About Us

Lisa D. Parker, Executive Coach and President

Lisa Parker, founder of the executive coaching firm Heads Up Coaching and Consulting, is the author of Managing the Moment: A Leader’s Guide to Building Executive Presence One Interaction at a Time. An experienced and sought-after professional executive coach, Lisa has many years of corporate and non-profit coaching experience in the U.S. and abroad. An executive in her own right, she held leadership positions with several Fortune 100 and 500 companies before dedicating herself full time to coaching in 2002. Prior to then, Lisa was the Vice President and Chief Learning Officer for the business-to-business sector of one of the country’s top insurance companies. Her firm, Heads Up Coaching, offers training in executive presence, presentation skills, communication skills and leadership effectiveness.

In Executive Coaching, Lisa draws on a blend of her own management experience, relevant management literature of the day, and the experience of the executives with whom she has worked in order to customize her coaching approach for each new assignment. Since she has served as a marketing officer, product development specialist, business analyst, sales trainer, and department head herself, she creates a dynamic, professional coaching environment that enables clients to relate to her quickly and completely.

Lisa’s particular area of expertise lies in coaching business professionals to strengthen their presentation and communication skills in order to lead change and drive results. She believes that effective communication underlies all leadership effectiveness, and applies techniques like video immersion and peer coaching to help build communication skills and awareness. Lisa works with business professionals to discover their best voice, appearance and message to maximize their impact. An accomplished presenter, singer and actress, Lisa appeared in dozens of plays, musicals, commercials and industrial films before moving to New York. Her classical voice instruction was with Louis Sgarro of the Metropolitan Opera and Mildred Coleman of the New England Conservatory, and she brings her knowledge of voice and movement to the business environment to help executives communicate most effectively.

In addition to one-on-one coaching, Lisa is adept at working with groups. She is a skilled instructional designer and facilitator, delivering seminars and workshops on leadership effectiveness, communication skills, sales effectiveness, performance management, presentation skills, change management, interview skills, and other topics for managers and their teams. Her group programs are both professional and enjoyable.

Lisa has been quoted on the subject of executive development in many respected journals and blogs, including The Washington Post, The Huffington Post, USAToday, FORTUNE, Barron’s, the Financial Times, and The Christian Science Monitor. She graduated Magna Cum Laude with a B.A. in English Literature from Ohio Wesleyan University and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. Lisa did her graduate work in the field of Industrial/ Organizational Psychology at Springfield College in Massachusetts.

The Heads Up Coaching Philosophy

Our work with leaders is supported by three pillars — It is always:

• People-Centered
• Performance-Based
• Business-Focused

Results and expected outcomes are measured by these standards of service, and our clients receive coaching that is perfectly matched to their skills, talents and opportunities for advancement.

For additional information about our unique approach to executive development, our services and the expected outcomes, please click on any of the topics at the top of each page.