Laura has been coaching for over 20 years, and has been training and mentoring professional coaches and teaching a “Coach Approach” for leaders since 2005. In addition to her private coaching practice, Laura served for two decades as President of Adler Learning-USA, offering Adler Graduate Professional School’s ICF-Accredited Coach Training Program. This combination of coaching plus training coaches has honed top-notch coaching skills, with structure and tools to help others optimize personal and professional effectiveness.

Certifications: Laura has earned multiple certifications, including MCC (Master Certified Coach) from ICF – a distinction earned by only 4% of coaches globally; BCC (Board Certified Coach) with specialty certifications in Executive Coaching and Leadership from CCE; ACPC (Adler Certified Professional Coach); C-IQ® (Conversational Intelligence®) trained coach; Living Systems Team Coach; PQ (Positive Intelligence) trained coach; Adlerian Relationship Coach; Master Practitioner in Tilt assessments (personality, 360 o , and team instruments); Extraordinary Teams Inventory (ETI) Certified Practitioner; 4-D Systems Trainer (How NASA Builds Teams); Certification in Applied Neuroscience from The Neuroscience School.

Coaching Specialties: Executive Leadership Coaching, Team Coaching, Conflict Coaching, Leader as Coach, Feedback Culture, Divorce Coaching, Transition Coaching, Mentor Coaching. In addition to developing agile leaders and supporting them in fulfilling their unique aspirations, Laura is often sought out to help high-performing leaders who exhibit disruptive, career-limiting interpersonal behaviors, in order to evolve toward greater effectiveness and grounded executive presence. She’s also known for turning around dysfunctional teams that are handicapped by conflict or disconnect. As a divorce and transition coach, she helps clients chart a path to a compelling future. She was a Forbes.jobs Founding Coach Partner.

Coaching Style & Approach: Laura is a possibility-oriented coach. Her coaching style is highly intuitive in quickly picking up patterns and zooming in on core issues; adept at pinpointing and clearing roadblocks; direct and caring in providing impactful feedback; and expansive in helping clients find fresh perspectives. She frequently uses humor to bring valuable perspective. Drawing on domains such as psychology, neuroscience, and change theory, she works with clients at two levels: both tactical-strategic and transformational-developmental. She works in a collaborative coach-client partnership that moves toward achievement of the client’s specific goals using a strengths-based approach. The process unleashes the client’s own wisdom, while amplifying personal and professional capacity and developing intentional inside-out leadership. As a result, clients are delighted to not only get great traction on their goals, but also take ownership of their lives at a deeper level, clarify what they really want in life, and leverage their gifts and resources to make it happen.

Biography: Laura has also been an anthropologist, an art gallery director, a nonprofit leader, a professional mediator, and a coach – a winding career path following the inner logic of her strengths and passions, and a drive to thrive on her own terms! Laura’s initial career as a Social-Cultural Anthropologist was driven by her fascination with how people organize and make sense of their world, which continues to serve her as a coach. Her expertise in the study of complex culture systems provides valuable context for her current work in organizations. It has also attuned her to the social context within which we all operate, and knowledge of human meaning-making provides insights into clients’ subjective reality. Laura served as interim President & CEO of Lead for Good, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization specializing in social sector leadership development to facilitate capacity building and collective impact. In addition to coaching, Laura was a professional mediator with experience in both civil, and family; divorce mediation, and Conflict Coaching and Divorce Coaching are among Laura’s specialties. She is a sought-after Mentor Coach to other professional coaches, known for accelerating the process of developing effective coaching skills, confidence, and movement toward mastery.

Her experience includes clients across a broad range of sectors including healthcare, education, construction, government, technology, manufacturing, insurance, and nonprofits. This diversity has built agility in working with any kind of client.

Laura is recognized as an active global leader in the coaching profession. She is a co-founder of Coach Collab (CoachCollab.net), an international gathering place for coaches to tap into the power of collaboration as a catalyst for success. She has championed professionalism in coaching as Co-Chair of the Regulatory Committee of ICF (International Coach Federation) and as a mediator in ICF’s Ethical Conduct Review process. She served two terms (2010-2012) as President of ACTO (Association of Coach Training Organizations), the nonprofit global association of coach training organizations, which facilitates collaboration, research, and advocacy to support the highest standards in coach development for the profession throughout the world. Laura collaborated as one of the organizers of an Invitational Global Summit on Coach Development and Certification (2012) and of the first global forum on The Future of Coaching (2006). She has served on the ACTO Task Force on Cultural Awareness, Power & Privilege. Laura was 2006 President of the Greater Phoenix ICF Chapter. She was invited to present a paper at the 10th Biennial Conference on Meaning in Vancouver.