Transforming people and workplaces from functioning to flourishing is a passion of Michelle's and the 'why' behind her career as a coach. She believes that if leaders empower and develop their people, engagement and results will follow. Her empathetic, results-focused approach to coaching helps her clients stay accountable to their goals, while removing the internal and external blocks that can get in the way of fulfillment and success. Michelle has over 15 years of industry experience in business development and fundraising. She has held various development positions at the University of Michigan including in annual giving, alumni relations, and major gifts. In her last role at U-M, she served as Director of Development at Michigan Medicine where she led a team responsible for raising philanthropic funds for ground-breaking research and patient care in the neurosciences. Michelle is a partner and coach with OptimizeU Leadership Coaching where she works with organizations to design customized coaching solutions at the enterprise, team, and individual levels from 1:1 coaching, to organization-wide strategic planning. She also sees clients 1:1 and in groups through Sounding Board Inc., a leadership development platform that offers scalable coaching to help enterprises grow their next generation of leaders. Specialties: leadership development, strategic planning, career management, team coaching, emerging leaders Industry Expertise: startups, higher ed, non-profits, philanthropy, healthcare Education and Training: Michelle holds a Bachelor of Arts in Journalism from Indiana University-Bloomington. She is a Professional Certified Coach with the International Coach Federation (ICF) and a Certified Professional Coach (CPC) through the Institute for Professional Excellence in Coaching (iPEC). In addition, she is a Master Practitioner of the Energy Leadership Index assessment (ELI-MP). She is certified in Everything DiSC and Five Behaviors of a Cohesive Team. She has additional training in CliftonStrengths, CareerLeader, and Stanford University's Designing Your Life program.