AJ Thomas
Global CPO, Founder & Start-up Advisor
AJ is an author, keynote speaker, executive coach and advisor. She currently leads the Global Talent and formerly the Human Experience Design and People Experiences Team at X, the Moonshot Factory. Her experience includes several roles that have spanned across sales, support engineering, product & design, and human resource and leadership. Her unique journey also includes deep experience in executive and leadership capacities most recently serving in C-Level positions such as Vice President of People & Culture, CHRO, and Head of Talent roles at several enterprise technologies and startup companies like T-Mobile, Adecco, Iron Mountain, HP Enterprise (Nimble Storage), Ten-X and Auction.com. She is also the founder of Infuse Program Foundation, a non-profit providing entrepreneurial education and experiences to underrepresented youth in East Side San Jose, and is currently the Chief Explorer and Founder at BrainCandy Labs. Her board advisory work through BrainCandy Labs, Women in Technology International, and Roleshare support shaping the future through education, women empowerment and the new world of work. Serving in these roles and tours of duty, have allowed AJ to be a key contributor to developing talent for the future and has shaped her unique approach to coaching and leadership.
A lot of what fuels AJ’s interests and passions intersect at bridging the gaps in talent, culture, and career. This includes serving as an executive and leadership coach and curating access to education for underrepresented talent. Often known for surfacing “activating questions” her unique coaching style is founded on the principles of compassion, curiosity, and courage. The result of what she does moves people and organizations forward to create a future of infinite possibilities. AJ is a Certified Executive Coach from UC Berkeley and the Berkeley Executive Coaching Institute and also serves on the institute’s coaching faculty. She’s also an alumni of Columbia University where she focused her studies on Venture Captial and Private Equity. In 2022, AJ and her 10-year old daughter Ava published Courage Takes Flight, (a children’s book about courage) to raise money for supporting children’s literacy globally through the Malala Fund and the World Literacy Foundation. Her new book A Kids Book About Teams is available on Amazon and Barnes & Noble.