Erin Hatzikostas

Erin Hatzikostas is a former Fortune 50 executive and CEO who, quite literally, wrote the business case on authentic leadership. She is an internationally recognized expert on authenticity in the workplace. A highly sought-after speaker and educator, she’s the CEO and founder of b Authentic Inc., a bestselling author, TEDx and keynote speaker, podcast co-host, and business coach.

Hatzikostas spent her career “first half” working at a Fortune 50 company, where at the age of 42, she became the CEO of their $2bn AUM subsidiary company, PayFlex. Despite not having a clue how to be a CEO, in just three years, she tripled earnings and sent employee engagement skyrocketing.

​Just when things were going well, she decided to walk away so that she could help solve what truly broke her heart: the immense lack of authenticity in the workplace. Through her company, b Authentic Inc., Hatzikostas is provoking a movement to eradicate the all-too-fake Corporate environment and helping people and companies realize that doing authentic can be their new secret weapon to success.

Driven by disgust at how fake the working world had become and an excitement that she had proved that authenticity isn’t just a nice-to-have but rather a weapon that can bring people and companies out of their miserable vortex, she set out to change the workplace forever.​

She’s the best-selling author of "You Do You(ish)," a TEDx speaker, coach-sultant, and the co-host of an offbeat career and leadership podcast, "b Cause Work Doesn’t Have to Suck." Her talks have reached hundreds of thousands of people, and her thought leadership has been featured on ABC and CBS and published in Business Insider, Fast Company, and Well+Good, among several others.

Hatzikostas holds a BBA in Statistics from Western Michigan University and an MBA in Finance and Marketing from the University of Connecticut. She is married to her husband, Manny, who she met while stumbling through (and failing) an early career in the Actuarial field. They have two children – Ella and Mick. In Hatzikostas’ free time, you can find her coaching basketball, running, skiing, or dancing wherever you’re not supposed to dance.