Executive coach in New York City.
I am an executive coach for CEOs, founders and senior executives in New York City, and I held the seats before I coached them: founder and CEO of the company that became Web.com, taken to a Nasdaq IPO; VP at Unqork and Chief Product Officer at Coursedog, two New York companies; EVP at New Relic while it grew from $300M to $500M; COO in a VC-backed turnaround. I am CEC and ICF certified, with a BS in Psychology and a master’s in CMHC underway.
I lived on Long Island for over three years, and my wife is a lifelong New Yorker who worked in the city before we moved to Georgia. 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. New York City companies get the same terms and the same operator.
Three ways to work with a New York City 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 New York City 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 NYC: 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 New York City companies: transformation leadership, board counsel, integration after an acquisition, and work with private equity portfolio companies.
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 NYC 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 in New York City.
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 New York’s financial institutions and headquarters
The New York Stock Exchange and Nasdaq, the banks and asset managers around them, and the many Fortune 500 companies headquartered in the city. 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.
Finance and private equity leaders
New York City is the largest global center for trading in public equity and debt, and it leads in hedge fund management and private equity. Executive coaching for leaders in banking, asset management, private equity and fintech. As a VP at Unqork, a New York company, I led implementations for Goldman Sachs, Marsh and State Street.
What is different about leading a company in New York City.
New York City is the largest global center for trading in public equity and debt. The New York Stock Exchange and Nasdaq are the world’s two largest stock exchanges, and the city leads in hedge fund management, private equity and the volume of mergers and acquisitions. Leadership here runs on the market’s clock: the board, the investors and the next deal set the pace as much as the plan does. I worked inside that world as a VP at Unqork, a New York company whose no-code platform serves finance, insurance and government, and led implementations for Goldman Sachs, Marsh and State Street. I spent a decade as a managing partner at a venture firm and board member across 35 deals and 18 exits, and I took the company I founded to a Nasdaq IPO.
The other New York is Silicon Alley, the technology companies centered on the Flatiron district, from fintech to AI. As Chief Product Officer at Coursedog, another New York company, we rebuilt product and engineering in nine months, ARR grew from $4M to $10M, and the company was acquired by JMI Equity for $80M. When we talk about your New York company, the seats are the ones I have held.
Executive coaching in New York City: the questions people actually ask.
How do I choose an executive coach in New York City?
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 NYC executive coaches?
I held the seats before I coached them: founder and public-company CEO, EVP, VP, Chief Product Officer and COO, two of them at New York companies. 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 New York City?
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 New York City leaders do you coach?
Executives in finance, private equity and fintech, leaders at technology and venture-backed companies, CEOs and founders, COOs, presidents and product leaders, and whole leadership teams.
What is different about leading a company in New York City?
The markets and the pace. New York is the largest global center for trading public equity and debt, so a lot of leadership runs on an investor’s clock, and Silicon Alley adds venture-backed companies scaling fast. The section above walks through both and the seats I held at two New York companies.
Do you coach Wall Street, finance and private equity executives?
Yes. The coaching is about the seat you hold: the board, the investors, the risk function, the peers and the team. As a VP at Unqork, a New York company, I led implementations for Goldman Sachs, Marsh and State Street, and a decade as an investor and board member across 35 deals and 18 exits means I know how a board reads the plan.
Do you coach technology and startup leaders in New York?
Yes: founders, CEOs and product and engineering leaders at venture-backed companies. As Chief Product Officer at Coursedog, a New York company, we rebuilt product and engineering in nine months and the company was acquired by JMI Equity for $80M. See coaching for startup CEOs.
Can executive coaching help me prepare for a promotion or 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.
Is executive coaching confidential?
Yes. If your company is funding the engagement, it will know the engagement is happening and may want to agree the goals up front, but what is said in a session stays in the session.
Do we need to meet in person in New York City?
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 NYC, 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 New York City?
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.
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.
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.
- Send the note, or book the call if you would rather pick a time.
- Forty-five minutes, on video.
- 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
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 City (travel, remote)
- San Francisco (travel, remote)
- Chicago (travel, remote)
- Miami (travel, remote)
- Washington DC (travel, remote)
- Boston (travel, remote)