Orla Clarke Castanien
For everyone to discover their path to success: that’s my deepest desire and what drives me in my work. Because my own path to fulfillment was indeed a long and winding one.
When I moved from Ireland to the US, I saw an opportunity to leave a long career in the finance industry to pursue more “meaningful” work. Throughout my career I kept seeing leaders struggle to motivate their teams and stay inspired in the face of change and challenge.
Sometimes it takes an outside perspective to help reveal your path.
With more than 20 years of leadership experience in finance, operations, and strategy I’ve developed a keen awareness of the challenges and concerns facing senior leaders. That perspective has cultivated a thoughtful and pragmatic approach to leadership development that focuses on enabling leaders to recognize and develop their individual strengths and create their own unique path to success.
“I found Orla to be a talented and highly-effective coach. Her understanding of how people exhibit energy was essential in getting me unstuck. And her ability to trust her own intuitive questions made each of our sessions together powerful and productive. For the first time in years, I felt I was making progress toward my goals.”
I partner with both individual leaders and client organizations to provide executive coaching, team facilitation, and leadership development programs. I’m proud to be considered a trusted coach and partner to senior executives looking for sustainable solutions for career, leadership and organizational challenges. I also work with executive teams to achieve team alignment, resolve conflict, and successfully lead organizations through change.
Past clients range from Fortune 500 companies to high-growth start-ups and span industries including retail, technology, energy, financial and professional services.
My path, in brief:
- Bachelor of Commerce from the National University of Ireland (Galway)
- Master’s in Accountancy from Smurfit School of Business, University College Dublin
- Senior Consultant, Deloitte
- Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants
- Chief Financial Officer for Unicare Pharmacy Group
- Graduate of the Institute for Professional Excellence in Coaching
- Member of the International Coaching Federation
“It is my sincere pleasure to provide a recommendation for Orla Castanien as an exemplary executive coach, a facilitator for cultural development, and a professional in leadership advancement. I had the privilege of working closely with Orla from late 2011 through early 2015, and I cannot say enough good things about her professionalism, her skill set, her dedication, and most importantly her results.”