COFOUNDER, leadership & change strategy
Sandra J. Horton, MA
Sandra J. Horton is a cofounder of EdgeQuest Global who works where leadership behavior meets the systems it operates in. With more than 25 years in leadership, strategic facilitation, and organizational change across healthcare, public, nonprofit, and private-sector organizations, she helps leaders understand why some changes take hold while others stall, and what it takes to make strategy stick.
In 5 to 10 minutes, answer 18 questions and get a written report on your organization's structural health.
How Sandra works with EdgeQuest Global Clients
Sandra contributes most to EdgeQuest's cohort and advisory pod work, and she brings the collaborative approach to each of the firm's four pillars.
Strategic Advisory Pods
Facilitation is where Sandra has spent much of her career. Over more than 25 years, she has designed and led strategic planning sessions, executive conversations, board and governance discussions, and multi-stakeholder processes. In advisory pods, she helps leaders surface what is not yet visible, work through competing perspectives, and leave with clear decisions, shared ownership, and a plan rather than a list of ideas.
Organizational Resilience & Design
Her transformation work focuses on the gap between strategy and implementation. As Virtual Health Lead at Fraser Health Authority, she has supported change that brings together physicians, clinical and operational teams, executives, new technology, and new models of care. That experience shapes how she assesses whether an organization has the structure, leadership capacity, and readiness not only to start a change but to sustain it into the future.
Organizational Pattern Diagnostics
Sandra connects EdgeQuest's structural findings to the leadership behavior behind them. Using the evidence in the diagnostic data, she looks at how authority, accountability, and emotional intelligence play out under pressure, and at whether the organization is ready for the change it is attempting. That view helps leaders stop treating isolated performance problems one at a time, see the pattern driving them, and know where a different choice will create movement.
Governance & Decision Architecture
Sandra pays close attention to the space between formal governance and what actually happens. Accountability without enough authority, decisions that keep migrating upward, and competing stakeholder priorities can quietly undermine execution. She helps leaders see these dynamics and build the trust and judgment needed to turn structural clarity into action.
Her Path to this Work
Sandra's path to EdgeQuest Global has been shaped by one question: why do some changes become part of how an organization works while others struggle, despite sound strategy and experienced leaders? Across healthcare, public, nonprofit, and private-sector work, she found that plans alone rarely explain the difference. Leadership behavior, trust, readiness, and established patterns decide what takes hold. She earned a Master of Arts in Leadership from Royal Roads University, added Prosci change management and EQ-i 2.0 emotional intelligence certifications, and in 2024 completed the Digital Transformation Management Program at Simon Fraser University's Beedie School of Business.
That work led her to found The Presence Lab™, where she developed the Executive Leadership Architecture™, a model built on five dimensions: Awareness, Regulation, Authority, Influence, and Strategic Activation. It reflects the principle at the center of her EdgeQuest Global work: awareness creates choice, and change happens when leaders turn what they see into deliberate practice and a clearer vision for what comes next.
Credentials, Publications, and Other Work
Education
Master of Arts in Leadership, Royal Roads University (2014)
Bachelor of Arts
Digital Transformation Management Program, Simon Fraser University, Beedie School of Business (2024)
Certifications
Prosci Certified Change Practitioner, Prosci Canada (2019)
EQ-i 2.0® and EQ 360® Certified Practitioner, EITC Canada (2014)
Publications
International bestselling co-author, Activate Success: Tips, Tools & Insights to Be a Leader in Your Niche (2024)
Contributing author, Leadership Anthology Book One, Los Angeles Tribune, with the chapter "Awakened to Lead: A Journey from Achievement to Presence"
Contributing author, The Resilience Advantage (forthcoming), with the chapter "When Resilience Isn't Enough: The Shift to Leadership Presence"
Experience and Leadership
Virtual Health Lead, Fraser Health Authority
Founder, The Presence Lab™, and creator of the Executive Leadership Architecture™
Founder and Strategic Consultant, Activate Success Edge™
Business Advisory Board Chair and Facilitator, GroYourBiz / MyBusinessMyBoard
Founder and Facilitator, Women's Collaborative Hub
Service
Board Member and Co-Chair, New View Society
Speaking and Media
Host, The Leadership Heart Podcast
Speaker, AI Evolution Hackathon: "Mindset, Coded: Leading with AI as a Woman"
International speaker and facilitator on leadership, change, and emotional intelligence
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