Dr. Anthony Randall - President & Founder Vanguard XXI. ICF Professional Certified Coach (PCC)
Anthony coaches influential leaders of character, forges excellence in organizations, and loves serving people and teams.
Character > Skill. People > Process. Humans > Hardware.
He has served, taught, trained, and coached 15,000 professionals in Army Special Operations, MLB Pittsburgh Pirates, 2 x NCAA DIV I National Championship Teams, Fortune 100/500/1000 companies, Law Enforcement, Academia, and Non-Profits. He has spent 26 years practicing high-performance leadership as a Leadership Development Executive, Executive Coach, Consultant, Army Combat Arms Officer, Army Ranger, Army Chaplain, Ethics Instructor & Curriculum Developer, Senior and Executive Pastor.
His leadership coaching courses are credentialed through the International Coaching Federation. He holds seven coaching certifications as an ICF Professional Credentialed Coach (PCC), and specializes in confidential executive coaching focused on character, culture, leadership, operations, performance, strategy, and transition. His courses integrate character development, moral, ethical, and strategic decision making, and emotional intelligence. He is a sought after keynote speaker.
A 1996 United States Military Academy graduate and retired Lieutenant Colonel, he has six combat tours to Iraq and Afghanistan with conventional and elite Special Operations units. He holds two master’s degrees (Divinity & Theology) from Denver Seminary and Emory University, and a Doctor of Ministry (Leadership) from Fuller Seminary. He has published two books, multiple professional journal articles, and is a US Army Simons Center Fellow, and Order of St. Maurice (Legionnaire) recipient.
A 30+ year martial artist, he holds a Japanese Jujitsu 3rd Degree and Tae Kwon Do 1st Degree Black Belt, Judo Brown Belt, and Brazilian Jujitsu Purple Belt. Anthony actively serves in Boy Scouts, Rotary, and is a board member for FCA Georgia Wrestling. Married to Jeanine for 25 years, and father to West Point Cadet, Aria (18), William (16), and John (12).
Josh Powers - Interim Senior Vice President of Operations. Vanguard XXI Leadership Coach
Josh Powers helps leaders and organizations succeed. Josh leverages a wealth of experience gained over two decades of service as an Army Officer. He is skilled in building teams, optimizing systems, and coaching leaders. As a junior officer, Josh established the base of his leadership philosophy over 3.5 years in combat. These experiences reinforced the importance of clear communication, trust, and effective risk management.
Later in his career, Josh served as a Chief Operating Officer for various Army organizations. Josh became skilled at developing strategies and synchronizing actions to get results in this capacity. He shared his insights through a military leadership blog, establishing himself as an expert in organizational leadership. Over the years, Josh has coached hundreds of Army leaders, helping each reach their potential and enable their organizations to thrive. Additionally, Josh is a champion for veterans suffering from Traumatic Brain Injury and Post-Traumatic Stress.
Josh and his wife, Martha, are the proud parents of Patrick (16) and Katherine (12). They live in Columbus, Georgia, and enjoy exploring the country in their RV. Josh enjoys reading and writing in his spare time.
Rick Mattson - Vanguard XXI Director of Corporate & Higher Education Business Development. ICF Associate Certified Coach (ACC)
Rick develops leaders and enables them to transform organizations. He has spent 25+ years leading high-performing teams and co-founded a foreign start-up in Belfast, Northern Ireland for a Fortune 500 company. He is an ICF-trained coach and instructor of coaching for the Master of Science in Organizational Leadership program at Columbus State University. Rick’s corporate expertise is in Strategy Management, Organizational Effectiveness, and Portfolio/Program Management. He is a recipient of the CIO Top 100 Award for delivering large-scale business and technology solutions.
Rick specializes in confidential executive coaching, leadership and character development, and utilizes the latest coaching research combined with leading coach disciplines in a high-trust, faith-affirming practice.
Rick earned a master’s degree in Industrial-Organizational Psychology from the University of Georgia and is completing a doctorate degree in Learning and Leadership from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. He serves on the Board of Trustees for the Pastoral Institute and is a men’s small group leader for Church of the Highlands. When he is not serving leaders and his community, he enjoys strength training and competitive swimming. Rick is a husband to Cheri for 23 years, and father to Hannah (21), Renae (19), and Holly (17).
Damien Mason - Director of Talent Management Assessment & Selection. Vanguard XXI Leadership Coach
Damien Mason is a dynamic leader, coach, and exceptional communicator who has successfully empowered numerous individuals and organizations to reach new heights of achievement. With 26 years of experience in the United States Army, including 10+ years with elite Special Operations units, Damien has honed his skills in the most challenging environments.
In 2023, Damien retired from the Army following his role as the Deputy Commandant of the Army Infantry School. Amongst his achievements he implemented all aspects of talent management for Infantry officers to include assessing, selecting, and defining their critical performance tasks. A graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point, he is also a certified leadership coach, holding a 61-hour leadership coaching certification, and currently pursuing his ICF ACC Coaching Credentials.
Known for his ability to maximize individuals' strengths, foster diversity, promote equal opportunity, and inspire teams to achieve success, Damien is a sought-after communicator and thought leader. His expertise in coaching and leadership development has helped organizations and individuals alike to surpass their goals.
In his spare time, Damien enjoys cycling and is a licensed (non-current) private pilot. He and his family currently reside in Georgia, where they enjoy exploring the community and spending quality time together.
Art Fitch, Ph.D. - Talent Management Assessment and Selection. Operational & Clinical Psychologist
Art Finch, Ph.D., is a highly experienced Consulting Psychologist and Executive Coach. He is recognized as an expert in executive assessment and selection and development of empirically driven selection and training programs as well as team composition, training and performance optimization, leadership development and executive coaching. Art is frequently invited to speak to national and international audiences on personality and wellness, organizational culture, assessment and selection, high performance teams, training development, generational differences, and family and group dynamics. Art retired as a Colonel after 23 years of Active-Duty Army service, providing leadership consultation and assessment and selection support for the military’s most elite Special Operations units and other Federal agencies. Art has over twenty combat deployments and is a graduate of the US Army Ranger School.
Javier Lopez - Vanguard XXI Coach & Course Facilitator. ICF Associate Certified Coach (ACC).
Javier is a proven and strategic leader with extensive experience and a comprehensive background in leader development and organizational dynamics. He has spent over two decades leading and developing individuals and high-performance organizations as an Executive Coach, Senior Leadership Instructor, Senior Director, and curriculum developer. Javier served in the US Army on active duty for over 25 years and had distinguished himself as a battalion commander. He deployed numerous times and has had considerable experience leading complex organizations in combat and Security Force Assistance missions around the world. Javier achieved a Master of Science in Administration – Organizational Leadership and is a guest instructor at the NATO Security Force Assistance Center of Excellence. Javier has trained and mentored thousands of people and coached hundreds at the executive level. He embraces the talents of the individual to maximize the effectiveness of the organization. His philosophy on leadership is rooted in emotional awareness and ethical and moral decision-making. His strength is in confidential one-on-one coaching relationships.
Javier is married to Sue, and they have two daughters: Madison, a recent Kansas State University graduate and elementary school teacher, and Gabi, who is attending Texas Tech University. He enjoys fitness, triathlons, and working on cars.
Laura Dowling - ICF Professional Certified Coach (PCC)
Along with energy and passion to launch transformational leadership in organizations, Laura brings a wealth of global experiences to her solution-focused coaching and facilitation practice. She specializes in strengths-based leadership (Clifton Strengths), emotional intelligence and mindset education; all tools that equip emerging and established leaders so they can maximize personal and organizational effectiveness.
Laura has worked in the leadership development field for 8+ years across several sectors including non-profit, government, corporate, higher education and high-performance sport.
Megan Head - Vanguard XXI Executive Assistant and Executive Coaching Coordinator
Megan Head is the Executive Assistant and Executive Coaching Coordinator for Vanguard XXI. She is passionate about helping others realize their full personal and professional potential. She is skilled in bringing teams together, streamlining processes, and cultivating cultures that empower individuals and produce high quality results. Prior to joining Vanguard XXI, Megan provided administrative support to military hospital senior executives. She holds a bachelor’s degree in accounting from Columbus State University. Megan is a combat veteran, wife, and mother to two children, Darius (9) and Janelle (7). An upstate New York native, Texas is her “for now” home.
Kim Zovak - ICF Master Certified Coach (MCC)
Kim Zovak is an experienced coach, trainer, and leadership consultant working globally with non-profit leaders and organizations. Her passion is helping leaders multiply their impact by reproducing more effective leaders, and supporting organizations to build strong leadership development cultures that better achieve their goals. She is enthusiastic about coaching because she believes it is the best tool she knows to help grow, to develop disciples, and to multiply leaders.
Those who know Kim describe her as inspiring, enthusiastic and encouraging. After serving as an ordained pastor in the US, she lived abroad for 14 years (in Australia and China). She and her husband Dave currently split time between Los Angeles and Washington DC, as they had adult children on both coasts. She holds an MCC credential with the International Coaching Federation, and is a credentialing assessor, mentor coach and coaching supervisor. She also has 3500+ coaching hours, working with leaders from around the world.
Court Whitman - ICF Professional Certified Coach (PCC)
Court is a Professional Leadership Coach credentialed by the International Coaching Federation with over 2,000 hours of one-on-one Coaching experience. Court thrives in situations where he is called upon to coach people and organizations that are complex, have challenging problems to solve, and passionately pursue meaning, fulfillment, and results. Prior to service as a Professional Leadership Coach, Court served as an Account Executive and as the Manager for Organizational Performance for Teamworks Innovations Incorporated (a B2B SaaS Tech Company) in Durham, North Carolina where he created, funded, directed and served as principal Coach for a corporate well-being & Coaching program self-titled Optimum comprised of 5 distinct lines of effort to enable wholistic employee fulfillment and high performance. Those lines of effort are: Emotional Fitness, Mental Fitness, Physical Fitness, Financial Fitness and Spiritual Fitness.
Court holds a bachelor's degree in International Studies from the Virginia Military Institute, a diploma in Organizational Leadership from the U.S Army Command & General Staff College, an Executive & Professional Certificate in Leadership Coaching for Organizational Well-being from George Mason University’s Center for the Advancement of Well-being and is a U.S. Army Special Forces Green Beret having served multiple assignments overseas as a Manager for highly trained and capable teams ranging in size from 2-180 and during wartime operations.
Phil McKinney - ICF Professional Certified Coach (PCC)
Phil McKinney II has spent over 30 years in ministry, higher education, and leadership, working in discipleship, family ministry, coaching, leadership development, spiritual direction, and pastoral counseling.
He is a professional ICF-certified (PCC) life, leadership, executive, and mentor coach and is a certified practitioner of DISC, Motivators, EIQ, and Prepare/Enrich assessment tools.
He holds four degrees (BA, MA, MACS, and PhD) and has a graduate certificate in Spiritual Direction. He is also a graduate of the Shalem Institute of Spiritual Formation in Leading Contemplative Spiritual Groups and Retreats.
He has published articles in the "Journal of Biblical Perspectives in Leadership" and the "Journal of Discipleship and Family Ministry." He authored a chapter in the book "Practical Family Ministry" from Randall House, and his book "D2: Becoming a Devoted Follower of Christ" was released in the Spring of 2019.
Phil has been married to his wife Angie for over 28 years, and they have three beautiful daughters: Kaylee, Taylor, and Rylie