ELLEN VERFALLE
Executive Coach & Organizational Consultant MBA, EMCCC
Ellen is an Executive Coach and Organizational Consultant with a successful track record in supporting senior executives, individually or in teams, to increase their Leadership Effectiveness, to navigate Role and Career Transitions and to lead Organizational Change. She powerfully combines her caring and candid personality with a deep understanding of the intricacies of global business and human behavior.
Ellen is convinced that even busy executives -provided the right support, courage, intentionality and effort- can access untapped potential and reach unimagined goals. She is a passionate catalyst for lasting individual and organizational transformation, especially when working with motivated, strategy-driving leaders whose impact cascades throughout their organizations.
Ellen works with individuals or groups in the context of tailored Coaching Engagements, Team Workshops or Learning Interventions. She dedicates ample time to diagnose needs, to understand the larger system within which the executive or team operate and to engage with key stakeholders, in order to select and refine the most effective learning methodologies, content and design.
Specialized in Executive Development in multi-nationals across the globe, Ellen has worked across leading companies from Consumer Goods (Danone, Mars, Nike, ...), Luxury (LVMH), Industry (Umicore, Etex, Syngenta,.. ), Oil & Gas (Exxon Mobil, Kuweit Oil, Husky Oil..), Mining (BHP Billington, Vale, ... ), Technology (Google, Cyient,...), Shipping (Maersk, ...), Retail (Tesco, ...), Professional Services (PWC, KPMG, Hogan Lovells,...) and Banking (Barclays, Deutsche Bank, SHB, ...). She regularly intervenes in Executive Programmes at Insead Singapore, Abu Dhabi and Fontainebleau and at the Centre for Creative Leadership (CCL).
A global citizen recently relocated to her home country Belgium after 20 years as an expatriate, Ellen has lived in Singapore, France, Germany and the USA and is well-versed in the complexity of global dual careers. She is fluent in English, French and Dutch, conversational in German and has worked with over 60 nationalities including Chinese, Japanese, Saudi-Arabian and Russian, across all continents.
Most of Ellen’s clients are accomplished senior leaders who master many of the leadership skills expected of them. To support these executives to grow ‘from Good to Great’ she works beyond the observable behaviors with the unique person underneath.
Drawing on techniques and concepts from the fields of psychology, system dynamics, leadership and adult development, neurobiology and somatics, Ellen guides her clients to build clarity of purpose as well as awareness of their beliefs and behaviors. Consciously slowing down the fast-paced executive, she encourages them to reconnect with their true self and to explore the root-causes of their way of showing up -and impacting- their worlds. Nourished with this deeper self-knowledge and capacity to consciously choose the behaviors and mindsets conductive to their ambitions, she encourages her clients to practice and bridge the ‘knowing-doing’ gap to durably appropriate their transformations.
Trained as a psychodynamic coach Ellen practices executive and team development as an interactive and highly-engaged ‘contact sport’ where the coaching relationship in the ‘here and now’ is a major platform for self-awareness and transformation. Where appropriate she includes 360 feedback or psychometric instruments as complementary sources of data.
As true change can only come from the executive, Ellen gently but firmly holds her clients accountable for the ownership and achievement of their coaching goals.
Corporate Background
Through her 16-year international career at l’Oréal, KPMG, State Street and Insead Executive Education Ellen is well-acquainted with the high-pressure, VUCA business environment of her clients. She has held regional and national sales and marketing leadership roles with P&L responsibility, inspired large teams through recessions and organizational change, and navigated political as well as operational challenges.
Part of the Senior Management Team at Insead as the leader of the European Company Specific Programs business, Ellen was responsible for 20% of total revenue of the leading business school. In collaboration with C-suite stakeholders and Insead professors, she and her team designed innovative Talent Development Programs for high-potential executives of Fortune 500 clients (Shell, Microsoft, SAP, ...). At l’Oréal Ellen managed category-leading brands VICHY and NARTA, developing new product lines and global marketing strategies. She started her career as a business analyst with KPMG and State Street.
For the last 6 years, Ellen has been an entrepreneur running her own global Coaching and Consulting Business.
Education
Ellen holds an MBA from Insead, a Master in Applied Economics, Finance from the University of Leuven (magna cum laude) and a Master in Intercultural Management from ICHEC. She is a naturally curious continuous learner, fascinated by the various discipines that enable adult development. To become an executive coach Ellen pursued the Executive Masters’ Degree in Consulting and Coaching for Change (EMCCC) at Insead and certified in numerous psychometric and feedback instruments (MBTI I & II, BarOn EQ, Hogan, Workplace Big 5, Firo-B, The Leadership Circle Profile, Benchmarks, Global Executive Leadership Mirror,...). During her years in Asia she developed a personal practice and expertise in mindfulness, leadership embodiment and somatics.
Beyond Work
When not working or moving continents with her family, Ellen enjoys dancing, sailing (especially speedy catamarans), hosting friends, savoring quality books and movies, and recharging in nature and unexplored countries. She is the proud and marveled mother of two energetic pre-teens who are her most demanding, most fun and best teachers.