You're the Visionary.
I'm the Integrator.
I'm Sam Dillenback. I've spent eight years as a COO, and I now do that job for founder-CEOs who need executive-level ops leadership before they can justify an executive-level salary.
My Story
I helped build The Lions Pride from pre-revenue startup to a thriving coaching company. For eight years, I owned all things execution: hiring and developing the team, designing the org structure, managing budgets and margins, building the systems that let us scale, and holding accountability for whether we actually hit what we said we'd hit.
Before that, I was on the small operations team behind the Global Leadership Summit, one of the largest leadership events in the world. Big output, few people, no room for anything sloppy.
Growing companies stall when nobody owns how the business runs. The CEO is selling and building. The managers are heads-down in their own lanes. Execution happens in the gaps, and the gaps get wider as you grow. That's the seat I fill.
“Sam is the perfect blend of creative visionary and driven integrator. My time in her cohort was pivotal in helping me accelerate my team.”
How I Work
I'm an Integrator by nature, which means I'm most useful when there's a strong vision that needs someone to translate it into structure, sequence, and accountability. You decide where the business is going. I make sure it gets there.
I join your leadership team, sit in your meetings, own initiatives end to end, and build your people up while I'm doing it. My goal is to make myself progressively less necessary. If your team can't run the systems without me, I haven't done the job.
Most of what I do is remove complexity.
What I Stand For
Lift as you climb, and share while you're at it.
Success is better when you bring people with you and hand over what you know. Knowledge and resources are meant to move, not be hoarded.
Chase what you're nerdy about.
Passion is the extra something. It's what puts the right people in the right seats, turns good work into fulfilling work, and makes the difference show up everywhere else. Follow what lights you up.
Leave it better than you found it. Always.
How you show up matters more than what you show up for. Every project, every relationship, left a little better for you being in it.
“I’m blown away by the way she handles details and projects as well as her level of buy-in.”
A little more about me
I've led remote teams for over a decade, so I know how to build accountability and culture without a shared office. I have a background in psychology and leadership development, which is why I care as much about how your managers lead as I do about how your processes run.
When I'm not solving operations puzzles, you'll find me playing with knives and fire in my home kitchen, planning the next family adventure, and serving as the devoted human to a cat named Taco Velociraptor. I'm a proud mom of two brilliant boys and the wife of an endlessly patient husband who has heard a lot about org charts.
“She is diligent and thorough. Anyone working with her will be better for it.”
Let’s Connect, over coffee or clicks.
I'd love to hear what you're building and where it's getting stuck.
🔹 Let’s Talk: Book a quick intro call.
🔹 Connect on LinkedIn: Stay in touch and see how I work.
🔹 In Richmond? Let’s grab a coffee. I’ll take any excuse.