2026 Winners
The 2026 ICF Coaching Impact Awards honorees demonstrate how to use coaching as a force for good, impacting lives and societies in a lasting way. They come from regions around the world and reflect the gold standard of the coaching profession.
Distinguished Coach: Jonathan Reitz
Jonathan Reitz, MCC, ACTC (USA), is an internationally recognized coaching entrepreneur, seven-time founder, and thought leader driving the evolution of the coaching profession. Through his leadership on ICF task forces for Team Coaching Competencies and Artificial Intelligence, he has helped advance global coaching standards while championing the ethical integration of emerging technologies. As Director of Education at FLUXIFY and the Weatherhead Coaching Program at Case Western Reserve University, and co-founder of the Team Coaching Global Alliance, Jonathan has trained and mentored generations of coaches, strengthening the profession worldwide. A globally recognized speaker, author, and researcher, his thought leadership continues to inspire coaches to embrace innovation while preserving the human connection at the heart of transformational coaching.
Accomplished Coach: Sharmi Roy
Sharmi Roy, PCC, ACTC, MCS (India) is an experienced coach with 7,500+ hours in more than 20 countries. A firm believer in “Coaching for all,” she coaches a wide array of clients, from senior leaders to students and classical artists with economically modest backgrounds, cementing her conviction that coaching serves as a public good that should benefit everyone. Her coaching journey began in the corporate world, where she helped establish a Coaching Center of Excellence at Cognizant, driving both internal and external coaching practices. Her commitment to bringing coaching beyond traditional corporate settings has expanded its reach to underserved communities, health care professionals, educators, artists, and emerging leaders, while mentoring more than 100 emerging coaches. As the founding president of the Kolkata Chapter of ICF, she helped establish and grow a thriving professional coaching community in eastern India, showing that coaching can inspire meaningful change not only for individuals, but also for the communities they serve.
Emerging Coach: Brian Arao
Brian Arao, ACC, EdD (USA), is a passionate coach who specializes in coaching leaders to navigate systemic challenges with clarity and confidence, focusing on diversity to democratize access for underrepresented leaders and to move beyond Western-centric paradigms for an interconnected world. The founder and president of Brave Space Leadership, he coaches leaders to move from the context of comfort toward a commitment to bravery. He has an innovative approach to the use of technology, approaching AI ethically as a tool for research, brainstorming, and accessibility, while still being mindful of climate impact. As a champion of equitable, culturally intelligent, and accessible practices, Brian advocates for coaching as a tool for systemic social change, rather than solely focusing on individual performance — positioning the coaching practice as a key part of the necessary architecture for equity, inclusion, and belonging.
Distinguished Provider: SolutionsAcademy
SolutionsAcademy (Germany) is a globally recognized coaching education provider committed to advancing the coaching profession through innovation, excellence, and accessible learning. Since 2018, it has trained more than 2,100 participants across 31 countries, delivering internationally accredited programs that combine rigorous professional standards with a global perspective and a consistent social constructionist framework. Through pioneering work in solution-focused team coaching and coaching supervision, influential publications, and a fully integrated digital learning ecosystem, SolutionsAcademy continues to shape how coaching is taught and practiced worldwide. Its exceptional faculty — comprising internationally recognized MCCs, senior practitioners, award recipients, and leaders who contribute to ICF and EMCC standards, ethics, and credentialing — ensures participants learn from some of the profession’s most respected voices.
Supported by structured mentoring and supervision, roughly 60% of participants move toward ACC, 33% toward PCC, and 6% toward MCC, reflecting the organization’s commitment to measurable excellence. As it expands research into ethical coaching, artificial intelligence, and the future of professional practice, SolutionsAcademy continues to strengthen the coaching profession and prepare the next generation of coaches for an increasingly complex world.
Distinguished Educator: Heru Yuwono Liem
Heru Yuwono Liem, MCC, ACTC, MCS (Indonesia), is a distinguished coach educator whose leadership has helped shape the growth of the coaching profession in Indonesia and beyond. As founder of the COaching MEntoring Institute (CO-ME), Indonesia's ICF-accredited provider of both Level 1 and Level 2 coach education, and later the country's first Advanced Accreditation in Team Coaching (AATC) provider, he has expanded access to world-class coaching education while upholding the highest professional standards. Since 2017, he has mentored 287 aspiring coaches, supporting 101 in earning ICF credentials, and cultivating the next generation of coach educators and ICF leaders. Through international collaborations, speaking engagements, and an unwavering commitment to ethical coaching education, Heru continues to strengthen the profession, fostering inclusive, high-quality learning experiences that empower coaches to create lasting impact in their organizations and communities.
Distinguished Organization: Apparel (Pvt.) Ltd.
Brandix Apparel (Pvt.) Ltd. (Sri Lanka), has built a strong coaching culture by embedding coaching into its leadership philosophy, talent strategy, and everyday management practices. Coaching is accessible across all levels of the organization and reinforced through strong executive sponsorship. A growing internal coaching community, including 26 trained coaches and more than 100 managers equipped with coaching skills, has helped make coaching a shared leadership capability rather than a specialist intervention. Supported by ICF-credentialed practitioners, this approach ensures quality while enabling coaching to become part of everyday leadership.
This commitment has strengthened leadership capability and delivered measurable organizational impact. Promotion rates reached 100% in the management evelopment program and 92% in executive development programs, with four recently appointed board directors having participated in coaching before their appointments. Coaching has also contributed to stronger engagement, succession readiness, and an 88% retention rate for top talent. Last financial year, Brandix Apparel (Pvt.) Ltd. achieved its transformation targets in full, alongside efficiency gains and a 25% reduction in meeting time, successfully demonstrating how a deeply embedded coaching culture can create lasting value for both people and business.
Nominating Coach: Dinusha Jayamanne, PCC
Emerging Organization: ABB India
ABB India (India) is demonstrating how a strategically implemented coaching culture can accelerate leadership transformation and organizational growth. The organization has shifted coaching from an occasional development intervention to a core leadership capability, embedding coaching into talent development, succession planning, and change initiatives. Through ICF-aligned coach education, internal coaching capability, and coaching-based leadership practices, ABB has equipped 700+ managers and more than 2,500 employees with the skills to foster trust, collaboration, and accountability in everyday work.
This emerging coaching culture is already producing meaningful results, including stronger leadership effectiveness, higher employee engagement, improved internal mobility, and more collaborative, psychologically safe teams. Coaching has also supported measurable business outcomes, contributing to increased productivity, reduced attrition, and an estimated $32 million USD return on investment. By combining ethical coaching practices with a clear strategic vision, ABB is building a sustainable coaching culture that strengthens both its people and its long-term organizational performance.
Nominating Coach: Nanda Kumar A, PCC
Distinguished Coaching Catalyst: Shoolini University - Project Pragati (India)
The Centre for Leadership Coaching at Shoolini University demonstrates the profound social impact coaching can create when access is intentionally extended beyond traditional boundaries. Since 2021, under the leadership of Prof. Atul Khosla, vice chancellor of Shoolini University, and Payal Khanna, head of the Centre for Leadership Coaching, its coaching ecosystem has reached more than 1,400 students through 369 coaches across 22 countries, while bringing coaching into underserved communities. Most notably, through Project Pragati, coaching is helping rural women in India build self-agency, make informed decisions, and move toward financial independence through locally rooted micro-enterprises. At the same time, students are developing coaching capabilities that enable them to informally become mentors and enablers of growth within their own communities, creating a multiplier effect beyond individual coaching relationships. By combining professional coaching with education and community engagement, the initiative transforms coaching from an individual development tool into a catalyst for greater opportunity and lasting social change.
Emerging Coaching Catalyst: Fundación Multipolar “Coaching en Zapatillas” (Argentina)
Fundación Multipolar is transforming the way coaching is applied to one of society’s most complex challenges: homelessness and social exclusion. Through its innovative methodology, developed by the foundation’s coaching team and born from an unprecedented initiative called “Coaching en Zapatillas,” the organization brings social coaching to people who have traditionally had little or no access to these tools, helping them rebuild confidence and create realistic pathways toward social and workforce reconnection. By adapting coaching language and practices to real-life contexts of vulnerability, Fundación Multipolar demonstrates how coaching can become a powerful vehicle for dignity, inclusion, and lasting social change.
Since 2021, more than 1,200 participants have engaged in group and individual coaching through partnerships with community organizations, hospitals, and social services across Argentina. In 80% of cases, participants report greater self-confidence, improved emotional management, and greater clarity about their future. Rather than addressing homelessness solely as a housing issue, the program also tackles the barriers of exclusion, limiting beliefs, and social isolation that can prevent sustainable reconnection, creating positive ripple effects across families, workplaces, and communities.
