
Allan Rennebo Jepsen is a seasoned leader, advisor, and author dedicated to driving transformative change in organizations. With over 20 years of leadership and advisory experience spanning diverse industries, Allan has mastered the art of building resilient, high-impact organizations that excel in times of change.
As the author of Impactful Organizations – And How to Become One!, Allan delivers actionable insights and proven strategies to help leaders cultivate cultures of sustainable innovation, high performance, and measurable commercial success. His approach emphasizes the empowerment of employees, recognizing that engaged teams are the foundation of an organization’s full potential.
STAFF
Jeremy Madsen
Operations Manager (2022-Present)
Jeremy is the operations manager for BK Authors, Inc., and an administrative contractor for Berrett-Koehler Publishers. Previously, he spent four years as the operations and conference manager for Latter-day Saints in Publishing, Media, and the Arts (LDSPMA).
Jeremy graduated from Brigham Young University in 2021 with a degree in ancient Near Eastern studies and a minor in editing. While in college, he was the editor-in-chief of the Studio Antiqua research journal and an editing team lead for BYU Continuing Education.
Jeremy writes and publishes clean, family-friendly fantasy novels under his self-publishing imprint, Iron Rock Press.
Jeremy lives in Columbus, Ohio, with his wife and three children.
PAST LEADERSHIP
Karen Phelan
Past President (2021–2023)
Karen Phelan is a business author, speaker, entrepreneur, and management consultant, specializing in transforming organizations through small changes that have huge operational impacts. Her latest project is called Act like an Icon (actlikeanicon.com), which uses role-playing to improve communication, innovation, and team building. Her BK book, I’m Sorry I Broke Your Company, is a humorous dissection of why common management practices often go awry, and was named one of the top ten business books of 2013 by the Toronto Globe and Mail (Hilariously sardonic!). Translated into eleven languages, it’s been an international bestseller, especially in Japan.