Jennifer Smith

Role

Jennifer is a seasoned executive and leadership coach passionate about helping leaders reach their peak performance and potential. She has worked with leaders in Fortune 500 companies, medium to small businesses, and not-for-profit organizations globally spanning more than ten industries. Her areas of coachng specialty include leadership, communication, executive presence, self-awareness, social & emotional intelligence, interpersonal relationships, team building and team development.

Jennifer has more than two decades of experience facilitating workshops for thousands and coaching hundreds of leaders areound the world to help them develop their capabilities as well as those of their teams. Her unique view of leadership is based on working with leaders across four continents and in over ten industries. Jennifer shares with the best nd the brightest directors, senior directors and vice presidents that leadership is choosing behaviors that inspire and enable others to contribute towards the effectiveness of the organization.

Experience and Expertise

Jennifer held senior organization development leadership positions at General Electric, Panasonic, and Munich Re America. In these roles, she led teams that were responsible for Leadership Development, Succession Planning, Performance Management, Diversity, and Compensation. Having an Accounting and Finance background, she was able to link interventions to business results and, ultimately, the calculation of ROI.

Because Jennifer specializes in leadership development, she has been brought into organizations to coach leaders, design development programs, facilitate programs, assess the effectiveness of existing programs, program manage sustainability efforts, and measure effectiveness. One example of this is when she led the roll-out of a 9 month Leadership Development Program for approximately 950 leaders globally which included certifying trainers and working with International partners to translate materials and schedule training. In addition, she coached leaders who were participating in the program to help them sustain the behavioral change.

For a global technology company, Jennifer facilitated a 3-day Leadership Development program for over 168 leaders within 6 months which has led to an organization culture change. One element of the program had the leaders work on projects and identify recommendations for business challenges which resulted in greater collaboration across the organization; a low cost, high impact recognition program; and the integration of an acquired companies services into a solution portfolio.

Another area of strength is in designing Succession Planning processes and coaching leaders on getting clear about the difference between high potential and top performers. At Munich Re, Jennifer designed and implemented their first ever Succession Planning and Talent Identification process. While at Panasonic, Jennifer redesigned the talent identification process and coached Senior Leaders so that they could distinguish between high potentials and the top 20% of top performers. When implementing programs, she uses her change management mindset to develop strategies to overcome resistance.

Jennifer’s key areas of expertise include:

Coaching leaders at the Director, Senior Director, and Vice President levels in global organizations to increase leader effectiveness which favorably impacts employee engagement.
Facilitating leadership development sessions focused on helping leaders create sustainable behavioral change.
Facilitating Succession Planning processes and partnering with HR Business Partners to help Senior Leaders distinguish between high potentials and the top 20% of high performers.
Designing and facilitating team effectiveness sessions to help organizations achieve their goals.

Her International facilitation and leadership coaching experience includes working with leaders across the United States, France, Germany, Canada, Mexico, Hong Kong, and Argentina to name a few. Jennifer has been the Master of Ceremony for numerous banquets as well as spoken for many organizations including New Jersey Organization Development Network and Society for Human Resources Management conferences.

Client Quote

“I sought out the expertise of Jennifer Smith for assistance with developing strategies for improving my ability to effectively communicate and engage with senior leaders. I had recently started a new role which required me to interact with many Senior Leaders across my organization, and was grateful to have an opportunity to work with Jennifer Smith who helped outline a comprehensive approach for ‘raising the bar’ with my communications skills. As a result, I learned more about the importance of focusing on the audience when thinking about the right messages to communicate, and I now have a greater ability to incorporate stories as a way to effectively engage with my audience. Overall I have improved my ability to communicate with greater confidence and I highly recommend attending Jennifer’s many great training programs and woul endorse taking advantage of her executive communications coaching expertise for professional growth.” Director, Janssen Pharmaceuticals.
“Jennifer enabled me to focus my attention on why I was feeling a certain way or responding in a certain manner. Not by dissecting what I was doing, but by prompting me with questions that caused me to self-evaluate and discover things myself. The main difference for me now is that I realized I do not have to have all of the answers for everyone. I can encourage and ask questions and coach in a much more effective manner. Another key aspect of this coaching effort was the reaization of ‘what people say is about them’ and ‘how I interpret it is about me.’ Making that distinction and applying it real time has had an enormous impact on my communication with others. Jennifer’s coaching enabled me to see that and more. She is a real gem!” Director, Iron Bow Technologies
“Jennifer, thank you again for your efforts in facilitating this week’s leadership training for my group. You really did a great job engaging us all and making us think. I have already taken action today by sharing my Leadership Credo with my boss and handing out a few appreciation cards to my legal department team mates. It felt good!” Assistant General Counsel, Technology Company
“Having Jennifer as a presenter/speaker proved to be a valuable decision. Jennifer is a fantastic motivator and speaks to her subjects in a language that all can understand. Her ability to connect with others is incredible; allowing open communication during her sessions allows those listening to get a full experience. Jennifer is an A++!” Hospitality and Events Planner, Advanced Management Concepts
“Jennifer helps me draw on my strengths and to focus on what I need to do to stay aligned with my important values. She helps me to formulate a plan for moving forward every week and without fail holds me accountable the following coaching session. With Jennifer, I discovered and surmounted the areas that hindered me from reaching my goals.” Founder& Director, Armchair-Enlightenment
“I found Jennifer to be extremely helpful in coaching not only the technical aspects of the Six Sigma Process but also change management. Change management is difficult in any environment, but Jennifer had the ability to facilitate change by ask thought provoking questions, actively listen, and then asking more questions to lead her audience to positive outcomes a TRUE COACH.” Director, Service & Continuous Improvement, Danaher

Clients

A sampling of companies that have benefited from Jennifer’s expertise include DeVry University, California State Polytechnic Uiversity, General Electric, Panasonic, Electrolux, American Airlines, American Express, Janssen Pharmaceutical, Munich Re America, Catalent Pharma Solutions, Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey, Konica Minolta Business Solutions, Salesforce, , Merck Pharmaceuticals, Iron Bow Technologies, and Luxor Hotel & Casino, and Excalibur Hotel & Casino.

Professional Certifications

The Executive Edge®: The Coaching AdvantEdge™
Professional Certified Coach (PCC), International Coach Federation (ICF)
Certified Professional Coach (CPC), Institute for Professional Excellence in Coaching (iPEC)
Social + Emotional Intelligence Certified Coach, Institute for Social + Emotional Intelligence (ISEI)r®
Certified Myers Briggs Type Indicator® (MBTI), Type Resources
Certified Energy Leadership Index Master Practitioner (ELI-MP), iPEC
Certified Six Sigma Master Black Belt, General Electric
Certified Facilitator/Trainer, Langevin Learning Services

Education and Professional Associations

Jennifer holds a Bachelor’s degree in Accounting from Grambling State University and is a graduate of General Electric’s Financial Management Leadership Program (FMLP). She also holds a Master’s degree in Organization Development and Human Resources with a concentration in Organization Development from The Johns Hopkins Carey Business School. Jennifer is a member the International Coach Federation (ICF) and serves as a Board Member for ICF-NJ State Chapter.

More About Jennifer

Jennifer resides in Princeton, NJ. She enjoys spending her spare time traveling and learning about cultures. Her interests include learning Spanish, Salsa dancing, and reading thrillers.

Learn More

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Phone: 1.630.404.2256
Email: info@theexecutiveedge.net
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