Radical Ignition Team
With an illustrious career that has spanned more than two decades, Melanie Vargas has masterfully cultivated her craft as a C-level Human Resources and Organizational Development luminary. Her journey is defined by an unwavering commitment to unlocking boundless possibilities and orchestrating profound transformations within leaders and teams, all underpinned by a steadfast dedication to delivering concrete, results-oriented solutions. Melanie Vargas embodies the catalyst for change, igniting the latent potential within individuals and organizations alike, setting them on an extraordinary path towards unparalleled growth and achievement.
Before founding Radical Ignition in 2019, Melanie served as the President of Swift HR Solutions for 16 years, where she spearheaded a team of 20+, C-level HR consultants, facilitators, and executive coaches and managing a consulting business of more than 100 organizations at any given time. During her tenure, she played a pivotal role in establishing and launching the company’s leadership development programs for the company, while also overseeing the executive coaching department. The startup organizations she supported during her tenure had several successful liquidity events. She built a successful track record working across many global organizations in a variety of industries. She has worked with leaders from the C-suite all the way to emerging leaders. Her dynamic career having worked across many organizations from startup to Fortune 100 gives her a great perspective as a coach and a facilitator.
Her coaching philosophy revolves around fostering a thought-provoking and creative partnership with her clients. She believes in empowering clients to unlock their full potential by challenging conventional thinking and encouraging innovative problem-solving. Whether it’s navigating critical strategic decisions, cultivating executive presence, fostering team cohesion, or enhancing interpersonal effectiveness, she is unwavering in her commitment to guiding leaders and their teams towards unparalleled success. She aims to guide her clients to explore new perspectives, question assumptions, and gain deeper insights into their goals and aspirations. She seeks to ignite the spark of creativity and inspire transformative growth in her clients. Melanie is a frequently requested keynote speaker on topics such as resilience, change and transition.
“Melanie is both a skilled listener and a seasoned professional with a tremendous amount of practice and training. The work we have done has been guided without being pushy. The discoveries revelatory, and the amount of change in a short time incredibly productive and rewarding. ”
David Feinburg, CEO & Founder
Melanie is a certified executive coach through Hudson Institute and is a ICF Professional Certified Coach. She is certified in Thomas TEIQue® and Thomas DISC® and a Facilitator for Thomas International. She is also certified in the Leadership Circle Profile™, Dare to Lead® trained, and DEIB certified from Cornell. She also holds SPHR and SHRM-SCP certifications. She is also currently on the board for the Hudson Seattle Coach Community and ICF Washington State. In her personal time, Melanie is committed to her amazing family, her husband, three kids, and pet mom two dogs and two cats.
Kristal Roberts is an executive coach and senior organizational development professional and co-host to a top 1% worldwide podcast focused on unleashing leader possibilities to make a better world. She has spent her 30-year career in the field of leadership and organizational development and human resources. She has coached and partnered with CEOs, executives and senior leaders to unleash employees’ potential and inspire a high performing organization. She has developed many innovative programs over her career focused on increasing leadership and organizational capacity and performance. These programs included ground breaking innovative and strategic approaches to leadership development, innovation, culture change and employee engagement. In addition, she has a record of bringing new programs to the organization including a women’s initiative, mentoring programs, succession preparation and continuous process improvement. She believes in the power of possibility and that every employee must be encouraged to bring their full potential to their organization and in so doing the organization can achieve its highest goals.
“I worked with Kristal for several months to work through a career and personal transition plan. Kristal is a skilled and effective coach. she is a master at listening, connecting the dots between disparate ideas/conversations, and drawing out insights and actions in order to move forward. most people want a coach to give them the answers to their issues. Kristal helps you discover the best answers for yourself in a way that is respectful, intelligent, sophisticated and effective. she keeps her eye on helping you achieve your goals and keeps you on track to ensure success. Kristal’s experience as an organizational development professional working with all levels from front line to executives gives her a unique perspective and real-life experience that will benefit everyone who is seeing a professional or personal coach.”
Nancy H
Kristal has a bachelors in business administration from the University of Washington and an MBA from Pacific Lutheran University. She received the Women of Achievement award and the Pat Davis Legacy of Leadership Award at her employer for her long-standing commitment to making positive organizational change. Kristal enjoys spending time with her family boating on the many beautiful lakes in Washington as well as traveling and reading.
Elissa Windisch is an executive coach and facilitator who guides leaders and teams in fast-moving, complex environments to build stronger relationships, align their professional work with their inner purpose, make confident decisions, navigate stress and anxiety and show up as their best authentic selves. Elissa is both warm and direct; she leads with empathy and perception – listening with intention and curiosity.
Elissa has coached leaders from a diverse range of industries including healthcare, technology, finance, marketing, education and non-profit.With 20 years of business experience, she brings to her coaching a unique ability to empathize with leaders, understand the challenges they face and create a safe environment to dig deep into what is limiting their greatness. Previously, Elissa spent 10 years at DaVita Healthcare Partners in various roles including Internal Strategy, Field Operations for DaVita’s dialysis business and more recently leading a region of DaVita’s multi-specialty business. Elissa’s business experience also includes roles in strategic leadership at Providence Health & Services, coaching/teaching through Johnson & Johnson’s Management Fellows Program and consulting with Triage Consulting Group.
Elissa holds a B.A. in Economics from U.C.L.A. and an MBA from the UCLA Anderson School of Business. She is a graduate of the Hudson Institute of Coaching and certified through the International Coach Federation. Additionally, she is a certified practitioner in the Leadership Circle Profile, Myers Briggs and Thomas Trait Emotional Intelligence. Elissa resides in Los Angeles with her husband, two children and two Labradoodles.
Leah’s strategic empathetic observation focuses on implementing innovation and human growth potential in the workplace and beyond. With a career interlaced in startups, nonprofits, and corporate partnerships she’s worked globally, creating impactful experiences between people and disruptive technology.
Most recently, after leaving her role as the Director of Customer Success at a SAAS startup, Leah pursued a two-year holistic education as a coach, apprenticing under Ray Arata the Founder of the Better Man Conference and completing an executive coaching certification from the Hudson Institute of Coaching. She partners with her clients on elevating their awareness, self-assuredness, and mastery of a balanced high-performance lifestyle. Her current clients are senior leaders within organizations such as Nike, Marriott, and Asurion.
“Working with Leah has been incredibly insightful, enlightening and productive. I sought out coaching during a period in my professional life when I knew I needed to make a change – but wasn’t sure of the direction. Leah’s kindness, thoughtful questions, inventories, and reframing of my mindset helped me to turn a corner ultimately finding confidence and improved clarity in direction. I highly recommend Leah when looking for an emphatic guide through moments of unclarity.”
Senior Leader,
Asurion
Additionally, Leah has facilitated design thinking and innovation programming globally for clients such as Nike, Metlife Foundation, Dell Children’s Hospital, and the University of Texas in Austin. Recently certified in SolveNext’s “ThinkWrong” methodology, Leah’s true asset as a facilitator is her ability to adapt to her environment quickly, building rapport and trust with participants and creating a safe space where individuals and teams can express and expand themselves.
Finally, with a passion for inclusivity and dynamic awareness of self and others, Leah has a specialized area of focus that she offers her clients in regard to masculine (conscious) and feminine (energy). Utilizing a holistic methodology based in both Eastern philosophy and Western research, Leah guides leaders and organizations in embracing a balanced perspective.
Our consultant is much more than an HR professional – she is a savvy business professional. She has been an invaluable voice, thought partner, and support.
