The Team Of Leadership Outfitters
The staff of Leadership Outfitters offers more than 65 years of
combined experience in working with leaders, their teams, and their
companies. This unique personal development company assists clients who
are seeking to achieve breakthroughs in their business and personal
lives.
Our Team
Joe Esparza, Principal
Ris Higgins, Principal
Mary-Martha Bahn, Associate
Rachel Howard, Equine Manager
Joe Esparza
Joe started his career with 7-Eleven, as a Sales Manager for 62 stores
in the metro Seattle market. He continued developing managers at Miller
Brewing Company where he was responsible for the training and
development of Miller distributors throughout the U.S., Canada, and
Mexico. In 1992, Joe founded Leadership Outfitters and has successfully
led this coaching and consulting company, working with executives in
the U.S., Canada and Mexico.
As an active coach since 1992, Joe's experience comes from business;
not the classroom. His coaching focuses on real life application:
achieving breakthroughs, getting results, and moving things ahead. In
addition to his coaching work, Joe has authored articles on selling,
leadership, and coaching, and has served as a co-host for a monthly
radio show on leadership.
Joe is not only a veteran of the corporate trenches, he's a natural
leader. Throughout his life, Joe has held the position of president or
vice-president in nine businesses, organizations, and boards of
directors. He has strength in helping leaders connect, motivate, lead,
and inspire their teams.
Joe's speciality is in working with individual leaders and their
teams. His clients appreciate his straightforward, no nonsense style
which helps develop an environment of trust creating the opportunity
for high performing work teams to come together. Joe is also noted for
the work he does in developing emotional intelligence distinctions with
his clients. He goes beyond just helping people with business; he also
helps his clients integrate success practices in their personal lives
as well.
Joe received his Bachelor of Arts degree from Washington State
University in Commercial Recreation with a minor in Business
Administration. In 2001, he graduated from a three-year professional
development program on Coaching and Leadership offered by the Center
for Authentic Leadership in Atlanta. Joe is an Epona Approved
Instructor in Equine Experiential Learning through Epona Equestrian
Services in Tucson. In addition, Joe is a member of the American
Society of Training and Development.
Joe enjoys spending time with his family, learning how to play the
guitar, and is an avid horseman, playing polo, hunting on horseback,
and trail riding.
Ris Higgins
Ris Higgins is an executive coach to senior executives and their
teams. She co-founded Leadership Outfitters, a Bozeman,
Montana based coaching and experiential learning company 15 years ago
to offer a unique development approach for clients seeking to achieve
breakthroughs in their business and personal lives. Past clients
include Kraft, Capital One, Albertsons, FINRA, Turner Enterprises,
Inc., Houston Rockets, Chevron Texaco, and Heineken U.S.A.
From
her professional background as a corporate executive, government
manager, magazine editor, business owner, and executive coach, Ris
offers insights and business practices that are based on real-life
applications, not theory. During her 14 years at Miller Brewing
Company, Ris created the
internal consulting and coaching function, building it into a
department known for
its innovation and results. With the
executive team, she spearheaded a revolutionary organizational
development plan which supported a total change
in the structure, systems, and culture of the sales and marketing
divisions to improve the company's overall performance.
When Ris joined her husband, Joe Esparza, in their executive
coaching company, she shifted her coaching focus to life-altering
personal growth and development for leaders. Each client has a
unique way of being and learning, and Ris uses language, emotional
intelligence, and somatics to help her clients cultivate a greater
depth of self-awareness and self-development. In her work as a
coach and facilitator, Ris uses a gentle strength that creates safe
openings, helping clients explore what gets in the way of their
effectiveness. Her ability to help clients connect with their
authentic selves results in transformed teams and dynamic
leaders. Ris goes beyond just helping people with business. She
also helps her clients integrate success practices in their personal
lives as well.
Ris writes a monthly business column coaching readers, has co-hosted
a monthly radio show on leadership, and co-produced a documentary on
leadership using horses. She received her B.S. from Iowa State
University in 1973. Ris is a graduate of the Organizational
Development Internship with National Training Labs (NTL), is a graduate
of a program on Coaching and Leadership offered by
the Center for Authentic Leadership, and is an
approved Epona Instructor in equine experiential learning through the
Epona Center in Tucson. In addition, Ris is a member of the
International Coach Federation and is certified in the Tracom Social
Style model. She is currently completing the Newfield Ontological
Coach Program..
Ris stays active in her community, volunteering on boards and
offering pro-bono coaching for non-profits, She loves to hike,
ride horses, and is a voracious reader. One of her sons attends the
University of South Carolina and the other son is a Combat Rescue
Officer with the Air Force Special Forces.
Mary-Martha Bahn
Mary-Martha
has been in service to others as a coach, facilitator, leader, and
advocate for over 15 years. Throughout her professional life, beginning
in academia, and including a long career in Human Resources,
Mary-Martha's natural ability to connect to people has been her
hallmark.
During her tenure as Vice-President of HR at Janus Funds,
Mary-Martha oversaw the growth of the company from 350 to over 3,000
employees. She implemented cutting-edge performance management
programs, worked with senior leaders to redesign their work teams, and
introduced Executive Leadership Coaching across the organization,
helping new leaders tap their inner strengths to produce excellent
performance in themselves and in their people.
In 2004 Mary-Martha made the decision to change her life course, and
left corporate America to begin utilizing her skills as a coach and
consultant. She works with individuals and groups who are ready to take
the next step in their professional or personal lives. Using an
appreciative inquiry approach, she helps clients create exciting,
deliberate plans and develop the skills and self awareness they need to
live fully in a time of continual change.
Mary-Martha received a Bachelor of Arts degree from McDaniel
College, and a Master of Arts degree from Vanderbilt University. She is
certified as a professional coach through the Hudson Institute of Santa
Barbara, which is accredited by the International Coaches Federation.
In addition to her work as a coach and consultant, Mary-Martha
spends time with her husband and two young girls. She also runs a bed
and breakfast, the Howler's Inn, a wolf sanctuary which is home to six
wolves. She loves the outdoors and likes to spend hours gardening or
hiking in the beautiful mountains around Bozeman, Montana.
Rachel Howard
Rachel
is the wrangler for Leadership Outfitters during their Power
of Choice retreats. It's a natural position for her as her love for
horses began when she started riding with her mother at age two. As a
young child, Rachel was active in 4-H, competing in horse knowledge
competitions and horse shows. Rachel competed in various
disciplines of riding including English Equitation, Jumping, and
Western Pleasure. As a teenager, she worked at a youth horseback
riding camp. After moving to Montana, a friend introduced Rachel
to barrel racing. Since then she has been competing in barrel
racing and training horses for these events. Rachel is a student
at Montana State University and enrolled in the Equine Science
program.