About Us
BK Authors is a 501 c3 non-profit community of authors published by Berrett Koehler. 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 to 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.
All authors become members of the BK Author community upon signing a book contract with Berrett-Koehler Publishers, which pays a life-time membership fee for each new author.
Other members include associates members who are sponsored by a member of the co-op community. These members pay a one-time membership fee of $200.
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 an elected board of directors governed by a set of bylaws.
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Karen Phelan
President
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.
Sandra Rowe
Vice President
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.
John Kador
Treasurer
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.
Sarah Modlin
Berrett-Koehler Publishers Representative
Sarah Modlin is a senior editor at Berrett-Koehler, and is beginning her fifth year as a member of the BK staff.
Peggy Holman
BK Foundation Representative
Peggy Holman supports diverse groups to face complex issues turning presentation into conversation and passivity into participation. In The Change Handbook, Holman and her co-authors profile 61 practices that engage people in creating their desired future. Her award-winning Engaging Emergence: Turning Upheaval into Opportunity provides a roadmap for tackling complex challenges through stories, principles, and practices. Holman is a co-founder of Journalism That Matters, a nonprofit that supports and equips the adventurers who transform relationships between communities and journalism for a strong, inclusive democracy.
Bob Miglani
New Authors
Bob Miglani is a bestselling author and founder of Embrace the Chaos, a change & reinvention company. Author of three books. Worked in corporate America (Pfizer) for 23 years. Keynote Speaker (until COVID). Founder and CEO of Hoot Myopia Care, a digital health startup.
Pete Neuwirth
NEW AUTHORS
Peter Neuwirth has been an actuary for over 40 years and after decades of having been asked too many times, “What is an actuary exactly?” he has decided to go beyond answering that question to answer another: “How does an actuary think and why does it matter?”
Peter’s work is well known in actuarial circles. He is a frequent speaker at professional conferences and has been quoted in both the mainstream and industry press on actuarial matters. He is a Fellow of the Society of Actuaries and a Fellow of the Conference of Consulting Actuaries.
Peter has consulted with dozens of the largest corporations in the world around the retirement plans they sponsor and pay for. This experience has provided him with a deep practical understanding of three of the fundamental concepts (time, risk, money) that shape our world. Many of those insights are shared in Peter’s books and essays.
Peter’s first book, What’s Your Future Worth?, provides an accessible, step-by-step guide to using the powerful concept of present value—which allows readers to determine the value today of something that might happen in the future—to evaluate all of the outcomes that might arise from choosing one path as opposed to another.
In his most recent book, Money Mountaineering, released in September of 2021, Peter explores the world of money and provides his views on its nature and the challenges we all face as we try to survive, even thrive, in this complex, uncertain, noisy, and sometimes irrational wilderness. This is a book designed to help readers understand what kind of advice they truly need—to gain a better understanding of the financial world they must live in and what they must do to make their way through it.
With a reputation among his peers as being a creative, knowledgeable, and experienced actuary with a penchant for both problem solving and thinking “outside of the box,” Peter is also a storyteller who believes that the story of the actuarial perspective is one that needs to be told.
Pete lives in Santa Rosa, California
Julie Winkle Giulioni
Board Member
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.
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 is a member of the Marriott School of Business National Advisory Council and was an Executive in Residence of the University of Utah David Eccles School of Business’ Goff Strategic Leadership Center, where he worked on Leadership projects with faculty.
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.
Gerald Harris
Board Member
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.
Carol Fabbri
Board Member
Carol Fabbri is a highly respected financial planner and author with over 20 years of experience in the financial industry. She is the founder and Principal of Fair Advisors, a financial planning firm that provides transparent, fee-only advice to help clients achieve their financial goals. In addition to her work with Fair Advisors, Fabbri is also the founder of the nonprofit Fair Advisors Institute, which is dedicated to advancing financial education and improving access to financial advice. She is the author of two highly regarded books, “The 3 Simple Rules of Investing” (Berrett Koehler) and “Personal Investing: The Missing Manual” (O’Reilly), which provide practical advice on investing and financial planning for individuals. Fabbri is known for her expertise in retirement and college planning as well as her commitment to empowering individuals with the knowledge and tools they need to achieve financial security.