Karel A. Hilversum, PhD(c), is a highly accomplished professional with over 24 years of experience in leadership development, teamwork, collaboration processes, and executive turnaround coaching. Hilversum is fluent in both English and Spanish and his multicultural heritage enables him to facilitate cultural intelligence and cross-cultural communication & collaboration. He is an expert in team-building program design and delivery, individual and team leadership coaching for success and life turnaround, and team performance enhancement.

Hilversum's organizational leadership experience is vast, having designed and delivered over 400 leadership and team development seminars and workshops for clients like Johnson & Johnson, Wal-Mart, and Coca-Cola. He has also worked with companies like Toyota, Microsoft, General Electric, and Pepsi. Hilversum has also worked as an adventure educator and led wilderness expeditions in the USA, Caribbean, Europe, Africa, and Latin America. He also has over 35,000 hours of experience in the outdoor field including fundraising & alumni development, program development & administration, and staff training, mentoring, & supervision.

With a Bachelor's degree in Geography/Environmental Sciences from Universidad de Puerto Rico and a Master's degree in Experiential Education from Minnesota State University, Mankato, Hilversum holds a doctorate in Organizational Leadership from The Chicago School of Professional Psychology. He has also studied Professional Seminar, Preparing Future Professional Faculty Program, and Practitioner of Neuro-Linguistic Programming and Applied Kinesiology at the International Neuro-Linguistic Programming Trainers Association.

Currently, Hilversum is the Director at Cornell Team & Leadership Center, Cornell University, and has previously been the Co-Director at Cornell Outdoor Education at Cornell University, Instructor & Advisory Council Member at Cornell University’s Leadership Minor, and has held several other positions.