Supporting Global Leaders

Trained in coaching at New York University and active on the ICF-NYC Membership Committee since 2019, I have served as a Membership Ambassador, engaging new coaches in service to local communities, education, and as a DEI Coach Mentor. I have also served on the ICF Thought Leadership Institute Taskforce on Education and initiated the International Coaching Federation’s Global Chapter Connect, an important step in connecting ICF chapters across borders. As a research scholar on coaching and leadership at Columbia University, I am examining how coaching can adapt to the evolving needs of education and international organizations such as the UN, EU, and Fulbright. I aim to support the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), focusing on education and equality.

As a Fulbright Scholar in South Asia, I am developing a coaching initiative in India and aim to initiate similar programs in Bhutan and Sri Lanka. Trained in research (PhD), I can also evaluate the impact of coaching provided through success metrics used to improve organizational performance, enhance leadership skills, and progress towards specific SDGs. Finally, as a coach, I seek to support and empower underrepresented individuals and their teams in building better learning environments, inclusive societies, and more resilient communities.

I have initiated coaching programs for professionals at Yale, future leaders at California State University, PhDs at the University of Melbourne, and as an Entrepreneurship Coach at Columbia University’s Startup Lab, Almaworks. I have served as a Visiting Professor of Cultural Entrepreneurship at Peking University and as an Impact Entrepreneurship Coach at Parsons School of Design in New York, as well as a GoldAward Mentor at the University of London.

Fieldwork

As a management consultant I have led research in the EU, Asia and the Americas. I have led Fulbright-Hays US Public Diplomacy Projects in Mongolia and China and am the recipient of the Fulbright-Nehru Academic and Professional Excellence Award. I have also served as a Fulbright Senior Scholar in India.

I am currently creating coaching initiatives with three organizations in Asia:

• India - Highland Institute: Engaging inclusive coaching in a tribal youth empowerment program to support underserved tribal communities.

• Colombo, Sri Lanka: Creating a creative industries leadership coaching initiative to support underserved communities in arts and culture.

• Royal University of Bhutan in Takste, Kingdom of Bhutan: Visiting Professor (2026)

About Les

Les brings thirty years of global experience across the Americas, EMEA, and Asia Pacific. As a Fulbright Senior Scholar in India in 2022, he pioneered an initiative to bring coaching to India’s underserved tribal communities and initiated coaching for PhDs at the University of Melbourne in Australia. As a trained management consultant, Les has supported global organizations since 1989, serving clients such as 3M, Du Pont, GE, GM, Dow, and Bayer. As a Columbia Entrepreneurship Coach, Les is working with innovative leaders shaping the future of work. Les has received Fulbright US Public Diplomacy Awards for China and Mongolia, and the Fulbright-Nehru Academic and Professional Excellence Award for India. In 2016, Les was a US Department of State-sponsored ACMS Fellow, leading the first research on US-Mongolian cooperation in arts, culture, and education.

Trained in coaching at New York University, Les holds advanced degrees in international management and specializes in strategy and global technology cooperation. Les has published with Organizational Behavior specialist Dr. Abraham Rami Shani on parallel learning models instrumental in technology transfer across borders. As an ICF accredited coach, he seeks to support the mission of accelerating and amplifying social system change through coaching.

Certifications

• ICF Certified Coach

• ICF-NYC DEI Coach Mentor

• ICF-certified GCHQ Group Coach

• University of London trained GoldAward Mentor

Education

• BA (Hons) Fine Art from Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design, London, UK

• BA (cum laude) in History from Boston University, MA

• M.Sc. specializing in International Management from Boston University and the Vrije Universiteit Brussels (VUB) Faculty of Economic and Social Sciences, Brussels, Belgium

• MBA specialized in organizational management and strategy from California State University, San Luis Obispo, CA

• MA Fine Art from University of London, UK

• Masters in Fine Art from Musashino Art University, Tokyo, Japan

• PhD from the Faculty of Art, Environment and Technology, Leeds Metropolitan University, UK

• Post-Doctorate in Fine Art from the School of Art and Communications at the University of São Paulo, Brazil

Language Training

• French

• German

• Italian

• Chinese

• Japanese

Grants and Fellowships

• Research Scholar on Coaching and Leadership, Columbia University (2022-2024)

• Fulbright-Nehru Academic and Professional Excellence Award, India (2022)

• Fulbright SCA-RTP Regional Scholars Grant for Sri Lanka (2022)

• University of Indiana/Nonconformist Museum St. Petersburg Writers Grant (2022)

• Highland Institute, Nagaland, India (Fellow) (2022)

• US Department of State, American Arts Incubator ZERO1: Art and Technology Artist (2019)

• Fulbright Hays US Public Diplomacy Mission China Award (2017)

• CEC Grant, St. Petersburg, Russia (2017)

• Taiwan Ministry of Education Huayu Scholarship (2016)

• Wheatley Foundation Fellow, Birmingham City University, UK (2016)

• US Department of State Field Research Fellow, American Center for Mongolian Studies (2016)

• Research Fellow, University of the Arts London Research Center on Transnational Art, Identity and Nation (2015)

• Fulbright Hays US Public Diplomacy Award for Mongolia (2014)

• CEC ArtsLink Grant for Mongolia (2014)

• Edwin Austin Abbey Fellowship, National Design Museum, New York (2009)

• Bauhaus Fellow, Germany (2008)

• Nordic Artists Center Fellowship (2008)

• Japanese Ministry of Education and Culture Monbusho (MeXT) Scholar (1998-2001)

• EU Erasmus Scholar, France (1995)