Meet Our Team
At Kandu Leadership, our strength lies in our people. We are a team of seasoned industry veterans, with decades of experience in human resources, executive leadership, and organizational transformation. Our backgrounds span multiple industries, from high-growth startups to established enterprises, giving us the insight and agility to meet your unique challenges with practical, results-driven solutions.
But we’re more than just experts—we’re listeners, strategists, and partners. We don’t believe in cookie-cutter approaches. Instead, we take the time to understand your organization, your people, and your goals, ensuring that every engagement is tailored to your needs.
Whether we’re guiding executives through change, coaching emerging leaders, or helping teams build resilience, our mission is simple: to provide you with the right tools, at the right time, in the right way. No rigid frameworks, no one-size-fits-all solutions—just real expertise, applied with care.
Christine Duer
Co-Founder, CEO
Christine Duer is a leadership strategist with over 25 years of experience helping organizations unlock potential through human-centered development. As co-founder of Kandu Leadership, she partners with small and mid-sized businesses to transform leadership challenges into growth opportunities.
Christine's career spans sectors from youth development and nonprofit healthcare to logistics and Fortune 500 companies. She has led large-scale learning initiatives, shaped global talent strategies, and guided organizations through complex change. Her work consistently empowers leaders to align around purpose and drive meaningful impact.
A Certified Hogan Leadership Coach, Christine is also International Coaching Federation trained and is currently pursuing her ACC credential. She is a certified Everything DiSC® Practitioner, a Five Behaviors® Facilitator, and holds a master’s degree in Adult Education. Christine brings deep expertise in leadership development, change management, and conflict navigation. Known for making the complex simple, she blends proven tools with practical insights to create those “aha” moments where leaders uncover their true capabilities.
Esther Kantner
Co-Founder, President
Esther Kantner is a seasoned HR leader with over 30 years of experience driving talent and organizational growth across domestic and global businesses. As co-founder of Kandu Leadership, she partners with organizations to turn HR and talent development challenges into strategic opportunities.
Throughout her career, Esther has scaled companies, doubled workforces while preserving culture, built HR functions from the ground up, and implemented award-winning diversity and retention programs. She has a track record of designing global HR practices that support international and remote teams, restructuring HR departments for performance, and aligning leadership to accelerate business results.
At Kandu Leadership, Esther delivers practical, high-impact solutions through executive leadership alignment, operational excellence, leadership enablement, and HR augmentation services. Her approach blends strategic insight with hands-on execution, empowering organizations to unlock the full potential of their people.
Kristen Walker
Chief Operating Officer
Kristen Walker is a strategic organizational development leader with over 25 years of experience guiding global organizations through complex change, operational transformation, and leadership alignment. As a partner at Kandu Leadership, she specializes in turning complexity into clarity through structured, scalable solutions.
Kristen has led strategic planning and operational excellence initiatives across 40+ countries, most recently as Senior Director of Global Management for an international healthcare organization. She has also served as COO for a multi-county nonprofit, driving digital transformation, implementing new operating models, and strengthening team engagement during times of change.
With deep expertise in change management, cross-cultural leadership, and strategic facilitation, Kristen has helped organizations streamline operations, align executive teams, and build systems that support sustainable growth. Her background spans sectors from pediatric healthcare to international development, and her work includes global project leadership in Angola and the Czech Republic.
Known for her ability to create order from chaos, Kristen combines strategic vision with practical execution. She holds an M.S. in Child Development from the University of Pittsburgh and certifications in conflict management and organizational facilitation.
Kristy Busija
Sr Advisor, Talent Strategy & Organizational Development
Kristy brings to Kandu Leadership a wealth of expertise in building high-performing organizations through integrated talent management, leadership development, and culture transformation. With over 25 years of experience leading global talent and organizational development initiatives, she enhances our ability to help clients align people strategy with business outcomes.
As an ICF and Board-Certified Coach with advanced certifications in Hogan, DiSC, Five Behaviors, and psychological safety facilitation, Kristy equips leaders with the tools and insights to drive meaningful change. Her track record includes scaling talent programs across multinational organizations, embedding DEI into leadership practices, and using data-driven approaches to deliver measurable results.
At Kandu, Kristy strengthens our advisory depth in executive coaching, succession planning, and organizational effectiveness, helping clients create environments where leaders and teams thrive, even amid complexity and rapid growth.
In addition to her role as a Kandu advisor, Kristy is the Founder & CEO of Next Conversation Consulting, where she partners with organizations worldwide to design and deploy progressive talent strategies.
Lyall Samaroden
Sr Advisor, Innovation & Strategic Change
Lyall brings Kandu Leadership clients a powerful blend of innovation expertise and facilitation mastery. As a strategist who has led change initiatives across sectors, from healthcare to energy to government, he helps us infuse our leadership development work with bold thinking and real-world application.
Through his affiliation with ExperiencePoint and deep experience designing and delivering learning programs across North America (including Harvard Business School and multiple Canadian institutions), Lyall expands Kandu’s reach into experience-driven innovation and change enablement. He equips us, and our clients, with practical, tested tools to navigate uncertainty and spark progress.
At Kandu, Lyall strengthens our ability to guide organizations through transformation with clarity, creativity, and confidence.
Alongside his work with Kandu, Lyall leads Bench Solutions Inc., helping organizations reimagine what’s possible through innovation and change facilitation.
Carrie Bach
Sr. Advisor, Executive Alignment & Transformational Leadership
Carrie serves as a key strategic thought partner to the Kandu team, bringing decades of executive leadership and advisory experience to strengthen our work with organizations in growth, transition, or transformation. With a rare ability to balance vision with execution, she helps ensure our leadership programs and advisory services are grounded in the realities of high-stakes decision-making.
Carrie’s background spans global NGOs, U.S. health systems, mission-driven startups, and Fortune 500 partnerships, giving Kandu clients access to seasoned insights across sectors and stages of scale. At Kandu, she advises on executive alignment, board engagement, and organizational strategy, helping our clients navigate complexity with confidence and clarity.
Her trusted, pragmatic approach adds depth to our leadership offerings and expands our capacity to support senior teams through challenge, change, and opportunity.
Libby Bunker
Advisor, Systems Thinking & Health Equity
Libby strengthens Kandu’s ability to support mission-driven organizations with systems-level strategy, equity-centered design, and global perspective. With experience spanning more than 35 countries and a deep research focus on maternal health equity in the U.S., she helps us guide clients through complex challenges with insight, clarity, and compassion.
At Kandu, Libby brings research rigor, cross-cultural fluency, and a passion for purposeful leadership. Her work enhances our capacity to serve clients in the health, nonprofit, and international development sectors, especially those navigating social impact, equity, and systemic change.
Libby’s thoughtful, justice-driven approach helps ensure our leadership development and advisory services reflect the diverse realities and aspirations of the people and communities our clients serve.
Sheri Lohman
Advisor, Operational Strategy & Execution
Sheri brings essential operational and supply chain expertise to the Kandu team, ensuring our clients benefit from both strategic vision and executional excellence. With over two decades of experience in global health, life sciences, and consulting, she helps organizations simplify complexity, optimize performance, and align their operations with their leadership goals.
At Kandu, Sheri strengthens our advisory capabilities in areas like process design, risk mitigation, and data-informed decision-making — critical functions for clients undergoing growth, change, or operational scaling. Her experience leading cross-functional initiatives, including global operations at Operation Smile and COVID-19 vaccine logistics, brings practical insight to our systems-oriented leadership approach.
Sheri’s blend of strategic clarity and process discipline helps Kandu clients build the operational backbone needed to sustain high-performing teams and meaningful impact.
Sheri also leads Lohman Consulting Group, where she advises mission-driven organizations on operational excellence and global supply chain strategy.
Sarah Lawyer
Advisor, Digital Strategy & Creative Engagement
Sarah enhances Kandu’s ability to connect, communicate, and scale our message in the digital space. As a digital strategist and creative technologist, she ensures that our online presence across platforms is not only visually compelling but strategically aligned with our mission and audience.
At Kandu, Sarah brings a unique blend of technical know-how, content strategy, and visual storytelling that strengthens how we and our clients show up online. From optimizing web platforms to developing purposeful content, she helps us translate thought leadership into digital experiences that engage and inspire.
Her builder’s mindset, marketing acumen, and commitment to mission-driven work make her an invaluable partner in helping Kandu Leadership, and the organizations we serve, turn digital tools into powerful enablers of leadership and impact.
Lizzy Petherbridge
Advisor, Mental Health & Human-Centered Leadership
Lizzy brings a trauma-informed, wellness-centered lens to Kandu’s leadership development and team coaching work, helping clients build cultures of psychological safety, emotional resilience, and authentic connection. With advanced training in somatic therapy and relationship dynamics, she strengthens our ability to support leaders navigating high-stress environments, team dynamics, and complex interpersonal challenges.
Her expertise in Accelerated Resolution Therapy (ART), nervous system regulation, and identity-informed counseling gives Kandu clients access to approaches that go beyond mindset, addressing how emotion, stress, and past experience show up in leadership and organizational culture.
At Kandu, Lizzy ensures our programs reflect the full humanity of the people we serve, supporting sustainable leadership grounded in empathy, clarity, and connection.
Megan Duer
Megan brings creativity, technical expertise, and organizational support to the Kandu team. With a background in music production and audio engineering, she combines artistic vision with precision in managing both media projects and behind-the-scenes operations.
At Kandu, Megan handles administrative coordination to keep our work running smoothly and serves as producer of our upcoming podcast, ensuring each episode is polished, engaging, and aligned with our mission. Her experience with sound design, production planning, and digital content creation strengthens our ability to communicate with clarity and impact.
With a passion for storytelling through sound and a talent for managing details, Megan helps Kandu deliver high-quality experiences — on air and across all aspects of our work
Media & Administrative Specialist