Valerie Townsend Livesay, PhD

Valerie Livesay coaches leaders across industries and in non-profit and government contexts. She helps identify and – where appropriate, shift – patterns of thought that hinder optimal leadership effectiveness and contribution. In her work, she brings depth, warmth, discernment, and a fierce belief that clarity and courage emerge not from pushing harder, but from allowing space for the honest, sometimes disorienting unfolding of what’s next.

Valerie is the foremost thinker on fallback in adult development. (Fallback being the loss of capacity to think at the emotional and psychological level that we are normally capable of.) Her work in this field expanded the understanding of how adults grow, developed through original research with leading theorists and practitioners in the vertical development space, as well as deep, longitudinal exploration of the lived experience of fallback. With an extensive background spanning academia, nonprofit leadership, and corporate consulting, she brings a multifaceted approach to fostering leadership excellence, organizational growth and human development.

Valerie is the author of the book, Leaving the Ghost Light Burning: Illuminating Fallback in Embrace of the Fullness of You, and several articles exploring developmental theory in leadership contexts. She frequently presents at international conferences and is an adjunct faculty member in the University of San Diego’s Leadership Studies doctoral program. She holds a Bachelor’s degree from Indiana University and earned her Master’s in Nonprofit Leadership and Management and a PhD in Leadership Studies from the University of San Diego.