I know what it’s like to be stuck. That place where we realize the approaches that built our career are now working against us. I’ve been there: as a leader, as a coach, as someone who had to learn that having all the answers isn’t the same thing as being helpful.
Everything I bring to this work comes from that learning.
For thirty-five years I led strategic initiatives at major universities and a global nonprofit. I rose to advising C-suite executives, building programs, developing teams. My primary job, though, was never the programs themselves. It was developing the leaders who would carry the work forward after I moved on.
That’s where I discovered something uncomfortable. The skills that made me effective as a strategist — solving problems, driving results, being the smartest person in the room — became obstacles when my real job was helping other leaders find their own resourcefulness. I had to learn what partnership actually means. Not by studying it. By walking my own stuck places, my own patterns that needed to shift.
Georgetown gave me frameworks. The Greenleaf Center gave me a philosophy of leadership rooted in service. But the real education came from the terrain itself — from sitting across from leaders who were carrying more than anyone around them understood, and learning to be useful without taking over.
Leaders at a threshold. Seasoned executives noticing diminishing returns from approaches that built their reputations. Emerging leaders promoted on technical brilliance who now need a different kind of strength.
Leaders in transition — through merger, promotion, industry shift, or the quieter realization that the current path has run its course.
Sometimes you need help with a specific challenge. Sometimes that challenge opens the door to deeper work. Either way, I meet you where you are.
I also mentor coaches who are pursuing their own developmental edges — practitioners ready to move from competent to masterful.
ICF Professional Certified Coach. Georgetown-certified in executive leadership coaching. Servant leadership certified through the Greenleaf Center. Trained in vertical development, emotional intelligence, and adaptive leadership. Twelve years coaching executives across healthcare, tech, wealth management, education, nonprofits, government, family businesses, and military-to-civilian transitions.
The Serving Way is a 501(c)(3). I work with leaders across every sector — corporate and nonprofit, private and public — because the common thread isn’t industry. It’s leaders who want their enterprises to create real value in service of human flourishing. We work on a sliding scale so that financial barriers never stand in the way of that commitment.
Married to Leslie for nearly five decades. First-time grandparents, and yes, it’s as good as everyone says. Pittsburgh has been home for close to forty years, in a neighborhood we love for its honesty and diversity.
I cheer for Liverpool FC with my two sons over whiskey and cigars. I have fancy coffee with my daughter. Leslie and I renew with home-cooked meals, outdoor adventures, and travel across four continents. My music runs from ambient electronica to zydeco, which probably tells you everything you need to know about my range.
“Chris gets me in a way that colleagues, mentors, or even those closest to me don’t. Our partnership pushes me forward while holding me steady — exactly what I needed to make real change that sticks.”
Thirty minutes. Real conversation, not a sales call. You’ll walk away with clarity whether we work together or not.
