DJ Mitsch, CMC, MCC
Chief Coaching Officer, Curriculum Designer
The vision to start a coaching school wasn’t really late in the evolutionary process of coaching, but a vision that emerged just in time for the field of healthcare and life science to pay attention and prepare to lead in new and holistic ways. Now we are growing that vision to be a leadership focused coaching school, offering the options for coaching in the business of healthcare, as well as the option of coaching leaders to lead in new ways.
DJ was one of the pioneers in the coaching profession and her journey has led to a desire to share her experience and wisdom through the creation of the Healthcare Coaching Institute. As the sixth President of the International Coach Federation and a founding Board member, she helped the ICF drive chapter develop across borders and into Europe and Asia. DJ has mentored over 300 coaches throughout the world and knows what it takes to train professional coaches to build successful businesses.
DJ was one of the first Master Certified Coaches and co-founder with husband Barry Mitsch of The Pyramid Resource Group in 1994 – – one of the first corporate coaching companies in the world. Taking the knowledge of her experience as a leader in a broadcasting career and blending that with the technology of coaching, DJ became an expert in team coaching and is the creator of Team Advantage, a cutting edge corporate program that leads to extraordinary team achievements and team transformation. White papers and research point to the bottom-line results of hundreds of teams who have successfully completed the process.
Prior to entering the coaching field, she had a stellar career in the fast-moving world of broadcasting and managed new project start-ups and sports radio networks as US based broadcast companies diversified into the world of cable and satellite technologies. Her love for coaching has expanded as a result of the many brilliant connections and clients she has personally coached and the companies Pyramid has served. The mother of two, she is a fan of Jessica and Hank Mitsch who she claims came to the planet to teach her many life lessons.
Marcia Reynolds, PsyD, MCC
Director of Training & Certification
Dr. Marcia Reynolds is considered an expert on how the brain works by her clients world-wide. In addition to coaching leaders and professionals in multi-national companies and hospital corporations, she travels the world speaking at conferences and teaching classes in leadership and emotional intelligence. She has spoken in 35 countries and presented at the Harvard Kennedy School and Cornell University.
Her doctoral degree is in Organizational Psychology and she holds two masters degrees in education and communications. Excerpts from her books Outsmart Your Brain, Wander Woman, and her latest, The Discomfort Zone: How Leaders Turn Difficult Conversations into Breakthroughs have appeared in Fast Company, CEO World, Forbes.com, CNN.com, and Psychology Today and she has appeared on ABC World News.
Marcia is also a true pioneer in the coaching profession and the 5th president of the International Coach Federation. She was one of the first Master Certified Coaches and is the president of the Association for Coach Training Organizations. Marcia is excited and proud to help make HCI a leader in coach training on a global level.
Barbara Poole, MS, MCC
Curriculum Designer / Faculty
Barbara Poole has a comprehensive and diverse professional background that has taken her from her early roots as a psychotherapist into a series of internal corporate roles, academic posts and a private coaching and consulting practice. Throughout her career, Barbara has been oriented around cultivating personal and professional growth that is holistic and transformative in nature. She believes that the most effective leaders and professionals are those who intentionally cultivate a strategic mix of skills and competencies complemented by a presence-based focus on self-awareness, and commitment to personal growth. In a society of dynamic change, it is this combined grounding that enables leaders to remain resilient and adaptive, as well as balanced and healthy, while staying cutting edge to ensure bottom-line success.
A self-professed gypsy of sorts, Barbara’s personal background mirrors the diversity of her professional career. She has lived in numerous large and small cities across nine states and considers all of them elements of “home”. In her spare time, Barbara enjoys creative writing, taking in museums and art galleries, attending live music events of many genres and spending time with her amazing and non-traditional family.
Harriett Salinger, MSW, MCC
Concierge, Supervision & Certification / Faculty
Born and raised an East Coaster, Harriett “emigrated” to Northern California in 1995, which officially marked her transition from NYC therapist to full time Coach. It was in the Bay Area that she founded WiseWoman Coaching and redesigned herself as an executive coach and personal consultant. Harriett has held the designation MCC since 1998. In the summer of 2004, she migrated south to Los Angeles that for this New Yorker, felt a bit more like home territory.
She is the mother of two grown daughters, Amy and Jane, mother-in-law to Tom and Tony and the proud grandmother of Max and Natasha. Harriett is a devoted film aficionado so living close to Hollywood could not be more perfect. She also dabbles with improvisational theater games that started in San Francisco and has recently resumed down in the southland. Once you enter her heart place, Harriett is a committed and devoted friend. She is funny and loves the ironies of life that she will quickly share with you. Expect to meet a complex and nuanced woman who meets life head on and chooses never to stop learning, playing and growing.
Cindi Ackrill, MD, ACC
Faculty
Early in her career as a practicing physician, Dr. Ackrill was fascinated by the other end of the disease-wellness spectrum: how do we go beyond disease-free to really thriving, what supports our best potential, productivity, health, and happiness? As a physician she personally experienced the overwhelming disillusionment of practitioners with our healthcare system.
After her child was diagnosed with ADD, she spent 10 years learning brain mapping and biofeedback, addressing mental and physical challenges, and researching the brain patterns underlying healthy and unhealthy behaviors as well as peak performance. Working with a neuropsychologist greatly enriched her understandings of the role of the mind; she strives to grasp the motivating etiologies that lead to the development of performance capacities, health and happiness.
Her training in health coaching and executive coaching allow her to partner with clients to help them find greater energy, focus, and deep satisfaction in their careers and lives. In attaining a higher performance level they become empowered to lead and heal with their heart and inherent wisdom, whether one-on-one with patients/clients, or by creating cultures in which human potential thrives.
Brent Brower, MCC
Faculty
Brent has a strong technical, sales, and operational background and ascended through the ranks to be Chief Operating Officer (COO) of a 2600-member engineering services firm with over 50 office locations. He has a long history of developing talent both as a senior executive for over 15 years and as an executive coach for over 15 years.
His strength is coaching executives, professionals and managers in larger organizations and small to medium size business owners to higher levels of individual and team performance. He effects cultural transformations in organizations by developing coaching skills in management and leadership teams that produce bottom line results through motivating and empowering their people.
He is an avid tennis player, relaxes on his boat at his lake home, travels extensively with his wife, and is very engaged in his church and local community activities.
Joe Diab, JD, PCC
Faculty
Joe is an executive coach with 20 years of experience as a corporate attorney and business counsel to senior executives, managers, and professionals. He works as a certified Superior Court mediator experienced in resolving complex business and interpersonal disputes and teaches negotiation, coaching, and conflict resolution skills for private organizations and North Carolina State University graduate and MBA programs. He is a native of Raleigh, North Carolina and spends his time outside of work with his wife and daughter, his photography, and advancing the work of a private charitable foundation which he created and manages for the promotion of arts and sciences.
Bobbi Gemma, MCC
Faculty
Bobbi is known for her powerful coaching with a light heart and sense of humor. She works with leaders, professionals and individuals addressing emotional, behavioral and focus challenges to achieve high levels of success and fulfillment. She has been coaching and guiding people through life, career, and business transitions and growth for more than 2 decades and continues to be excited about the power and possibility of each individual.
Bobbi is a founding member of ICF as well as local chapters of the organization. She currently serves a an adjunct faculty member at the University of Miami in the Professional Coach Certification program and as a adjunct faculty member at the University of South Florida instructing professional courses including ‘Handling Difficult Employees’ and ‘Coaching for Managers and Supervisors’. She is certified in a variety of leadership assessment tools. Bobbi is involved in the civic organization Encore focused on moving people into retirement while determining their ‘Encore’ chapter of life. Bobbi has been a featured guest on radio and television talk shows and speaker at regional and national conferences.
Mark Greenawald, MD
Faculty
Mark is a Family Physician, physician leader, speaker, educator, workshop facilitator, and writer. In addition to having an active medical and medical teaching practice, he serves in many leadership roles including being the Vice Chair for Academic Affairs and Professional Development for the Carilion Clinic Department of Family and Community Medicine in Roanoke, VA, the Chairman of the Carilion Clinic Professional Wellness Committee, and the Medical Director for the American Academy of Family Physicians Chief Resident Leadership Development Program. He is the former Founding Chair of the Department of Family Medicine for the Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine (VTCSOM), Associate Dean for Student Affairs at VTCSOM, founding Medical Director for the Carilion Clinic Office of Professional Development, and co-creator and former co-director for the Carilion Clinic Physician Leadership Academy and Carilion Clinic Faculty Development Fellowship. He is also the former President of the Virginia Academy of Family Physicians.
He is a graduate of Corporate CoachU as a certified corporate and executive Coach, and regularly leads workshops locally, regionally, and nationally for present and future leaders Mark and his wife Joanne have 3 wonderful children and in his spare time, he enjoys spending time with his family, hiking, yoga, reading, thinking, and writing.
Tim Link, MCC
Faculty
Since 2001, Tim has led a wide range of coaching engagements for Fortune 500 companies, fast-growing start-ups and enterprising non-profits—shepherding cultural transformation, developing sustainable internal coaching capacity, and actualizing talent potential within organizations. Executives and senior managers partnering with Tim experience an action-oriented exploratory coaching process focused on delivering immediate, measurable impact on their organizations. Newly inspired leaders derive a deeper sense of purpose from work and life and become effective, collaborative and engaging agents of change.
Prior to becoming a coach in 2001, Tim spent 15 years as a broadcasting industry executive developing talent, leading change, and consistently delivering record profits. Tim holds a Master of Arts in Organizational Development with an emphasis in Evidence Based Coaching.
In his spare time, Tim enjoys time on the tennis court, travels with his wife and son, landscaping and gardening, and socializing with friends and neighbors.