Charlotte · North Carolina

Executive coaching in Charlotte.

I coach CEOs, founders and senior executives in Charlotte, and I held the seats before I coached them: founder and CEO of the company that became Web.com, taken to a Nasdaq IPO; EVP at New Relic while it grew from $300M to $500M; VP at Cox Automotive through a cloud and DevOps transformation; COO in a VC-backed turnaround. I am CEC and ICF certified, with a BS in Psychology and a master’s in CMHC underway.

My practice runs nationally: standing coaching calls on video with leaders everywhere, and on-site work, offsites, working sessions and consulting, anywhere in the country when the engagement books time for it. Charlotte companies get the same terms and the same operator.

The work

Three ways to work with a Charlotte company.

Executive coaching, on a standing cadence

A standing cadence on video, weekly, every other week or monthly, with access between calls, on the same terms as all my executive coaching: a practical, candid thought partner who has held the seat you sit in. Executive coaching in Charlotte for CEOs, founders and senior executives, and leadership team coaching when the team is the unit.

Offsites, in your room

Executive offsites, strategic planning sessions, retreats and leadership alignment workshops, run by an operator, not a moderator. See facilitation for how the room works. Executive offsite facilitation in Charlotte: strategic planning sessions, leadership retreats and executive team alignment, in your room or the venue your team chooses.

Consulting, on your site

Operational work happens where the work is: your floor, your standups, your board meeting. From strategy consulting to AI consulting, on site when the engagement calls for it. Strategy consulting for Charlotte companies: transformation leadership, regulated change, board counsel and work with private equity portfolio companies.

What you get

What you get from executive coaching.

Executive coaching is leadership development built around the seat you are in, not a course. Here is what an engagement delivers, as leadership development for Charlotte executives built around the company you actually run.

Success, defined up front

Before the work starts we agree what success looks like and how we will both know, and we check the work against that measure at set points along the way, not only at the end.

A thinking partner who has held the seat

Standing calls weekly, every other week or monthly, in person or on video, and access between calls, because the hard things do not wait for the calendar.

A sharper view of your own patterns

Blind spots named early, and a clear view of how you lead under pressure. We can work on the board meeting and the person walking into it in the same hour.

Executive presence and stakeholder management

Presence with a board, investors, PE operating partners and the peers who wanted your job, and a plan for the transition into a bigger seat before it arrives.

Progress on the problems that do not fit on a slide

The team that worked at the last size and does not at this one. The difficult conversation you have been putting off. Accountability that does not backfire. Alignment across a leadership team.

Habits that outlast the coaching

The right formula, the right tactics, and repeatable actions: the rhythm that keeps the change alive after we finish. Insight alone does not survive a real quarter.

Your company can fund it. Most of my clients are funded by their company as leadership or professional development, because companies invest in the leaders they intend to keep. If you need to make that case internally, I will help you build it.

Who I work with

Who I work with in Charlotte.

I have sat on every side of the table, so I understand how the whole organization moves, not just the seat you are in.

Technology founders and CEOs

CEO coaching for founders and first-time CEOs: scaling past the team you started with, investor expectations, and the move from founder-led to a real leadership team. I have made that move myself, and I was EVP at New Relic while it grew from $300M to $500M.

Leaders of PE- and VC-backed companies

A sponsor with a playbook and a clock, and a board that wants the plan delivered. I spent a decade as a managing partner at a venture firm, and I was COO in a VC-backed turnaround.

Executives inside Charlotte’s banks and headquarters

Bank of America and Truist headquarters, Wells Fargo’s East Coast operations, and the headquarters that moved here, Honeywell among them. Change inside a large, regulated enterprise is its own seat: I led transformation inside an 80-year-old enterprise at Cox Automotive.

Leadership teams

Leadership team coaching: the team as a unit, not only its leader. Executive team alignment, clear decision rights, and an offsite that turns into follow-through. More on facilitation.

COOs, presidents and product leaders

The second in command, whether the title is chief operating officer or president, and the most senior product leader. I have held the COO seat and the product seat. More on coaching for COOs and coaching for Chief Product Officers.

Financial services leaders

Charlotte is the second-largest banking center in the country, after New York. Executive coaching for leaders in banking, asset management and fintech, where regulation sets the pace of change. As a VP at Unqork I led implementations for Goldman Sachs, Marsh and State Street.

Charlotte

What is different about leading a company in Charlotte.

Charlotte is the second-largest banking center in the United States, after New York. Bank of America, the second-largest financial institution in the country by assets, is headquartered here; so is Truist; and Wells Fargo runs its East Coast operations and its capital markets business from the city. That is change inside a regulated institution, where the pace is set by the board, the regulators and the risk function as much as by the plan. I led implementations for Goldman Sachs, Marsh and State Street as a VP at Unqork, and at New Relic I led the FedRAMP work that protected $40M of public-sector revenue.

Charlotte also keeps drawing headquarters and technology centers. Honeywell moved its corporate headquarters here in 2018 and Dole in 2019; Lowe’s built a $153M Global Technology Center in South End; Microsoft and Centene run East Coast headquarters here. A move like that is a leadership problem before it is a real estate one: a new team, a new city and the old company’s habits. I led transformation inside an 80-year-old enterprise at Cox Automotive, and the company I founded merged with MicronPC to become Web.com; I took it to 650 people and a Nasdaq listing and was EVP at New Relic while it grew from $300M to $500M. Around them sit the PE- and VC-backed companies with a sponsor, a plan and a clock; I spent a decade as a managing partner at a venture firm and sat on the operating side as COO in a VC-backed turnaround. When we talk about your Charlotte company, the seats are the ones I have held.

Ken Gavranovic, executive coach, founder and CEO through a Nasdaq IPO
Ken Gavranovic. Founder and CEO through a Nasdaq IPO, EVP, VP, COO; executive coach since 2019.
Ken Gavranovic at the Nasdaq market site on IPO day, a handshake and the Nasdaq award in front of the market screens
Nasdaq, IPO day for the company I founded, the one that became Web.com.
Questions

Executive coaching in Charlotte: the questions people actually ask.

How do I choose an executive coach in Charlotte?

Start with which seat the coach has held and what happened to the company, then the credentials, then how the cadence works week to week. I wrote up six questions to ask any executive coach, including me.

How is your coaching different from other Charlotte executive coaches?

I held the seats before I coached them: founder and public-company CEO, EVP, VP and COO. You work with me directly for the whole engagement, not a matched associate. I am CEC and ICF certified, a member of the APA, ACA and LPCA, and the author of the Amazon best seller Business Breakthrough 3.

How much does executive coaching cost in Charlotte?

Most of my clients are funded by their company. The price depends on cadence, length and how much of the work is on site; you get a scope and a number on the discovery call. What the market charges is in my guide to executive coaching costs.

Which Charlotte leaders do you coach?

Executives inside banks and financial services firms, leaders at Charlotte headquarters and technology centers, CEOs and founders, leaders of PE- and VC-backed companies, COOs, presidents and product leaders, and whole leadership teams.

What is different about leading a company in Charlotte?

The banks and the moves. Charlotte is the second-largest banking center in the country, so a lot of leadership happens inside regulated institutions, and the city keeps drawing relocated headquarters and new technology centers. The section above walks through both and the seats I held that map to them.

Do you coach banking and financial services executives?

Yes. The coaching is about the seat you hold: the board, the regulators’ pace, the risk function, the peers and the team. As a VP at Unqork I led implementations for Goldman Sachs, Marsh and State Street, so I know how change moves inside a regulated firm.

Do you coach leaders through a headquarters move or a new technology center?

Yes. A move is an integration problem: a new team, a new city, and the old company’s habits. I have led transformation inside an 80-year-old enterprise and taken the company I founded through a public-company merger.

Do we need to meet in person in Charlotte?

No. Most of my clients work with me on video on a standing cadence, with access between calls. On-site work, an offsite, a strategic planning session or a working session with your team, happens where your team is, anywhere in the country, when the engagement books time for it.

Do you coach leadership teams in Charlotte, or only individuals?

Both. Leadership team coaching treats the team as the unit: decision rights, how the team disagrees, and the follow-through after an offsite. It often starts with one executive and widens to the team.

Do you facilitate executive offsites in Charlotte?

Yes: executive offsites, annual and quarterly strategic planning sessions, and leadership team working sessions, run by an operator, in your room or the venue your team chooses. See facilitation for how the room works.

Do you coach new CEOs and leaders stepping into a bigger seat?

Yes, and it is some of the most valuable work: a first-time CEO, a new COO, or a leader promoted into a seat their peers used to hold. I have made those transitions myself, from founder to public-company CEO and into the COO seat of a company in a turnaround.

How do we start?

The same way every engagement starts: a discovery call. Forty-five minutes on video, the real problem on your desk, and a straight answer on whether I am the right person for it.

Keep reading
Start here

Start with the real problem.

Forty-five minutes, no pressure, no pitch. Bring the real problem on your desk and you will leave with a sharper version of it, and a straight answer on whether I am the right person for it.

  1. Send the note, or book the call if you would rather pick a time.
  2. Forty-five minutes, on video.
  3. A scope and a number if it makes sense to work together, and a straight no if it does not.

Or reach me directly:
(629) 304-8755
ken@kengavranovic.com

Where I work in person

In person, or remote. City by city.

Executive coaching across a table, offsites in your room, consulting on your site. Based in Alpharetta, Georgia; remote everywhere.

  • Alpharetta (home base)
  • Atlanta (home market)
  • Nashville (travel, remote)
  • Dallas (travel, remote)
  • Austin (travel, remote)
  • Charlotte (travel, remote)
  • New York (travel, remote)
  • San Francisco (travel, remote)
  • Chicago (travel, remote)
  • Miami (travel, remote)
  • Washington DC (travel, remote)
  • Boston (travel, remote)