The intersection of psychology, leadership, and no-bullshit truth-telling.

Meet the Chief

I’m Jonathan Bonanno — founder, practitioner,  speaker, strategist, and the person leaders call when they’re done pretending everything’s fine.

I didn’t set out to become a consultant.
At 16, I was scrubbing into surgeries, chasing my dream of becoming a plastic surgeon. I worked as a CNA and rotated through hospitals, long-term care facilities, and trauma units. But the human cost of healthcare — the burnout, the silencing, the systemic gaps — hit me early. And hard.

So I pivoted. Not away from healthcare, but deeper into it — through the people who hold it up: the teams.

I cut my teeth inside some of the largest healthcare corporations in North America, leading people operations, cultural transformations, and major initiatives such as REMS programs for post-transplant patients and schizophrenia care. Those years taught me what works, what doesn't, and what gets overlooked.

Then came dentistry.

As Chief Operating Officer at Performance Partners, I helped transform a scrappy consulting firm into a full-fledged Dental Service Organization (DSO). I co-founded Dental Virtual Support Solutions (DVSS), led emergency response efforts like US Dental Triage during the pandemic, and facilitated multimillion-dollar practice sales with heart and operational precision.

But Titles Don’t Tell the Whole Story:
I’ve built a career on one radical belief: Psychological safety isn’t optional — it’s the lever that moves everything.

Through ZIA, my talent-first consulting firm, and Chief Psycho, my personal brand, I now help dental and healthcare teams get honest, get healthy, and get aligned.

We use tools rooted in psychodynamic psychology, I/O science, and real-world operations — no gimmicks, no guru nonsense. Just the hard, human work of healing systems through the people who power them.

Credentials:
- Ph.D. (cand.) in Industrial/Organizational Psychology
- M.S. in Business Management
- B.S. in Business Administration
- Certified in talent optimization, psychodynamic psychotherapy, and social-behavioral research
- Denobi Award winner
- Host of The Chief Psycho Podcast
- Co-host of The Psycho x Incito Xperience (coaching cohort + retreat for servant leaders)

Why I Really Do This:
Because too many leaders suffer in silence.
Because teams break when trust breaks.
Because your story deserves to be heard — without judgment, without shame, and without having to tone it down.

If you’ve ever been told you’re too much, too intense, or too emotional — welcome to the lab.