Angela Gill Nelms Leadership Without Excuses
Keynote Speaker • Moderator • Workshop Leader
Why Organizations & Event Planners Bring Us In
Angela Gill Nelms is not a theoretical leadership speaker. She is a 3x biotech COO, entrepreneur, professor, and executive leader who has spent her career navigating growth, uncertainty, conflict, and high-stakes decisions.
As Managing Director of Biolocity, Angela helps move breakthrough medical technologies from discovery toward patients. She also teaches graduate students at Emory University, helping develop the next generation of biomedical innovators and leaders.
But her perspective on leadership wasn’t shaped solely in the boardroom.
Angela’s experiences surviving abuse, kidnapping, and a hostage situation, raising a child with special needs while earning an engineering degree, and completing six IRONMAN triathlons have given her a very different understanding of resilience, courage, and what it means to keep moving when things get hard.
Today, she brings those experiences together to help leaders and teams navigate pressure, communicate through conflict, build accountability, and keep moving when the path forward isn’t clear.
WHY EVENT PLANNERS BRING ANGELA IN
- High-energy, authentic delivery without the motivational-speaker fluff
- Real-world leadership lessons audiences can actually use
- Equally comfortable with executives, technical teams, healthcare professionals, entrepreneurs, and emerging leaders
- Experienced in keynotes, workshops, panels, moderation, and fireside conversations
- A professional, prepared partner before, during, and after the event
The goal isn’t for people to leave saying, “That was a great talk.” It’s for them to leave thinking differently about what they’ll do next.
Signature Keynotes & Leadership Topics
Leadership Without the Excuses
Real leadership strategies for pressure, accountability, and execution.
Resilience That Holds When the Stakes Are High
How leaders maintain clarity and momentum during uncertainty.
Build Teams That Execute Under Pressure
How resilient teams maintain trust, accountability, and performance.
Conflict Management
Navigate difficult conversations, resolve conflict constructively, and turn tension into stronger teams and better outcomes.
Burnout Is an Operational Problem
The hidden ways burnout damages culture, execution, and communication.
Suggest a topic!
What does your team need most to drive towards success?
Experience The Energy
No one is checking the clock. Angela brings the kind of energy that keeps audiences engaged, thinking, laughing, and leaning in. They leave inspired, energized, and ready to put what they’ve heard into action.
How Resilience, Joy & Reflection Shape a Badass Life
Can We Train The Immune System To Fight Cancer?
Mind Over Bladder
The Power of Resilience: Overcoming Trauma & Finding Strength
Mindset Mastery: Building Resilience for Business Success
My Interview about GT BME reaching 25 Years
Avoid the Biggest Founder Mistakes
Resilience: The Hard Makes it Great
Embrace Your Personal Badass
Why Problem-Solvers Can Lead in Any Industry
Embracing Conflict, Leadership & Authenticity
Detoxify Your Team Culture
Empathy Bytes Podcast
Sustainable Innovation in Healthcare and Technology
What Event Planners Are Saying
Katrin Traoré
Cluster Leader for the Transatlantic Dialogue at the Joachim Herz Foundation
Angela’s moderation is characterized by great expertise, and at the same time it’s humorous and entertaining. By asking the right and intelligent questions, she guides, manages, and engages the audience.
Learn more about Katrin here!
Nils Pannen
Cluster Manager at Joachim Herz Foundation
Angela moderated our event, Kickoff Joachim Herz Entrepreneurship Program + Transatlantic Innovation Forum, and it was a 10/10 experience.
Angela showed great preparation, even with limited time, as well as empathy for the group and their needs, the ability to integrate these needs in the workshop, high professionalism, and dynamic moderation.
Her great introduction to the week-long program paved the way for a successful week of workshops and meetings, so she was an integral part of the program’s success.
Two weeks later, she was the perfect moderator for the Transatlantic Innovation Forum and contributed greatly through her dynamic and engaging moderation style as well as her thematic knowledge.
Learn more about Joachim here!
Chauncey Walker, M. Ed.
Community Engagement Manager at Chief
Our recent workshop on Visual Storytelling Strategies for Women Leaders was nothing short of transformative. Led by Angela and her incredible team, the session provided invaluable insights into building compelling brand narratives, planning production budgets, and aligning video content with business goals.
Through expert-led sessions and dynamic breakout groups, members gained practical skills and had the opportunity to put their learnings into action. One of the most engaging parts of the workshop was a hands-on activity where participants crafted exciting pitches and received real-time feedback from a panel of industry experts.
Angela’s team was engaging, insightful, and deeply experienced, leaving a lasting impact on everyone in the room. The AGN Group is truly badass, and I can’t wait for the next opportunity to collaborate.
SPEAKING & WORKSHOP INVESTMENT
KEYNOTE: $10,000+
Powerful storytelling + practical leadership insights designed for the main stage.
INTERACTIVE WORKSHOP: $10,000+
An interactive experience that moves participants from conversation to application. (Up to 90 minutes)
HALF-DAY WORKSHOP: $12,500+
Deeper exploration, facilitated exercises, and real-world application. (Up to 3 hours).
FULL DAY WORKSHOP: $17,500+
An immersive, customized leadership experience built around your organization’s objectives. (Up to 6 hours)
A FEW MORE THINGS TO KNOW
Standard domestic travel is included. We quote international, multi-event, and special travel needs separately. Select educational, nonprofit, and community engagements may qualify for reduced rates based on mission alignment and availability.
About Angela Choose the bio that fits your needs
Quick Intro:
Angela Gill Nelms is a keynote speaker, leadership strategist, biotech executive, professor, and podcast host who helps leaders build teams that execute under pressure. A 3x biotech COO and Georgia Tech biomedical engineering alumna, she leads the commercialization of breakthrough medical technologies emerging from Georgia Institute of Technology and Emory University. Angela is the Founder & CEO of The AGN Group and host of the Badass Leaders Podcast. Known for her candid, no-excuses leadership style, she speaks on resilience, burnout, culture, and high-stakes leadership, drawing from both executive experience and her own journey through kidnapping trauma, endurance athletics, and adversity.
Speaker Bio:
Leadership Without the Excuses | Angela Helps Leaders Build Teams That Execute Under Pressure | Keynote Speaker | 3x Biotech COO | Badass Leaders Podcast
Angela Gill Nelms is a keynote speaker, leadership strategist, biotech executive, professor, and podcast host known for helping leaders build resilient teams, navigate high-stakes environments, and turn bold ideas into measurable results. She leads the commercialization of breakthrough medical technologies emerging from Georgia Institute of Technology and Emory University. She is also the Founder & CEO of The AGN Group and host of the Badass Leaders Podcast and Holy Shift! Biomedical Breakthroughs Shaping Tomorrow podcasts.
A former COO of multiple high-growth healthcare and technology companies, Angela combines operational leadership with candid, no-BS insight on culture, resilience, execution, burnout, and leadership under pressure. A Georgia Institute of Technology biomedical engineering alumna and Distinguished Engineering Alumni Award recipient, she is also an abuse and kidnapping survivor, endurance athlete, and advocate for leading with courage, authenticity, and accountability.
Resilience & Personal Story:
Angela’s journey is not just one of professional achievement but of profound resilience, endurance, and personal strength.
As a single mother earning an engineering degree, with highest honors, while raising a child with special needs—and as a survivor of abuse, kidnapping, and a hostage situation, she has faced challenges most people will never encounter. Those experiences didn’t just shape her; they fundamentally defined how she leads.
She understands pressure, uncertainty, and what it takes to keep moving forward when there is no clear path ahead. That mindset carries through every part of her life, from completing Ironman endurance training to leading organizations and teams through high-stakes, high-pressure environments.
Today, Angela works with leaders navigating complexity, burnout, conflict, and organizational pressure, helping them build resilience that actually holds, communicate with clarity under stress, and lead with courage when it matters most.
Angela’s journey is not just one of professional achievement, but of profound personal strength.
As a earning an engineering degree while raising a child with special needs, and as a survivor of a and hostage situation, she has faced challenges most people will never encounter. Those experiences didn’t just shape her. Rather, they defined how she leads.
She understands pressure, uncertainty, and what it takes to keep moving when there’s no clear path forward. That mindset shows up everywhere, from competing in triathlons to leading in high-stakes business environments.
Today, she works with leaders navigating complexity, burnout, and conflict—helping them build resilience that actually holds and lead with clarity when it matters most.
Because real leadership isn’t about having the answers; it’s about having the courage to move forward anyway.
Leadership & Executive Experience:
Throughout her career—as CEO, COO, advisor, and board member—Angela has consistently built strong, values-driven teams that thrive in dynamic, high-growth environments. She believes leadership is not about titles or authority; it’s about creating space for others to grow, empowering people to lead with courage, and building organizations where everyone feels seen, heard, and valued.
She has held executive leadership roles at multiple biotech startups, including serving as Chief Operating Officer at Florence Healthcare, RenovoRx, and Aetos Imaging.
Angela brings a rare blend of operational excellence and emotional intelligence to her work, grounded in decades of experience across healthcare, technology, and biotech. Her leadership legacy is one of impact, empathy, and the belief that strong leaders don’t just drive results: they inspire others to believe in what’s possible.
She currently hosts the Badass Leaders Podcast, where she engages with industry experts each week in candid, thought-provoking conversations that explore the real challenges and triumphs of modern leadership.
Biotech, Innovation & Academia Bio:
Angela Gill Nelms is the Managing Director of Biolocity, where she leads initiatives to accelerate the commercialization of early-stage medical technologies developed at Emory University and Georgia Institute of Technology. She brings strategic business leadership to the intersection of academia, medicine, investment, and industry—guiding novel technologies from concept to successful startups and industry licenses.
In addition to her industry leadership, Angela serves as a professor in Emory University’s Master’s in Biomedical Engineering and Innovation program, where she teaches graduate students advanced project management, commercialization strategy, leadership, innovation, and the global therapeutics market across the biotechnology and medical technology industries. Drawing from both executive and academic experience, she equips future leaders to navigate the complex path from breakthrough research to real-world clinical and commercial impact.
Angela began her career in clinical trials with Medtronic and Emory Healthcare. A strong commitment to philanthropy, healthcare innovation, and community engagement complements her extensive experience in biotechnology entrepreneurship.
An active contributor to the Georgia Tech community, Angela serves on the College of Engineering Advisory Board and the Georgia Tech Advisory Board (GTAB), which advises the university president. She previously chaired the advisory board for the Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering.
Follow The Leadership Conversation
Angela Gill Nelms Social Channels
YouTube: youtube.com/@bebravebebadass
Website: angelagillnelms.com
Facebook: facebook.com/bebravebebadass
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/angelagillnelms
Twitter/X: x.com/bebravebebadass
Instagram: instagram.com/bebravebebadass
TikTok: tiktok.com/@bebravebebadass
Website: badassleaderspodcast.com
The AGN Group & Badass Leaders Podcast
Website: theagngroup.com
Badass Leaders Website: badassleaderspodcast.com
Badass Leaders LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/badass-leaders-podcast2
Badass Leaders Instagram: instagram.com/badassleaderspodcast
Badass Leaders Twitter/X: x.com/BALeadersPod
Additional Details
Traveling From
Angela is based in Atlanta, GA, USA, and travels globally to speak, teach, and help organizations build resilient, high-performing leaders who can execute under pressure and lead when it matters most.
Presentation and AV Preferences
Angela is comfortable presenting with either a handheld microphone or a lavalier microphone, depending on the event format and venue setup. A confidence monitor is preferred when available, particularly for larger stages or keynote presentations, but is not required.
Standard presentation support includes:
Projection screen or LED display
Audio support appropriate for the room size
Slide advancer/clicker
Water nearby on stage
Angela is experienced in both in-person and virtual presentations and is happy to work collaboratively with your event team to ensure a smooth experience.
Start The Conversation
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