President’s Bio

Joseph W. Synan is a leadership and team effectiveness consultant who has successfully served organizations and teams in the corporate, non-profit, and public sectors. The focus of his work is helping leaders and teams by facilitating their consensus building and helping them to lead, vision, and plan better together. He is founder and President of Leadingwell Associates, a consulting practice he has led since 1988. Joe is the past President of the American Leadership Forum, a national non-profit organization which brings together diverse senior leaders in communities across the country. Joe was President from 1987-90, and currently serves the organization as a consultant. An experienced entrepreneur and business consultant, in 1985 Joe co-founded Change Management Associates, a Houston firm which specialized in helping companies down-size and helping people affected by the down-sizing to continue their careers. Joe has 17 years in the energy industry with Gulf and Chevron. He held senior management positions in information resources, research and development, and strategic planning in both the U.S. and Canada. Joe's earliest career was in nuclear power, where he assisted a Gulf subsidiary in obtaining approvals for the operation of its nuclear power plants. Joe has three degrees in nuclear engineering, two from M.I.T. and one from Notre Dame (graduating Maxima Cum Laude). He has attended the University of Virginia, Executive Business Program, and is currently a graduate student in Theology at the University of St. Thomas. He is a native of Zanesville, Ohio and resides in Kingwood, Texas with his wife, Susan, a Psychotherapist. Their son, Chris, a graduate of the University of St. Thomas and South Texas College of Law, is a partner in an Austin law firm, and their daughter, Jenny, is a graduate of New York University. An active runner, racquet sports player, golfer, mountain hiker – Joe has hiked to the highest point in more than 40 states.