MEET THE TEAM
BEHIND WORLDBLU
Founded in 1997 by award-winning leadership innovator Traci Fenton, WorldBlu's vision is to see a world where leaders lead with a
freedom-centered, democratic approach, transforming business and our world.
FEATURED IN

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TRACI FENTON
Founder + CEO
TRACI FENTON
Traci Fenton is the Founder and CEO of WorldBlu®, as well as a globally recognized researcher, speaker, author, and Master Coach who has worked with thousands of CEOs and top leaders in small to Fortune 500 companies around the world.
Traci has earned the "Oscars" in management award as a prestigious "Thinkers50 Radar Awardee," and has been recognized in Inc. Magazine as a “Top 50 Leadership Thinker.” She also earned the Game Changer award for "Outstanding Results in Shaping the World." She is a Marshall Goldsmith "Top 100 Coach" and has been recognized as a "World-Changing Woman in Conscious Business."
Traci is the author of the book, Freedom at Work: The Leadership Strategy for Transforming Your Life, Your Organization, and Our World.
Traci founded WorldBlu in 1997 and has helped spark and lead the global conversation around reinventing organizations using freedom and organization democracy rather than fear and control.
Traci's vision has built the largest global community and network of leaders and organizations committed to freedom and democracy in the workplace, with clients in over 100 countries globally representing over $30 billion in annual revenue.
Traci developed the groundbreaking and proven Freedom at Work™ leadership model as well as over 150 courses in the WorldBu Leadership Academy. She also designed and built the cutting-edge BluSpark™ gamification learning platform, a highly unique blended learning platform that delivers WorldBlu's transformational courses to leaders around the world.
Traci frequently addresses audiences globally and has shared her message with individuals from over 100 countries at conferences and organizations such as South by Southwest, Harvard University, Yale University, the US Naval Academy, and TEDx.
Traci and WorldBlu’s work has been featured in Fortune, Forbes, Fast Company, the Wall Street Journal, The Christian Science Monitor, The New York Times, Inc., BusinessWeek, US News & World Report, BBC, NPR, and dozens of other media outlets around the world as well as in over three dozen books. Traci has also written for numerous publications and textbooks.
Traci is originally from Iowa, has traveled to 45 countries, and has lived in San Francisco, Boulder, Washington, DC, Atlanta, Austin, and the St. Louis area. She currently resides in the Palm Beach Gardens, Florida.
In her free time, Traci loves traveling the world, reading historical fiction, doing yoga, biking, kayaking, watching documentaries, baking, hiking with her beloved dog, Sunni, hanging out at the beach, and spending time with her family and friends. She holds a BA with honors in Global Studies and Entrepreneurship from Principia College and an MA in International Development from American University in Washington, DC.
Traci's Purpose Statement: I am the pure light of Love, inspiring us to live lives of freedom over fear.
Traci's Vision Statement: My vision is to see a world where everyone can live, lead, and work in freedom rather than fear.
Contact Traci at traci (@) worldblu.com.
Christine Merrifield
Operations Maestro
Christine Merrifiled
Christine Merrifield is the Operations Maestro at WorldBlu®, where she plays a pivotal role in advancing the organization’s mission to transform business through freedom-centered, democratic leadership. With over 20 years of experience in both the for-profit and non-profit sectors, Christine has worked across diverse organizational environments, from large advertising firms like Arnold Worldwide, member-driven associations, such as the American Society of Addiction Medicine, and small, neighborhood preschools. Her expertise in marketing, operations, and organizational design enables her to help organizations thrive by empowering leadership teams to unlock their full potential and drive sustainable, purpose-aligned success.
Christine’s early work alongside Traci Fenton in the formative stages of WorldBlu had a profound impact on her career. The lessons she learned about the Freedom at Work leadership strategy and Freedom-Centered Leadership in those early days became a guiding principle in her professional journey. Christine took these principles—empowering leadership, fostering transparency, and prioritizing trust—and applied them strategically across a range of roles, from large advertising firms to small non-profit organizations. These experiences have shaped her approach to leadership, helping her build more resilient and mission-driven organizations in every environment she’s worked within.
Christine’s experience has also given her a profound understanding of the positive and negative impacts of various organizational design approaches and leadership styles. She has seen firsthand how organizations and teams that incorporate key traits of the Freedom at Work approach become more profitable, resilient, and successful in achieving their goals. This insight drives Christine’s approach to her work, aligning her with the Freedom-Centered Leadership approach WorldBlu teaches globally.
Having earned her MBA in Marketing from American University’s Kogod School of Business and a BA in Political Science from Bowdoin College, Christine’s professional journey reflects a commitment to creating effective, scalable, and sustainable organizational structures. Raised in the US foreign service, with time spent living in Europe and Africa, she brings a global perspective to her work. Christine continues to inspire organizations to adopt leadership strategies that transform both business and our world.
Christine’s Purpose: To help people realize their full potential by leveraging their innate strengths.
Christine’s Vision: I see a world where people consistently design impactful solutions to overcome obstacles and make our communities stronger.
Contact Christine at christine (@) worldblu.com.
Garry Turner
VP of Business Development
Garry Turner
Garry is an international sales and business development professional who is based in the UK. As an accomplished facilitator, change-maker, and international speaker, Garry has a deep belief in the potential for all people, and organizations, to transform, and to reclaim their self-worth.
Having worked within organizations that are highly profitable, but too often culturally unhealthy, and having seen the suppression of potential and impact that comes with that, Garry has a deep belief in the transformative impact of WorldBlu’s work, and thus has joined WorldBlu as a VP of Business Development.
Garry first encountered WorldBlu’s work in 2017 when he was selected by Traci to experience The Power Question process, the result of which chartered Garry onto a new personal course. Since then, he has completed over 45 badges as part of the WorldBlu Freedom Centred Leadership (FCL) program, and remains a committed learner.
Garry has over 25 years of international business development expertise, coupled with over 10 years of international learning, and organisational development experience. He has worked with senior leadership and business teams that span chemicals, pharmaceuticals, distribution, energy, and the global supply chain that wraps these sectors.
During his diverse and varied career, Garry has worked with large corporations such as GSK, Pfizer, INEOS, BP, PZ Cussons, Boots, and Avantor, has worked in a range of start and scaleup businesses, as well as serving a range of sectors in the SME space.
Garry is a Chartered member of the CIPD (Chartered Institute of Personnel & Development), Volunteer Area Coordinator for the national Neighbourhood Watch charity in the UK, and a passionate community builder.
Garry graduated from the University of Glamorgan with a BA in Business Administration, and whilst at university Garry played field hockey, a sport that he played at county level when he was younger.
Garry knows that we are at a critical point in our personal and organizational evolution, and he looks forward to serving clients all over the world with WorldBlu’s suite of services, with evidenced impact, and improved outcomes, as a result.
Garry is also a prestigious WorldBlu Spirt Award winner, an award given annually to a leader who is an exemplary model of the Freedom at Work spirit in action.
Garry's Purpose Statement: To reduce harm through co-creating the conditions that allow people to reclaim and remember their self-worth.
Garry's Vision Statement: My vision is to see a world where opportunity, equality, thriving, and impact, are available to all.
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Contact Garry at garry (@) worldblu.com.
OUR STORY
I had no intention of starting a global company at the time, but a public affairs
conference that we hosted on campus that year forever changed my life.
I was the director of the event and, in a move to empower my conference team,
I asked them to come up with a topic that was consciousness-raising,
outside the box, and meaningful.
After months of research and brainstorming, they came back and told me we
should focus the conference on democracy. In a "great" moment of leadership,
I told them it was the worst idea I had ever heard!
Democracy to me was just about politics.
I wasn’t interested – at all!
But as they talked with me about how democracy was a way of
leading and organizing people to release their full potential,
something inside me clicked.
I knew from a young age that my purpose in life was to help people
achieve their fullest potential, and I realized you couldn’t live your full potential
in a command and control, fear-based environment.
You could only realize your full potential is in an environment of freedom.
Democracy, and more specifically, organizational democracy,
created the framework for freedom.
I was hooked.
The conference and two other events within that same year –
a trip to Indonesia during a democratic uprising and later,
after graduation, working for a toxic and dehumanizing
Fortune 500 company – sealed the deal for me.
My life would be dedicated to advancing freedom and democracy
in our world through leadership and business.
In the over two decades since, it’s been an incredible journey
working with organizations and leaders in over 100 countries worldwide
who are also committed to personal and professional freedom
as a path to extraordinary individual and organizational growth.
And our name, WorldBlu, came to me while I was reflecting
on the beach one day in our early years.
I heard the "still small voice" say to me the word, “Blu”
and I saw it in my mind as the word “blue” without the “e.”
At first, I thought it was the oddest name, but then I did some research
and found out that the color blue was universally recognized as
the color of freedom.
Perfect.
Welcome to our world, blu.

Yours in freedom,
Traci Fenton + The WorldBlu Team
OUR PURPOSE
transform the way
leaders lead with
Freedom at Work®.
OUR VISION
OUR VALUES
HUMILITY
EXCELLENCE
ACCOUNTABILITY
LOVE
Major Milestones in
WorldBlu's History

Traci Fenton began WorldBlu in 1997 from her college dorm room, inspired by her leadership of the school's public affairs conference. WorldBlu's beginnings started with a leadership summer camp for teens, which rapidly transformed into the global training of top leaders in the principles of organizational democracy.
1997
WorldBlu Founded by Traci Fenton

Fenton completed groundbreaking graduate research that identified the 10 Principles of Organizational Democracy, making an understanding of what democracy is more accessible to all. Many scholars are researching, analyzing, studying, and writing papers based on her research.
2002
10 Principles of Organizational Democracy
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WorldBlu held its first inspirational and transformational Freedom at Work Leadership + Growth Summit in Washington, DC, attracting hundreds of top business leaders. Summits have been held in various locations worldwide including Las Vegas, New York City, San Francisco, Denver, and Miami.
2003
Freedom at Work Leadership + Growth Summits Launches

Fenton and her team developed the groundbreaking Freedom at Work Scorecard, a first-of-its-kind audit assessing an organization's overall design across the 10 Principles of Organizational Democracy. The Scorecard establishes the world's top benchmark for measuring organizational democracy.
2006
Freedom at Work Scorecard Launches
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WorldBlu unveiled its inaugural roster of certified Freedom-Centered Organizations, establishing a worldwide benchmark for leadership that prioritizes freedom over fear. The rigorous certification standard has been attained by prominent for-profit, non-profit, educational and governmental organizations across the globe.
2007
WorldBlu Certified Freedom-Centered Organizations Launches

WorldBlu invited independent researchers to assess the bottom-line impact of the Freedom at Work methodology. The outcome, which reveals the remarkable growth and resilience exhibited by Freedom-Centered Organizations, was documented in their pioneering white paper.
2012
Groundbreaking White Paper on Bottom-line Results of Freedom at Work

After years of extensive research and work with hundreds of leading organizations worldwide, Fenton crystallized her methodology into the Freedom at Work Leadership Strategy. This strategy streamlines the process for CEOs and their teams to quickly transition their organizations from redundant hierarchies to a more democratic design.
2013
Freedom at Work Strategy Codified

WorldBlu's vision of reaching one billion leaders comes to life with the development of its proprietary BluSpark learning platform. Through the platform, training and courses are provided to teach the unique mindset, leadership skills, and organizational design needed for leading with freedom instead of fear.
2014
BluSpark Learning Technology Launches

WorldBlu's founder, Traci Fenton, was named a "Top 50 Leadership Innovator" in Inc. Magazine
2014
Top 50 Leadership Thinker Award

WorldBlu certifies leaders from around the world as Freedom-Centered Leaders upon their completion of the demanding Lead with Freedom program. Leaders from over 100 countries are currently participating.
2015
Freedom-Centered Leaders Certification Launches

The WorldBlu team earns the top Game Changer Award for "Outstanding Results in Shaping the World."
2015
Outstanding Results in Shaping the World Award
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WorldBlu launches annual all-access Freedom-Centered Leadership training pass for individuals and companies, meeting the need for top training in democratic leadership worldwide.
2019
Lead with Freedom Program Launches

Traci Fenton is recognized as a Marshall Goldsmith "Top 100 Coach in the World."
2019
Top 100 Coach in the World Recognition

WorldBlu's founder, Traci Fenton, is named a "World-Changing Woman in Conscious Business" awardee.
2020
World-Changing Woman in Conscious Business Awardee

Traci Fenton and the WorldBlu team earn the "Oscars" award in Management as a "Thinkers50 Radar" awardee.
2021
Thinkers50 Radar Award

Fenton's groundbreaking book, "Freedom at Work," brings together decades of pioneering research and a proven leadership approach drawn from work with hundreds of top WorldBlu certified Freedom-Centered Organizations worldwide.
2022
The Freedom at Work + Audible Book Launches

Fenton's new book, Freedom at Work, gets picked up by a Hungarian publisher and comes out to an Eastern European market.
2023
Freedom at Work Book Comes out in Hungarian

WorldBlu introduces the groundbreaking Grow with Freedom™ all-access culture pass, empowering CEOs and their teams to seamlessly transition from a hierarchical to a democratic design using proven systems for unstoppable growth and a culture people love.
2023
Grow with Freedom All-Access Pass Launches

Fenton's book, Freedom at Work, gets picked up by a Spanish publisher and comes out to the Spanish-speaking.
2024
Freedom at Work Book Comes out in Spanish