Berrick Abramson has spent thirty years getting paid to walk into situations most people prefer to avoid.He founded The Phoenix Group International in San Francisco in 1996, building a corporate finance firm at the center of the technology industry’s formative years. Over the decades that followed he acquired equity stakes in companies reshaping digital music, online commerce, and connected cars, and led or supported more than a billion dollars in transactions. He later founded Confluence PSG, a strategic advisory firm specializing in facilitation, negotiation, and complex problem-solving for government agencies, private sector leaders, and multi-stakeholder initiatives. He has held a Top Secret / SCI clearance and worked on sensitive matters at the intersection of government and private industry.A few years ago, Crohn’s disease nearly killed him. He went from 170 pounds to 120 in less than a month, survived 27 surgeries over three years, and six weeks after lifesaving surgery, made his 500th skydive. He has since passed 1,000 jumps, including wingsuit flights. He is a competitive ocean paddler with multiple Catalina Classic finishes, a runner who posted a personal best 5K in the midst of his surgeries, and he is a regular competitor in adventure and Spartan races. In 2024, he and his wife Carrie moved their primary home from Colorado to the North Carolina coast — a deliberate decision to design a life that matched how they wanted to live, not just where they worked.His keynote, The Scoreboard You Didn’t Write, is for rooms full of high achievers who are ready to ask whether the life they built is actually the one they want.He hosts the Living All In podcast and coaches a small number of senior executives and founders each year.