Empowerment is at the heart of our mission, driving us to inspire individuals to take charge of their personal and professional growth.
Integrity is the cornerstone of our operations, ensuring that we uphold honesty and transparency in every interaction.
Kindness is the foundation of our community, fostering a supportive and inclusive environment where everyone feels valued and respected.
A growth mindset is essential for continuous improvement, encouraging us to embrace challenges and learn from every experience.
Authenticity is the essence of our identity, encouraging us to remain true to ourselves and transparent in all our endeavors.
Impact is at the core of our mission, driving us to create meaningful change in the communities we serve and beyond.
Jon Purpura is an accomplished global business leader with over 25 years of experience in leadership roles at United Airlines. Throughout his career, he successfully led high-impact sales teams, focusing on mentoring and coaching to enhance the leadership capabilities of individuals and organizations. His passion lies in building confidence, empowering teams, and witnessing their growth as they perform at their best.
Dedicated to the study of positive psychology and an eternal optimist, Jon strives to share that optimism with others. He specializes in helping individuals capitalize on their unique assets, guiding them to unlock their full potential. By applying principles of positive psychology, he has seen transformative results in those he has worked with at United and other organizations, fostering environments where individuals and teams thrive.
Jon’s passion for coaching and speaking led to the creation of Elevate Advisory LLC, where he continues to elevate others on their personal and professional journeys.
Jon Purpura is a certified professional coach who completed his training at the Co-Active Training Institute in San Rafael, California. Additionally, he holds specialized certifications in stress management and positive psychology from Harvard University, equipping him with a well-rounded skill set to support individuals in achieving their personal and professional goals.
Cindy Seffair is a seasoned Talent Strategist and Organizational Effectiveness consultant with
more than 35 years of experience shaping the people strategy at United Airlines. As a trusted
HR business partner supporting key operating groups, she helped strengthen leadership capability, elevate employee engagement, and build the organizational foundation that enabled United to become the world’s largest and one of its most admired airlines.
Cindy’s work directly contributed to United’s ability to scale its workforce, including the aggressive hiring of more than 50,000 employees in five years. By improving leader readiness, advancing performance and succession practices, and streamlining HR communication and change processes, she helped ensure the organization could attract, onboard, and develop talent at unprecedented speed and quality while enhancing the safety and service culture.
She played a pivotal role during the Continental–United merger as part of the organization design team and later led corporate training and development, delivering leadership programs essential to unifying culture and accelerating enterprise performance. Cindy also built HR’s first Communication and Change Management function, enabling successful adoption of enterprise
tools and change initiatives that supported growth at scale.
A passionate advocate for leader development, she helps organizations build a strong lculture
from CEO through frontline leaders to build to create positive, high-performing workplaces.
Cindy holds a BA in Communications from Bowling Green State University and resides in
Denver, Colorado.
Maria Taylor is a senior advisor and executive coach in business transformation, strategic innovation, and talent development. She partners with CEOs and leadership teams to build the strategies, capabilities, and cultures required for sustained growth in a rapidly changing world. Known for her ability to blend innovation with operational excellence, Maria helps organizations unlock performance, accelerate workforce readiness, and build leaders who inspire people to do their best work.
Maria previously served as Chief Learning Officer at United Airlines, where she led enterprise
talent strategy and built the learning infrastructure that enabled United to hire and develop 50,000 employees in five years. Her work advanced safety and operational excellence, launched the United Leadership and Technology Institutes, implemented a modern AI-driven
learning ecosystem, and created Aviate, the industry’s leading pilot pipeline program.
Before joining United, Maria built multi-million-dollar innovation and leadership portfolios at Carnegie Mellon’s Tepper School of Business and Penn State’s Smeal College of Business, and led global learning solutions at Raytheon Professional Services. Her experience spans aerospace and defense, financial services, manufacturing, retail, energy, government, and higher education.
Maria helps clients accelerate performance by integrating strategy, leadership, and
talent—creating measurable impact through clarity, capability-building, and human-centered
transformation.
