About Us

Leadership Team

Pamela McLean, Ph.D., CEO, MCC
Pamela McLean, Ph.D., CEO of The Hudson Institute of Santa Barbara has over 30 years of experience as a clinical & organizational psychologist, executive coach and thought leader.

Bill Lindberg, JD, MCC
Bill is a seasoned executive coach and a lead faculty member of our Coach Certification Program and facilitator for our LifeLaunch Seminars.  Prior to leaving the active practice of law and becoming a full time coach in 1998, Bill worked in a variety of senior managerial positions at West Publishing, one of the premier legal publishing companies in the country.  As the National Manager for Market Relations, Bill worked closely with key individuals in corporate, government and private law firms as well as in law schools and libraries. Bill also developed and delivered educational programs and managed a staff of attorneys during his tenure.

Karl Grass
Karl is an executive coach as well as a facilitator in our LifeLaunch program. He has held executive leadership roles in a wide range of organizations. His experience includes co-founding one of the first start-ups in the tax software space, worldwide partner at Arthur Andersen, and general manager roles running businesses ranging in size from $30 to $265 million at organizations such as Intuit and Sage Software.  Additionally he has served as an officier of the company at Intuit and has served on the board of directors of a SaaS-based start-up. Having experienced many of the same challenges as his current clients gives Karl a full appreciation for the importance of the coaching work they take on.  Karl is certified in the EQ in Action and Zenger-Folkman Extraordinary Leader assessments.  

Julie Grusin Hess, MA
Julie is a facilitator-coach in our LIfeLaunch Program and a seasoned leadership coach.  Julie has had many years of experience inside organizations.  Most recently she served as Director of Leadership and Organization Effectiveness at Motorola where she partnered with senior executives in the areas of organization design, process redesign, change management, strategic planning and executive and team coaching. During her tenure at Motorola, she became recognized as a turn-around specialist for struggling divisions through her ability to help leadership teams focus quickly on strategic direction, critical path planning and implementation.

Joy Leach, MA, MCC
Joy is a seasoned coach and faculty member in our Coach Certification Program as well as a facilitator in our LifeLaunch Programs. She is also a lead facilitator in our 'Spot Coaching for Managers' inside organizations. Joy leads large-scale consulting projects and training initiatives to facilitate organizational effectiveness and transformation. While she specializes in executive coaching and leadership coaching, Joy also coaches in personal/ professional balance, presentation skills coaching, and career transition coaching. She has over 25 years of experience as an OD consultant, workshop trainer, executive coach, and author. She is co-author of Personal Power: Today's Guide for the Working Woman and A Practical Guide to Working With Diversity.  

Toni McLean, PCC
Toni has recruited, trained, coached, and managed a multitude of professionals over the course of her career.  Bringing 25 years of sales, managerial and organizational experience to her coaching and training career, Toni has expertly coached sales professionals, sales managers and sales teams to high achievement levels. Starting in 1980, she gained field sales experience at Nystrom a division of Herff-Jones, and quickly moved into sales training and sales management and was there for almost 20 years before moving to National Geographic, School Publishing division. Toni received her professional coaching certification from The Hudson Institute of Santa Barbara in 2001.  She has worked with The Hudson Institute since 2004, serves as an internal mentor coach, and has facilitated professional skills training in several organizations.  

Tom Pollack, JD
Tom is a facilitator-coach in our LifeLaunch and ThirdLaunch Programs and both a transition coach and leadership coach with broad experience in the legal domain spanning the past thirty-five years.  His law background and years of experience combined with his life coaching skills provide the ingredients for helping high-profile individuals re-examine their goals for a challenging future. Tom received a B.A. from Brown University in 1965 and a J.D. from New York University School of Law in 1968, where he served as the Articles Editor of the New York University Law Review and was Order of the Coif and a Pomeroy Scholar. He was an adjunct professor of federal criminal trial practice at Loyola University School of Law and lectured extensively on various topics of federal criminal practice.


Sandy Smith, MA, MCC
Sandy is a seasoned executive coach and one of the lead faculty members of our Coach Certification Program.  Before her career as coach and consultant, Sandy enjoyed a successful business career with broad functional experience.  She held executive positions in the telecommunications and software industries, including founding two technology companies. She also served as COO for Aldus Corporation, the top ten global software company which created the breakthrough product, PageMaker.

Kathleen Stinnett, MSOD, MCC
Kathleen is a professional trainer, coach and consultant, and serves as a lead facilitator for our LifeLaunch seminars. Working closely with the other members of the LifeLaunch Leadership Team, she collaborates in the ongoing development of coach skills. Kathleen does executive coaching, team and organizational coaching, and creates custom solutions for companies in several industries. Kathleen has a master's degree in organizational design and spent several years in design, development and implementation at the corporate level for Wilson Learning Corporation in Minneapolis, MN.  She is co-author with John Zenger of The Extraordinary Coach: How the Best Leaders Help Others Grow.  

Catherine Robinson-Walker, MBA, MCC
Catherine Robinson-Walker, MBA has served in the areas of tailored product solutions and delivery, business development and client organization interface. Cathy's leadership and coaching career builds on 25 years of business experience including as the CEO of a high-growth organization devoted to leadership and learning. With her colleagues, she founded a consortium of 15 major universities throughout the United States and Canada, including the University of California-Berkeley, the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, and the Kellogg School at Northwestern. Their work focused on creating and sustaining unique leadership learning communities for regional, national and international healthcare organizations. Her recent book, Women and Leadership in Health Care: The Journey to Authenticity and Power, is a Jossey-Bass best seller.

Lynn Schoener, MA
Lynn is a lead facilitator in our LifeLaunch Program and a seasoned coach.  A summa cum laude graduate of the University of Cincinnati, Lynn served in training, consulting, and leadership roles for retail, healthcare, and manufacturing organizations prior to establishing her ""coachsulting"" practice in 1994. She worked extensively in the areas of performance management, multi-rater feedback, leadership development, and coach training. Lynn is a Certified Birkman Consultant.

John Schuster, MA, PCC
John Schuster serves as a senior coach and consultant in the delivery process of Leadership and Coaching Services. He brings twenty five years of leadership development and consulting experience. John has authored and coauthored three books on leadership and management issues including the Power of Open-Book Management (Wiley). John has a passion for spirited work places and a free market system that generates right livelihoods for everyone. He is a speaker and keynoter, coach and trainer, and helps enterprises "get to the heart of the numbers." By promoting leadership and management practices that fully engage employees, he helps clients build their next generation of leaders by keeping customers, effective business models and shareholders in mind.

Kim Woodward, PCC
Kim is a facilitator-coach in our LifeLaunch and ThirdLaunch programs and a member of our Coach Certification Team.  A seasoned coach and yoga instructor, Kim spent thirty-five years as a manager and executive in high technology companies. His career encompassed areas of operational management, finance, information technology, marketing and general management. He completed the career chapter of his life in 2003.