This week, The Braintrust Consulting Group officially announced that Kate Megaw has been promoted to the position of President. This announcement comes as current President, Brian Rabon steps into the role of Chief Executive Officer and focuses on growing The Center for Agile Leadership®. Kate has been with The Braintrust Consulting Group for more than 7 years as Chief Operating Officer, as well as acting as an Agile Coach and Certified Scrum Trainer®. We had the chance to sit down with Kate and find out more about this transition and what it means for Braintrust.
For those who might not know you, what can you tell us about yourself?
Kate: I’m originally from Edinburgh, Scotland. From there, I attended University at The Queen’s University, Belfast in Northern Ireland. So the first thing most people notice about me is my accent. I came to the US in 1997 to be an education and training consultant and I fell in love with training people. I’ve spent the last 24 years of my career focused on helping others grow and succeed- the last seven with The Braintrust Consulting Group as COO. When I first started with Braintrust, I was the second employee in the company. Today we have 17 full-time employees plus dozens of contract trainers across the country. My home base is Los Angeles where I live with my husband George and my two daughters; Aoife and Sophie.
Tell us about how this transition came about?
Kate: Brian and I began talking about this idea a little over a year ago. We wanted to find a way for Brian to have more time to focus on the future of our industry and the growth of our new business line, The Center for Agile Leadership®. We’ve been looking for the best way to transition him into more of a visionary role without being disruptive. I’ve spent the last seven years as the COO, so it was a natural progression for me to take over the day-to-day operations of Braintrust. I’m very excited about the opportunity to serve my team and our customers in this new role.
Do you have any first acts as the new President?
Kate: I don’t know if I have any official first acts, but I am excited about continuing to grow our class offerings. Our goal has always been to help our clients grow in every step of their Agile Journey. And we’ve done a good job of shaping our class offerings to match their needs. We have plans to add more advanced trainings in the near future and continue to evolve as Agile becomes more and more widespread. Check out our full training roadmap here.
What changes can Braintrust customers expect with this transition?
Kate: Our intent and our hope is that our customers will not see any changes through this transition. We’ve done our homework, thought about this from every angle, and we are working diligently to make this a smooth transition. For me, the role of President is an extension of what I was already doing for years. Now I will have more opportunities and greater ability to serve our customers and grow our coaching and training services.
Will you still be coaching and teaching classes?
Kate: I will definitely still be teaching classes and coaching our Braintrust clients. I love both coaching and training and I never want to lose touch with our customers. I will probably scale back my number of days on the road each month so I can focus on helping the entire Braintrust team better serve our clients. We’ve added some amazing new trainers to our team this year and I want to support them and help them grow in their new roles.
Recently, there has been a lot of attention placed on women in IT and in Agile in particular. How do you see yourself playing a role in that movement?
Kate: I am a huge advocate for women in Agile. Earlier this year, I co-hosted a Mentoring Women in Agile breakfast at the Scrum Alliance’s Global Gathering in San Diego with Anu Smalley. The event was devoted to mentoring opportunities for women in our industry and it was great to have my youngest daughter Sophie there as a volunteer and participant. I am very excited that as President of Braintrust, I can be a mentor for the women on my team and a role model for all women who want to succeed within Agile.
What can you tell us about Brian’s new role as CEO?
Kate: For the last several years, Brian has served two roles within Braintrust. He has been the leader as well as the visionary who has looked ahead, planned for growth, and identified needs such as The Center for Agile Leadership®. It’s been a lot to ask of him to focus on both the micro and the macro. He’s certainly not going away and Braintrust clients can still expect to see him, but my goal in this transition is to take the day-to-day off of Brian so he can focus on the future needs of our clients and our industry.
Thanks Kate! Everyone congratulate Kate on her new role whenever you see her out and about!
