Meet Leigh Ann Schultz
Former Director Leigh Ann Schultz talks about her approach to completing an endurance event in Antarctica
It’s a slippery slope from the D.C. suburbs to a muddy, sleet-whipped island off the coast of Antarctica. Just ask Leigh Ann Schultz, formerly a Director with AlixPartners, an active AlixAlumni member, and a textbook high achiever who recently completed a half-marathon at an Antarctic outpost.
Leigh Ann, a financial executive, first worked with AlixPartners as a client on a Chapter 11 case in the early 2000s, then joined the team in 2004. In 2009, she transferred from AlixPartners’ Dallas office to the D.C. office and found herself in a “freakishly athletic neighborhood” where group runs were the favored social outing, a sport that lent itself quite nicely to the consultant life, always available when she was traveling.
Positive pressure to get active escalated from “Let's go run this race and then I'll host brunch at my house,” to “let's go run this 200-mile overnight relay in bourbon country,” says Leigh Ann.
In her new role, Katharina will serve as a coach, mentor, and partner to the founders of the fund’s portfolio companies but she realizes that for her to succeed in each of these roles, she must turn to others for support. “Sometimes founders have questions that I can’t answer,” she said. “Because I have a strong network, I find that I usually know at least one person that I can turn to in order to find the answers that the founders and I are looking for.”
Katharina has also found her community of mentors to be invaluable to her career development. “My mentors provided me an external, objective view of my strengths and weaknesses.” She said. “They’ve taught me that it is important to work on your weaknesses but it is perhaps even more important to work on your strengths so that you can use your talents to maximize your impact.”
Looking forward, Katharina is excited to continue to partner with entrepreneurs of all kinds, whether they are building their career or their business. “Throughout my career, I have been able to work with motivated, driven, and innovative people” she said. “I feel that the entrepreneurial sector is the right place for me to expand my professional community of like-minded individuals who will continue to inspire me to solve exciting challenges and to create new and better ways of doing things.”
Beyond her entrepreneurial ventures, Katharina is an avid runner, a passionate scuba diver, and a lover of modern art. Always in search of an adventure, Katharina’s passion for travel recently lead her to complete a three-week hike in the Himalayan Mountains.
Images from Katharina's speaking engagements and adventures in the Himalayan mountains and Jordanian desert