Biographies
John Engels, President, Leadership Coaching, Inc.
John Engels is President of Leadership Coaching, Inc., a Rochester, New York-based leadership consulting and development company founded in 1996. His firm delivers advanced-level relationship knowledge to CEOs, presidents and their executive teams. Its Advanced Leadership Course has graduated more than 700 top-level leaders.
The company has gained a national reputation for integrating leadership, scientific research and Family Systems Theory. Leadership Coaching’s consulting team draws on decades of learning with accomplished scientists who study the leadership behavior of wolves, elephants and chimpanzees.
John’s lifelong interest in self-awareness and relationship management has helped thousands re-calibrate and re-invigorate their leadership. Family firm owners, executive team members, presidents, directors and high-potential leaders in health care, engineering, IT, accounting and other technical professions have used Engels’ teachings and coaching to gain advanced-level mastery in relationship management skills.
John has addressed audiences across the world on topics related to the science and practice of high-maturity leadership, including Cornell University, Enterprise Worldwide, Japan Family Center, Simon School of Business, Caritas Bangladesh, Taziki Psychiatric Hospital in Okinawa, The Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco and industry associations representing architecture, engineering, food shipping, materials handling and direct marketing.
John is leadership columnist for the Rochester Business Journal, has published in the Journal of Accountancy (July, 2007) and is a chapter author in Bringing Bowen Theory to Life, published in 2010. A Guide for Leaders, his privately-authored book of essays, won an Addy Award in 2001.
John has traveled widely, taking part in developing world projects in Bangladesh, Haiti, Peru and South Africa. John’s innovative approaches to leadership have been featured in The New York Times, ABC 20/20, Handelsblatt (Germany’s largest business daily), his award-winning book of essays, A Guide for Leaders, and many other publications and broadcasts throughout the world.
Engels and his wife, Alison Venuti, a medical education professional, have three adult children. They live in the Finger Lakes Region of Upstate New York.
Heidi Kroft, Executive Assistant, Leadership Coaching, Inc.
Heidi Kroft is Executive Assistant at Leadership Coaching, Inc. As the firm’s first point of client contact, Heidi coordinates consulting team schedules for all coaching, facilitation, teaching and speaking engagements, ensuring the highest levels of client satisfaction.
Heidi manages office operations and external logistics for the annual Advanced Leadership Course, the Annual Leaders Retreat, and other public events sponsored by Leadership Coaching, Inc.
Before joining Leadership Coaching, Heidi was a senior administrative assistant at Xerox for 15 years, supporting corporate marketing, product development and multi-level management projects in manufacturing. Prior to Xerox, Heidi worked in administrative support positions for Eastman Kodak Co.
For the past five years, Heidi has focused her energy on her family while managing special events and office operations at Hedges Nine Mile Point Restaurant on the southern shore of Lake Ontario.
Heidi and her husband, Michael, enjoy entertaining, traveling, and spending time with their blended family of five children.
Stan Proffitt
Stan Proffitt is an executive coach and leadership teacher whose diverse academic and professional background has enabled him to connect with and inspire a wide range of top-level leaders.
Stan’s background includes an undergraduate degree in physical education, ten years in the Behavioral Health field in both inpatient and outpatient settings, and 15 years of experience in Organizational Development, Leadership Development and Executive Coaching.
Stan’s coaching of seasoned, large-company leaders as well as young presidents of closely-held businesses has solidified his reputation as a broad-based, intergenerational mentor. Most recently Stan has served as Corporate Head of Organizational Development and Diversity at Lifetime Healthcare Companies, a 5+ billion dollar, industry-leading group of organizations. In that role, Stan consistently helped top-tier leaders and leadership teams achieve breakthrough business and relationship results.
Stan’s approach challenges leaders to deepen self-discipline and self-responsibility in pursuit of personal and organizational progress. He formulated those values through his relationship with Master Hidy Ochiai, one of the world’s foremost martial artists. Under Master Ochiai’s tutelage, Stan studied Washin-Ryu Karate for more than 25 years, currently holding the rank of 3rd degree black belt.
Stan’s strategic partnership with Leadership Coaching, Inc., has given him the opportunity to continue exploring the impact of emotional maturity on leadership. Through the lens of Family Systems Theory, and the science-based research of pioneering psychiatrist Dr. Murray Bowen, Stan brings his wealth of senior-level leadership teaching and coaching experience to companies throughout the United States.
Erik Thompson
Erik Thompson is a Licensed Psychologist-Master whose professional discipline for the past 15 years has been the application of systems thinking to human behavior and leadership. After earning a graduate degree in psychology, Erik completed a three year post-graduate training in systems thinking at the Georgetown Family Center.
Erik founded Thompson Leadership Development, an executive coaching firm that serves clients nationally. As a mentor to business leaders, Erik’s focus is the growth of vital, sustainable partnerships and results-oriented coaching relationships. His leadership work has taken Erik to accounting, finance, medicine, manufacturing and advertising companies and in the not-for-profit sector to educational, religious and health care organizations. In addition, Erik has developed a specialized practice with family businesses on a wide range of issues from succession planning to relationship management. He is currently coaching government leaders responsible for the management of alarming behavior.
Erik is President of the Vermont Center for Family Studies, an organization dedicated to helping leaders in families and other organizations increase maturity, responsibility and high-level communication.
Erik is a frequent presenter of workshops throughout the country on leadership and high-functioning relationships. He has also published professional papers and articles on those topics, and has practiced anxiety-reduction methodologies for more than 25 years, including in-depth exposure to the philosophies and cultures of the East.
Kathy Wiseman
Kathy Wiseman assists people to live, work and govern their family business, family foundation and family office. Her expertise merges two tracks: business skills and family systems.
Kathy is a faculty member at the Bowen Center for the Study of the Family. She is adjunct faculty at the George Washington University School of Business where she heads the Institute for Succession. She served as a Dean of the Family Office Exchange Learning Academy, Chicago, Illinois and as the president of the Family Firm Institute Education and Research foundation.
As founder of Working Systems, Wiseman has provided consulting to 375 family organizations and individuals for over 25 years. Additional professional partnerships have given her other platforms to educate and coach executives, families, bankers, family office professionals and investment advisors. Kathy’s signature is her ability to develop learning experiences that motivate and connect people at all stages of business sophistication.
Her work has caught the eye of corporate business and government. In those settings she has tackled deep organizational muddles with creative leadership training, use of film for capturing people’s passion and anxiety about their work over time, and novel curriculum designs for individuals/ families preparing for the future as well as massive federal bureaucracies.
Wiseman holds a B.A. from the University of Pennsylvania and an MBA from George Washington University. She is a board member of the Woman’s Growth Capital Fund, Canada Alamosa Institute and the Jewish Council for the Aging. She speaks and writes for a national audience. Kathy has also co-authored two books, Understanding Organizations and The Emotional Side of Organizations.