Donnalynn Riley

About Donnalynn Riley

Donnalynn Riley spent 13 years as a Broadway sound designer before anyone handed her a P&L. Those years gave her a foundational understanding of both collaborative and hierarchical systems, how they hold together, how they break, and what it takes to lead inside each one. After Broadway, she became CEO of a multi-location furniture retail business. Over 14 years she scaled it 600%, hit 99.5% customer retention, and ultimately closed it profitably on her terms. She knows what it feels like to be the bottleneck, the chief problem-solver, and the last line of defense, often all in the same afternoon. She also knows what it takes to build a company that runs without the owner holding it together. For the last 18 years she's worked as a business coach and strategic consultant, now focused on CEOs of physical operations businesses, retail, hospitality, and specialty service. She's the creator of the Triple Helix System™ and the 7-System Operations Assessment™, the diagnostic she uses to show CEOs exactly which foundational business strand is costing them money, time, and team retention. Most advisors treat structure, people, and performance as separate disciplines. She integrates them, because the business is the integration. Topics she loves talking about: Leadership dependency and why "the business can't run without me" is a system problem, not a personality problem Owner burnout, the real kind, and the operational conditions that produce it What it actually takes to scale a physical operations business without breaking the people inside it Building a company that runs, decides, and grows without the founder in the room The biology of high-performing teams: how nervous system regulation, coherence, and HRV shape what a team is capable of producing On stage and on air, she's direct, warm, and quietly powerful. She prepares thoroughly, shows up generous with what she knows, and leaves listeners with something they can actually use Monday morning. Based in West Palm Beach, FL. Works with CEOs worldwide.