Team Biographies
Chris Cancialosi, Managing Partner and Founder
Chris Cancialosi, Managing Partner and Founder of gothamCulture, is a recognized expert in the fields of leadership and organizational development, with a focus on the role of leaders in shaping high-performing cultures. Chris has worked with senior leaders across industries and sectors to design and deploy organizational transformation processes aimed at creating and sustaining effective large-scale change. Chris is an experienced advisor and executive coach with a reputation for providing critical insights and engaging customized solutions; he effectively combines his operational field and entrepreneurial experience with his knowledge of organizational psychology to provide unique practical support to his clients as they navigate today’s business landscape.
Working with clients such as Google, JetBlue Airways, US Forest Service, Nando’s South Africa, Sonos, and New York City’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority, Chris has leveraged the concepts of human behavior to enhance business performance while improving people’s lives through association and collaboration. Knowing that an organization’s success hinges on its people, Chris finds distinct ways to engage both leaders and groups in ways that yield results.
Prior to founding gothamCulture, Chris held leadership positions in both internal and external consulting roles at JetBlue Airways and Human Performance Systems. His work focused on leader development and coaching, organizational culture, and performance improvement. Chris also served as a commissioned officer in the US Army, spending two years leading troops in combat operations in Iraq. Performing in leadership roles as a battalion operations officer and Blackhawk helicopter pilot, Chris has a unique perspective on operations and people that he brings to his current client work and research.
Chris served as a member of the adjunct faculty of the Department of Psychology at New Jersey’s Montclair State University in New Jersey for five years and supported the state’s first program minor in leadership studies. Chris is a regular contributor to Forbes and has also appeared in numerous media outlets such as Crain’s New York Business, Inc. Magazine Online, CEO.com, NBC’s Nightly News with Brian Williams, HR.com, and CEO.com.
Chris regularly presents at professional conferences and workshops. His research and writing are centered on organizational culture and customer loyalty. His volunteer work includes significant contributions of skills-based pro-bono work with non-profits through the Billion Plus Change program. Chris also serves as an Executive Board Member of the Bainbridge Schools Foundation. Chris holds a Ph.D. in organizational psychology.
Kate Gerasimova, Senior Associate
Kate Gerasimova, Senior Associate at gothamCulture, designs and facilitates workshops and leadership development programs for clients. She enjoys working with people and has over 10 years of client-facing management consulting experience. Kate achieves success by partnering with clients on leadership and team development, change management, competency models, mission/vision development, organizational strategy and design, coaching, and designing and facilitating workshops using Design Thinking.
Kate’s experience includes designing and running vILT workshops and project management and design of leadership development program for a city agency. She developed a competency model for a tech company. She developed and led dozens of L&D focus groups and workshops and delivered key insights and well-received recommendations on organizational culture for another tech company. Kate led group coaching on leadership development that was very well received based on participant feedback and has managed and hired dozens of coaches. Clients have included government agencies, leading tech firms, and Fortune 500 companies.
Prior to joining gothamCulture, Kate assessed Fortune 500 law departments by identifying effective strategies to increase cost savings and improve process efficiencies. She enjoyed seeing law departments taking on transformational change and achieve results. She developed and rolled out training and onboarding materials, conducted peer benchmarking, and assisted in talent management, realignment of the organizational structure, and performance measurement initiatives. She gathered data through surveys and interviews, conducted data analysis, and benchmarked the data against best practices and peer benchmarking reports. She produced related process documentation and led research on prospective clients and industries. Kate has worked in a variety of industries such as natural gas and electric, international banking and financial services, retail, insurance, utility, agricultural, healthcare, and nonprofit care provider.
Kate is driven to learn, she holds a User Experience Design Certificate from General Assembly, Design Thinking Certificate from Rutgers University, Action Learning Certificate from WIAL, and attended the GRC conference at the Columbia University Teachers College. Before moving to Seattle, Washington, Kate was actively involved in the local New York Community, serving as co-lead for the Learning and Innovation Special Interest Group at ATD NYC, and a Board Member at ODNNY.
Kate holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration from The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill with a concentration in consulting. She is a Russian native, lived, studied, and worked in Russia prior to moving to the U.S., and brings a diverse cultural experience to gothamCulture.
James O'Flaherty, Senior Associate
James O’Flaherty, Senior Associate, is a former US Marine Captain who has held numerous leadership billets throughout multiple combat deployments to the Middle East. Since transitioning to the civilian world, James has gained experience in the franchising, technology and consulting industries. He earned his MBA at Villanova University and a Master’s in Behavioral and Decision Sciences from the University of Pennsylvania. James also serves as a board member for The Weekly Fight, a nonprofit dedicated to supporting veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress.
