Coaching for Leaders

Build individual skills and strengthen your ability to effectively manage your team. Create the behavioral changes in your leadership that influence and shape results. Topics may include handling ambiguity, self-awareness, communicating change, creating a psychologically safe work environment, and increasing resilience.

Focus on strategic decision making and visionary leadership. Topics may include minimizing threats, maximizing opportunities, aligning priorities, creating compelling narratives, and building strong work cultures.

Focus on fair process, organizational structure changes, team reform, and implementing new capabilities. Topics may include motivating others, communicating a new vision, and managing group anxiety during periods of transition. Support the needs of your team through topics such as team building, group assessment, work culture, goal setting, and mission- and purpose-driven work. 

Understand the individual characteristics essential to good management and consistently demonstrate confidence and clear leadership. Topics may include composure, command, and confidence.

Navigate changing jobs or pivoting in one’s career. Topics may include a strengths assessment, CV and cover letter review, job search strategy, and interview prep.

Focus on increasing self-awareness and aligning your leadership approach with what your role and team truly need. Participants complete the GC Index® and then engage in four coaching sessions designed to unpack the meaning of their profile and apply it to real workplace challenges. Create intentional shifts in how you show up as a leader so that your actions drive clarity, confidence, and performance. Topics may include decision-making, collaboration, communication, managing energy, and building sustainable leadership habits.

Enhance your team’s performance and maximize potential by leveraging GC Index® assessments, the LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY® method, and personalized one-on-one coaching. For teams of 20 more. Click here to learn more.

One, 50-minute coaching session with follow-up email and notes. $550.00

Four, 50-minute coaching sessions for six weeks with follow-up email and notes. Email support for six weeks. $3,950 or eligible for tuition remission

10, 50-minute coaching sessions for 12 weeks with follow-up email and notes. Email support for 12 weeks. Emergency calls available. $5,900.00

18, 50-minute coaching sessions delivered weekly for 24 weeks with follow-up email and notes. Email support for 24 weeks. Emergency calls available. If applicable, assessment available (MBTI, 360, EQ) $10,000.00

Virtual, GC Index® assessment followed up by four 1:1 coaching sessions ($4950)

Change, adaptation, and personal transformation are central to Pianesi’s lived experience, and foundational to his approach as an executive coach. Pianesi earned a Master of Business Administration from the University of Milan, Italy, and a Bachelor of Arts in economics from the University of Rome, Italy, and the University of Santander, Spain. He holds an associate coaching certification (ACC) from the International Coaching Federation, College of Executive Coaching.

“After working for 20 years in corporate America, I discovered I could leverage my business expertise and personal transformation experience to help leaders re-imagine and redesign themselves and their organizations.”

Pianesi’s coaching work is built on values like human dignity, choice, responsibility, authenticity, openness, learning, diversity, and inclusion. He dives deep with clients, exploring areas that might have been previously hidden. Power, dissent, and emotions are discussed head-on, often leading to personal growth and change.

An enthusiastic professional committed to learning and personal growth, Pianesi is passionate about helping clients turn ideas into action, build optimism for the future, gain clarity and courage to address uncertainty, and manage transition and change.  

“My work is based on the concept of emergence,” he says. “I create spaces where individuals and groups can become their best selves. Participants are given permission to be imperfect, experiment, miss the mark, and recover.”

In addition to his work as an executive coach for the past six years, Pianesi is an adjunct faculty member at Johns Hopkins Carey Business School, where he teaches graduate and executive courses on innovation, power, and change. He also teaches a certificate program in nonprofit executive leadership at the Johns Hopkins Krieger School of Arts & Sciences. Pianesi has published extensively on leadership, design thinking, and adaptive change. TEDx Speaker. English, Spanish, Italian, and basic French. U.S. citizen.

Chilcutt is a subject matter expert in executive presence, leadership communication, and professional public speaking skills. She is the faculty lead for Johns Hopkins Carey Business School's Executive Education Business Communication Certificate and co-lead for the Academy for Women and Leadership. Certified Executive Coach with a focus on executive presence, professional public speaking, and presentation skills, Chilcutt has been featured in The Business Journals: Career & Workplace (2024) “How women leaders can stand out and be heard in an age of information overload”; Medium's Authority Magazine (2024) “Can You Hear Me Now: Author Dr Alexa Chilcutt On Five Strategies Leaders Use to Diminish Distractions & Win in the Attention Economy”; and Business Insider (2024) “You've heard of pretty privilege, but 'ugly privilege' may have its perks too”. Co-author of, "Engineered to Speak: Helping You Create and Deliver Engaging Technical Presentations" (IEEE PCS Professional Engineering Communication Series) with Dr. Adam Brooks.

Allison Weir is a transformative leader and the Chief Human Resources Officer at Tilley Distribution, a company within the SK Capital Private Equity portfolio. Based in Middle River, MD, she leads Human Capital and Communications strategies for across five North American and three international sites. Allison excels in designing organizations to align to strategic goals, integrating acquired companies, building robust talent management strategies, and leading large-scale change initiatives. She is dedicated to enhancing diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging efforts within the organization.

As an Executive Education Leadership Coach at Johns Hopkins Carey Business School, Allison coaches and teaches participants across multiple Executive Development programs.

Before joining Tilley Distribution, Allison was Senior Director of Human Resources at Northrop Grumman Space Sector. There, she supported a $2.5 billion division across 21+ sites, leading a team of 25+ HR professionals. Her career also includes serving as Director of Organization Development at MGM Resorts International and holding various roles at Johns Hopkins University, where she also taught a Leadership course. No matter where Allison has worked, her transformative approach has consistently fostered unity among employees and significantly enriched the company culture. Her ability to drive positive change and create an inclusive environment has left a lasting impact on every organization she has been a part of.

Allison earned a Master of Business Administration degree in organization development from Johns Hopkins University and a Bachelor of Science degree in organizational communication, learning and design from Ithaca College. Allison is a Professional Certified Coach (PCC) through the International Coaching Federation; a Board-Certified Coach and holds the Senior Professional in Human Resources (SPHR) certification. Allison is certified in the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator and holds a certificate in mediation training.

Allison firmly believes that small, incremental changes both personal and professional endeavors can accumulate to create transformative outcomes.

Residing in Towson, MD, Allison enjoys spending her free time with her husband, three young children, and their Goldendoodle. Her hobbies include volunteering, tennis, hiking, reading, and exploring new places.

Kleinschmidt is a seasoned executive coach and leadership development consultant with over 20 years of experience, is a trusted advisor who helps senior leaders improve their effectiveness and navigate organizational challenges. His role as a trusted advisor is to provide practical and actionable solutions to client challenges based on his deep understanding of organizational dynamics and individual psychology. Kleinschmidt’s personalized approach, which blends evidence-based coaching techniques with real-world business insights, empowers leaders to increase self-awareness, engage and empower their teams, improve results, and transform their organizations. Before launching his full-time independent coaching and consulting practice, Kleinschmidt led the corporate leadership development function at Fortune 100 energy company Exelon Corporation. He led Exelon’s corporate leadership development initiatives for all levels of leadership with participants from all six Exelon operating companies in the United States. Before joining Exelon, Kleinschmidt worked with senior leaders and faculty at the Johns Hopkins University for 13 years. He was an internal consultant facilitating large-scale change management, organization development, talent management, and leadership development services. Kleinschmidt has also served as an adjunct faculty member in the MBA program at Johns Hopkins Carey Business School.

DuPont is an interdisciplinary innovator who transforms communication through an embodied approach to human expression. As a performer, educator, and consultant, he bridges art, science, and personal development to unlock multidimensional communication potential with clients ranging from boutique to Fortune 100 companies. He is an associate professor of voice at the Peabody Institute, Executive Education faculty at Johns Hopkins Carey Business School, artistic lead at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, and published author of academic articles. Blending artistic performance with evidence-based research, he helps professionals discover their authentic voice as a complete mode of creative and personal communication.

DuPont's unique methodology integrates creative skill transfer across disciplines, innovative approaches to voice and executive presence, code-switching across cultural and professional contexts and accent work and linguistic fluidity.

Bovard is a professional coach and skilled facilitator who is fully committed to helping individuals reach their full potential at work and in life. She has extensive experience as a coach, counselor, educator, consultant, and leader. Since 2020, Bovard has served as a Leadership Coach and Adjunct Faculty member in the Executive Education Program at the Johns Hopkins Carey Business School. In this role Bovard coaches mid- and senior-level professional clients in both customized leadership development programs and in curriculum-based, non-credit academies for women in leadership and health care leadership and management. She delivers high quality coaching and consultation in personal and professional development, change management, strategic planning, navigating workplace challenges, and building leadership presence.

Prior to joining the Executive Education program, Bovard served as the Director of Coaching and Education at Carey, where she led a team of seven professional coaches to design and deliver career services to a diverse population of graduate business students and alumni. She coached individuals to identify their strengths and accomplish their goals, facilitated coaching groups for aspiring leaders, and designed innovative programming to enhance student success. Additionally, Bovard served for two years as the career development expert on a university-wide team of change management professionals to transform and enhance the overall student experience at Johns Hopkins University.

Bovard is a certified coach through The Academies, a training program accredited by the International Coach Federation (ICF), and  a Licensed Clinical Professional Counselor (LCPC) in Maryland. She earned her master’s degree and advanced graduate specialist diploma in counseling from the University of Maryland, and her bachelor’s degree in psychology from Dickinson College. She is recognized as a leader in the career development field and has presented at regional and national conferences on the ethics of coaching, the differences between coaching, counseling and consulting, innovative models for delivering career services to diverse student populations, integrating technology into career development practice, and best practices for supporting adults in career transition.

Montgomery is a member of the Executive Education faculty at the Johns Hopkins Carey Business School having previously served as Associate Dean of Student Development at Carey. Her most current role was as the INSEAD Associate Dean of Degree Programs. In this role, Montgomery was responsible for the commercial leadership of the INSEAD Degree Program portfolio across four campuses: Fontainebleau, Singapore, Abu Dhabi, and San Francisco. Her functional responsibilities included strategy, marketing, sales, admissions, financial aid and scholarships, program operations, student life, psychological services, and career services.

Montgomery has taught, coached, and facilitated programs for executives, EMBAs, MBAs, and other business education students and has coached and trained attorneys and non-profit leaders. She received her undergraduate degree in Political Science from Loyola University New Orleans, her Juris Doctor from Georgetown University Law Center, and her Executive Masters in Change from INSEAD.

Somers has more than 30 years of experience providing executive and career coaching to adults in transition. She especially enjoys working and supporting individuals from mid-career to senior leadership levels, and those seeking to advance in their current fields or considering new roles and/or industries. She has supported clients in health care, finance, technology, and education, among others. Her clients have said that she provides a thoughtful, listening ear, asks questions that inspire meaningful self-reflection and helps create effective action plans in order to achieve both personal and professional goals.

Somers holds a Master of Science in Counseling from the Johns Hopkins School of Education and is a nationally certified counselor and board-certified coach. Previously, she was the Associate Director of Coaching and Education at Johns Hopkins Carey Business School. She has also worked at Georgetown and Tufts Universities in admissions, advising and administrative roles.

Gandhi’s leadership coaching style integrates a unique blend of approaches by combining ICF-accredited techniques, CliftonStrengths talents, and change management principles to address the specific challenges women face in the workplace. This approach empowers women leaders to unlock their full potential and foster growth, resilience, and adaptability while embracing their strengths and navigating change effectively.