Robyn Benincasa

Robyn Benincasa is a World Champion Adventure Racer, award-winning motivational speaker, 3x Guinness World Record kayaker, San Diego firefighter, 10x Ironman triathlete, New York Times bestselling author, proud owner of two bionic metal hips, and the Founder and CEO of The 501c3 Project Athena Foundation, which helps survivors live an adventurous dream as part of their recovery.

For the past 20 years, Robyn and her teammates have studied teambuilding, leadership and performance in the most extreme classrooms on Earth: the jungles of Borneo, the Himalayan peaks of Tibet, the rivers of Fiji, the rainforests of Ecuador, and the epic brush fires of Southern California (just to name a few)! It is through these harrowing, life affirming, and often hilarious experiences that Robyn has emerged with her unique perspective on what it takes to succeed against all odds and go the distance in any endeavor.

Through her inspirational keynotes and teambuilding adventures, Robyn has helped Fortune 500 companies including Starbucks, Wal-Mart, Boeing, Johnson & Johnson, Northrup, Siemens, Napster, Nestle, and Hewlett Packard to bring out the world class team builder, leader and peak performer in their employees.

NBC, ABC, CNN, ESPN, USA Network, The Discovery Channel, the Today Show, Live With Regis, Dateline NBC, Vogue, Sports Illustrated, Harpers Bazaar, Fast Company, Runners World, and Outside Magazine have all featured Robyn and teams’ amazing ability to Adapt, Overcome, and Win as ONE in times of great challenge and change.

In her New York Times bestselling book, How Winning Works, Robyn shares the essential teambuilding and leadership skills that she and her teammates discovered on their quest to win “the toughest races on Earth”. It isn’t just a book about succeeding at work—it’s a field guide for being a winner in all areas of life. How Winning Works takes readers on an unforgettable adventure and guides them step by step over the finish line to success.

In 2014, Robyn was named a CNN Hero for the Project Athena Foundation. Project Athena is a 501c3 non-profit foundation that helps women who have endured life-altering medical setbacks live an adventurous dream as part of their recovery. Robyn was inspired to start the foundation as a result of her own medical challenge—two total hip replacements. “I’m honored to be chosen a CNN Hero,” she says, “but the Athenas (Survivors) who reach their recovery goal of a Project Athena adventure are the true heroes. The mission of the foundation is to put Athenas in a position to inspire and amaze themselves—to be the very best they are today.”

In her spare time, Robyn’s favorite hobby is inspiring people to do insane, life affirming things like run their first triathlon, start their own business, hike the Grand Canyon Rim to Rim, or kayak and ride 100 miles from Key Largo to Key West. This is, after all, who she is and what she does: Robyn inspires people to grab life with one hand, grab their teammates with the other, and create that special magic that allows each of us to become better and stronger together than we would ever be alone.

Ordinary People, Extraordinary Results: The 8 Essential Elements of Human Synergy

What do the world’s most successful teams have in common? The ability to upgrade their “teamwork” to Human Synergy! Through her Ordinary People, Extraordinary Results keynote, Eco-Challenge Adventure Racing World Champion and San Diego Firefighter Robyn Benincasa imparts the attitude and mindset that allows groups of ordinary people to accomplish truly extraordinary things together. Attendees will not only walk away completely thrilled with this unique visually and viscerally entertaining look into the world’s most amazing extreme teams, they will also leave with some simple and easily applied skills that will allow them to create Human Synergy with all of the teammates in their lives, from colleagues to spouses and family.

The 8 Essential Elements of Human Synergy: Total commitment, Empathy and Awareness, Adversity, Management, Mutual Respect, ‘We’ Thinking, Ownership of the Project, Relinquishment of Ego, Kinetic Leadership

Lead Like Gumby: Flexible Leadership That Gets Results

According to research from the Harvard Business Review, a company’s profitability increases by up to 1/3 when managers create a more positive corporate climate through Flexible Leadership. In Robyn’s Lead like Gumby: Flexible Leadership that Gets Results keynote, she combines well-respected academic research with amazing Adventure Racing and firefighting footage that illustrates great (and not so great) leaders in action in the most extreme challenges on earth. The result is an in depth and powerful look into six distinct leadership styles that, when utilized interchangeably and judiciously, are proven to have a positive effect on the corporate climate–the simplest way to increase the bottom-line. Your leaders will emerge with a deep understanding of the most effective way to engage and motivate their team.

Extreme Performance: Why Winners Win

What are the 5 most common attributes of people who make a lifelong habit of winning? In her Extreme Performance: Why Winners Win keynote, World Champion Eco-Challenge Racer and Firefighter Robyn Benincasa uses the model of Adventure Racing to highlight the mindset and common attributes of world-class athletes, teams and leaders in their quest for victory—and provides some real world guidelines and principles for reaching the top of the podium in any endeavor.

"The conference went great!!! You were so effective in teaching teamwork, setting the tone is an understatement!!! We really got it!! That evening we did set up our committee by vote. We also redistributed 300 existing client business accounts for service with eager cooperation from everyone. The next day we increased the state's incentive fund contribution, set up a recruiting fund and training fund. These are monies that are deducted from everyone's statements and used to cover contest, conference etc. Anyway, that went very well too. Our moral has improved 100%. The meeting surveys were all positive and gave you lots of love for your roll in our conference." — Steven W. Kaiser, State Sales Coordinator, Aflac Hawaii/Guam

"...It's been just over a year since we did that meeting with you and people still talk about being the best teambuilding meeting we've ever held." — Irwin I. Golub, Northrop Grumman IT Solutions Team

"I would be honored to recommend Robyn Benincasa as a keynote speaker for any of your clients. Robyn is a captivating, dynamic speaker with a style that it is both approachable and extremely compelling. While adventure racing and Robyn's exploits are clearly larger-than-life, she is so natural and unassuming that her audiences are readily inspired and eager to put her lessons to work. We have used Robyn as a keynote for groups as large as 550. She has no problem commanding each attendee's attention. She is consistently among our highest rated speakers. We've used, among others, Joe Thiesman, Jerry Linegar (the astronaut), and Ben Carson (the surgeon) for groups as large as 1300. Each has been very good. Robyn is better. Not only is her message as compelling, but her multimedia approach is well suited to very large groups; 1200 or more should be no problem." — Christopher Mortell, Sr. Manager, HR, Professional Education and Learning, Siemens Medical Solutions

"I have known Robyn Benincasa for a number of years, and have utilized her talents as both a speaker, as well as a leader of team oriented events. While the SVP for the Western U.S. for Starbucks Coffee, I selected her as both the lead speaker, as well as the team leader, for our annual Store Manager Leadership Conference, held in Tacoma, Washington. The event was an overwhelming success. In fact, 6 years later, they are still talking about the key learnings, the fun, and the excitement of working together as a team. She also addressed the national Leadership Conference for Starbucks Coffee, speaking to about a 1000 attendees, including the Board of Directors, Howard Schultz, the founder, as well as the senior leadership team, the corporate office, and the entire field organization for Starbucks. She was a great success. Likewise, 2 years ago I was the C.O.O. for It's A Grind Coffee Houses, and we invited Robyn to facilitate a one day team building event, as well as deliver the keynote address at the first ever national Franchisee Convention. She went above and beyond, ensuring the success of the event, and providing much in the way of key learnings the each Franchisee could take back to their individual businesses. I can recommend Robyn and her team to provide an exceptional event that will thrill the audience short term, and provide meaningful change in the long-term as she provides key insights into the synergies of building a World Class team. If you have any further questions, please do not hesitate to call." — John Alderson, Zone V.P. Starbucks/C.O.O. It's a Grind