My Background: Corporate Career to Coach

 

I spent 25 years as a senior corporate executive in several large companies in the US, Europe and Asia, as well as in a Silicon Valley start-up that grew from two founders to an IPO in four years. In most organizations, I was brought into new, senior roles with a mandate to devise and drive strategic changes in complex, fast-moving environments where competitors loomed large. Since these roles involved leading large, diverse teams, my management style has always been people-centered, which enabled me to consistently deliver strong business results and build high-performing cultures. Even more than business successes, I’m proudest of my long track record coaching people to levels of performance and overall satisfaction far greater than they had thought possible.

 

My perspective as an executive has also been shaped by raising two children while working full-time in senior roles, married to a serial entrepreneur who always has a new venture brewing. We started our family in Palo Alto, California, and when our girls were 9 and 10 years old we moved to Beijing, China to give them a cultural-immersion experience and Chinese-language skills. Working as a global leader for large companies in dynamic Asia while raising a family deepened my skills in everything from time management to adjusting my perspectives on what success looks like at various ages and stages.

 

In 2013, on moving back to the U.S., I made the transition to executive coaching in order to focus on what I do best: helping people tap their potential to make big strides toward their goals, at work and in life. I bring to my clients deep curiosity, commitment, and a wealth of experience and insights about leadership development, workplace relationships, corporate and start-up environments, and life outside of work. I supplemented my two-decades-plus of management experience with formal certification from the Columbia University Coaching Certification program, one of the leading programs advancing the field of coaching through training, continuous research and development of best practices.

 

I have built up a diverse roster of private clients across a wide range of industries, including venture capital, tech start-up, insurance, healthcare, and social impact investing. In addition to my own practice I am also employed part-time as a coach by the Organizational Performance Group, a well-established organizational-development consultancy.

 

Start-up Experience

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Living and working in Silicon Valley during the internet boom years and serving as founding VP of marketing for a two-person company that grew exponentially before going public immersed me in the startup world, and leaders in early-stage companies and venture investors have become a core part of my coaching clientele. Being married to a successful serial internet entrepreneur for whom I perennially serve as the "first funder" also gives me a front-line understanding of what entrepreneurship looks and feels like for both the founder and the family.  

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I’ve found coaching to be an important way for start-up CEOs, especially first-timers, to reduce risk and speed progress, particularly by supporting sound decision-making amid uncertainty and strengthening confidence in making bold moves. Coaching can accelerate leadership growth as the company scales up and provide a platform and sounding board to help leaders hone their capabilities in many areas, such as how to approach key decisions, lead with confidence while building consensus, and deliver powerful, high-stakes messages to their teams, investors and other stakeholders.

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Cross-Cultural Perspective

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I've worked with and managed people from other countries for most of my career, with early travel and work experience in China, France, Denmark and the Soviet Union. More recently, over nearly a decade as a senior executive in China, I led two different teams of predominantly Chinese nationals, which also involved delivering speeches, calling on stakeholders, and negotiating in Chinese.  As an Asia-Pacific leader for Mars, Inc., my regional team consisted of men and women from a dozen different countries. Being in the minority as an American, yet the leader of these teams, made me appreciate the need to humbly seek to understand other cultures rather than stereotyping and making assumptions. I also learned the power of integrating different cultural perspectives and practices to create unique and positive team identities that transcended borders and stereotypes. I bring to my international coaching clients an alertness to the cultural context of their situations, and the skill to uncover “invisible” impact of cultural norms and assumptions on their perspectives.

 

Nonprofit Engagement

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Throughout my career I’ve engaged with non-profit organizations as a board member, advisor, and consultant, and I actively seek out non-profit leaders as coaching clients. I launched my coaching career working with nonprofit leaders facing major challenges, both personal and organizational, and researched non-profit leadership transition challenges for the capstone paper required for my coaching certification. For non-profit leaders, coaching can be a huge help particularly when they must implement strategic changes in their organization's focus or structure. Typically, the leaders know what to do, but with limited experience in change management, they need support with the "how," which is where coaching comes in.

 

I serve on several boards and I am particularly interested in issues related to economic development, job creation, and education.

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Education and qualifications

 

• Columbia University, Coach Certification Program

• Stanford University, MBA and Certificate in Public Management

• Yale University, BA Russian and East European Studies

• Certified consultant for the NBI, Neethling Brain Instrument

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Work History

 

Mars, Inc.
VP Corporate Affairs, Asia-Pacific, based in Beijing, China

 

APCO Worldwide

Managing Director, Beijing, China

 

Elsevier Science & Technology

Managing Director, Beijing, China

 

E-LOAN, Inc.

VP Marketing, Palo Alto, Calfornia

 

Knight-Ridder, Inc.

Director, San Jose Mercury News, California

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World Health Organization

Health Promotion Consultant, Copenhagen, Denmark

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Save the Children

Assistant to the CEO, Westport, CT

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China Business Review

Editor-in-Chief, Washington, DC

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Other Things About Me

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• Fluent: French & Chinese. Rusty: Russian & Danish.

• Cheese connoisseur, founder of the Beijing Cheese Society

• Theatre lover: Most recent project  - seeing all 38 of Shakespeare’s plays performed live in 2016

• Tennis player, avid follower of many pro sports