OUR ASSOCIATES

With over 20 years human resources, diversity, equity & inclusion and professional development coaching experience, Cecilia Nelson-Hurt combines her passion and purpose to advance diversity and inclusion both professionally and personally. Cecilia has worked directly with senior leaders across industries to provide diversity education and foster intentional inclusion. Cecilia has created and executed initiatives focused on positively impacting organizational effectiveness, employee engagement and the development of inclusive leaders. Cecilia currently serves as lead for the L’Oréal USA’s Diversity & Inclusion Education pillar.

Under her leadership, L’Oréal has been recognized as a top company for both Diversity and Multicultural Women; and has consistently received a 100 score on the Human Rights Campaign Corporate Equality Index.

Cecilia also serves as the Co-President of the NYC chapter of Ellevate Network, the largest community of women at work. A powerful coalition of ambitious and supportive women who believe there is strength in numbers. Additionally, Cecilia is a board member of non-profit organizations The Dinner Table, YouthBridge NY, Knit the Rainbow, and the Vogue Knitting Magazine Diversity Advisory Council. In this capacity, she helps to create strategies to advance diversity, inclusion and belonging for the populations they serve.

Cecilia is an avid crafter and knitting, who enjoys traveling the world and visiting yarn shop and fiber festivals along the way. Cecilia holds a bachelor’s degree cum laude in International Marketing from Pace University and Diversity & Inclusion certifications from ESSEC Business School and Cornell University.

Ray Fisher, MSW, LCSW, PCC is an educator, executive coach and facilitator who has worked with clients across various industries, including global client services firms, government (Federal, State, County, and City), higher education and not-for-profits. For the last 15+ years, Ray has helped senior leaders and management teams expand cooperation, improve performance, and transform their organizations through increased efficiencies. He is recognized for his extensive knowledge in the area of emotional growth, relationship development, and human capital maturity, with a specialty in anti-racism education and coaching. Ray has taught a number of courses on race at the graduate University level. He has extensive experience and knowledge working with individuals, groups, and organizations assisting in moving towards becoming Anti-racist organizations.

Ray holds a Master’s degree from Smith College School for Social Work. He is also an adjunct professor at Smith, a Professional Certified Coach (PCC) through the International Coach Federation (ICF), and certified in the Emotional and Social Competency Inventory (ESCI) through the Hay Group.

Nita Sharma, Certified Professional Certified Coach (PCC) with the ICF, is passionate about inspiring others to be the best they can be – to be their best selves. Nita works with leaders using a coaching and systemic thinking approach, to raise next generation leaders as the key people to have the biggest impact on the culture of their organisation. Nita uses a range of psychologically based methodologies based on the latest research into her practice dependent on the context and nature of the development and interventions in her facilitation and coaching.

Nita is a space. She has more than 30 years of experience with leading multi-national and global organisations across a broad range of industries including, finance, consumer, retail, pharma, industrials technology and charities. Nita’s key areas of expertise include executive coaching, inclusive leadership, diversity, and cross-culture management.

Her global experience extends to working with diverse, different cultures from UK, Continental Europe, USA, the Middle East, APAC, and India. Nita is particularly skilled at working with organisations who want to be inclusive and grow their talent. She achieves this through running women’s’ leadership development workshops with a focus on Black, Asian and Minorites Ethnic groups and through coaching on leadership programmes. Prior to becoming a coach and consultant, Nita worked at the BBC as a diversity manager where she was responsible for strategic development of equalities, both internally and externally. One of Nita’s key successes was ‘putting fair representation of diversity on air’, an initiative which continues to have an impact in the UK today.

Nita is an advisory group member and a nomination committee member for the British Science Association (BSA) advising them on diversity, equity, and inclusion. She also proudly offers her coaching services on a Pro bona basis to NHS employees impacted by COVID 19 in the UK for the National Health Service. (NHS). Nita is a Certified Professional Certified Coach (PCC) with the ICF, Certified Professional CoActive Coach (CPCC). She is a Master Practitioner in Neuro-linguistic Programming (NLP). Her licensed certifications include: MBTI® (Step 1&2), Firo-B, Strength Scope, World Work’s International Profiler and the IPI (International Preference Indicator). She is also licensed in GlobalSmart, Team and Leadership Assessment and in the Intercultural Development Inventory (IDI). She is a certified Couple Counsellor and in Mindful Based Stress Reduction (MBSR).

Dr. Frances Johnston, Ph.D. is a world-renowned scholar-practitioner, researcher, and co-author of the Harvard Business Press book, Becoming a Resonant Leader. Fran is the founder and CEO of Teleos Leadership Institute, a boutique consulting firm that focuses on organizational development, executive coaching and leadership.

Over the course of her 30+ year career, she has become a trusted coach, mentor and advisor to C-level executives and top teams across a broad range of organizations and sectors—including many of the world’s biggest and most well-known companies: Merrill Lynch, Viacom, Unilever, CISCO and Unisys; and small ones including architecture firms, food co-ops, and school districts. She has also worked with the United Nations Development Programme and consulted to government leaders around the globe on issues of inclusion, post-conflict organizational development, and community leadership.

Fran’s fascination with group development and deep commitment to organizational growth enables her to create real connections with those she serves and catalyze transformational change in large systems. She’s done it worldwide in a variety of complex contexts and approaches, including 6,000 business line leaders in a global energy company; 1,000 community and government leaders in post-Khmer Rouge Cambodia; 700 distributed leaders in a major financial services firm, 50 clinical care leaders in a regional health system; 25 managers of her local food co-op; and with one incredibly competitive Division I college basketball coach. Fran sees the potential of any group or individual to make a difference with their leadership to change the world, and her fundamental belief in human possibility and profound capability to understand an organization’s complexity, set her apart as an effective leader of leaders.

Fran earned a M.Ed. in Sports Psychology and a Ph.D. in Adult and Organizational Development, both from Temple University. She designed custom executive education programs at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School before joining the Hay Group, a global management consulting firm focused on organizational change. In early 2002, she co-founded Teleos with her friend and thought partner, Annie McKee.

Harold Hill is an Organization Development (OD) consultant and Leadership Development (LD) facilitator and coach, with the passion and expertise in enabling organizations, teams and leaders to improve their effectiveness and increase their capacity. With over 20 years of relevant LD, coaching, cultural alignment, OD and change management experience, Harold’s clients range across many professional services including health care, technology, hospitality, financial services, insurance, entertainment, government and utility.

Clients include, The Walt Disney Company, The National Football League, Ralph Lauren, Zebra Technology, Cox Automotive, Disney Institute, US Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Advent Health, FLEX and Texas A&M University among others.

Harold was a Senior Consultant with North Highland Consulting and prior to that he was an OD manager with Walt Disney Parks & Resorts (WDP&R) in Orlando, Florida for nearly 10 years. He was responsible for coaching and developing executives and providing consultation in business assessment, strategic planning, organizational design, cultural alignment and change management. Harold also worked for a Chicago area utility for over 15 years in the areas of OD, Diversity & Inclusion and project management.

Harold earned a BS from Bradley University and holds an MBA in Operations Management from DePaul University. He earned a Professional Human Resources (PHR) certification from SHRM and has completed the Principles & Practices of Organization Development program at Columbia University.

Harold is a faculty member and practicum supervisor at the Gestalt Institute of Cleveland and the International Organization and System Development programs. He is also a facilitator and trainer for the National Training Laboratory (NTL). Harold completed his ICF ACC Coaching Certification with Teleos Leadership Institute. He also has an Emotional Intelligence certification from Korn Ferry Hay Group. With these for profit and non-profit organizations, Harold delivers coaching and work sessions in South Africa, The UK, Portugal, Germany, Singapore and The Netherlands on topics of strategy, leadership, diversity & inclusion, change, conflict, communication and culture.

Jane Hughes is known for her creative thinking and ability to translate ideas and commitments into real-time results, Jane has over 20 years’ experience designing, facilitating, leading and implementing dynamic conversations, meetings and innovative strategies, supporting some of the world’s most extraordinary artists, entrepreneurs and executive leadership teams to successfully attain their personal and professional goals.

Through coaching and consultation with start-ups, scale-ups, not-for-profits and multinational organizations in the US, Europe, Central America and the Caribbean, Jane’s work has focused on the delivery of transformational culture change and business growth to ensure relevancy, sustainability and the maintenance of a competitive edge in ever-changing business and political environments. Through her facilitation, clients take on challenging endeavours with velocity and certainty, providing inspirational leadership during times of complexity and change.

Her experience extends over a wide range of industries in both the public and private sectors: Retail (BUILT NY); Tech (BT Fresca); Fashion (Andrew Gn); Financial Services (Citibank); Aviation (Meggitt Aircraft Braking Systems); Public Sector (Salford City Council Housing Department, UK); and Not-for-Profit (Shelter, Campaign for the Homeless, UK).

Originally from London, Jane lives in New York City, and has a US Green Card based on her track record of providing ‘original contribution’ in business over the span of her career. She holds a BA(Hons) in French, Business & Finance from the University of Middlesex, London, including a year of study at the University of London Institute in Paris.

Judy brings 30 years of business and leadership experience to her clients, including over 20 years of guiding others towards transformational growth. She specializes in empowering leaders and teams in complex, dynamic environments who want to navigate today’s challenges with vision and agility.

As a Coach, Judy encourages self-directed intentional change. She brings ease to growth with a solutions-focused process to envision and move deliberately towards the desired outcome. She guides clients to challenge and replace old thought patterns and take on a systems-wide view so they can catalyze lasting impact.

Prior to coaching, Judy advised mission-driven organizations on strategy, governance and management as an independent consultant, helping clients to build organizational infrastructure to implement their visions. Her passion for agility in business leadership began in the early days of her career while doing IT innovation for Accenture and spending time in tech hubs throughout the country. This sparked an interest that led her to the University of Chicago Booth School of Business where she investigated the ways in which ecosystems, collaborative partnerships and empowered workplaces unleash innovation and success. She continues to bring these insights to her clients by supporting them to build systems and leadership capabilities to navigate the complexity characteristic of successful and innovative organizations.

Judy has coached hundreds of leaders from a wide variety of industries including technology, media, aerospace, pharma, retail, education and non-profit, among others. She particularly enjoys working in the education sector. In addition to guest lecturing at the university and graduate level, she has coached with The Garage at Northwestern University, the Rustandy Center for Social Sector Innovation at the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business, and also mentors the Northwestern University Rocketry Team. She is Board Chair of Project Exploration, a provider of transformative educational experiences for girls and minorities in underserved neighborhoods in Chicago. Outside of work, Judy is an avid youth mentor and educator and can be found in amateur rocket launch fields across the country, sending her self-built rockets racing toward the stratosphere faster than the speed of sound.

Experience
Lee has been working in Learning and Development for 17 years. She has worked with senior and mid- level leaders in a range of industries such as Banking, FMCG, Financial Services, Energy and her Third Sector clients include The Obama Foundation, V&A, Royal Exchange Theatre, Mary’s Meals, ZOA and Comic Relief. She has facilitated multi-modular Leadership Programmes in Asia, Europe, the Americas, Australasia and Africa. She has been an Adjunct Lecturer at Chicago Booth Business School in London and at University of Edinburgh Business School and she is an Executive Coach at London Business School.

Prior to going out on her own Lee worked in Retail Management as a General Manager with full P&L responsibility for several multi-million turnover Borders Book and Music stores in the UK. She was responsible for all site operations and earned recognition for highest growth and operational excellence. She led store turnarounds and opened new sites, as well as taking on cluster manager responsibility. Her business and leadership experience informs how she supports leaders to turn theory into practice and make learning relevant to organisation needs.

As well as running her own leadership company she founded a national not-for-profit organisation focusing on increasing gender equality in UK politics. She has presented at the UK House of Commons and the Scottish Parliament. She also has Board experience, having served 3 years as Board Vice-Chair of UK women’s rights charity The Fawcett Society. Leadership is a practice not just theory for her and she has taken this into the political world with a run for the Scottish Parliament under her belt.

In her client work she integrates theory and practice with a spirit of play and lightness to produce breakthrough results for her clients. She is accredited in a number of personality assessments (NEO, EQi 2.0, Hogan) and systemic intervention tools (Organisational Constellations, The Oshry Organisation Workshop, Barratts Culture Transformation Tools) all of which informs her work with clients.

She has recently set up a new project called Midlife Revolution in order to provide support and coaching specifically to women in midlife who she feels are a force to be reckoned with.

Educational Background
Lee has a BA in Philosophy from University of Stirling, an MA in Philosophy from the University of Leeds, an MSc in Gender, Policy and Inequalities from the London School of Economics and is currently completing a Research Masters in Social and Political Sciences at the University of Edinburgh. She also has a Certificate in Counselling and Psychotherapy from Regents University, London. Her coach training comes from The Newfield Network (ontological approach) and the Teleos Leadership Institute (Gestalt approach).

Professional Affiliations
Lee is a member of the International Coach Federation, through which she holds the Master Certified Coach (MCC) accreditation, the top tier accreditation available and is also an ICF Mentor Coach.

Lisa Stewart is respected and valued for being a thinking partner to HR professionals and business leaders. Clients retain her for leadership development; coaching, workshops on unconscious bias, women and minority career development; team working interventions; Diversity and Inclusion culture change strategies, and learning experiences on many aspects of diversity.

She has 29 years of consulting, learning and development experience in a variety of industries. Her clients include: Avon, Bank of America; Baxter; Bayer; Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation; Citi; DuPont; Deloitte; GE; Kimberly-Clark; Novartis; Saatchi & Saatchi, UN Foundation and Tropicana. She is currently on retainer with one of the largest family foundations in the world.

Lisa was formerly a senior consultant based in The Hague, Netherlands, with Shell Learning, and a founding member of Shell’s Global Diversity Practice, based in London. Partnering with her Diversity Practice clients, this team created Shell’s ground-breaking Global Diversity Standard which was the first enterprise-wide framework for diversity culture change implemented by a company of this size outside of the United States, and the first for an energy major. Lisa was also a member of the BP Global Faculty delivering “Inclusive Leadership” and personal effectiveness courses for BP staff around the world.

Three of her favorite engagements have been:

1. Designing and facilitating workshops on inclusion and unconscious bias for players, coaches and back office staff of NBA teams (Nothing beats dynamic conversations with young, restless millionaires!)
2. Teaching an adult ex-offender how to read, and
3. Partnering with Impact of Austria to design a meditation-based learning experience for enhancing perceptual skills and developing world-mindedness among senior negotiators.

Key accomplishments include:

• Led the first women’s career development program for staff of Shell International in Warri, Nigeria.
• Key team member of 5 consulting engagements which garnered Catalyst awards for the clients

Education and Professional Affiliations: Master of Business Administration, University of Chicago Booth School of Business, concentration in health systems administration; Bachelor of Arts, Chatham University, Pittsburgh Pennsylvania

Certifications and Professional Development:

• Certified Marshall Goldsmith Stakeholder-Centered Coach
• Intercultural Development Inventory (IDI) Qualified Administrator
• Gallup Strengths Finder
• Firo-B
• The Enneagram in Business, “What Type of Leader Are You?

Martha Cuffy BA, MBA, MA

Martha gained senior management and consulting experience for 10 years in ethical investment/auditing and Deloitte Corporate Finance. As a Director in the publishing software industry she worked between the US, London, Paris and Germany in the 90s during the dotcom boom. The past 10 years she has delivered individual and team coaching programmes with award-winning teams, sustainability pioneers and lawyers including one Thurgood-Marshall winner. Topics – accessing your genetic potential, transforming toxic cultures, gender privileging, scenario planning, sustainability, right/left brain integration and leadership presence.

After attending the pioneering Business and Sustainability course at the ecological Schumacher College, Martha was inspired to attend a 2-year residential MA in Yoga Psychology in India. In 2008 she moved to Dominica, (not Dominican Republic), the land of her ancestors. Here she gained insights into the direct connection between leadership development with personal and environmental sustainability on a rainforest isle with nine active volcanoes. Her transformational wellness work in nature gained her international recognition in a top travel magazine. She was part of a core team who built and served an online transformational community. 

She attracts clients who recognise a need for the rewilding of the human spirit often confined by the monoculture of corporate language. A published writer for numerous magazines, she has hosted numerous radio shows and moderated events around sustainable development. She has been involved in both grass roots and regional initiatives in the Caribbean to transform and train the upcoming leaders and wellness practitioners. She uses innovative tools to serve a diverse audience – from team profiling to the more esoteric Human Design & Gene Keys.

Past clients include UBS, Deloitte, 02, Crown Prosecution Service, Windsor Leadership Trust, BP, National Bank of Dominica, Dominican Government and University of the West Indies.

Martha has a BA (Honors) from University of Bristol in German & Politics, an MBA (Distinction) from Strathclyde Graduate Business School and a two-year MA (1st place) – Bihar Yoga Bharati – the world’s first yoga university in India.

Martha is a Professional CoActive Coach and graduate of CoActive Leadership Program with The Coaches Training Institute (CTI). An Organizational and Relationship Systems (ORSC) Facilitator – an advanced ICF-certified course which includes Process Work, conflict resolution and constellations. She is also a TCI (Team Coaching International, CA) Team Diagnostic Authorized Facilitator and a Certified Fireworks Career Coach. She facilitates interventions in nature using the Earth-based psychology of Arnold Mindell. Her transformational work also includes the Human Design/Gene Keys systems, energy work, yogic poses, breath work, and visualization practices to open up inaccessible dimensions of her clients, which serve all areas of their lives. Gene Keys Guide and Mentor.

Martha has lived, studied and worked in the UK, France, Germany, Norway, Turkey, India, USA and the Caribbean. She speaks both French and German fluently.

Michael Henry is a Systemic Family & Couples Psychotherapist, Lecturer/Facilitator, Social Work Consultant, Executive Coach, and Principal Consultant at Sakara Consultancy, Ltd.

I have amassed over 25 years of working in various statutory, corporate and non-profit organisations primarily centred around working with children & families and the systems that surround them.

For the past 10 or so years, Michael has grown a specialty in his clinical work with a keen ‘trauma informed’ lens to his practice which serves as the fundamentals of what most clients arrive in the clinical space for. The techniques and interventions that he has added to his repertoire has led to breakthroughs in other areas of his work as a positive consequence. For example, adding the intervention ‘Brainspotting’ has been a tremendous resource for his Executive coaching work.

Michael, with his warm, gregarious and optimistic style, engages audiences as a gifted workshop facilitator and lecturer. He is highly sought-after to deliver a wide range of training which includes Systemictheory, concepts, and intervention tools that empower professionals in a number of varied industries.

Born and bred in East London to Jamaican parents, his ‘Britishness’ is most evident whenever he travels around this world (which is often). He proudly embraces the many aspects of his multiculturalism.

Bill’s an accomplished coach and organizational development consultant with over 25 years of experience in many industries and in 27 countries. The hard truth about effective coaching (that most coaches won’t tell you) is that personal, professional and organizational development are messy, challenging and connected.

Coaching philosophy
Leadership requires presence, authenticity, courage and ability to manage self and others in the face of ambiguity and what may seem like chaos. Changed ways of being lead to changed ways of doing.

Personal and professional growth occur in an atmosphere of trust when understandable models, usable tools and practice transform awareness into action. Diversity, inclusion, equity and anti-racism are intrinsic to Bill’s coaching.

Essential steps/aspects of coaching

Bill’s coaching rests on three R’s:
• Rigor: Bill offers precise and targeted feedback that speaks to enhanced leadership and management skills – and that also have a positive impact outside of work. New behaviors require practice in a safe coaching environment.

• Reframing: Bill’s coaching enables clients to view people, situations and processes in new ways that dovetail with corporate and personal goals.

• Reflection: Bill uses rational models and simple practices to show action-oriented, quick-thinking, fast-paced leaders the professional and personal benefits of reflection as a way of reinforcing new learnings and actions. For most people, the key to leadership development is slowing down.

Type of client interests/needs for which Bill’s style is best suited.

• Leaders in global/matrix organizations who face challenges implicit in those settings.

• Leaders in transition, leaders who feel “stuck” about their path forward.

• Technical experts seeking mastery of leadership skills.

Industries and locations within which Bill has worked.
Bill has coached across many functions and departments in a variety of organizations including Science and Technology, Consumer Packaged Goods, Biopharma, Petrochemical, Automotive, US Military and Civilian Organizations, in North America, Europe, Russia, Western Europe, the Middle East, Northern and Sub-Saharan Africa, Asia including India, China, and Vietnam as well as Australia.

Relevant educational, affiliation or publication information

Professional Certified Coach, International Coach Federation
• Organizational Systems Development, Gestalt Institute of Cleveland

• Group Process, Gestalt Institute of Cleveland

• Member, National Training Institute

• Certified in Systemic Team Coaching

• Pro Bono Coach and Consultant to The Global Clubfoot Initiative

Shana L. Campbell, MBA is the Chief Learning Strategist of ThinkLearnEngage, LLC, a consulting firm founded on the principle that great organizations are built by putting people first. We design and deliver solutions to enhance your team and key stakeholders, helping address and close knowledge and skills gaps.

Over 15+ years of experience assessing needs and designing and delivering results-based solutions in diverse settings has enabled Shana to establish a well-rounded appraisal to help address varying audiences and client needs.

Serving as a bridge for learning and transformation, Shana created several impactful programs for the talent development field, aligning with proven competencies and creating a pathway from core learning through certification.

She is committed to remaining directly connected to the opportunities of developing effective leaders and actively contributes to the field through efforts such as the Professional Development Committee for the American Society for Association Executives (ASAE), and as a contributing author and speaker at industry events.

Shana holds an MBA and MS in Project Management from the University of Maryland Global Campus. In addition, she is a designated ATD Master Trainer, Instructional Designer, and Expert Coach.

Matt is, is experienced at designing and facilitating adaptive leadership coaching and professional development grounded in Emotional Intelligent Leadership Theory in the education sector and beyond. In addition, Matt is a meta-coach, program faculty member, and content contributor for Daniel Goleman’s Emotional Intelligence Coaching Certification Program, and a regular contributor to Goleman’s coaching blog and Primer series (Morethansound.net). Matt has been developing leaders for fourteen years.

Matt has coached or trained hundreds of educators and non-profit leaders across the leadership pipeline, from CEOs to principals to teacher leaders. And he himself has been a leader in the K-12 education sector for twenty-five. 

His 5 Square methodology is used as an anchor leadership development tool in charter management organizations, school leader development programs, and executive coaching programs across the country. Matt served as the founder of The Achievement First (AF) Residency Program for School Leadership and then AF’s Senior Director of Adaptive Leadership.  Matt began his leadership career at Amistad Academy Middle School after ten years of teaching. During Matt’s tenure as principal, Amistad distinguished itself as the #1 middle school in the state of Connecticut for African American student achievement.

Matt is an ICF ACC-certified executive coach. He earned his Ed.M. in Administration, Policy and Planning from Harvard Graduate School of Education, a M.S. in Elementary Education from Barry University Graduate School of Education, and a B.A. in History from Carleton College. He received his executive coaching training at the Teleos Leadership Institute in Philadelphia. 

Matt is also a father of two teenagers, the partner of an incredibly talented early childhood policy maker, a choral musician, and an aspiring triathlete.