John S. Lybarger

A senior consultant with AvoLead, John serves clients as an organizational development consultant, program manager, curriculum designer, facilitator and executive coach. John is known for engaging his learners, increasing their competence at mission execution and creating sustainable results. He excels in working with executives from both the public and private sectors, taking what he learns from each engagement and applying it to the next, effectively creating a more results-focused and mission-driven impact.

Since founding Lybarger & Associates in 1993, John has designed and facilitated courses that have built stronger leaders, created sustainable culture change and empowered teams. Recent experience has included contract work with the US Office of Personnel Management and Western Management Development Center, where he co-designed more than a dozen courses and served as a feedback coach. He served as a visiting program manager leading custom organizational development projects for the Department of the Treasury (US Mint and Internal Revenue Service), Environmental Protection Agency, Department of Defense and Defense Contract Management Agency. He co-designed and facilitated custom courses for the US Army, Social Security Administration, Food Safety and Inspection Services, US Customs and Immigration Services, Department of Justice, Department of Transportation and the Pacific Leadership Academy. Within the public sector, John has delivered career transition coaching services through McKenzie Scott in Denver, CO. An adjunct faculty member at the Center for Creative Leadership, John provided executive coaching and small group facilitation for numerous clients in 2006-2007.

John spent the first thirteen years of his career in progressively responsible leadership positions in the healthcare and human services sectors in both nonprofit and profit organizations. He has held executive positions with P&L accountability for over $1.5M and span of control over geographically dispersed operations with over 120 staff.

He earned his PhD in psychology and MBA from California Coast University, and his MS in counseling from California State University at Fullerton. A Board Certified Coach (BCC), John is also a certified paralegal and certified mediator. He is licensed as a Marriage and Family Therapist (CA), a National Certified Counselor and Certified Addictions Specialist. He is qualified to administer and interpret all psychometric assessments and is certified in a variety of 360, individual and team assessment tools.

John lives with his wife in Colorado. In his leisure time, he enjoys aerobic exercise, travel, reading, swimming and skiing.

What clients say about John:

“John is a consummate professional, conscientious, disciplined, trustworthy and committed to his client’s success. He dedicates himself to lifelong learning, which results in recommendations, plans and action strategies with a higher probability of success, less error and less downtime and therefore results with greater overall value to the client and end-user.” –George Liscic, Program Director, Public Agency

“I had the pleasure of observing John leading workshops for candidates and their coaches in two of our recent Executive Development Programs. John demonstrated expert knowledge on receiving and interpreting 360 feedback — and how to get the most out of the data — both for capitalizing on strengths and addressing improvement opportunities. More importantly, he provided guidance and modeled behaviors for establishing a productive coaching relationship. The candidates and coaches found him highly credible and provided him with stellar reviews.” Consequently, John has become a “regular” presenter at our ‘coach/candidate workshops’.” –Matt Ferrero, Director, Leadership Succession Planning, IRS Human Capital Office

“John has worked with the Defense Contract Management Agency (DCMA) through the Office of Personnel Management, Management Development Centers as a visiting program manager and facilitator for the past several years training and developing our supervisors to become better leaders, managers and coaches through the DCMA COHORT Leadership Training program. This multi-week, time-spaced learning initiative has been the vehicle for training over 1,000 supervisors from our agency in emotional intelligence, coaching and leadership skills. These alumni are making a difference in our mission and culture. Many have been promoted and selected for our Tomorrow’s Leaders Initiative–a multi-year program designed to grow our future agency leaders. John’s passion for developing leaders and impacting organizational culture change keeps our leadership training fresh, mission-oriented and results-focused. The COHORT program has been one of our most successful leadership training initiatives in many years. I would recommend John without reservation to work with an organization to develop their leaders.” –Randy Sawlsville, Executive Director, Human Resources, Defense Contract Management Agency

“As consultant for the Office of Personnel Management, Dr. Lybarger has had a proven track record to successfully design, oversee and deliver a Cohort Program on Leadership for the DOD, Defense Contract Management Agency (DCMA). The program was started in 2003 and he has continued in the role throughout 38 Cohorts. In 2009, DCMA Cohorts led by Dr. Lybarger fall into the Kirkpatrick rating of 4.50 and above. Comments made by participants include:

• Current Facilitator should be included in future sessions.
• John is class act instructor with patience and professionalism.
• Instructor commitment to the training reinforced my commitment to Public Service.

–Phyllis O’Meara, Account Manager, U.S. Office of Personnel Management, Succession Planning and Custom Solutions