Excellence in Government Fellows Program Coaches

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Alison Miller

Alison Miller is a leadership coach, strategic planning, organizational effectiveness, and leadership development advisor with over 25 years of professional experience. Alison has held executive level positions with information technology, management, and human capital consulting organizations, with responsibility for multi-million dollar budgets and the development and wellbeing of over 100 staff. Through her experience, training, and personal journey, Alison cultivated a desire and expertise to help other leaders and organizations develop their strategic vision, align their goals and priorities, and lead change by effectively communicating and supporting customers, stakeholders, and employees. Alison specialties are assessing and developing organizations, leading individual and team coaching programs, and delivering leadership development training. Focus areas most requested by clients include developing and sharing vision and goals; enhancing leadership presence; improving emotional intelligence; increasing influencing skills; managing conflict; setting clear expectations; providing effective feedback; motivating staff; and maximizing employee engagement.

Recognizing that clients often have too much to do in high-pressure, high-visibility, complex environments, Alison provides practical coaching and thought leadership. She collaborates with her clients to design actions that increase self-awareness about their current mindsets and behaviors and encourages them to incorporate new skills. Her support is always customized to the specific goals and circumstances of each client, and includes resources and frameworks to reinforce learning and adopt new habits. Clients consistently report their appreciation for her insightful questions, clear feedback, and helpful best practices that create a new way of seeing, thinking, and leading.

Alison has a B.S. in Electrical and Computer Engineering from Clarkson University, an M.B.A. from Cornell University’s Johnson School of Management, and she is a graduate of Georgetown University’s Leadership Coaching program with a Professional Certified Coaching (PCC) credential through the International Coaching Federation (ICF). Alison is certified in the Bar-On Emotional Quotient-Inventory (EQ-i), Conflict Dynamics Profile (CDP), Fundamental Interpersonal Relations Orientation (FIRO) Element B, Klein Group Instrument for Leadership and Team Effectiveness, Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI), and the Thomas Kilmann Conflict Mode Instrument (TKI). She is currently studying positive psychology and applied neuroscience to support her client work.

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Becky Lee

Becky Lee has over thirty years of experience at the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and with Korn/Ferry as a Senior Consultant. A couple highlights of her government career are the design and delivery of an experiential, award winning leadership program for the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) and implementation of a coaching program at CIA that is still thriving after 15 years.

Becky is an innovative organization development consultant and experienced executive coach who is known for her ability to connect with leaders, helping them to become more self-aware and achieve their business results. She coaches leaders at all levels within the Intelligence Community, in other government agencies and the private sector. Becky also designs and delivers leadership development programs with recognized impact.

Becky is accredited in numerous 360 and self-assessments including: Benchmarks, VOICES, Myers-Briggs Type Indicator®, FIRO-B®, several Hogan assessment tools, Bar-On Emotional Quotient Inventory, and more.

She holds a certificate in organization development from Georgetown University and is accredited as an Associate Certified Coach with the International Coach Federation.

Becky has a Master of Science degree in college student personnel and counseling from the University of Tennessee and a Bachelor of Arts degree in liberal arts from Virginia Tech.

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Christine R. Williams

Chris has over 25 years of experience designing and creating programs and strategies that enable organizations and individuals to improve performance and achieve their goals. Her cutting edge programs are considered world-class by both industry and Government standards. She is frequently invited to speak internationally on the topics of leadership development, organizational change, executive coaching and the application of advances in neuroscience to improving employee learning and organizational effectiveness.

Prior to establishing the consulting division of Otto-Williams Limited, a company which she co-owns, Chris served as the Director of a number of NASA’s most successful agency-wide leadership development programs, including NASA’s Executive Coaching Program and the Systems Engineering Leadership Development Program. For over 20 years she helped build the next generation of leaders at NASA, an organization that is rated among the top 10 Best Places to Work in the Federal Government®.

Chris is a recipient of the Leadership in Action Award from the Council for Excellence in Government, NASA’s Outstanding Leadership Medal, External Achievement Award, Creative Management Award, Innovative Management Award, and Space Flight Awareness Award. She serves on the Advisory Boards of the Neuroleadership Institute and the Conference Board’s Executive Coaching Conference.

After receiving her BS in Oceanography, Chris graduated Summa Cum Laude from The Johns Hopkins University with an MS in Organizational Development and Applied Behavioral Science. She also obtained a certificate in business management from the Harvard Business School and a Professional Coaching Certification from the Newfield Network.

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Claudio Toyama

Claudio’s mission is to ensure that senior leaders embody authentic leadership so that they can increase their impact. He is the CEO of Toyama&Co., a leadership consultancy specializing in building sustainable peak performance cultures and has consulted in 113 countries so far. Claudio’s ability to create paradigm shifts in corporate culture results in more thoughtful leadership, a staff of brand ambassadors and customers who feel the difference and embrace it. He is an ICF-PCC certified executive coach, an Adjunct Faculty at the Institute for Transformational Leadership at Georgetown University and author of the best-seller book “The Samurai Samba Vinci Way: How to Improve Your Executive Presence, Increase Trust and Lead Your Team at a World-Class Level”.

In his leadership and executive coaching sessions, he combines Eastern and Western philosophies while providing a Sacred Space for the transformation that will unfold. He is a lifelong learner, having received a BA in Business Administration, graduate degrees in Marketing, Strategy, and Communication Studies and a Masters Degree in Interactive Multimedia, prior to graduating from Newfield Network in Ontological Coaching and graduating from the Institute for Generative Leadership in Coaching Excellence in Organizations.

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Felícita Solá-Carter

Prior to her retirement in January 2009, Feli served as Assistant Deputy Commissioner for Human Resources and Deputy Chief Human Capital Officer of the Social Security Administration (SSA), rated among the top 10 Best Places to Work in the Federal Government®. She shared national leadership of the Personnel, Training, Civil Rights and Equal Opportunity, Labor, Management and Employee Relations, Human Capital Planning and Executive Services Support programs.

A native of Puerto Rico, Feli graduated from the College of Mount St. Vincent. She began her career with the Social Security Administration (SSA) in New York City. Advancing into managerial positions, she joined the Office of the Commissioner in Baltimore as Senior Advisor to the Principal Deputy Commissioner, becoming the first Hispanic in that role. In 1998, as Associate Commissioner for the Office of Training, she became the first Puerto Rican woman appointed to the Senior Executive Service at the Social Security Administration. She is the recipient of a 2004 Presidential Rank Award of Meritorious Executive and a 2005 Presidential Rank Award of Distinguished Executive, the highest honors a career federal executive may receive.

An Excellence in Government Coach since 2009, Feli also works with a variety of Federal, local, and non-profit organizations. Active in the community, Feli serves on the Board of Trustees of The Horizon Foundation, and is the former President of Conexiones of Howard County. A graduate of Leadership Howard County, Feli has been named to the Maryland Top 100 Women and inducted in 2014 to the Howard County Women’s Hall of Fame.

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Monica Thakrar

Ms. Thakrar’s expertise builds on over 15 years of experience focused on strategy, organizational change management, leadership development, training and executive coaching. Monica brings to all of her work a deep understanding of human and organizational development based on years of working with large-scale organizations, executives, mid-managers, and individuals on leading change, building strong relationships, creating high-functioning teams, enhancing leadership capacities, and working across organizational silos.

She has worked with individuals and organizations to enhance their effectiveness, realize greater efficiency, and develop increased capacities in leading people, leading change, and building relationships. Monica has worked with clients in the private sector (Marriott, Lucent, Cable and Wireless, Cannon, Hanley Wood, MedStar), the public sector (US Department of Homeland Security, US Department of Education, US Agency of International Development, US Department of Agriculture (NIFA and NRCS), US Department of Energy, US Department of Health and Human Services (NIH, SAMHSA, and ACL), NASA, the National Science Foundation, and the US Postal Service) and abroad (Central Bank of Jordan and Greater Amman Municipality).

Ms. Thakrar is a graduate of Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service and has a Masters in International Trade and Business from Columbia University. She is a graduate of Newfield Network’s organizational coaching program. Ms. Thakrar’s is an ACC certified coach through the International Coaching Federation and is certified in the Myers Briggs assessment, the DISC assessment, the Center for Creative Leadership (CCL) 360 Assessment Suite, the LEI 360, the EQ-I 2.0 assessment, the Change Style Indicator, and the Healthy Leader Profile.

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Sheryl D. Phillips, M.A.

Sheryl, a leadership consultant and executive coach, has partnered with leaders for over 25 years to create more effective and forward-thinking organizations. She works at the individual, team and system level providing executive coaching, leadership development, organizational development and strategic and business planning. Sheryl is on the faculty of the internationally acclaimed Georgetown University’s Leadership Coaching Program (since 2001) and the newly formed Institute for Transformational Leadership at Georgetown. Prior to beginning her own practice in 2001, Sheryl spent a decade as a Senior Executive, which allows her to understand the challenges of leaders, particularly within large, complex settings.

Sheryl works extensively with leadership teams to develop their capacity to communicate and coordinate action and to create both strategic and operational plans. She also provides Executive Coaching to individual leaders and has worked with hundreds of clients across the public, non-profit and corporate sector, in the US and internationally.

Sheryl has her Master’s degree from the College of William and Mary and a Bachelor’s degree from Auburn University. She is a Certified Professional Coach by the Newfield Network; and a certified Somatic Coach by The Strozzi Institute. She has a certificate in Organizational Learning from George Mason University and is a graduate of the Harvard Kennedy School’s program for leadership practitioners. She is a qualified Myers-Briggs Administrator and is certified in leadership assessment instruments from the Center for Creative Leadership, The Hay Group, Lominger and The Leadership Circle. She is a contributing author to On Becoming a Leadership Coach (Palgrave 2008).

Sheryl’s recent clients include Capital One, PriceWaterhouse Coopers, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), CFPB, FINRA, Fannie Mae, Treliant Risk Advisors, MedImmune, National Institutes of Health (NIH), Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI), National Science Foundation (NSF), NASA, Department of Transportation (DOT), NAEYC, and many others. She also regularly donates her services to nonprofit boards and leaders.

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Solly Thomas

Solly has over 30 years of experience in the leadership and management of federal agencies and programs. He has held executive-level positions in both the public and private sectors—as Executive Director, Chief Operating Officer, Chief of Staff, and Acting Associate Director for Human Capital in the Federal Government; as an Associate Partner at IBM Corporation; and as an Executive Coach/Instructor for federal leadership programs.

Solly has served as an Executive Coach/Instructor for the Excellence in Government Fellows program since 2009. His coaching experience has included interagency/open enrollment programs, cohort from the U.S. Department of Education and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security Fellows program. Solly also serves as an Instructor for the Senior Executive Assessment Program sponsored by the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM).

Prior to his coaching and instructing experience, Solly was a consultant at IBM Corporation where he provided Human Capital consulting, subject matter expertise and thought leadership for the federal sector. He served as project executive for delivery of services, drafted and edited Human Capital thought leadership publications, served as guest lecturer/trainer, and conducted conferences, forums and workshops.

When he retired from federal service in 2006, Solly was the Acting Associate Director for Human Capital at OPM where he led a number of government-wide programs. At OPM, he managed government-wide human capital programs under the President’s Management Agenda with an emphasis on leadership development, succession planning, talent management and performance management, including pay for performance. He also managed the Senior Executive Service selection, performance management and certification programs. In addition, he was an Executive in Residence at the OPM Eastern Management Development Center where he designed and delivered leadership programs. He also served as the acting Center Director.

Solly has also held Senior Executive positions as the Executive Director of the Federal Labor Relations Authority, where he served as the Chief Operating Officer, and the Chief of Staff to the Chairman of the U.S. International Trade Commission.

Solly has a Bachelor of Arts degree in economics from the University of Notre Dame.

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Steven E. Jones, Ph.D.

Steven has held senior leadership positions in private and public organizations leading change efforts. He has over 18 years of experience providing facilitation, coaching and training to organizations focused on building more effective workplaces. He develops coaching and training protocols that transform people’s skills in the areas of leadership, team building and communication.

Steven is an executive coach to leaders of foundations, nonprofits, banking and federal government agencies including the Annie E. Casey Foundation, Jim Casey Youth Opportunities Initiative, the Africa Development Foundation, Shore Bank, National Cooperative Bank, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Federal Aviation Administration, Internal Revenue Service, U.S. Department of Education, National Institutes of Health, the Smithsonian Institution and U.S. Department of Commerce. Steven has been an Excellence in Government Fellows leadership development coach since 2002.

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Tom Fox

Tom Fox draws upon his more than 20 years of experience as an entrepreneur, executive and coach to offer leaders practical advice for making their lives—and their employees’ lives—better. Tom has worked with thousands of leaders — everyone from emerging leaders to experienced executives — in the federal government, the non-profit sector, and private sector start-ups. The leaders he supports successfully build high-performing teams, confront difficult professional conflicts, launch new initiatives and successfully navigate change, receive sought-after promotions, and finally find that elusive balance between their professional and personal lives.

Tom is an International Coach Federation (ICF)-certified coach who completed Marshall Goldsmith’s LEAD 60 coaching program and the Leadership Coaching program at Georgetown University. He is also trained and certified in the MHS Emotional Intelligence 360 assessment, a variety of Center for Creative Leadership assessments, Ken Blanchard’s Situational Leadership Model, the Strength Deployment Inventory and the DiSC assessment. For more than eight years, Tom wrote the Federal Coach column for The Washington Post where he interviewed approximately 500 leaders and regularly dispensed advice to the column’s tens of thousands of weekly readers. He’s been a regular television guest, and his work has been covered by news outlets including The New York Times, NBC Nightly News and CNN. His previous work in the public, private and nonprofit sectors also includes experience at the Partnership for Public Service, Andersen Consulting, the Government Accountability Office, the U.S. Senate and the White House.

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