Our Team
Why We Are Different
Coaches Evolve is your premier education coaching and consulting firm, offering best-of-breed leaders, trainers, strategists, and coaches from around the globe in a single place. When you choose to advance your education with Coaches Evolve you choose to work with one of the finest teams available. By having a well-rounded team we can draw from a variety of experiences and unique expertise to provide custom-tailored solutions that reflect your specific culture and needs. Each member of our team is an expert in their individual field, and many are nationally known and highly respected.
Founders
Kathy Norwood, Ed.D., MCC
Bridging the Profession of Coaching with Educational Coaching
Dr. Norwood is a Pre-K-12 national educational consultant, trainer, professional coach and co-founder of Coaches Evolve. Dr. Norwood earned her doctorate from Fielding Graduate University in Educational Leadership and Change and she holds a Master of Education in Professional Development, with emphasis on English Learners (EL) and Administration. In addition, the HeartMath Institute has licensed Dr. Norwood as a HeartMath® Certified Trainer.
Working in the field of Education for 35 years, Dr. Norwood’s teaching and consulting experience ranges from preschool to doctoral level education. She teaches in the Evidence-Based Coaching Program for Fielding Graduate University, and she also provides Leadership Coaching for The New Teacher Project (TNTP). She has worked within a broad spectrum of educational settings, from the hills of Puerto Rico to rural Hawaii, to a Russian strand of dual language educators in Oregon, to the Deep South where some schools are still segregated, to urban districts in California and Oregon where educators experience a wide diversity of student native languages and cultures, and the effects of deep poverty.
Mary Ann Burke Ph.D., Ed.D., MFT
As a licensed Marriage and Family Therapist, she has worked with individuals and families struggling with addictions to drugs and alcohol, and child abuse. She counseled adolescents in court-ordered group home placement. She taught credentialing classes for foster care parents through the Antelope Valley Community College in Lancaster, California, and classes for aspiring substance abuse counselors at Pacific Oaks College in Los Angeles.
Most recently she counseled returning combat veterans and their families at the Boston Vet Center. Dr. Burke specializes in helping clients look at deeply embedded subconscious beliefs and values that may hinder their best efforts. This work requires extensive knowledge of systems theory, stages of human and group development, motivation theories, and issues of cultural and linguistic diversity.
Senior Coaches & Visiting Instructors
Dian Christian, Ph.D., PCC
Dian has been working with strengths in organizations since 2001, having been certified in 2006. She led a beta site for a strengths-based selling program at a regional bank, which resulted in a 20% improvement in overall sales.
The majority of her coaching practice involves strengths-based leadership discussion. Dian also is certified in the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI), Emotional Competency Inventory (ECI), Enneagram and DiSC. Her clients generally have significant new awareness and success when they apply their strengths to their most pressing and challenging goals.
Dian is an adjunct faculty member in Fielding Graduate University’s Evidence Based Coaching Program. Dian also holds a Professional Certified Coach (PCC) designation from the International Coach Federation. She is a Coach Supervisor and Mentor Coach. At Coaches Evolve she is one of our premier coaches, offering her expertise to help strengthen you individually and your entire organization.
Dr. Deepa Awal MCC
Dr. Deepa Awal is an educator and coach with her own practice specializing in discerning the fundamental ways in which our ‘way of being’ supports or hinders our dreams and goals. What began as an interest in Vedanta and personal growth has grown into what is now her contribution in the world – transformational work with individuals and groups. Starting her career in the corporate world with developing executives, Deepa now has her own practice specializing in coaching women and leaders with cross cultural backgrounds. Her personal experience as an immigrant from India informs her coaching with cross-cultural coaching clients. She speaks fluent English and Hindi, lives in Philadelphia and has two adult daughters. She teaches meditation practices, yoga, centering skills and coaches graduate students at Universities to develop leadership skills and build self-confidence. As an educator, she instructs and mentors professionals who desire to develop coaching skills both at Fielding University (Faculty) and Newfield Network (Program Coach).
Donald Trent Jacobs, Ph.D., Ed.D.
aka Four Arrows
Formerly Dean of Education at Oglala Lakota College and a tenured Associate Professor of Education at Northern Arizona University, Four Arrows is currently a professor with Fielding Graduate University. Selected as one of 27 “Visionaries in Education” for the AERO text, Turning Points, he is author of 21 books on Indigenous Worldview and its applications for education, sustainability, wellness and justice. He is a recipient of a Martin Springer Institute for Holocaust Studies “Moral Courage Award for his activism in behalf of Indigenous Peoples and sovereignty. Among his other published works include: co-editor of the Indigenous section of Sage’s new International Handbook for Critical Pedagogies and other books have been endorsed by Noam Chomksy, Vandana Shiva, Michael Apple, Thom Hartmann, Jon Pilger, Darcia Narvaez, Henry Giroux and other notable educators. Dr. Michael Fisher wrote a book about his work entitled Fearless Engagement of Four Arrows (2018). His newest book is The Red Road: Linking Diversity and Inclusion Initiatives to Indigenous Worldview (in press, IAP).
Coaches & Instructors
Ann Stewart, M. Ed., PCC
Ann Stewart is a professional development trainer with 31 years of experience in the education industry. She has spent the past 21 years developing and facilitating customized workshops and seminars for local and national school districts in resilience techniques, literacy and English language acquisition techniques used by classroom teachers and administrators in grades PreK-8. Prior to consulting, she served as a classroom teacher, Reading Recovery teacher and literacy strategy coach in both the Mount Diablo and Fairfield-Suisun Unified School Districts in California. She completed her Masters in Business Administration with an emphasis in Global Management, is a Certified Professional Coach with the International Coach Federation and a HeartMath Certified Trainer. She is currently living in Chattanooga Tennessee.
Sandi McClary, M.Ed., PCC
Sandi McClary, has served as a leadership coach since 2010 in multiple school districts in Oregon and Washington. She became certified as an Associate Certified Coach through International Coach Federation in 2016.
Throughout her career, Sandi has served as a high school English teacher, elementary and secondary counselor, assistant principal in two middle and five high schools, high school principal, and district office consultant in various capacities.
Sandi received her Bachelor of Science in Education with majors in Psychology and English from the University of Idaho, and her master’s degree in education in Counseling Psychology from Lewis and Clark College in Portland, OR.
Born in Boise, Idaho, she grew up nearby on a fruit ranch in Emmett. She is a long-time resident of Vancouver, Washington where she is a leader in her neighborhood association and active in several community groups.
Administrative Staff
Autumn Hood is a seasoned marketing professional with over two decades of experience in custom building omnichannel campaigns and user-friendly websites. Working closely with clients such as coaches and educational institutions to professional speakers, Autumn’s company, Hunter Marketing Group, services a wide range of brand development, website management, search engine optimization, and marketing needs across social and search engine platforms. As technical support for Coaches Evolve she provides her experience to the various individuals across platforms and mediums used to enhance the brand, ensuring smooth operations.
