Suzanne Coonan, MS
Suzanne is an accomplished Executive Coach, Leadership Development Facilitator and HR Leader with 20 years of success in partnering with all levels to lead strategic workplace initiatives and provide solutions that help organizations and individuals achieve results. Formerly a VP of HR at an MBA School, Suzanne is now an executive coach who partners with high-performing, high-achieving leaders to navigate challenging and complex environments, advance their careers, find more meaning and balance in work and life, and reach their highest leadership aspirations.
Suzanne is also a skilled speaker and facilitator on leadership and career development and has presented to hundreds of business leaders at major US and Fortune 500 companies. She has an MS in Positive Organization Development & Change from Case Western Reserve University, a Bachelor’s in Organizational Behavior from Northwestern University, and is a graduate of the advanced coaching program at Coach University.
Key Areas of Career Expertise and Accomplishments
- Strategic Consulting: Specializes in organizational & leadership development, succession planning, and employee engagement to drive strategy and business growth. Was lead facilitator/consultant for highly visible Knowledge Harvesting project for top 20 critical leaders at $2B privately held educational services provider.
- Talent Management – Created and executed comprehensive plan for integrated talent management program, including emergency succession plan for President. Facilitated talent reviews with Board of Directors for executive leadership team. Defined leadership competencies and redesigned performance management process.
- Organizational Design – Led all phases of 4 organization-wide restructures. Introduced productivity ratio tool to assess viability of adding headcount to support growth plans, which contributed to hiring an additional 20% staff. Partnered with CFO and created Cost Reduction by Stage model to reduce costs in lieu of layoffs, resulting in less than 5% head count reduction during the economic downturn.
- Leadership Development Facilitation – Experienced workshop facilitator, speaker, and panelist. Developed and presented keynotes and workshops at conferences and numerous Fortune 500 corporations. Awarded Excellence in Teaching Award.
Sampling of Executive Coaching Engagements include:
- CEO, publicly traded company in paper products industry
- COO, at large privately-held insurance brokerage firm
- CFO/VP Finance, large cultural museum
- CIO, at large, privately-held retailer
- VP, Business Development & Innovation at health association management company
- Managing Director, global innovation consulting firm
- Head of Latin America, Regulatory Affairs at global pharmaceutical company
- Head of IT, professional association in supply chain industry
- Controller, medical products manufacturing firm
- Head of HR, global foodservice products company
- Sr. Director IT and Team Leader – Supervision/Regulation, financial services/banking industry
- Director IT, Fortune 100 consumer products company
Professional Experience
- Executive Coach and leadership development consultant, speaker/facilitator
- VP, Human Resources – MBA school
- Faculty Instructor, Association of Talent Development (ATD) – Coaching, Integrated Talent Management, and Consulting Skills certificate programs
- Resource Manager – Technology consulting firm
- HR Generalist – Legal publishing firm
- HR Systems Analyst – Professional services firm
Education, Certifications, Memberships, and Speaking Engagements
- Education: MS Positive Organization Development & Change – Case Western Reserve University. Bachelor’s in Organizational Behavior, minor in French – Northwestern University.
- Coach Training: Coach University – Graduate, Core Essentials & Advanced Coaching Program; Certificate in Marshall Goldsmith’s Stakeholder Centered Coaching approach (SCC).
- Certification: Hogan Assessment Certification.
- Speaking/presentations: Keynote speaker and facilitator on leadership and career development at companies including: Allstate, Abbott, Baxter, BCBSA, Discover, GE, HSBC, Kraft, Pactiv, Pfizer, Navistar, Veolia and Walgreens among others. Panelist/speaker at several association management events such as: HRMAC– Influencing Strategies and Gaining & Sustaining Executive Sponsorship for Strategic Initiatives; NHRC – The Value of Executive Coaching; NISHRM – Moderator, What Keeps HR Leaders up at Night; and GC-HERC – Presenter/moderator, Implementing Mentoring Programs.
