Meet Iain (ee-nn), national public speaking champion and coach.
Growing up, Iain struggled with a speech impediment. In high school, he set a goal: become the most successful Impromptu speaker in California.
He did — setting a statewide record for the largest margin of victory in Impromptu speaking history.
In college, Iain turned his focus to mock trial, aiming to become the most successful competitor in the country.
He did that, too — winning two national trial advocacy championships and setting the all-time record for the best four-year run at the American Mock Trial Association’s championship tournament.
In 2021, Iain entered the Professional Speech and Debate Association’s season-long contest, where more than 100 judges evaluated competitors in acting, oratory, spontaneous speaking, and debate.
He won the national championship — taking first place in every category at the final contest.
In 2024, Iain joined the International Public Debate Association’s professional division. At the time, no competitor from outside the Deep South had ever won a national title. Iain lived in Wisconsin.
He won again — becoming the IPDA’s season-long professional national speech and debate champion while setting an all-time record for debate wins.
When he returned in 2026, Iain was once again named the season-long professional speech and debate national champion, this time setting an all-time record for speech wins. At his first IPDA national championship tournament, he was also named the top speaker in the nation.
As of May 2026, Iain has won 91 public speaking contests, including eight national championships. He’s also coached 29 national championship teams and over 1,800 individual champions.
He studies how professionals communicate with clarity, confidence, and presence under pressure.
Iain was an okay student as an undergraduate at UCLA. Nothing special.
After graduating, he knew he could have done better. So he started studying the question that had followed him through college: why was it so hard to stay engaged?
That question led him to earn a master’s degree in education and human development from George Washington University. Then he went further, earning a doctorate from Vanderbilt University.
Before the ink had dried on his doctoral diploma, Iain had also earned certifications in advanced educational leadership from Harvard, college counseling from UCLA, and human resources from Madison Area Technical College.
Still, he knew there was more to learn. So he began Northwestern University’s executive MBA program.
Within two weeks of arriving at Northwestern, Iain was teaching his peers — accomplished executives and managers — how to communicate with more competence, confidence, and ease. The classes started in a small side room. Soon, they had moved into a lecture hall.
His new friends urged him to take those lessons beyond the classroom and into the corporate world.
That’s how Authentalk was born.