An international speaker and leadership consultant, Joan Wright is President of O’Sullivan Wright, Inc. an organizational strategies firm founded in 2000. Her broad understanding of individual leadership and organizational development comes from 25 years in Human Resources Management roles with Wachovia (Wells Fargo), Philip Morris, Citicorp, and GE Capital. Her Masters Degree in Social Work enables her to help leaders understand important self-awareness issues and individual development, while her many key HR roles with leading corporations gives her the necessary business experience for supporting results-oriented organizational change. As a Master Certified Coach combined with being one of an elite group of 80 Kolbe Copper Circle Consultants in the world, Joan brings unmatched leadership insights and skill-building best practices to clients in four continents.

• UP - Pursuing Significance in Leadership and Life, was nationally acclaimed by Midwest Book Review with a Five-Star rating, citing it to be “Practical and to the point, “UP” is a fine read that shouldn’t be overlooked by business leadership and self-help collections.”

• Numerous articles published by the International Journal of Coaching in Organizations, CHOICE magazine for coaching professionals, ASTD trade publications, and The Charlotte Business Journal.

• Clients include Balfour Beatty Construction, Bank of America, Deloitte, Duke Energy, Southern Company, US Tobacco, Charlotte Mecklenburg City Government, Wells Fargo, Microsoft and Yahoo.

• A respected international speaker and thought leader, Joan was invited to be a guest blogger on mariashriver.com in 2012 resulting in being named among Shriver’s Architects of Change with her posts being shared with more than 2 million Shriver followers. 

• Named a Ted Fellows and Unreasonable Institute coach to entrepreneurs dedicated to enterprise growth through socially responsible impact in 2013, Joan was also named among the Distinguished Faculty of the Mary Ann Hynes Leadership Institute and the 50 Most Influential Women by the Mecklenburg Times in 2014.

Joan is an avid golfer, yogi and runner. She and husband, Tom, have three grown children and enjoy leading their church’s Impact Community, focusing on the reconciliation and pastoral leadership needs in Rwanda and Burundi. Inspired by her book and its focus on Significance through a Summit Advance, Joan successfully reached Uhuru Peak of Mt. Kilimanjaro in September of 2012 for Senai Global: Climb for a Purpose, a charitable climbing expedition raising money and support for Africa’s most impoverished communities.