ABOUT KRISTEN
A courageous leader. A principled public servant. A builder of what’s next. Kristen Kavanaugh is shaping the future with courage and conviction. A Marine Corps veteran, former senior executive at Tesla, and founder of a leadership firm dedicated to building trust and resilience in high-stakes environments, Kristen has spent her life serving people and building systems that work—for everyone.
She is the Co-Founder and CEO of The Agency Initiative, an Austin-based consulting firm focused on organizational effectiveness and courageous leadership. Dedicated to creating a world where more leaders choose courage in their most critical moments, Kristen equips executive teams to navigate complexity with clarity, integrity, and impact.
Kristen is also the co-author of Courage Over Fear: Harness the Power of Agency to Lead in Uncertain Times, a leadership book born from her work at The Agency Initiative with organizations navigating polarization and transformation in the face of uncertainty. The book offers a practical path for leaders to align their values, decisions, and actions in high-stakes environments. Through stories, research, and reflection, Courage Over Fear makes the case for a different kind of leadership—one rooted in trust, resilience, and curiosity rather than control and fear.
Kristen’s journey has taken her from the U.S. Naval Academy to the frontlines of military service, from grassroots community leadership to executive roles at the highest levels of the private sector. As Senior Director of Inclusion, Talent, and Learning at Tesla, she led Diversity, Equity & Inclusion, Talent Management, and Learning & Development for the global organization—formulating many of her foundational ideas on courage and leadership while driving inclusion, performance, and purpose at scale.
Her lived experience—as a queer, Black, female veteran—has shaped her approach to leadership. Kristen understands what it means to be on the margins, and she’s dedicated her career to helping others show up fully, lead authentically, and create spaces where people and performance thrive together.
Appointed by the Secretary of Defense, Kristen served as Vice Chair of the Defense Advisory Committee on Diversity and Inclusion, where she helped shape policy recommendations for one of the nation’s largest and most complex institutions. Today, she continues to advise senior leaders across sectors on building cultures that are bold, inclusive, and built to last.
Kristen believes the future demands more than competence—it demands courage. She’s spent her life helping others rise to meet that call, while striving to meet it herself every day.
Kristen’s voice and work have been featured in leading institutions across the country, including Harvard, Yale, MIT, and the U.S. Naval Academy. She has spoken on stages from TEDx to the Democratic National Convention, and her writing on LGBTQ+ military and veteran experiences has been published in academic texts and professional references. Whether addressing national security, leadership, or inclusion, Kristen brings clarity, candor, and courage to every room she enters.
She holds a Master’s degree in Social Work from the University of Southern California and a Bachelor’s of Science degree in English from the United States Naval Academy.
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