Brandon J. Larson, CMAA
Member, Board of Directors · Mental Performance & Leadership Consultant · Athletic Director
Brandon is the Athletic Director at Highland High School in Gilbert, Arizona, where more than 25 years in education and athletics have shaped a career-long belief: culture isn't something organizations stumble into — it's something they have to build on purpose. That belief started early, when a desire to help young men find their full potential through football pulled him into coaching, and eventually into athletic and educational administration.
That grounding in real teams, not just theory, is what led Brandon to found OakStrong Performance and Leadership. His approach draws on both hands-on experience and formal study — he is currently completing a doctorate in Sports and Performance Psychology, researching the coach-athlete relationship and its effect on performance anxiety in high school athletes. He often distills it simply: "People quit cultures, not teams."
Brandon's frameworks give organizations concrete steps for building cultures that retain their people and sustain high performance over time — results that include an athletic program breaking a state record for most state titles in a single season, innovative retention programs for coaches, and ideas that have challenged the status quo across his industry.