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Ilona Birenbaum

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Ilona Birenbaum-min
Ilona Birenbaum
Organizational Consultant & Leadership Coach

Ilona is an organizational consultant and leadership coach with 20 years of experience and a diverse organizational development background.

Education

Ilona earned her bachelor’s degree in psychology and a master’s in labor and industrial relations from Michigan State University.

Ilona’s credentials include:

  • Executive coaching certification, Georgetown University.
  • Certified coach and member, International Coaching Federation.
  • Additional certifications include:

    • Drexler Sibbett Team Performance Model.
    • Myers-Briggs Type Indicator®.
    • DiSC.
    • Lominger’s Voices.
    • CCL’s 360 Assessments.
    • Hay Group’s Emotional Competency Inventory (ECI).
    • Leadership Circle.
    • Certified Action Learning Coach.

    Publications

    Ilona’s work has been published in the Washington Business Journal and Washington CEO Magazine.

    Expertise

    Her specialties include leadership coaching, facilitation, change management, leadership assessment and development, action learning, performance management, strategic planning and conflict resolution.

    As a leadership coach, Ilona provides a practical approach to solving such issues as communication, leadership presence, delegation, teamwork, conflict management and strategic thinking. Through insightful questions, she helps clients increase their self-awareness and enhance skills in managing themselves and others.

    Known for easily building rapport with senior leaders, Ilona combines her psychology and organizational development backgrounds with her business experience in working with senior leaders. As an organizational development consultant, she is known for partnering with clients to solve complex human capital challenges and develop customized solutions that succeed in specific client environments.

    Ilona is also an adjunct professor and coach with American University’s School of Public Affairs’ Key Executive Leadership Program.

    Experience

    Ilona has worked with renowned national firms and organizations, including AOL, United Bank, Capital One, Towers Watson, Discovery Communications, Rapiscan Systems, Ironshore, Internal Revenue Service, Securities and Exchange Commission, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Amtrak, United Bank, National Institutes of Health, National Science Foundation, Small Business Administration, Department of the Navy, and many others.

    She also has significant international and multicultural experience through her work in Russia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Bulgaria and Bolivia. She has worked in various industries, including petrochemical, technology, consulting and nonprofit.

    Ilona has held leadership roles for American Management Systems (AMS) and Watson Wyatt Worldwide. As a principle with AMS and a senior consultant with Towers Watson , she led multiple change initiatives, including the design and implementation of performance management systems, introduction of career development frameworks, development and leadership of train-the-trainer efforts, development and management of leadership development programs, design and implementation of multiple employee surveys, and facilitation of hundreds of workshops, training sessions and meetings.

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