Andrea Umbach has 25+ years of experience as an executive coach to leaders and senior managers of global technology corporations, technology startups, media and professional services companies, and non-profit institutions worldwide. She is based in Seattle, Washington.
Coaching Approach
Andrea specializes in coaching senior managers and executives to increase their awareness of themselves as leaders within their organization and to improve their management and leadership abilities. Andrea’s coaching of executives in large-company contexts as well as startups has the similar aim of increasing individual leadership impact on the business.
At Amazon, Andrea has coached hundreds of Amazon leaders (senior L7, L8 and L10)
over the past 8 years across all divisions and business units, including AWS and subsidiaries. As a coach for Amazon’s Leader of Leaders Series and Senior Leader Series and numerous Amazon business unit development programs for senior leaders, Andrea brings Amazonian-thinking to each engagement, as well as perspectives from successful leaders in high performing high-tech companies. Andrea utilizes Amazon’s in-depth 360 as well as additional feedback mechanisms and well-honed coaching tools to strengthen the coaching experience for Amazon leaders. Amazon clients appreciate Andrea’s practical focus, insight, systems thinking and deep expertise. Andrea also works with Amazon teams with particular focus on influence strategies.
Focus areas with recent Amazon clients include:
- Managing and developing senior leadership teams
- Scaling leadership to large-scale or complex challenges
- Influencing leaders across organizational boundaries, and engaging your team to determine successful influence strategies and tactics
- Strengthening strategic thinking
- Change management and acting as an effective change agent
- Up-leveling executive presence and self-management
- Self-branding within Amazon
- Building organizational capacity and mechanisms
- Leading innovation and disruptive thinking
- Driving agendas forward with clarity and focus, boosting effective communication
- Intentional career transitions
- Onboarding into leadership positions, with focus on “the first 100 days” when taking on new roles or increased scale and scope
- Measuring and utilizing EQ (emotional intelligence)
Professional Background
Since 2000, Andrea has coached executives and senior managers at Amazon, Microsoft, Zillow, Expedia, Blue Origin, T Mobile, Liberty Media, IBM, Coca Cola, The Space Needle and Chihuly Garden and Glass, Waggener Edstrom, Early Warning, Glympse, Nokia, comScore, Shiftboard and Seattle University, among others.
Prior to starting Umbach Leadership Consulting, Andrea served in the following capacities:
- 8+ years at Microsoft, worked as an internal coach with HR and line executives to create systems to identify, develop, and retain future leaders. She also conducted organization development and strategic planning efforts with critical groups across the company and provided individual coaching to senior managers around their management, leadership, career decisions, and performance.
- Prior to Microsoft, Andrea was Manager of Strategic Internal Communication for Alcatel NV in Paris and Brussels where she was responsible for strategic management communications for 30,000 executives and middle managers worldwide. She created widely-subscribed internal management magazines for Alcatel CEOs and executives, and developed Strategy Conferences for international managers worldwide.
- At Apple Computers, Inc. Andrea worked as media specialist on sales force motivation and management development programs.
Education
- Cornell University, MS, ABD Organizational Behavior
- Ecole Superieure Lyons, French Language for Business
- University of California, Berkeley, BA Anthropology and Social Psychology
Affiliations
- Coach for CoachSource, world’s largest turnkey executive coaching solutions provider
- Coach for Dent, professional community of scientists, technologists and business leaders (https://dentthefuture.com/)
Profile Assessments and Certifications
- Korn Ferry Executive 360 Leadership Assessments
- Hogan Personality Inventory (HPI); Hogan Development Survey (HDS); and Hogan Motives, Values, Preferences Inventory (HMVPA)
- California Psychological Inventory (CPI)
- Blanchard Training – Situational Leadership
- Search Conferences Participative strategic planning
- Power + Systems (Barry Oshry) – Organizational Workshop and systems-thinking coaching for executives
- Center for Creative Leadership assessment tools – Executive (CEO) and Manager Benchmarks 360-degree leadership assessment
- Precision Questioning and Precision Answering intellectual tools
- SYMLOG – Team diagnostic tool and team building
