Edward J. van Luinen, Ed.D is CEO and Board Advisor of Global Talent Builders, LLC a worldwide recruiting, change, and workforce development company in Pasadena, California. Clients include Thermo Fisher Scientific, Corning, Lionsgate, SynTech Research Group (HQ in France), two large global financial services companies, a large global data company, an early growth biotech company, California Water Service, OpenX, The Society for Human Resources Management, Ardmore Home Design, and Otis College of Art and Design, among others. Global Talent Builders’ solutions accelerate internal change and create dynamic leaders
and teams. Their worldwide executive coaches and consultants deliver our advisory, planning, and implementation services in Arabic, Czech, Dutch, French, German, Hebrew, Hindi, Japanese, Korean, Mandarin Chinese, Polish, Portuguese, Spanish, and Ukrainian.
Edward’s corporate experience includes The Walt Disney Company, Sony, Heineken, and Avon Products, Inc. with leadership roles in talent and organizational development. At Disney, he led global talent development — implementing plans, programs, and tools for Imagineering, the Strategy Office, and Public Affairs. For Sony, Edward led leadership development, employee engagement, and talent marketing and communications. While at Heineken, Edward led performance management, leadership development, and online learning.
At Avon Products, Edward had an expatriate assignment in Italy where he led the European Learning Network, a global-regional-local talent strategy, structure, and team for EMEA. Closely partnering with human resources colleagues in 12 countries, Edward and team delivered leadership programs, a worldwide sales development conference, and executive coaching.
Edward received a Bachelor of Arts in French from Calvin College and then served in the United States Peace Corps in Guinea, West Africa, as an English Teacher and Rural Health Assistant. He received a Peace Corps Fellowship at Columbia University Teachers College, graduating with a Master of Arts in International Education Development. In 2016, he obtained his doctorate in organizational leadership from Pepperdine University. His thesis is “Global Leadership: Strategies and Practices to Develop Intercultural Skills.” Edward co-authored a short book Is This a Good Fit?: The Connection Between Organizational Culture and Communication Styles and authored a journal article entitled “Strategies for Cross-Cultural Virtual Team Leadership.” He is thrilled to co-author THE POWER OF COLLABORATION with Tricia Cerrone, his Disney colleague and co-leader of Authentic Collaboration, Inc ((Bloomsbury 2026).
Edward speaks French, Dutch, German, and Spanish and is an inveterate business and leisure traveler with experiences in China, India, Japan, Europe, South Africa, Western Africa, Latin America, Canada, and the Caribbean. His collaboration motto is “Bring someone with you when you elevate yourself.” Edward collaborates in French and English.