Born in Los Angeles to Irish parents, Wibbeke in 1987 received a BA from Loyola Marymount University and in 1992 and MBA from the Thunderbird School of Global Management.
In 1987, Wibbeke started a career at the Los Angeles World Affairs Council, wherein major business, cultural, and political figures gave lectures on current topics.
In 1994, Wibbeke led the volunteer workforce for the FIFA World Cup, including the semi-finals and final matches at the Rose Bowl stadium in Pasadena, California.
Wibbeke was recruited to relocate to Silicon Valley in 1996, and began a decade assisting high-technology firms in their global marketing endeavors.
The first edition of Wibbeke's text appeared in 2008 with the title, Global Business Leadership, published by Elsevier (Butterworth-Heinemann) in Oxford, UK.