Coaches' Corner

Have a school-based issue you’re grappling with? Ready to reflect on your personal and professional journey? Working with a certified coach can be an important tool in your toolkit. NAIS is offering you that time to discuss and process your experiences with certified coaches at Gather.

Attendees can sign up for free 45-minute sessions with educator-focused coaches and others who are trained to listen, ask powerful questions, and create a space for reflection.

You will be able to sign up through the NAIS website or the conference app later this year. Walk-ins will also be considered on a first-come, first-served basis if space is available.

Coaches' Corner Schedule

All times listed in Eastern Time.

Thursday, December 3: 11:15 AM–12:30 PM
Friday, December 4: 11:15 AM–12:30 PM

2026 Coaches

Davida Arnold

Davida Arnold is a board-certified coach, lower school teacher, and diversity practitioner. She focuses on helping teachers and school leaders reduce stress and enhance their well-being both in and out of school.
Specialized areas: work-life balance, diversity, equity, and inclusion

Gene Batiste

Gene Batiste, chief catalyst at With Respect Consulting, centers his mission on fostering meaningful change and organizational growth across diverse educational and community landscapes. Through transformative engagement, he guides leaders and institutions from vision to action, serving as a trusted advisor, consultant, facilitator, leadership coach, presenter, qualitative researcher, and strategist.
Specialized areas: leadership development, career growth, diversity, equity, and inclusion, team building, building and sustaining relational trust

Juliet Clothier

Juliet Clothier is the chief financial and operating officer at Sonoma Academy (CA) and a certified executive coach with nearly 20 years of executive leadership experience across education, nonprofit, and mission-driven organizations. She partners with executives, emerging leaders, and school professionals to navigate change, strengthen leadership, and build high-performing, purpose-driven teams through practical, strengths-based coaching.
Specialized areas: leadership development, career growth, communication skills, team building, work-life balance, diversity, equity, and inclusion

Katherine Dinh

Accomplished school leader and coach Katherine Dinh has over 30 years of experience in independent schools, with 18 years as a head of school. She is a certified executive coach who has been a keynote speaker, workshop facilitator, consultant, and coach for a wide variety of clients and schools across the country.
Specialized areas: leadership development, career growth, work-life balance, diversity, equity, and inclusion, communication skills, team building

Aimee Giles

Aimee Giles empowers bold, adventurous heads of school and school leaders to stay "in the arena" and lead with integrity, power, and impact. With more than 20 years of leadership experience, including as head of school, she coaches leaders to courageously tackle the big challenges that lie ahead— in education, schooling, and life— with grace, dignity, and joy.
Specialized areas: career growth, work-life balance, diversity, equity, and inclusion, communication skills

Michael D. Hanas

Mike Hanas has worked as a teacher and leader in six different independent schools (two boarding and four day), including serving 20 years as a head of school. His sincere belief in the power of reflection to catalyze wisdom and the deep potential of others led him to launch Furthering in 2018 to advance learning, leadership, and service through work with heads of school, board chairs, boards of trustees, and senior leadership teams.
Specialized areas: team building, career growth, work-life balance, communication skills

Pat Kearney

Pat Kearney is a leadership coach and facilitator with over 20 years of experience in education, including a decade in independent schools. Through Eddyline Coaching & Facilitation, he supports purpose-driven leaders navigating growth, complexity, and meaningful impact.
Specialized areas: career growth, work-life balance, communication skills, team building

Sidra Smith

Sidra Smith—an educator, facilitator, and ICF-certified coach with over 20 years of experience in independent schools—is passionate about helping people learn, lead, and flourish. She partners with clients through careful listening, inquiry, and reflection, helping you move from insight to action.
Specialized areas: coming soon

Leigh Toomey

Leigh R. Toomey is a former head of school, executive coach, and the author of Leaking Authority: The Hidden Ways Women Leaders Lose Power Without Knowing It and How to Stop. She works with women in mid-level and senior independent school leadership who are ready for the headship and want the structural tools, leadership presence, and search strategy to get there.
Specialized areas: leadership development, career growth, communication skills, executive presence

Lukie Wells

Lukie Wells is a senior design partner at Design Group International, where she supports school leaders, senior administrative teams, and boards. She has spent 35 years working in a variety of independent schools, including as a head of school and director of accreditation for the Pennsylvania Association of Independent Schools.
Specialized areas: career growth, communication skills, team building

Leslie Williams

Leslie Williams has spent over 20 years in education and currently serves as the group head of social impact and EDIB for Nord Anglia Education. As a former teacher and high school principal and now in this role, she has seen that coaching unlocks your ability to understand the challenges you experience and also realize you hold the solutions to those problems.
Specialized areas: diversity, equity, and inclusion, work-life balance, leadership development

Dori Wolfson

As the principal and founder of Sundial Learning Consultants, LLC, Dori Wolfson is an experienced coach, consultant, and team builder dedicated to the field of education. Trained as an educator and nonprofit management leader, and certified by ICF as an executive coach, she has led teams to transform practices and achieve large and sustainable results.
Specialized areas: career growth, work-life balance, team building, leadership development, diversity, equity, and inclusion