Hire a fractional or full-time Head of Culture and Learning

I spent close to twenty years as the owner of Authentic Leadership Advisors, shaping company culture through talent management, leadership development, learning and development, and executive coaching for organizations of every size and in multiple industries.

It’s time to switch things up. I want to serve one company whose mission deserves my full attention, in one of the two directions below. You would also gain a complete, accredited leadership coaching program to run as its own.

Eligible for work in the US, EU, and UK as a dual US and Irish citizen.

Kathleen A. O'Grady

Kathleen A. O'Grady, MCC
Originator of Authentic Intelligence™

Portfolio

The Offer

Full-Time Hire

Title commensurate with the scope
of the role and the size
of the organization.

Fractional

A budgeted engagement of twelve
to thirty-six months, with senior
decision makers as stakeholders.

  1. Expert in talent management, succession planning, leadership and organizational development, transformative adult learning programs, and executive coaching
  2. A bespoke curriculum, twenty years deep, designed to ICF Master Certified Coach standards for client organizations
  3. A seasoned leader who built and scaled a coaching company through the 2008 financial crisis, in a field still largely unknown at the time, when the International Coaching Federation (ICF) had yet to take off
  4. An actively accredited leadership coaching certification program, ICF Level 1 (ACC) and Level 2 (PCC), recognized by the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) as a Recertification Provider. If transferred before its renewal cycle in July 2027, the accreditations allow your company to award ICF and SHRM continuing education credits internally

Sample Areas of Focus

  • Learning strategy and roadmap
  • Onboarding and early‑career programs
  • Leadership development at all levels
  • M&A culture assimilation
  • Succession planning
  • Talent programs
  • Leaders as coaches
  • Measurement and impact

The list above is only a subset of work that I've done, either internally or as a trusted vendor. In every case I shaped the strategy with the leaders who owned it, built the programs, facilitated them, and developed the people who carried them forward.

Inquire

Background

Internal

10

Years in-house

  • Worked within global asset management, a real estate investment trust (REIT), and scientific research. Reported directly to Ray Dalio, CEO of the world's largest hedge fund
  • Built learning and leadership roadmaps as a collaborative strategic partner to HR and the executive team
  • Designed and launched a first mentoring program and scaled it company-wide
  • Frontline link between HR and the executives on performance, succession, and policy
  • Ran assessments and 360s across teams and whole companies to anchor long-term transformation
External

20

Years advising C-suite leaders

  • Founders, CEOs, and executive teams at some of the biggest brands in games, fashion, healthcare, biotech, technology, higher education, and national food franchises
  • Developed a signature coaching methodology grounded in Authentic Intelligence™ and scaled it for 15 years as Certified Authentic Leadership Coach (CALC™), accredited by the ICF at Levels 1 and 2, with SHRM Recertification Provider status for HR leaders
  • Turned CALC™ students into faculty and activated executives as coaches and champions of learning
  • A decade on the ICF Global Ethics Committee. Championed greater rigor in coach accreditation and credentialing, with formal recommendations to ICF leadership for independent oversight of credential approvals, consistent educator standards, and defined protocols for misconduct

Book

Book cover: Authentic Intelligence, The Third Domain of Human Awareness, by Kathleen A. O'Grady
Authentic Intelligence™ We Resonate AQ™ IQ We Rationalize Cognitive Intelligence EQ We Relate Emotional Intelligence

Authentic Intelligence: The Third Domain of Human Awareness is a rigorous account of AQ™, a pre-rational, pre-emotional awareness that joins cognitive intelligence (IQ) and emotional intelligence (EQ) as part of the Trinity of Human Intelligence™ (THI™).

Published by Third Domain Press, the book grew out of two decades of field research in human behavior, organizational systems, and the leaders I helped transform along the way.

Third Domain Press · May 2026
ISBN 979-8-9949397-0-3 · Print and Ebook

Buy on Amazon
Organizations Served
  • Epic Games
  • Salesforce
  • Red Hat
  • Cisco
  • Taco Bell
  • Comme des Garçons
  • Deloitte
  • Dover Street Market
  • AICPA
  • BP
  • Biogen
  • GSK
  • Duke University
  • UNC Kenan-Flagler Business School
  • Fidelity
  • IBM
  • Lenovo
  • Microsoft
  • Novartis
  • Accreditation Commission for Health Care
  • American Board of Anesthesiology
  • The Art Institute of Raleigh-Durham
  • CBC Group
  • Dell
  • Evergy
  • Genworth
  • HashiCorp
  • ICF Raleigh Charter Chapter
  • KeHE
  • LGBT Center of Raleigh
  • Lincoln Financial Group
  • Meredith College
  • National Black MBA Association
  • NC State
  • NetApp
  • North Carolina Central University
  • Project Management Institute, North Carolina Chapter
  • SAS
  • Trimble
  • Wake County Public School System
  • Wake Tech
  • Westar Energy

Inquire

Write to kathleen@al-advisors.com with the following. I reply personally.

Availability ends the day a contract or offer letter is signed.

  • Your name, title, and company
  • Which option you are exploring, full-time, fractional, or not sure yet
  • Short-term and long-term goals
  • Which senior decision makers will be stakeholders
  • Ideal timeline