ICF Advance 2020 Speakers

Matt Barney, Ph.D., is the Founder and CEO of LeaderAmp, an award-winning platform for expert and artificially intelligent coaching and assessment. With a career of more than 25 years in multinationals such as AT&T, Motorola, Merck and Infosys, Matt has innovated interdisciplinary science and technology resulting in four patents, ten books, 43 peer-reviewed works and over 150 global presentations. In 2018, Matt’s team won two competitive international awards from the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology and the Association of Test Publishers. Since 2014, he has served on the Business Affairs committee for the board of not-for-profit scientific publisher, Annual Reviews. He holds a bachelor’s degree in Psychology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and doctorate in Industrial-Organizational Psychology from the University of Tulsa.

2020 ICF Advance Provocateur

Ann Betz, PCC, is your Provocateur for ICF Advance 2020. In this role, Ann will help you explore emerging topics and consider how they can be integrated into your practice.

Ann is the co-founder of BEabove Leadership and an international speaker and trainer on the intersection of neuroscience, coaching and human transformation.

A certified professional coach for over 15 years, Ann is the author of a groundbreaking white paper on brain research and coaching. She contributes to Choice, Coaching at Work, Coaching World, and other coaching and HR publications.

Ann is the lead author of Integration: The Power of Being Co-Active in Work and Life (John Hunt Publishing, 2015. She is also a published poet, using her understanding of the brain and consciousness to bring to life the wonders of the human soul. Ann speaks internationally on neuroscience, leadership and coaching (and occasionally poetry as well), and she excels at making the complexities of the brain come to life with depth, humor and simplicity.

Read Ann’s blog on the brain at www.yourcoachingbrain.wordpress.com and on poetry at www.eccentricspirit.wordpress.com.

Amanda Blake is the author of the award-winning book “Your Body Is Your Brain,” and creator of the “Body = Brain” course on the neurobiology of experiential leadership learning. In addition to teaching about the art and science of embodiment, she works with progressive leaders worldwide to help them become their best selves, enjoy life more and make a bigger contribution. Once an internationally competitive athlete, Mandy is skilled at cultivating high performance in herself and others. She is a Master Somatic Leadership Coach, holds a degree in Human Biology from Stanford University, and is a Research Fellow at the Fowler Center for Business as an Agent of World Benefit. She’s also a longtime yoga enthusiast, mountaineer, musician and celebrator of life. Learn more at embright.org.

For more than a decade, Lindsay Boccardo has been coaching, researching and developing programs for millennials. Fascinated by the intersection of four unique generations in the workforce, Lindsay’s expertise now spans across industries and age groups to focus on creating meaningful experiences at work. As a nationally recognized generational expert, Lindsay has partnered with organizations like Cars.com, Thrivent, Roche, and the Indiana Supreme Court. She also works frequently with both college campuses and companies of all sizes around the country to enhance their effectiveness through building successful multi-generational teams. Lindsay earned a degree in psychology and public communication from Syracuse University and a Professional Coach Credential (PCC) through the International Coaching Federation. She has been seen on WISH-TV, Fox 55 Fort Wayne (Indiana), and most frequently on her wildly popular LinkedIn video series. By providing education through one-on-one programs, group training and keynote speeches around the country, Lindsay empowers organizations to maximize the talent of their diverse workforce and helps individuals find the joy in understanding why every generation matters.

Richard E. Boyatzis, Ph.D., is a Distinguished University Professor at Case Western Reserve University, as well as a professor in the departments of Organizational Behavior, Psychology, and Cognitive Science. He is also the H.R. Horvitz Professor of Family Business, and adjunct professor in People/Organizations at the ESADE Business School. He has a bachelor’s degree in Aeronautics and Astronautics from MIT, as well as a master’s and doctorate degrees in Social Psychology from Harvard University. Using his Intentional Change Theory (ICT), Richard has been researching, helping and coaching since 1967. His Coursera MOOC on leadership, emotional intelligence and coaching has over a million enrolled from more than 215 countries. He is the author of more than 200 articles and 9 books on leadership, competencies, emotional intelligence, competency development, coaching, neuroscience and management education. His books include the international best-seller “Primal Leadership” (with Daniel Goleman and Annie McKee), and “Helping People Change: Coaching with Compassion or Lifelong Learning and Growth” (with Melvin Smith and Ellen Van Oosten).

Dr. Ramani Durvasula is a psychologist in Los Angeles, California, and professor of psychology at California State University, Los Angeles. She takes on our modern scourges of entitlement and incivility in “Don’t You Know Who I Am: How to Stay Sane in the Era of Narcissism, Entitlement and Incivility” She is also the author of the modern relationship survival manual “Should I Stay or Should I Go: Surviving a Relationship With a Narcissist.” Her work has been featured at South by Southwest (SXSW), TEDx, and on a wide range of media platforms including Red Table Talk. Ramani is also a featured expert on the digital media mental health platform MedCircle, and on her own YouTube channel.

Aida Frese, PCC, is a global executive coach. Originally from Argentina and holding a law degree, she was certified at New York University in 2006. While working for United Way in Connecticut she discovered the value of coaching to empower communities.
Back in Argentina she chose to contribute with coaching in various projects and later become the leader of pro bono projects at the ICF Argentina Chapter. She launched a team of professional coaches willing to serve the community and led a number projects with NGOs.
One of the main projects (“Techo”) had a regional scope and involved working with managers in 14 countries in Latin America. This project received the 2017 Gift of Coaching Award from the ICF Foundation.
Aida transitioned from being a lawyer focused  on preventing conflicts to coaching executives  (and many times also their families) while moving and settling internationally. In doing so, she focused on dealing with change and transition in their lives and organizations and the challenges they place in advancing in their careers and leadership goals.
In addition, Aida is an instructor and mentor of an ACTP online program and a coach supervisor. Working online, she carries her practice in Spanish, English, French and Italian.

La’Wana Harris, CDE, ACC, is a Certified Diversity Executive, an ICF-credentialed Coach, and a global leadership development professional who has dedicated her career to aligning performance with business strategy. Her most recent book, “Diversity Beyond Lip Service: A Coaching Guide for Challenging Bias,” introduces an “inside out” approach for D&I work and is the foundation of her coaching paradigm. La’Wana is contributing to the coaching industry with this body of work merging the D&I with leadership coaching spaces. She has been invited to teach her inclusion coaching methodology to the largest coach training organizations in the world. La’Wana has demonstrated success in strategizing a range of corporate functions, including global leadership and organizational development, diversity and inclusion, and people leadership. In addition, as a community activist she has created diversity and inclusion awareness programs, built culture programs, and designed integrated management solutions. Spanning the decades of her professional career and social justice activism, La’Wana has received numerous industry and community awards. Most recently, La’Wana was recognized as one of 2018’s 100 Most Inspiring People in the life sciences industry by PharmaVOICE magazine. She also received the Women in Leadership award from the National Black MBA Association and was invited to join the Forbes Coaches Council as a contributor and thought leader. She is currently serving on the global board of directors for the Healthcare Businesswomen’s Association working to advance gender parity. La’Wana is also a respected humanitarian and philanthropist. Understanding how important it is for children to read books with characters they can relate to, she created two book series featuring children of color. These books promote cultural diversity and are translated in the native languages of underserved nations. La’Wana has donated 10,000 books in Haitian Creole to schools and orphanages throughout Haiti in partnership with Grace International. Through her efforts, U.S. sales from these books help support young females entering careers in STEM. A servant leader, foreign and domestic missionary and a passionate activist, La’Wana believes in meeting people where they are to combat racism, poverty and injustice.

J. Victor McGuire, Ph.D., is the Founder and Executive Director for Coaching for Everyone (coachingforeveryone.org) with the mission to provide complimentary coaching and leadership services to traditionally under-resourced populations, particularly Black, Latinx and Indigenous young adults, K-12 educators, and nonprofit employees. Victor brings 30 years of leadership development experience in a variety of sectors including secondary and higher education, high-tech companies, mental health nonprofits and Fortune 100 businesses, and has worked effectively with a range of age groups from teenagers to early-career young adults to senior executives. As a certified Professional Coach and Certified Strengths Coach, Victor is exceptional at guiding individuals in understanding their personal and professional strengths and leading them to achieve their fullest potential by leveraging those strengths. With empathy, joyfulness and passion, Victor supports individuals’ optimal functioning in the workplace while fulfilling a sense of personal purpose and work/life balance. He also leads teams and organizations in aligning practices with their organization’s mission and vision to achieve desired outcomes. A highly effective facilitator, coach and speaker, Victor has a proven record of inspiring and transforming individuals and teams, creating tangible impacts to the overall workplace culture for multiple organizations.

Allen Moore has worked with more than 400 companies in 25 countries, primarily in the industry sectors of financial services and healthcare, but also in consumer goods, energy and utilities, hospitality, logistics, retail, public sector and government, in addition to technology products and services.Prior to his current role, Allen spent more than 20 years in healthcare diagnostics as the director of international business for Baxter Healthcare/Dade Diagnostics, responsible for eight countries in Europe and Asia. He counts another 20 years of experience in consulting, as principal or managing director, in the firms of IWNC, the Strategic Management Group, Atos Origin, and Accenture.

His current projects include client-centric strategy and services, the impact of digital transformation, and how organizations move toward agile design and structures. He is co-author of the book “Coaching in Three Dimensions,” from Routledge Publishing.

David Rakel started his career near the Teton Mountains in Driggs, Idaho where he was in rural private practice for five years before completing a two-year residential fellowship in integrative medicine at the University of Arizona Health Sciences Center. He was the founder and director of the University of Wisconsin Integrative Medicine Program and was awarded tenure in the department of family medicine at the UW School of Medicine and Public Health in 2010. David is co-editor of the Textbook of Family Medicine (8th and 9th eds), Editor of Integrative Medicine (1-5 eds), co-editor of Conn’s Current Therapy and editor-in-chief of Primary Care Practice Update. He is author of a book on the power of the therapeutic relationship, “The Compassionate Connection.” He has received NIH funding to study the ‘clinician effect’ and to incorporate healing modalities into medical school curricula. His team was awarded a six-year contract to educate and guide clinicians in the Veterans Health Administration toward a personalized, proactive and patient-driven cultural shift in health care delivery. He has been awarded a number of teaching awards including the Baldwin E. Lloyd clinical teacher award, the UW Department of Family Medicine faculty excellence award, the Marc Hansen lecture award, the resident teacher-of-the-year award, The Leonard Tow Faculty compassion award, and has been elected to the Gold Humanism medical honor society. His professional passion is to explore complex systems and develop insight into how each can find a path toward health. This focus has served in addressing clinician burnout and strategizing to improve health care delivery systems. David is now the professor and chair of the Department of Family and Community Medicine at the University of New Mexico School of Medicine in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Vimala Suppiah, PCC, is the founder of Game Change Coaching Consultancy where she coaches the next generation of leaders to be ready to lead in the current VUCA, post COVID-19 environment.

A few years ago, Vimala recognized that organizational transformation can be achieved by developing a high-performing, multi-generational workforce where leveraging the strengths of different generations can impact the bottom line. Her signature program addresses the “elephant in the room” and how unconscious biases of an intergenerational workforce contributes to the negative employee experiences that impact engagement, retention, productivity and the bottom line.

Her career started in the U.K. with nursing management, where she managed complex human processes in a whole system. She gained strategic management and organizational development skills at U.K.’s National Health Service where she held a strategic role in Diversity & Inclusion management with two major London health authorities.

This was the platform that enabled her to master the complexities of empowering leaders of change. Through her highly crafted consulting and coaching skills, she has influenced and empowered individuals, teams and stakeholders to bring about operational and policy changes.

She is the founding and former president of the Association for Coaching Supervisors and Mentor (ACSM) and a contributing author of the book “Coaching and Mentoring in the Asia Pacific,” published by Routledge UK. In 2018 and 2019, she was nominated as one of 43 must follow social media Icons by Marketing in Asia.

Her clients include a Fortune 500 company, a Japanese manufacturing company, KWAP – the investment arm of Malaysia’s Employee Provident Fund – Abbotts Pharmaceuticals, Hilton Hotels, several startup recruitment companies, numerous U.K. Health Authorities, and a boutique realtor in South France.

She is a “culture-vulture,” a traveler and is forever curious about people and their cultures.

Verity Symcox is an executive coach, researcher, international speaker and trainer, specializing in positive mental health coaching. She is considered a thought leader in the field of mental health and coaching after her seminal research titled “How Coaches Make Sense of Mental Health” inspired a global coaching discussion about mental health. Verity is now regularly invited to speak and facilitate webinars and workshops on the subject of her research as well as mental health more generally. Verity provides associate coaching and consulting for several influential and forward-thinking coaching businesses in the U.K. where she currently lives. Her vast entrepreneurial experience coupled with her therapeutic understanding underpins her inquisitive, psychologically-informed coaching style and feeds her desire to continue researching. Thus, starting October 2020, Verity will be investigating workplace mental health, working toward a doctorate degree at Birkbeck University of London.

Eddie Turner, PCC, is an in-demand expert and the author of the international best-selling book, “140 Simple Messages to Guide Emerging Leaders.” As a c-Suite advisor and national media commentator, Eddie has appeared on dozens of media platforms, including the Wall Street Journal, Forbes, and CNN LIVE! Of the more than 35,000 ICF members in more than 140 countries, Eddie was selected as the ICF Coach of the Week on March 23, 2020! Eddie is one of Marshall Goldsmith’s 100 Coaches and is the host of the “Keep Leading!®” podcast, which earned Apple Podcasts’ coveted New & Noteworthy designation.

Joy Zalzala-Soyka is a relationship and career coach with great love and respect for misfits and rule breakers, who expect the best for themselves and the world. Joy specializes in working with people in biracial / multicultural relationships and people from various lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans*, non-binary and inter* communities. With a master’s in gender studies and education, Joy has more than eight years of counseling and management experience in organizations focused on helping women who have experienced sexual and domestic violence, as well as organizations serving people from lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans* communities. Joy started her own coaching practice in 2012 to offer people the tools, perspective and space to let go of habits, emotions and limiting beliefs that no longer serve them, so that they can create their individual versions of a great life, beyond the norms of society. As a Law of Attraction Coach she works across Europe and North America, offering individual coaching and online coaching groups in English and German.