Gary Harpst

Gary Harpst is an entrepreneur, author, and CEO of LeadFirst, a leadership development company focused on integrating business excellence with biblical wisdom. After working at Ohio State University and Marathon Oil, Harpst co-founded and served as CEO of Solomon Software, originally named TLB, Inc., based in Findlay, Ohio. The company expanded to more than 400 employees and $60 million in revenue, serving over 40,000 clients globally before being acquired by Great Plains Software. The combined business was later sold to Microsoft. Following Microsoft's consolidation of development locations, Harpst founded Solomon Cloud Solutions, a software engineering firm supporting Microsoft Independent Software Vendors and Microsoft Business Solutions Channel Partners.

Harpst later founded Six Disciplines, which evolved into LeadFirst, the first ERM platform for faith-driven organizations. LeadFirst developed an Employee Relationship Management system designed to help leaders balance business objectives with people-focused leadership. Harpst has been recognized among the Top 100 thought leaders in management and leadership by Leadership Excellence Magazine.

Harpst is a New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and BusinessWeek bestselling author. His first book, "Six Disciplines for Excellence: Building Small Business That Learn, Lead and Last," provides a step-by-step guide for business performance improvement. He followed with "Six Disciplines Execution Revolution: Solving the One Business Problem That Makes Solving All Other Problems Easier." His third book, "Built to Beat Chaos, Biblical Wisdom for Leading Yourself and Others," explores how biblical insights can help leaders address organizational challenges.

As a speaker, Harpst addresses topics such as leadership, organizational health, strategy execution, and the integration of faith in the workplace. He has presented at business workshops, graduations, keynotes, and other events, sharing practical business skills, scriptural perspectives, and scientific principles. Harpst draws on decades of experience building and scaling companies to provide insights on leadership and organizational development.