Along with co-founders Paul Spiegelman and Bo Burlingham, there’s a small, mighty and creative team at the heart of the Small Giants Community. We’re the ones designing a unique, intimate Summit experience for you — and the ones greeting you at the door when you first walk in. We’re the ones building the Leadership Academy curriculum to inspire your emerging leaders — and we’re constantly enjoying virtual cups of coffee with each other or our community members. We love every minute of it.
Everything we do is inspired by the work you’re doing to make the world a better place through good business. We have a shared set of core values, a big vision, and a collective obsession with gifs, peonies, and Michigan summers. Get to know the people behind the Small Giants Community (and say hi)!
Co-Executive Director
Meet Heidi
Heidi Baumgart has dedicated her career to serving, teaching, and leading small businesses for purpose-driven, humans-first organizational cultures. Before joining the Small Giants Community team as the co-Executive Director, she led people and business operations, recruiting, branding, and marketing for small businesses in the manufacturing, retail, and service industries.
Heidi has been a Small Giants Community member and contributor since 2018. She’s a 2023 graduate of the Leadership Academy, a podcast guest, Summit panelist and attendee, and virtual event host. She loves to support and coach next gen leaders, and was an adjunct instructor at her alma mater, Kent State University.
When not on a Zoom call, Heidi is likely to be found reading a book, eating seafood in New England with her husband, or on lacrosse or baseball fields rooting on her children. She wishes Rob Lowe would call her back already.
Co-Executive Director
Meet Katie
Katie Sowa is a community builder and entrepreneurial leader who is passionate about empowering people, teams, and organizations to realize their potential and exceed their wildest dreams. She has worked in education, tech, and nonprofits, and she has built and led programs dedicated to startup growth and founder development. As the Co-Director for Small Giants Community, Katie helps to drive intentional and purposeful experiences for leaders to live and lead purposefully.
In her spare time, Katie is a dance teacher and an adjunct MBA professor. She also helps grant wishes for Make-A-Wish. Katie enjoys hosting themed parties for family and friends and spending time with her 95-lb rescue dog!
Community Coordinator
Meet Bridget
Bridget Batemen is a relationship builder at heart and is eager to create and maintain meaningful relationships with those she works with. As the Small Giants Community’s Community Coordinator, Bridget focuses on marketing, event planning, and outreach/communication efforts. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology and Communication from Hope College and enjoys using her skills to help develop and connect leaders and organizations that prioritize values, people and culture.
When there’s down time, you can find Bridget hosting a game night with friends or curled up on the couch with her defiant cat, Winston, watching a Netflix series.
Board Member
Meet Hamsa
Hamsa Daher is an experienced business leader who is passionate about people, process and purpose. Hamsa’s experiences span higher education, the tech industry, and business and leadership with the Small Giants Community. As the former Executive Director, Hamsa now serves on the Board of Directors for the Small Giants Community.
Since moving to the States from Iraq in 1991, Hamsa has followed her passion for making meaningful connections with people from all walks of life and infusing purpose into every task, team, and project she encounters — if you don’t put your heart into it, it won’t be your best!
In her free time, you can find Hamsa spending time with family, cooking, playing Scrabble and exploring cities just as a local.
Co-Founder & Board Member
Meet Paul
Paul Spiegelman is the co-founder of the Small Giants Community. He is also the founder of BerylHealth and The Beryl Institute and is the former chief culture officer of Stericycle.
He is a New York Times best-selling author and has been honored with the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year award. Paul is also a sought-after speaker on leadership, employee engagement, entrepreneurship, corporate culture, and customer relationships. His thoughts have been featured in the Wall Street Journal, Forbes, and Inc. Magazine.
Paul practiced law for two years prior to founding BerylHealth. He holds a bachelor’s degree in history from UCLA and a law degree from Southwestern University. In his free time, you can find Paul spending time with his family, playing tennis, and mentoring emerging purpose-driven leaders.
Co-Founder, Author of Small Giants
Meet Bo
Bo Burlingham is the author of Small Giants: Companies That Choose To Be Great Instead of Big(Portfolio, 2006) and an editor-at-large of Inc. Magazine. Bo joined Inc. in January 1983 as a senior editor and became executive editor six months later, a position he held for the next seven years or so. In 1990 he became editor-at-large for a number of reasons, including his desire to go back to writing. He subsequently wrote two books with Jack Stack, the co-founder and CEO of Springfield Remanufacturing Corp. and the pioneer of open-book management. One of the books, The Great Game of Business, has sold more than 300,000 copies. The other, A Stake in the Outcome, has also done pretty well and gotten great reviews.
Before joining Inc., Bo freelanced for various publications, including Esquire, Harper’s, Boston Magazine, and Mother Jones. Bo was also managing editor of Ramparts magazine. In 1982, he joined Fidelity Investments, where he wrote for Peter Lynch, Ned Johnson, and other honchos until coming to Inc. From 1992 to 1997, he served on the board of The Body Shop Inc., the U.S. subsidiary of the international cosmetics company. He was also a founder, with Tom Peters, of PAC World, a weird international networking group that gave him a chance to meet a lot of zany—and brilliant—people from around the globe.
To identify, connect, and develop purpose-driven business leaders.
Our vision is to make a positive impact by providing the platform and content for purpose-driven leaders to connect and learn from one another.
The best way to get in on all the fun is to just say hi! We love getting to know new purpose-driven leaders. We’re all about real, human connection, so let’s pour the coffee and schedule a video call to hear each others’ stories!
