About Marion

I am a product of my past life experiences, the real estate outlier aside. I. have had a tremendous career in the human capital space providing consulting projects and interim management roles to senior-level independent workers. In 1988, I started and grew a company, M Squared Consulting, in what was then a very nascent industry. Along the way, I started a second business, Collabrus, an independent contractor compliance company. As such, although not an employment lawyer, I did become a bit of an expert in this arcane aspect of employment law.

In 2000, I sold both companies to a public South African conglomerate. I also published my first book, A New Brand of Expertise, about the professional freelance world. The next year, I rebuilt the business after the “tech wreck” of 2001. I remained a Board member and then came back for a year as the interim CEO, an irony not lost on me or the Board. Since stepping down the second time, I taught business school for 8 years. I joined the CEO Alliance as, what else, a consultant to facilitate their model of CEO peer exchange.

In 2015, three different venture groups contacted me about the digital talent platform world. I had been out of an operating role at M Squared for nearly 5 years and recognized in that short time, the business had evolved.  I decided to write my second book, since back when I wrote the first, Linked In was still trying to figure out its business model.  Thriving in the Gig Economy was a wonderful chance to look at the future of talent and the future of work through the lens of a proven operator. Many tech entrepreneurs were more than happy to share their stories, since unlike when I wrote my first book, I was no longer a competitor, but am an author who truly understood the marketplace.

I often say that my career right now is like dim sum – there are a lot of plates on the table, and those plates are my gigs. My primary gig now in 2020 is serving as the Chair of the Board for The Myers-Briggs Company, the world leader in personality assessments that help individuals and organizations work together more effectively.  The Myers-Briggs Company is  proud to be a Certified B Corp, a process we completed in 2018.

I also serve on the Board of The Front Porch, one of the largest Continuing Care Retirement Communities (CCRC) on the West Coast. The Front Porch offers senior living communities, with services for assisted living as well as dementia care.  We also manage and develop affordable housing. Our Center for Innovation is a recognized leader in leveraging technology to improve the quality of life of our senior residents.

I  serve as an Advisor of several companies, most notably, a Digital Talent Platform, Life SciHub, which provides specialized expertise for drug development and clinical trials. I+My current adventure is being an Advisor to Work Wider and Equity , Diversity and Inclsuion platform for under represented talent.  Additionally, I am on the Advisory Board of Kids Cookign for Life. a not for profit that teaches at risk kids about healthy eating through hands on cooking classes.