Meet the Team | Sava Leadership™

Scott Whiteford

Managing Director

Scott C. Whiteford, Ph.D. has spent more than two decades helping leaders grow in their careers, build effective teams, and create cultures where associates can thrive. A behavioral scientist and sociologist by training, he's coached over 2,000 leaders. Scott founded Sava Leadership™ to bring deep expertise and an individualized approach to leaders, their teams, and their organizations. No two journeys are the same, so no two engagements are either — each is built around the solution that fits.

Before founding Sava, Scott spent 21 years leading talent and leadership consulting engagements, coaching senior executives and building assessment-driven development programs for organizations across industries. He holds a Ph.D. and M.A. in Sociology from the University of Nebraska–Lincoln and a B.A. from Luther College, and teaches the Sociology of Leadership at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln and at Algebra University in Zagreb, Croatia. He is a member of the American Sociological Association and the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology.

Jess Loeske

Contributor

Jess Loeske spent the past decade bringing digital innovation to one of America's most historic industries: bourbon barrels. She co-founded Midwest Barrel Co. to solve a problem no one else was solving — access — building digital tools and AI-driven systems that let distillers, craft brewers, and whisk(e)y enthusiasts around the world source, understand, and purchase authentic American white oak barrels as if they were standing in a Kentucky rickhouse. What started as an unconventional idea became one of the fastest-growing eCommerce brands in the country, named to the Inc. 5000 four years running (2022–2025), shipping to more than 30 countries, and featured on 60 Minutes in 2025. The company relocated from Nebraska to Louisville to be at the heart of bourbon country, and through its #SaveTheStave initiative with the Arbor Day Foundation has planted more than 50,000 trees to help preserve the industry's future.

Jess and Scott worked together for five years building leadership development offerings, and she brings that same outsider's eye for connecting tradition with innovation to her work with Sava Leadership's clients — she didn't come from bourbon, she came as someone who saw an opportunity to make something tactile and traditional accessible through modern technology. An Enneagram 8, Culture Index Trailblazer, and Predictive Index Captain, Jess is also a sought-after speaker and thought leader, sharing her journey as a female founder navigating male-dominated industries, from barrels and bourbon to raising capital.

Keith Dayton

Contributor

Keith Dayton is an expert in assessments and strengths management, with a career built at the intersection of executive education, organizational consulting, and international business. A faculty member at Indiana University's Kelley School of Business, Keith has spent nearly two decades designing and leading leadership and human resource management curricula — including Executive MBA modules delivered in partnership with Indiana University and IgBS in Zagreb, Croatia, and global immersion programs that have taken MBA and Kelley Direct students to Poland, Costa Rica, Argentina, Italy, Cuba, and Vietnam. He is a member of the Society for Human Resource Management and the Academy of Management, and has led faculty initiatives such as 1Kelley Consulting, Project HOPE, and RuralUP — programs that have delivered consulting, digital training, and technology access to hundreds of businesses and communities across Indiana.

Keith and Scott have worked together for nine years through Algebra University in Zagreb, where they co-teach in the leadership and MBA program and mentor thesis students building careers in international business. Through Archelon Solutions, Keith brings that same rigor and cross-cultural perspective to Sava Leadership's clients — helping leaders and teams put assessment-driven, strengths-based practices to work in a genuinely global context.

Douglas Filter

Advisor

Doug Filter is the founder of Great Dane Group and a certified executive coach with over 25 years of experience guiding organizations, teams, and individuals through growth and change. Early in his career, a line from Stephen Covey's The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People — "seek first to understand, then to be understood" — became a guiding philosophy he still brings to every engagement. Over the course of his career, Doug has built teams from the ground up, led organizations through turnarounds, propelled sales departments to record performance, and steered companies through crisis as an interim executive. He holds a BA in Accounting from Cedarville University and an MBA from Saint Joseph's University.

Doug has been instrumental in helping Scott launch Sava Leadership, offering hands-on guidance through the realities of building an independent coaching practice. Known for his positive energy, natural communication style, and knack for meeting people exactly where they are, Doug brings a practical, relationship-first approach to every partnership. He and his wife, Melissa, live with their dog, Oreo — a Harlequin Great Dane with an outsized personality to match his name.