HR Director, Leadership Coach

Emily is a HR Director, a Leadership Coach and Founder of Rise & Learn Global, a Human Resource Consulting Firm that provides HR Outsourcing, Training & Professional Coaching services. Rise & Learn is also the Kenya Partner for Erickson Coaching International, an organization committed to providing ICF Accredited programs and represented in 85 countries with more than 45,000 Erickson Coaches. Emily has over 20 years’ experience, having worked in Consulting, Nonprofit, Aviation, Agriculture and Financial Services firms. Some of the organizations include Kenya Airways, Syngenta & Jubilee Insurance where she served as Group Head of Human Resources. She is experienced in Business building, HR strategy development, Leadership, change management, Coaching, Career and organizational development having worked and supported various countries across Africa & Middle East. Some of these countries include: South Africa, Greece, Morocco, Turkey, Egypt, Ethiopia, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe & Kenya. She has facilitated various training programs across different levels of the organization including Leadership, Coaching, Performance Management, Customer Service, Emotional Intelligence, Change Management, Human Resources among others.

Emily has over 1000 Hours of Coaching experience provided to clients around the Globe working with Multinational organizations such as Ernst & Young, International Monetary Fund (IMF), AMREF, Uber, Grundfos, S&P Global, Ernst & Young, Willis Towers Watson, Adobe, Molson Coors, Smith & Nephew, Paypal, Lexman International, Computershare, among others. Her clients include middle managers, Directors and Chief Executives.

Emily was named Manager of the Year in 2014 during Company of the Year Awards (Kirit Dave Award) organized by Kenya Institute of Management. She is a member of the following HR Associations – Society of Human Resource Management (SHRM), Institute of Human Resource Management Kenya (IHRM) and HR Managers Association of Uganda (HRMAU).

She has previously served as a Council Member for the Institute of Human Resource Management in Kenya and is the past President for ICF Kenya Chapter. Emily served as a Global Director of the International Coaching Federation (ICF) for 4 years one of which time she was Treasurer for the Professional Coaches Board, ICF. Emily is currently a Governing Council Member of the Pan African Christian (PAC) University.

Emily holds an MBA, a Bachelor’s Degree in Tourism Management, A Higher Diploma in Human Resources (IHRM) and a Diploma in French Language. She holds an ICF Coaching credential (PCC), is a certified John Maxwell Coach and a Gallup Certified Strengths Coach. She is also certified to administer assessments such as the Leadership Circle Profile and Extended DISC.

Emily runs InMysteps Foundation, her 40th birthday gift to future generations aimed at tackling unemployment by providing opportunities for practice, decent work and subsequently economic growth. The program provides fresh graduates with training, mentorship and internship placements through volunteer partners and organizations. She is also the HR Director at TradeMark Africa.

She is passionate about Leadership, Entrepreneurship, People management and Coaching which makes her a dependable HR & Business leader. Emily is married and lives in Nairobi Kenya with her husband and their 3 sons aged 18, 13 and 8 years. She loves to unwind in the kitchen and enjoys running and inspirational reads.

Career Highlights:

• Setting up a new business, driving growth & achieving profitability in a very challenging business environment; Supporting HR services for Start-ups and SMEs within the HR Outsourcing business of Rise & Learn Global https://riseandlearn.ke/

• Setting up a franchise for a global brand & expanding it to the Africa region withing the Coaching space. https://erickson-coaching.ke/

• Conceptualised the East Africa HR Symposium an annual HR Conference that brings together hundreds of HR Professionals from East Africa and beyond. https://eastafricahrsymposium.ke/

• Set up InMySteps Initiative that seeks to provide internship and mentorship opportunities for graduates out of college and university to prepare them for the world of work and promote employability. See InMySteps Documentary for more details.

• First Kenyan to serve as a Global Board Director at the International Coaching Federation (ICF) from 2018 and Officer/Treasurer (2020) supporting over 50,000 members globally

• Development of a Leadership & coaching program for Managers in Jubilee Insurance which was adapted by Creative Metier and FSD Africa as a case study for Financial institutions in Africa https://www.fsdafrica.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/16-07-08-Jubilee-Insurance-Case-Study-1.pdf

• Won HR Focus Award in Kenya in 2013 and 2014 while working as Group Head of Human Resources at Jubilee Insurance

• Designed a Talent Management program for Syngenta Africa and Middle East and generated a Talent Pool for the region linking it to succession plans in respective countries i. Kenya, Ethiopia, South Africa, Egypt, Morocco, Turkey & Greece

• Set up the HR organization at Syngenta East Africa with just under 40 employees. My responsibilities were later expanded to cut across our 4 business units in East Africa both Commercial and Production with over 3000 employees (80% unionized workforce) located in Kenya, Ethiopia, Tanzania & Zimbabwe.

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