As Executive Director of Growth Coaching International (GCI), Chris has responsibility for GCI operations globally.

He is passionate about professional growth and leadership, and the powerful role that coaching and coaching approaches can play in these. An educator first and foremost, Chris has extensive experience of supporting and leading professional learning strategy, drawn from more than 30 years as an educator and leader in Government and Independent schools, and in Higher Education.

Now, as the leader of a thriving learning organisation, Chris derives most satisfaction in supporting others as they grapple with the intersection of strategy, leadership, and relationships – helping others make progress, one conversation at a time.

Chris is an accredited Senior Practitioner with the European Mentoring and Coaching Council (EMCC Global).

He contributes to the conversational capacity of learning organisations across Australia and internationally through his role in the design and delivery of coaching and mentoring training and consultancy projects. Chris led the development of GCI’s latest flagship course, Coaching in Leadership, and has been instrumental in the development of the company’s online learning provision.

He regularly writes and speaks about coaching and mentoring, and is an active contributor on social media. Chris has co-authored book chapters on Coaching Cultures for Learning (Munro et al., 2020) and Coaching for Teacher Agency (Andrews & Munro, 2019), and is currently working on a new book about coaching as a way of leading with GCI Founding Director John Campbell. He was also a co-designer and author of a published research study investigating school leaders’ experiences of coaching as part of leadership development programs in Victoria, Australia (van Nieuwerburgh et al., 2020).

An experienced facilitator, Chris has presented at major conferences in the UK, Australia, and the USA.

Special Interest Areas

  • Leadership coaching & mentoring
  • Instructional leadership & coaching
  • Coaching as a leadership stance
  • Instructional Coaching
  • Teacher agency
  • Coaching cultures

Education, Qualifications and Memberships

  • Master of Research (Social and Educational Research)
  • Bachelor of Technological Education (Honours)
  • EMCC Global Accredited Coach at Senior Practitioner Level
  • Accredited Genos EI Practitioner (Genos International)
  • Everything DiSC Accredited Facilitator
  • Member of the Australian Council for Educational Leaders (ACEL)
  • Fellow of the Australian Council for Educational Leaders Victoria (FACEL)