Gayle Karen Young

is a cultural architect and a catalyst for human and organizational development. She comes from a rich organizational consulting background with both corporate and nonprofit clients. She was in process of becoming a Zen monk when she became an executive instead, taking on the role of Chief Culture and Talent Officer at the Wikimedia Foundation (Wikipedia and its sister free-knowledge projects) until early 2015, when she decided to return to private practice as a rogue provocateur. Born in the Philippines to Chinese parents and raised in the United States, she has a multicultural perspective, an adventurous spirit, and a deep commitment to expanding human freedom. Gayle works to support leaders in creating dynamic organizational cultures in which people can thrive and thus make greater contributions. She acts as the interface between individuals and the systems within which they work, and fosters the development of both. Gayle often acts advisor and mentor to new executives who are intelligent and working for the rights of people. Possessing both executive experience and organizational psychology expertise, she helps to develop the truly integrated leader in order to make lasting change. She is also very much a geek that loves attending Comic-Con and reading science fiction, which inspires a passion for technology and its leverage for societal change, and has worked with a number of technology organizations and mentors for accelerator programs such as the Unreasonable Institute, Singularity University Labs, and the Thiel 20Under20 program with a focus on co-founder dynamics, start-up cultures, and leadership team dynamics. She is keenly interested in the intersection of technology and human rights and supports futurist humanitarian causes.

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