Courtney O’Connell is a senior director at APCO with a passion for helping clients solve complex “people challenges.” With her profound expertise in leadership and organizational development, she is energized by helping leaders craft compelling stories, design innovative learning programs, and address employee engagement challenges head-on. She has worked with companies across technology, healthcare, consumer products, and finance, to create and deliver strategies to build and enhance their culture and reputation. She specializes in learning and employee engagement, leadership and storytelling, and internal communications.

Courtney adds critical value to Gagen's clients by working to simplify complex messages, engage audiences through storytelling, and coach executives to perfect their public speaking skills. She’s successfully partnered with executives from Blue Cross Blue Shield, VantageScore, and Ikea to build confidence and competence when representing their companies in the public eye.

Her reputation as an innovator began early in her career with her TEDx talk, “Go All In on Education” and recognition from MeetingsNet Magazine, The Huffington Post and RuleBreaker Magazine as an agent of change in the learning field. Prior to transitioning fully to the client side, Courtney spent her first eight years at APCO establishing the Global Learning and Development function, creating a diverse team that employed an ambassador approach for customized delivery of global initiatives. She drove APCO's digital learning transformation, introducing an LMS, curating 200+ courses, and forming structured learning paths aligned with job levels and company competencies.