The Coaches Summit Speaker Bios
Keynote Speaker: Joshua Freedman, MCC
The world is in an emotional recession. Over a million intelligence assessments reveal that burnout, eroding empathy, and disengagement are quietly draining performance and well-being everywhere. Joshua Freedman, MCC, has dedicated 25+ years to reversing that trend. As CEO and cofounder of Six Seconds - home to the world’s largest EQ study - Josh combines cutting-edge science, global data, and real-world cases to make emotional intelligence actionable at scale. He has advices organizations like FedEx, Shell, and the United Nations, developed practical EQ tools used in 150+ countries, and brings it all to life with warmth, rigor, and a gift for making the complex feel immediately useful. His most recent book, Emotion Rules (2026), gives leaders a practical playbook for decoding emotions into wisdom, and building cultures of trust, resilience, and lasting performance.
Mallory Penney, ACC, CPCC
Mallory Penney, ACC, CPCC is a leadership and communication coach and facilitator based in the San Francisco Bay Area. She is the creator of Leadership Unscripted, a series of experiential leadership programs that use improvisation to help people think on their feet, communicate more effectively, and navigate uncertainty with confidence. She has coached and trained thousands of professionals - from emerging talent to senior leaders - at organizations such as Genentech, Starbucks, Kaiser Permanente, Western Union and New York Life. Learn more at www.penneyco.com.
Inga Bielińska, MCC
Inga Bielinska is a Master Certified Coach (ICF MCC), mentor coach, EMCC-certified supervisor (ESIA), and trained psychodramatist with deep expertise in individual, team, and organizational coaching. She partners with senior executives and leadership teams to navigate complexity in today’s VUCA environment, supporting adaptability, resilience, and clarity in leadership.
As Chair of Ethics for EMCC USA and Ambassador for the ICF Community of Practice in Supervision, Inga brings a strong curiosity and commitment to professional standards in coaching, mentoring, and supervision. Her work integrates psychodrama and dynamic coaching approaches to surface insight, strengthen relational dynamics, and support sustainable change.
Known for cultivating an athlete’s mindset, she helps leaders and teams perform under pressure, build endurance, and sustain high performance over time. Based in Silicon Valley and working globally, Inga is a thought leader featured in Forbes and Newsweek, and the author of several books on leadership and coaching excellence.
Melanie Le Van Cau Menard, PCC
Mélanie Le Van Cau, PCC, CPCC, is an Executive & Leadership Coach and CSA-certified Coach Supervisor with 20+ years of international leadership experience. Originally trained as an engineer, she brings a unique blend of analytical rigor, systemic thinking, creativity, and intuition to her work.
She partners with leaders, teams, and coaches to navigate complexity, expand awareness, and lead with greater impact in today’s fast-changing environments. Her approach integrates evidence-based practices with creative exploration to unlock new perspectives, foster authentic connection, and support courageous decision-making. Her background as a VP of Sales & Marketing adds grounded, real-world business insight to her coaching and supervision practice.
A passionate advocate for Coaching Supervision, Mélanie is certified by the Coaching Supervision Academy and has been leading coaching supervision groups for the ICF San Francisco Bay Area Chapter. She holds reflective, challenging, and creative spaces where coaches deepen their practice, strengthen ethical awareness, and reconnect with purpose - through both individual and group supervision.
Dr. Jill Jay, PCC
Jill Jay, PhD, PCC is an executive coach, leadership advisor, coach educator, and supervisor with 30+ years of experience developing purposeful, resilient leaders. She partners with executives and business owners to expand capacity through neuroscience, systems thinking, and vertical development. As a practicum mentor and coach supervisor, she equips coaches to embody ethical, sustainable practice grounded in “self as instrument,” fostering transformational growth for leaders and the profession alike.
Betsy Block, PCC, ACTC, ITCA, EMCC, EIA
Betsy is a team coach with over 30 years of experience in the private sector, government, and nonprofit sectors. She has served in leadership roles in both municipal government and regional nonprofit/philanthropy, as well as on the boards of both national and regional nonprofit organizations. She is active as both a mentor coach and credentialed coach supervisor, in addition to her work supporting teams as they navigate emergent changes. She recently founded the Agate Initiative to expand access to systemic team coaching in the nonprofit sector.
Arielle Levi, PhD, NBHWC, PCC
Arielle Levi, PhD, NBHWC, PCC, is a certified life and health coach with over 13 years of experience in mind-body and functional health. She specializes in helping individuals and families address the root causes of physical and mental health challenges through an integrative, behavior and mindset-focused approach.
Arielle is the co-founder of the Pediatric Health Coach Academy, an NBHWC approved program, and previously served as the Lead Coach for the coaching program at Kurbo by WW, where she helped shape scalable coaching models for children and families with a strong focus on coach mentorship and quality control across the US and Singapore.
Her work focuses on nervous system regulation, metabolic health, and sustainable behavior change through strengths-based coaching, to bridge clinical insight with real-life application.
Ariela Morgenstern, ACC
Ariela Morgenstern is an ACC ICF-certified coach, actor, and director with 25+ years of experience on stage and in the rehearsal room. She's a lecturer in Leadership Communications at UC Berkeley's Haas School of Business, and is a lead Faculty Coach and Scenes Director for the Berkeley Executive Coaching Institute, where she has spent 11 years using scenes from plays and films to develop coaches' most essential human capacities - empathy, presence, listening, and agility. She brings a uniquely embodied approach to coach development, bridging the worlds of theater and professional coaching with warmth, rigor, and a lot of joy. Ariela continues to perform and direct actively, and serves as Opera and Musical Director for the Stanford University Music Department - a practice that keeps her work as a coach and educator rooted in the living craft of performance. Learn more at berkeleyeci.com and arielamorgenstern.com.
Astra Fox, PCC
Astra Fox is a PCC-certified Spiritual Life Coach, Master NLP Practitioner, and creator of the Musical Mantras methodology — NLP-engineered songs designed to reprogram the subconscious mind. She is an instructor at the ICF-accredited Life Purpose Institute, founder of Joyful Purpose Coaching, and was named Best Life Coach in Sonoma County 2025. A transformational recording and performing artist, Astra weaves together soul, science, and creativity to help coaches and their clients move from stuck to sparked.
Laura Geduldig, MCC
Laura Geduldig, MCC, is a Master Certified Coach with over 25 years of experience supporting female executives, emerging coaches, and individuals navigating personal and professional growth. As founder of Vitality Coaching, she integrates strategic coaching with embodied somatic practices to help clients elevate their presence and step into their next chapter with clarity and confidence. Laura is a 2nd Degree Black Belt in the Nia Technique and has taught weekly classes for over 17 years. Her signature process, the Vitality Equation, integrates wellness and self-care to help clients achieve their goals through increased vitality.
Mo Fong, ACC
Mo Lei Fong is an ICF ACC certified executive coach, educator, and entrepreneur with 25+ years leading global teams across tech, education, and entrepreneurship. At Stanford University, she directs MS&E 277: Accel Leadership Program for entrepreneurs and co-teaches BUS 148: AI-Powered Leadership through Stanford Continuing Studies. A Harvard Business School executive coach and founder of LeiFong Coaching, LLC, Mo brings deep industry experience from senior leadership roles at Google and PayPal and as Executive Director of Stanford's Engineering Entrepreneurship Center. She is President and founding member of the Asian Women Coaching Collective, a Hudson Institute graduate, and a certified AI workshop facilitator passionate about helping everyone embrace AI with confidence, curiosity, and ethical grounding.
Sarika Shankarnarayan
Sarika Shankarnarayan is an executive life coach and mindfulness mentor with 20+ years inside high-velocity, matrixed organizations, with P&L accountability across B2C and B2B and leadership roles spanning India, London, the US, Europe, and South Africa. Her work centers on one idea: agency is a muscle. She partners with senior leaders and the coaches who serve them to build that muscle.
