THE SCIENCE OF EXCELLENCE
MEET DR. AMBER SELKING
Drawing from her journey as athlete, scholar, coach, and leader, Dr. Amber Selking reveals the neuroscience behind peak performance in life, sport, and business.
From Small Town USA to the C-Suite and Championship Fields
Dr. Amber Selking grew up in northeastern Pennsylvania, immersed in small-town life centered around church, showing livestock, playing sports, and her family's McDonald's franchise. Highly competitive from a young age, she set her sights on Division I college soccer, a dream that took an unexpected turn when a torn ACL redirected her from the United States Naval Academy to Notre Dame. There, she proudly wore the #29 jersey for the Fighting Irish Women's Soccer program, advancing to the National Championship game.
This injury, while ending her athletic career early, sparked a profound period of introspection that shaped her future work. The identity crisis that followed made her acutely aware of mindset's power and the importance of a solid foundation when external identities are stripped away.
The Scholar-Practitioner Journey
Dr. Selking's journey through academia took her from the Notre Dame Mendoza College of Business to advanced degrees in sport and performance psychology at the University of Denver and the University of Missouri. Her doctoral dissertation exploring NFL players' transitions out of professional football was directly inspired by her own experience with athletic identity challenges.
Her professional path has been equally diverse, spanning from human resources, culture, and leadership in manufacturing to working with elite sports organizations.
She currently serves as the Chief Leadership and Culture Development Officer at Lippert and as the Mental Performance Coach and High-Performance consultant to LSU Football and Head Coach Brian Kelly, a role she’s formerly held for Notre Dame Football, Notre Dame Softball, and the Denver Broncos.
The Championship Mindset Approach
Dr. Selking's work centers on the transformative power of mindset and leadership. She believes everything within a system—whether in an individual's life, a team, or an organization—is connected and should be considered when seeking sustainable excellence.
Her approach combines top-down leadership engagement, bottom-up individual training, and contextually-relevant applications. This comprehensive and integrated method has proven effective in helping clients clarify vision, develop championship-level cultures, drive alignment, and achieve holistic performance excellence.
Beyond the Playbook: Amber's Perspective
At heart, Dr. Selking remains connected to her small-town roots while bringing her expertise to the highest levels of sport and business. Her passion for diversity of thought, culture, and experience—fueled by studying abroad in Spain and completing the "Camino de Santiago" pilgrimage—infuses her work with unique perspective.
She considers it an honor to join clients on their journey to greatness, helping them achieve excellence both personally and professionally through the development of championship mindsets.