Irvenia Waters
Senior Executive Coach
Goodstone Group LLC
San Francisco / Bay area
Email: IW*****@************up.com
Phone: 415.855.0356
Education and Professional Affiliations
MBA, Berkeley-Haas School of Business, University of California
MSPH, Health Policy and Administration, University of North Carolina
AB, Duke University
Professional Certified Coach (PCC), International Coach Federation
Certified Team Performance Coach, Team Coaching International
Certified Professional Coach, Institute for Professional Excellence in Coaching
Narrative Coach Enhanced Practitioner
Certified to administer and interpret a range of contemporary assessment tools including: Energy Leadership Index (ELI); EQ in Action Profile; Myers-Briggs Type Indicator Step I and Step II; Team Diagnostic Assessments (team, leader, organization, and 360); TruScore 360 Task Cycle Assessments
Professional Experience
Irvenia Waters is an executive coach, team performance coach, and consultant. She guides leaders, teams, and organizations through challenge, building on their strengths to create meaningful results that stick. Irvenia brings to her coaching over two decades of experience in management consulting, strategy planning and execution, leadership development, and group facilitation. She has partnered with senior leaders in complex organizations—corporate, small business, nonprofit, state and local government—involved in health care, education, technology, and agribusiness.
As a coach, Irvenia is energized by helping leaders (and leaders-in-the-making) to navigate clutter and overwhelm to focus on what matters most to them and to cultivate the competencies and relationships needed to create results. Clients enjoy her genuine, lighthearted and steady manner and find her to be “very accessible and warm, non-judgmental, and easy to talk to.” Irvenia guides clients through pivotal moments—settling into a new role; meeting the more-better-faster demands of a current role; learning to rely less on technical expertise and more on collaborative relationships; co-creating shared vision, purpose, and plans.
Irvenia has coached leaders to enhance emotional intelligence, change ineffective behavior, build high performing relationships, and develop critical leadership capabilities, leaving them with tools and strategies to sustain their progress. Irvenia’s team coaching—focused on performance as well as culture—reaches beyond one-off interventions to create powerful and lasting change. She has worked with teams to facilitate trust, enhance communication, develop conflict resolution skills, and build capacity for collaboration. A creative facilitator and inspiring presenter, Irvenia designs and delivers custom experiential learning to propel organizations forward.
Recent Coaching Experience
- EVP/CIO in the insurance industry to broaden influence skills required to transform enterprise-wide operations
- Vice-President of a fast-growing technology company to enhance communication and time management skills
- Director at a major academic medical center to enhance emotional resilience and build collaborative relationships
- COO of a large nonprofit to enhance leadership presence and expand professional network
- Leadership team of a regional agricultural company to develop communication and conflict resolution skills and align around strategy
- Directors in the transportation sector to use 360-degree feedback to create leadership development plans
- Head of an academic institution to regain confidence and enhance communication with key stakeholders after a challenging first year
- Public health Director to enhance emotional intelligence and improve team leadership capabilities
- Technology nonprofit leader to alter unproductive behaviors and enhance collaboration with colleagues
- Executive Director transitioning to new, larger organization to build an effective administrative team and augment communication skills
- President of a private professional services firm to enhance emotional resilience in a challenging work environment
- Executive Director in the education sector to develop presence and leadership capabilities critical to execute ambitious growth strategies
- Technology sales professional to assess team leadership opportunities and capabilities and to increase engagement at work
- Physicians in a fellowship program to build competencies and skills for effective vision and leadership of the healthcare system
- Information services middle manager to build emotional resilience to respond to personnel management challenges
- Middle managers in the education sector with a variety of goals, e.g, enhance communication with key stakeholders; improve workload management through effective delegation; improve team leadership and planning skills; build emotional resilience and renew engagement after a challenging period
- Physician faculty at a major academic medical center to build leadership skills to manage their clinical, research and educational roles
- Leadership team of an academic institution to gain alignment around strategy and priorities for implementation
- Board Chairs of several education organizations to increase leadership effectiveness and plan for executive transitions
- Executive Director of a performing arts organization to increase leadership effectiveness and improve relationship with board
- Head of an academic institution to increase effectiveness, empower leadership team, and manage relationship with Board
Career History
Independent Executive Coach and Consultant (2006-present)
Irvenia coaches executives, emerging leaders, and teams to develop the leadership capabilities and relationships needed to realize their professional goals. She consults on strategy planning, team effectiveness, and leadership development. Irvenia custom designs and facilitates workshops and offsites for small and large groups on a variety of leadership topics and challenges
Marin Country Day School (2001-2010), Board Chair and Trustee
Irvenia led the Board to complete a strategic plan, develop a 25-year campus master plan, and launch a $20M capital campaign. She co-chaired the search for a new Head of School and managed the leadership transition.
APM/CSC Healthcare (1993-1998), General Manager, Senior Associate
As General Manager for the western office of a national management consulting firm serving the healthcare industry, Irvenia coordinated professional staff assignments and career development and managed the office budget. She facilitated institutional learning by identifying analytical tools and techniques, forming teams to develop new approaches, and organizing events to disseminate knowledge throughout the firm’s performance improvement practice. Irvenia consulted to healthcare providers—including a major academic medical center and a specialty hospital—to design more efficient operations and clinical resource management.
US Environmental Protection Agency (1987-1991), Manager of Information Resources Management Branch, Chief of Planning and Analysis Section
Irvenia managed staff and consultants providing information management and user support services, significantly expanding the role and resources of the branch and implementing new technologies. Irvenia supervised an in-house consulting group providing policy and management analysis support to program managers.
