“Self-discovery guides choice.
Choice drives change.”

Tom Karl – R1 Founder and CEO

Tom Karl founded R1 as the result of his own personal experiences in addiction, and recovery. The idea and vision for the R1 Learning System, the Discovery Cards, and R1 Discover App was inspired following Tom’s last substance use and hospitalization when he noted a lack of practical tools in addiction treatment settings. He has used the creation of the tools to help better understand himself and address his own personal challenges. Through R1, Tom’s goal is to put impactful self-discovery tools into the hands of individuals in recovery and empower them to reach their full potential. In addition, R1’s mission is to address the workforce shortage in Mental/Behavioral Health industry by equipping practitioners at all level of knowledge, skill, and experience with evidence-based interactive support resources in both hands-on and online formats and in multi-languages. Tom has 25+ years of experience in workforce and leadership development, learning and development, employee engagement, and talent retention, working with global companies, government agencies, and education institutions.

Tom is a graduate of Duke University with a Bachelor of Science degree in economics. Tom currently volunteers on the Patient & Family Engagement Advisory Council at Inova Healthcare System in Virginia. He is active in the recovery community, is a founding member of RecoveryDC, and volunteers with patient engagement programs.

Prior to R1, Tom was the Senior Vice President at Lee Hecht Harrison, one of the largest human capital consulting firms in the world, an Addeco Company, and an Executive Vice President and Co-Owner of MasteryWorks. At Lee Hecht Harrison, Tom was the Global Practice Lead for Employee Engagement and Career Development Solutions where he led the go-to-market strategy and product development for all practice solutions. In his role, Tom consulted with clients to design, develop, and implement high-touch and high-tech solutions to address their pressing human capital needs. As a leader at MasteryWorks, Tom led the product strategy to create the first multi-language career portal solution in the industry (including assessment tools, e-learning, career discussion planners, articles, and links to existing organization HR technologies and career resources). MasteryWorks' career portals were licensed and deployed globally. Tom, with his partner and team, built an international reputation for career planning and was acquired by Lee Hecht Harrison in 2014 after a two-decade strategic partnership.