Alison Levine (born April 5, 1966) is an American mountain climber, motivational speaker and leadership consultant. She is the author of On the Edge: The Art of High Impact Leadership and the executive producer of a documentary, The Glass Ceiling. She has ascended the highest peaks on every continent and also skied to both the North and South Poles. In 2010, she completed the Adventure Grand Slam by reaching the summit of Mount Everest. She served as an adjunct instructor at the U.S. Military Academy. Early life and education Levine was born and raised in Phoenix, Arizona to Jack and Corinne Levine. Alison earned her bachelor's degree in communication from the University of Arizona in 1987. Career Levine worked a series of restaurant jobs throughout high school and college. During her junior year at the University of Arizona she managed to parlay a job at Keaton's Restaurant into a marketing internship at Mattel Toys when a group of Mattel executives came into the restaurant for dinner. After completing her MBA from Duke University's Fuqua School of Business in 2000, she worked for Goldman Sachs until 2003. She left Goldman Sachs after three years and went on to serve as the deputy finance director for Arnold Schwarzenegger in his successful bid to become Governor of California. Mountaineering Levine climbed her first mountain, Mount Kilimanjaro, in 1998 at age 32. In August 2001 she was asked to serve as the team captain of the first American Women's Everest Expedition which was slated to go to the mountain in the spring of 2002. She secured funding for this expedition from the Ford Motor Company. Her team turned back a few hundred feet short of Everest's summit in May 2002. Levine finally reached the summit of Mount Everest on May 24, 2010. After 12 years of mountaineering and polar expeditions, she completed the Adventure Grand Slam by climbing the highest peak on each continent and skiing to both the North and South Poles. Seven summits and polar expeditions Kilimanjaro (1998) Elbrus (1998) Aconcagua (two summits—1999 and 2004) Carstensz Pyramid (1999) Denali (2000) Vinson Massif (2001) Everest (2002; went as high as 28,750' with the 1st American Women's Everest Expedition) North Pole (2004) South Pole (2008; 1st American to traverse to the South Pole via the 600-mile Messner Route) Everest (2010; in honor of friend Meg Berté Owen) First ascents Hall Peak in Antarctica (2,190m/7185