Julie Graham

---

Julie Graham is the founder of the Tonbo Center. She opened the center in the summer of 2022 after being inspired by Derek Siver’s book, “Anything You Want”.   The center is focused on cultivating resilience so that individuals and communities can thrive.  

Julie supports leaders with their development at Harvard University’s Center for Workplace Development. Julie believes that every transformational organization is created by emotionally intelligent leaders and empowered employees. She also believes that people are capable of incredible things when they have the space to discover, learn and grow.  

Prior to joining Harvard University, Julie served as the Director of Talent Development at Embrace Home Loans, an organization with 900+ employees and 46 offices nationwide. For seven years, she focused on unlocking human capital through cultivating purpose and designing structures that allow humans to connect and learn in meaningful ways. From 2007 to 2013, Julie served as the Executive Director of Champion Development at the Young Presidents’ Organization (YPO), where she was responsible for recruiting, educating, recognizing, and retaining the 10,000+ member volunteers. Julie’s earlier career focused on developing and delivering executive education programs at the Harvard Business School which was born out of her passion for event planning. 

Julie is curious about using applied improvisation to develop leaders and how people learn from each other in meaningful ways. If she could invite six people, living or dead, to her dinner party, she would choose – Lao Tzu, Nefertiti, Oscar Wilde, Ellen Langer, Jim Collins, and Julie Schwartz Gottman.