Thane Chastain (in memoriam) | Director of Virtual Learning and Engagement

Thane Chastain served first as director of creative technology and then as director of virtual learning and engagement until his death on February 25, 2023, one month before his tenth anniversary with KLC. Read our tribute or Thane’s own bio below:

“Thane Chastain creates order out of chaos. He knows the right message, delivered the right way becomes an act of leadership, shaping and improving our shared reality.

Put another way, Thane is all about helping people do what they never thought possible. As KLC’s Director of Virtual Learning and Engagement​, Thane helps everyone in the organization – from staff to program participants, board members to teachers and coaches – make the most of emerging technologies. Among his many contributions to KLC, Thane is the creative force behind Your Leadership Edge Online, The KLC Store, and KLC’s National Scaling Strategy as well as several other teams and initiatives.

With a B.A. in History and Communication from Bethel College in North Newton, Kansas, and a Master’s in Mass Communication from Wichita State University, Thane has worked in youth ministry, sales, radio, television, and at the college and university level in teaching and administration. As a volunteer and consultant, he has played key roles over the past dozen years in the ever-growing Tallgrass Film Festival, held in late September each year in downtown Wichita. He also volunteers as Dean of Special Projects with American Legion Jersey Boys State.

Thane is fun, approachable, empathetic, and always willing to give honest feedback. He says of himself, “I may not be the first to catch on, but my persistence and ability to eventually understand complex systems and ideas has helped me translate for people who might otherwise feel totally overwhelmed.”

Years ago, a grateful friend presented Thane with a plaque inscribed in Latin: Ordo ab Chao. Order Out of Chaos. It’s the perfect description of what Thane does best.”