Who We Are

After decades navigating societal pressures and the desire to do good in the world, I’m on a mission to help create systemic change, one person, team, department, organization, and ecosystem at a time.

As an Executive Coach Supervisor, I’ve overseen large-scale, systemic leadership change engagements. As a sought-after executive coach, I’ve helped elevate the performance of executives at IBM, Tesla, Meta, GE, and many startups, including CompleteCase.

My 30-plus years of corporate experience include roles as an executive on Wall Street (Citibank, Bear Stearns), in digital consulting (Razorfish), and in the entertainment industry (Grammy member).

I’m a sought after keynote speaker on creating outstanding coaching cultures, an author of two books on leadership, an award-winning writer (Forbes.com, New York Times, Boston Globe), and I have published an essay on "The Business Case for Coaching Supervision" in Routledge book, Coaching Supervision in the Americas (2022).

I’ve served as an official business coach for the City of Boston, a judge and mentor for MassChallenge, and as Board President of the Massachusetts LGBT Chamber of Commerce.

I hold degrees from Miami University (Ohio) and Harvard University. I’m a Fellow at Harvard’s Institute of Coaching.

Even with all that, nothing quite excites me more than my Zen meditation practice.

“James brings it all. He doesn’t miss! A thoughtful and energetic connector,” says Arman Hamamah, Learning and Development Manager, SpaceX.

After 20 years writing code, designing systems, and leading teams small and large, the COVID-19 pandemic changed my entire perspective on leadership. I watched my peers grappling with the balance of work and life, attempting to manage the way they always had, and failing.

During that first year of the pandemic, I started learning about coaching and applying it in my own leadership with my team of 40 engineers, and received the highest upward feedback scores of my career.

Coaching allowed me to provide the support my team needed more than ever, but it also created an environment in which the team could thrive, and we shipped some of the coolest stuff we'd ever built.

At the same time, I was spending more time with my own family, sleeping better than ever, and creating unexpectedly deep relationships with my teammates.

It's my goal to share these powerful coaching techniques with engineering leaders like you.