Career Services is pleased to provide a referral listing of external, professional career coaches to assist alumni in their career development. These coaches can assist with career assessment, job search transitions, preparing resumes and cover letters, developing interview skills, online presence/social networking, and other career development needs. They have extensive experience in working with mid-level and senior managers and other more seasoned job seekers or those contemplating a career change. These professionals have diverse industry experience, educational training, and are available in a variety of geographic locations. All of the coaches participated in a training session provided by Career Services and are familiar with the resources provided by Career Services.
Please feel free to reach out to the career coaches below to arrange a complimentary initial consultation to determine which services would be most helpful in terms of your particular situation as well as clarifying the associated costs for those services. You may wish to speak to two or three coaches to determine which coach will best fit your needs and can provide resources that align with your career goals. Alumni should also be aware that professional Career Services staff at Penn also work with alumni at no cost for up to three appointments per year. These appointment can be scheduled through Handshake or by calling the Career Services office. However, if you feel that a more intensive or on-going relationship is required to support your career needs, we recommend contacting one of our external, professional career coaches. Any information that you discuss with a career coach is confidential.
Coaches
Lynn Berger New York, NY
Lynn Berger is a Career Counselor and Coach specializing in helping people make the most of their lives and feel fulfilled. In her position she counsels people how to effectively transition to jobs and/or careers, balance their roles and responsibilities and understand the choices before them. Her past experience includes working in the Human Resource and Consulting fields. Lynn received both her Master of Arts in Organizational Psychology and her Master of Education in Psychological Counseling from Columbia University. She is a Licensed Mental Health Counselor, National Certified Counselor, Certified Career Counselor and was recently awarded the Outstanding Career Practitioner Award from the New York State Career Development Association. Lynn has been a Career Counselor and Coach in private practice in New York City for over 20 years. Ms. Berger has appeared as a guest expert on radio and television shows across the country and has been featured in such publications as The Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post, The New York Times, Newsday, Businessweek.com, and Monster.com, etc. For more information about Lynn and her practice, you may consult her website at www.lynnberger.com.
Margaret Chan is a Certified Executive Coach who works with professionals making career transitions, or changing or relaunching careers. She takes a holistic approach in helping her clients prioritize their key values and identify target careers which best match their strengths and leverage their skills. Her experience includes career and networking strategies, target careers and companies, returnships, resumes and LI profiles, career narratives/positioning, interview preparation, and support and confidence building throughout the process. Clients value her 25 years as an Executive Search Consultant with 18 years at Spencer Stuart and Korn Ferry, the global executive search firms, where she interviewed and assessed over 3,500 executives as they pursued their next opportunity. As a trusted strategic advisor to hiring executives, she understands the critical factors in hiring decisions. Clients appreciate her strategic and practical approach and warm personal style. She has led webinars on Strategies for Relaunching Careers for alumni of universities, including Columbia, University of Chicago, and UCLA. She is an executive coach for alumni of top tier universities, including University of Pennsylvania, Stanford, Columbia, Cornell, and University of Chicago. In addition, she is a coach for MBA students at The Leadership Lab at Columbia Business School. She also works with clients to become stronger and more effective leaders by leveraging their strengths and addressing their leadership gaps. Coaching plans are designed to increase their self-awareness, gain insight, and practice new behaviors. Her clients have focused on improving their capacity as they transition to new roles, expand their collaboration and spheres of influence with peers, enhance their communication style, and demonstrate more executive presence. She has experience with multiple industries (financial services, private equity, consumer goods, cosmetics/luxury goods, retail, media, technology, consulting, and nonprofit, including education, foundations, hospitals, and social services,). Her functional experience includes general management, finance, strategy, marketing, communications, sales, operations, consulting, technology, board directorship, and nonprofit development). Certified by the International Coach Federation (ICF), Margaret also earned an Executive Coaching Certification (highest level) from Columbia University, an MBA from The Kellogg School at Northwestern University, and a BS with honors from New York University. For more information, visit her website at www.chanexecutivecoach.com.
Executive Career Coach Susan Chritton, M.Ed., PCC, Author of Personal Branding for Dummies, specializes in working with senior professionals in career angst or career transition. When her clients decide to take an active role in their life direction, need support to move their career forward, or crave guidance as their leadership situation evolves – Susan is the trusted advisor they seek. Susan is a Professional Certified Coach (PCC); Master Coach of the Hudson Institute; Certified in Applied Positive Psychology (CAPP); Board Certified Coach (BCC); Certified Career Counselor (CCC); and Master Personal Branding Strategist. Find out more at http://susanchritton.com/.
Neil Danzger, Palm Beach Gardens, FL
Neil Danzger, CFA, founded Danzger Group to help people find and succeed at fulfilling, rewarding work. He’s coached and advised many ambitious people on careers and job search, allowing them to move into exciting new positions. His career has been largely at the intersection of finance and technology. He’s had extensive experience in human resources and recruiting throughout his career, both on Wall Street as a stock analyst and portfolio manager and as an entrepreneur. He’s hired more than 100 people, conducted several hundred interviews, and reviewed thousands of resumes. In addition to corporate experience at big companies like Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs, he founded or worked for six startups. Most recently, he co-founded a technology firm that serves some of the world’s largest hedge funds. He earned an MBA in finance from New York University’s Stern School and dual undergraduate degrees from the Engineering and Wharton Schools at the University of Pennsylvania as a graduate of the Jerome Fisher Program in Management & Technology. He is a Chartered Financial Analyst. To learn more and request a free consultation, visit https://www.danzgergroup.com.
Marc Dickstein Philadelphia, PA
Marc Dickstein is the Founder of Plus Marc, a national leadership development and career coaching practice. He specializes in helping leaders and mid-career professionals realize their ideal blend of impact and happiness. Through 1×1 partnerships and group workshops, Marc collaborates with those who strive for greatness, engagement, and fulfillment at work, home, and everywhere in between. Recent partnership highlights include: Comcast, Squarespace, Chief, Vimeo, WeWork, General Assembly, First Round Capital, Udemy, and White & Case LLP. For over ten years, Marc led people, operations, and marketing teams in retail, media, and technology. Marc is a Board Member, Coach, and Co-Founder of Out in Tech, a non-profit that unites over 30,000 members of the global LGBTQ+ tech community, and he co-leads PennGALA, Penn’s alumni LGBTQ association. He is a Penn graduate and also a Certified Professional Coach (CPC) through training at The Institute for Professional Excellence in Coaching (iPEC). Marc has lived in New York City, San Francisco, and he now resides in Philadelphia with his husband, Mark, and the cutest Miniature Schnauzer on the planet, Bubby. Alumni are welcome to reach out with questions and/or session requests via http://plusmarc.com or LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marcdickstein/.
Marina is passionate about working with experienced professionals, both mid-career and senior leaders, to help them navigate career opportunities (or obstacles). She will collaborate with you to identify strategies to achieve your professional goals whether it’s becoming “unstuck” in your position, managing a transition, developing in your role, or advancing your career. Her clients praise her ability to create a safe space that enables them to challenge their thinking while also identifying their career priorities. As a Black woman, and first-generation American, she is interested in creating an inclusive environment for everyone she serves. Marina’s coaching is informed by her 20+ years of experience working in human resources-related fields, a Ph.D. in Social-Organizational Psychology from Columbia University, and a B.A. from the University of Pennsylvania. She earned her coaching certification from the Columbia Coaching Certification Program. Her combined academic and work experiences provide her with an enhanced ability to understand her client’s perspectives and more quickly gain their respect. If this resonates with you, Marina invites you to click this link and connect with her to schedule an initial free consultation.
Amy Jaller Gleklen Washington, DC metro area
Amy is a leadership and career coach with a track record of helping clients build their leadership capacity and grow their organizations. As CEO of Next Game Plan, she coaches senior and emerging global leaders and their teams in a variety of functional roles in the corporate, professional services, government, and nonprofit sectors in engagements that have ranged from short-term assignments to multi-year relationships. She also helps individuals assess their next best career move. She has coached dozens of C-suite executives of companies ranging from small businesses to billion-dollar organizations. She is also an experienced peer coaching facilitator. Amy serves as an executive coach for the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, working with MBA students in Wharton’s Executive Coaching and Feedback Program, and has served as visiting faculty for PwC’s Genesis Park global leadership development program. Her coaching philosophy is informed by her unique combination of a Wharton MBA, Master’s degree in counseling from Johns Hopkins, and Leadership Coaching Certification from Georgetown. Beyond her education, she brings to each client engagement fifteen years of experience coaching individuals and teams and the lessons learned from twenty-five years of leadership experience in the corporate and non-profit sectors. Amy has certifications and advanced training including being a Professional Certified Coach, Leadership Circle 360, MBTI, Hogan Assessment, Team Diagnostic Survey, EQ-I, ESCI, DiSC, Team Coaching, Strong Interest Inventory, Positive Psychology, and Positive Intelligence. Find out more at www.nextgameplan.com.
Bill Hyman Philadelphia, PA
Bill Hyman is a seasoned leadership and career coach who works with his clients to achieve their career goals. He helps individuals clarify their career goals by taking a highly interactive, holistic approach to the clarification process which often includes administering career instruments. Bill has also assisted hundreds of job seekers navigate the job search process including writing an impactful resume and LinkedIn Profile, effective networking strategies, conduct practice job interviews and negotiating the job offer. With more than 20 years of business and leadership coaching experience, Bill is a seasoned Human Resources executive, having worked in a number of industries including large (Fortune 50), mid-size companies, higher education and non-profits. Bill is a Certified Coach by the International Coaching Federation. Bill is also certified in the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator and Profilor. He is certified to teach leadership training by Development Dimensions International (DDI). As the radio talk show host of “Let’s Talk Careers,” Bill interviewed hundreds of guests about workplace issues which aired in Philadelphia for more than 11 years. He holds a master’s degree in Higher Education from The Ohio State University and a bachelor’s degree in Accounting and Political Science from Muhlenberg College. Bill and his wife raised their two daughters in the greater Philadelphia area. Bill is the past President of the Board of Directors of CreekSide Food Co-op in Elkins Park, PA. Bill is happy to speak with you to learn more about your career journey by contacting him via his website at www.wahhrconsultingservices.com.
Peter Jacobs, Northern California
Since 2001, Peter Jacobs has coached over 1000 professionals, from entry to senior level, in every aspect of career development. He is passionate about helping people to develop new capacities and competencies, get unstuck, or open up new possibilities. Peter’s clients have said that he has a talent for asking questions that offer new perspectives, finding and reflecting back the essence in each person’s story, and uncovering resources to discover and pursue new possibilities. They also describe him as direct, supportive, and powerful in challenging his clients to explore new ways of perceiving, being and acting in their careers. In addition to seeing clients in his private practices, Peter works with employees at Genentech, MBA Students and Alumni from UC Berkeley Haas, and MBA alumni from INSEAD and Columbia University. Before becoming a coach, Peter worked in a variety of Finance, Procurement and Business Process roles in the U.S. and Western Europe. He completed an MBA at INSEAD in France, an M.A. in Career Development at John F. Kennedy University. Peter completed coaching training with the Newfield Network and is a Certified Integral Coach through New Ventures West. He is a National Certified Counselor (NCC) through the National Board of Certified Counselors and a Certified Career Counselor (CCC) through the National Career Development Association. Peter will help you in setting career goals and creating strategies to pursue them, becoming better able to manage conversations more skillfully, becoming nimbler at navigating change, taking steps to build a more powerful professional brand, and creating a targeted resume and preparing for interviews. Find out more at http://www.gccoach.com/about.html.
Caroline Ouwerkerk, worldwide, based in Baltimore
Caroline Ouwerkerk is a career and confidence coach focused on helping young professionals 2-12 years out of college clarify their strengths, skills, and goals, explore their options, and pursue their next step with confidence. Caroline offers targeted 1:1 coaching, small group programs, online courses, and in-person workshops to help young professionals find fulfilling work that maximizes their talents while creating space for all of their other priorities. She specializes in moving on from your first job, social impact careers, managing imposter syndrome, and discerning whether graduate school is right for you. Caroline has nearly 15 years of experience as a student, staff member, and instructor at three of the nation’s top ten research universities. Previously, Caroline was the Assistant Director of the Johns Hopkins University Center for Social Concern and was a lecturer in the Center for Leadership Education at the Hopkins Whiting School of Engineering, teaching courses on leadership, service and social entrepreneurship. Prior to Hopkins, Caroline was the founding program director of the University of Chicago Urban Network, an interdisciplinary research initiative connecting faculty, students, and others working on urban issues. Caroline received her AB in History from the University of Chicago, and her Master’s in Higher Education Administration from the University of Pennsylvania. She also has a certificate in Creative Writing from the Graham School and a certificate from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business Executive Program for Emerging Leaders. Learn more and schedule a free first session with Caroline at: https://www.carolineouwerkerk.com
