About Sarah
Sarah’s passion is to help individuals at all career levels discover their authentic selves and find meaning at work. She has earned a Master's of Science in Learning and Organizational Change from Northwestern University and is a certified executive and organizational coach.
As the Chief Learning Officer at CLC, Sarah's role is to help organizations align their business strategy to their people strategy, leveraging research, best practices, and our collective wisdom to develop customized learning and change solutions for individuals and organizations. She creates and delivers learning initiatives for one-to-one coaching, leadership retreats, and broad learning-and-development cohorts.
Before joining CLC, Sarah spent ten years in recruiting and talent advisory roles at Korn Ferry and Hillstone Restaurant Group. She joined Korn Ferry as a Senior Associate in the Consumer Practice she executed senior-level executive searches across the hospitality and consumer products sectors. Then, as a global Client Manager, she supported several of the firm’s largest Life Sciences clients across assessment and succession strategy, culture and digital transformation, and leadership development initiatives. Sarah began her career in restaurant operations with Hillstone Restaurant Group. Living in Miami, Napa, New York, and Los Angeles, she held several GM and HR roles with the company. A native of the San Francisco Bay Area, Sarah now lives in Dallas with her husband and three young children.
Her passions include biking, hiking, camping, drinking coffee, and being outdoors with her family. Some of her favorite nonfiction books include Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl, The Happiness Hypothesis by Jonathan Haidt, and The Undoing Project by Michael Lewis.
Three Signature Talks
Talk 1:
Purpose in Practice
A practical guide in reconnecting with purpose at work—helping individuals identify their unique strengths (“superpowers”) and translate them into a clear, personal purpose that drives engagement, resilience, and fulfillment. Grounded in social science research and brought to life through interactive reflection, this session equips audiences with practical tools to navigate burnout, reconnect to meaning, and make more intentional choices about where and how they invest their energy.
Talk 2:
The Compassionate Leader Paradigm Shift
Explore the three essential paradigms needed for leading with compassion and unlocking the full potential of your people. Challenging traditional leadership norms, this session explores how moving from control to trust, performance to people, and knowing to curiosity creates the conditions for engagement, well-being, and high performance. Grounded in social science and real-world application, leaders gain a new perspective on the mindset that drives both well-being and sustained performance.
Talk 3:
Your People Don’t Need a Manager. They Need a Coach.
Managing creates dependency. Coaching creates ownership.
In this energizing and perspective-shifting talk, Sarah challenges the traditional leadership playbook. When leaders coach rather than tell, they unlock critical thinking, accountability, and intrinsic motivation in their people. This session introduces a few simple but powerful coaching shifts—like asking instead of answering, creating space instead of control, and developing people instead of just delivering results.
Speaking Engagements
Publications and Media
Looking for a speaker who brings purpose to the forefront, inspires authentic leadership, and drives meaningful transformation? Book Sarah Feely for your next event and empower your people to lead with clarity, courage, and purpose.
Book Sarah