The LeadLab Team

Behind every LeadLab experience is a community of people devoted to one purpose: helping leaders grow so the mission of the church thrives.

The People behind the Process

LeadLab was created by the Global Leadership Institute (GLI) at Andrews University, an innovation hub dedicated to cultivating Christlike leadership worldwide.

At its core are two co-directors, Dr. Randy Siebold and Dr. Erich Baumgartner, who together designed LeadLab as a leadership laboratory—a place where learning becomes transformation and leadership becomes legacy.

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Built on trust, vision, and innovation.

The Global Leadership Institute (GLI) and LeadLab were born through the faith and foresight of key leaders who believed deeply in developing leaders for mission.

  • Dr. Juan Prestol, as Treasurer of the General Conference, was part of the group of leaders who envisioned GLI. His conviction that leadership growth strengthens the mission of the church supported the launch of LeadLab in 2018.

  • Dr. Alayne Thorpe, Dean of the School of Graduate Studies, College of Education, and International Partnerships at Andrews University, is an experienced champion of institutional innovation and new initiatives to support leaders worldwide.

  • Ramiro Quero, an early member of the GLI team, played a key role in building the operational systems and team structure that sustains LeadLab. His vision and technological skill helped turn the concept of a “leadership laboratory” into a global learning reality. Ramiro now serves as Learning Initiatives Officer at Hope Channel International, which has participated in the LeadLab Growth Series as part of its commitment to ongoing leadership development.

Building Pathways for Leader Growth and Mission Impact

At the heart of the Global Leadership Institute are two colleagues who have spent their careers helping leaders grow in both competence and character.
Dr. Randy Siebold and Dr. Erich Baumgartner co-direct GLI and co-created LeadLab—a leadership laboratory designed to translate learning into transformation and leadership into mission.
Together, they design experiences that help leaders connect insight with action, reflection with community, and personal growth with the larger purpose of advancing the Gospel.

Meet the Team

  • Erich Baumgartner

    Founding Director of the Global Leadership Institute

  • Randy Siebold

    Randy Siebold

    Associate Director of the Global Leadership Institute

  • Ramiro Quero

    Associate for Digital Learning Technologies

  • Alayne Thorpe

    AU Center for Leadership

  • Juan Prestol-Puesán

    GC Liaison

“The higher the position a man occupies, the greater the responsibility that he has to bear, the wider will be the influence that he exerts and the greater his need of dependence on God. Ever should he remember that with the call to work comes the call to walk circumspectly before his fellow men. He is to stand before God in the attitude of a learner.”

—Ellen White, Prophets and Kings, p.30