International Coach Federation Announces 2018 Young Leader Award Honorees
ICF celebrates the next generation of leaders in the coaching profession with new awards program.
Lexington, Kentucky, USA—Six coaches from around the world have been named winners of the International Coach Federation’s inaugural Young Leader Award.
ICF made the announcement as part of the Association’s annual International Coaching Week (ICW) observance. Launched in 1999, ICW is a week-long celebration that educates the public about the value of working with a professional coach and acknowledges the results and progress made through the coaching process. It also provides an opportunity for coaches worldwide to further invest in their professional development and celebrate the continuous growth and evolution of the coaching profession.
The ICF Young Leader Award, launched earlier this year, celebrates coach practitioners under the age of 40 who are poised to lead ICF and the coaching profession into the future. Young Leader Award honorees embody the core values of ICF and represent a diverse community of emerging leaders.
“The coaching profession is evolving, and so is the profile of our membership. Our research shows that younger generations are more aware of professional coaching and very open to engaging in a coaching relationship. This, in turn, creates a space for younger people to become coaches themselves,” ICF CEO/Executive Director Magdalena Mook said. “We are privileged to have such passionate, energetic and progressive leaders within our global coaching community. They truly represent and reflect the core values of ICF: excellence, respect, collaboration and integrity. We are very excited and proud to present the Young Leader Awards to this first class of recipients.”
The 2018 Young Leader Award honorees are:
- Rodrigo Acevedo, an ICF Associate Certified Coach (ACC) from Montevideo, Uruguay
- Elena Chelokidi, an ICF Professional Certified Coach (PCC) from Moscow, Russia
- Paras Daithankar, Ph.D., an ICF Master Certified Coach (MCC) from Pune, India
- Shweta Handa-Gupta, MCC, from New Delhi, India
- Flame Schoeder, PCC, from Bellevue, Nebraska, USA
- Mariya Staykova, PCC, from Sofia, Bulgaria
The 2018 Young Leader Award winners will receive their awards and be celebrated by their coaching colleagues during the 2018 Midwest Region Coaches Conference, June 21–23, 2018, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA.
Honorees were selected from among 28 nominees from around the world. Nominations were scored according to five criteria:
- Contribution to and leadership in the coaching profession
- Career achievement
- Contributions to ICF
- Thought leadership
- Alignment with ICF’s core values
Young Leader Award honorees were selected by a global panel of volunteer judges. The panel included Judit Ábri Von Bartheld, MCC (Hungary); Angelos Derlopas, PCC (Greece); Florence Divet (France); Nayla Feghali (Canada) and Nehad Tadros, PCC (United Arab Emirates).
The International Coach Federation (ICF) is dedicated to advancing the coaching profession by setting high ethical standards, providing independent certification and building a worldwide network of credentialed coaches across a variety of coaching disciplines. ICF is active in representing all facets of the coaching industry, including Executive, Life Vision and Enhancement, Leadership, Relationship, and Career Coaching. Its 33,000-plus members located in more than 140 countries work toward the common goal of enhancing awareness of coaching, upholding the integrity of the profession, and continually educating themselves with the newest research and practices.
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