Overview
Dr. Adena Johnston leverages her deep experience and broad industry expertise to serve as a trusted executive coach and strategic partner. Having sat in the executive seat as a corporate president, her background in organizational dynamics and executive coaching informs her intimate understanding of leadership challenges from both sides of the table. Known for weaving together practical business acumen, cultural insights, and behavioral science, Adena partners with her clients to deliver tailored approaches that drive sustainable and measurable results.
Adena is known for her candid and supportive approach, focus on career mobility, and as an executive coach to the C-Suite and emerging leaders. She has been involved in start-ups and turnarounds, championed employee engagement and change initiatives, and helped leaders build cultural competency and think systemically.
Prior to her current role as an executive coach and organizational consultant, Adena served as Vice President and Talent Development Practice Leader for a women-owned HR consulting firm where she led a team of executive coaches and provided thought leadership for the practice. In her corporate career, she was the regional leader and president of DeVry University-Pennsylvania, overseeing multiple profit centers, holding full P&L responsibility, leading strategic planning, and interfacing across the enterprise.
Adena focuses on helping organizations and leaders navigate complexity and build the capacity needed to grow. She specializes in creating collaborative and inclusive environments that value transparency, accountability, and ownership. Her executive coaching practice helps leaders get unstuck and gain the courage to advance their careers by developing self-awareness and the managerial courage necessary to drive their agendas forward while maintaining strong work relationships. Adena’s coaching approach is confidential, strengths-based, and committed to providing honest feedback to deepen clients’ perspectives. Clients find Adena authentic and approachable. Her ability to balance personal development with business goals makes working with her rewarding.
Experience and Expertise
Adena’s key areas of expertise include:
- Facilitating senior executive teams to focus and align their strategic priorities and better engage their talented teams
- Executive and high-potential coaching focused on executive presence, complexity leadership, and leveraging core strengths
- Leadership and high-potential development program design and facilitation integrated across roles/levels, supported by executive coaching
- Executive team development
- Internal career management programs designed to engage and retain top talent
- Competency-based succession planning programs to support culture change and knowledge-transfer
- Systems and interactive design thinking sessions to promote scenario planning, strategy, and engagement
Adena has spent her career empowering learners and leaders who seek to build capacity and take steps forward in their careers. She speaks on topics of systems thinking, career mobility, AI in coaching and development, and the future of work. Her book, Growing Forward, an HR Guide to Adaptive Talent Management, will be released in the summer of 2025.
Clients
Adena is industry agnostic and leadership specific She coaches and consults in the for-profit and not-for-profit sectors. Some of her clients: Adtalem Education, A&E Networks, AMC Networks, American Water, AMETEK, ARAMARK, Avid Radiopharmaceuticals, Ballard Spahr, BASF, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, Citadel Credit Union, Columbia University, Comcast, Elavon/US Bank, Envision Consultants LTD, Janney Montgomery Scott, Jefferson Health, Kelly Services, Lenox Advisors, Mallinckrodt, NY Presbyterian Hospital, Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine, LinkedIn, Stern & Eisenberg, The City of Philadelphia, Pacira, Philadelphia Gas Works, Project Hospitality, Radus Pharma, Swarthmore College, Saint Joseph’s University, Subaru, The Michaels Organization, The University of Pennsylvania, Washington Gas Light, Westchester Borough, Wharton Business School, XYLEM. Clients find Adena authentic and approachable. Her ability to balance personal development with business goals makes working with her rewarding.
Awards and Certifications
Adena was nominated for the 2025 HR Strategic Ally award by the Delaware Valley SHRM HR Person of the Year committee. She received the Leadership Excellence Award for Executive Coaching by Career Partners International in 2017 & 2019 and has been recognized by the Graduate School Alliance for Education in Coaching for her work support coaching standards for higher education. She is a certified Master Corporate Executive Coach through the MMECO Leadership Institute. Adena is a regular contributor to the Forbes Coaches Council and certified to deliver a wide variety of individual, 360, team, and organizational assessments, including: Hogan Assessment Suite, EQi-2.0 and EQi-360, Leadership Effectiveness Analysis (LEA), Wiley DiSC®, BehavioralOS®, Voices®/KF360, Profilor360, Benchmarks® CCL Suite, Leadership Wheel, LIFO®, PowerMyWork®, Leadership Architect™, Retirement Success Profile™, Change Navigator™, Birkman Method™, and as a managerial mediator through MTI.
Education and Professional Associations
Adena holds a Doctorate in Management with a focus on strategic leadership and organizational complexity. She holds a M.S. in Organizational Dynamics and her Executive Coaching Certification from The University of Pennsylvania. She received her coaching education at The University of Pennsylvania and is a certified Master Corporate Executive Coach (MCEC). Adena is also an active member of the Forbes Coaches Council, the Association for Corporate Executive Coaches (ACEC) and its MEECO Leadership Institute, the International Coach Federation (ICF) of Philadelphia, and the Philadelphia Society for People and Strategy (PSPS).
A passionate educator, Adena has taught with Duke CE and served as an adjunct professor at Drexel University’s LeBow College, Jefferson University’s College for Professional Studies, and Temple University’s Klein College of Media and Communication. She teaches in the disciplines of sociology, workplace culture, leadership, communication, and organizational development.
Learn More
For additional information about The Executive Edge®, please contact us at:
Phone: 1.630.404.2256
Email: kim.ramsey@theexecutiveedge.net
Web: http://www.theexecutiveedge.net/
