What Our Clients Are Saying
“Joanne has been an invaluable partner in my leadership journey, offering insight and clarity at every stage. She has a remarkable ability to help organize complex ideas into clear, actionable strategies that drive meaningful results. She consistently created a thoughtful and constructive environment that encouraged reflection and growth. Her coaching balances empathy with practical thinking, making her guidance both supportive and results-oriented. Joanne has my highest recommendation, especially for leaders seeking to elevate their impact and communicate with confidence. Her guidance along my leadership journey was nothing short of transformative!”
- Stav Tjoumakaris, M.D.
Chair Neurological Surgery, Thomas Jefferson University
"I first met Joanne in a peer situation, but quickly embraced her as so much more. When I was looking for a thought partner to aid me in my next career evolution, she proved to be the perfect coach. She inspired me to think bigger, be clearer, and push harder. I ended up in the perfect place for me - and she was a major factor in helping me to get there. She's just fantastic."
- Christina Luconi
Chief People Officer, Rapid7
"Joanne’s help and guidance was instrumental as I applied and interviewed for leadership positions. She prepared me very well for each step of the process and provided communication and presentation tools that enabled me to conceptualize and articulate my leadership vision and present myself in an authentic manner. Joanne is an exceptional coach who I would recommend to anyone looking to improve their leadership skills and professional development"
- Bill Mack M.D
Chair of Neurosurgery, Keck School of Medicine, USC
"When I started looking into leadership positions, I realized that successfully navigating the interviews and beyond would require learning a distinct set of skills and language. Joanne was an outstanding coach throughout the process. She helped me to sharpen my communication skills and taught me about executive presence. With her help, I received offers from competitive institutions. Being an effective leader also requires significant introspection and diplomacy, and she has helped me tremendously as I begin my new role. I give Joanne my highest recommendation". - Michael Lim, M.D. Chair of Neurosurgery, Stanford University School of Medicine
"Joanne is an exceptional coach. During our time working together she provided me, and my team, with real world tools and tactics to improve our performance and help us all become more effective leaders at Toast. I'd highly recommend Joanne to anyone looking to improve leader performance in a fast paced environment."
- Kevin Hamilton
Former Chief Marketing Officer, Toast
"Joanne was a great asset and help as I onboarded to a new organization. She is collaborative, easy to work with, and brought valuable context and problem framing that maximized my ability to get established and begin making progress as quickly as possible. I found her approach to be flexible and pragmatic as she supplemented her technical knowledge with interest in situational details that helped me to identify the best approach to take on a variety of issues. I would definitely recommend Joanne to others as an excellent, experienced coach and a newfound friend".
-Matt Anderson, MD, MHA
SVP, Chief Physician Executive, Advocate Health
"I was lucky to work with Joanne when she served as my Executive Coach. I found her to be a breath of fresh air: direct and yet still encouraging, honest and warm. She used tools that gave me a data-driven view of my strengths and growth areas and taught me how to work toward my personal development goals methodically and with purpose. I would highly recommend her to any new executives or those in need of a little tune up. I’m grateful for my time with her and a better leader because if it".
-Andrea Perera
Former VP of Public Engagement, Oxfam America
"Joanne helped me approach each stage of my leadership search process with clarity; refining my communication, strengthening my executive presence, and enabling me to articulate my vision with confidence and authenticity. Her coaching was particularly valuable during interviews, where her diligent preparation allowed me to perform effectively in highly competitive settings. Joanne is exceptional, and I would highly recommend her to anyone seeking to grow as a leader and advance their professional development."
Chair of US News Top 10 Neurosurgery Department
"I would recommend Joanne Derr to any leader or organization seeking coaching, leadership development, or leadership team building . Joanne is a highly skilled coach and team facilitator. She utilizes a wonderful combination of powerful tools, strong personal coaching and facilitation skills, and very practical advice and encouragement."
-Jerry Rubin
Former CEO and President JVS, Foundation Fellow Eastern Bank
Joanne works with executives and physicians who want to think and act strategically to achieve greater impact.
Executive Coaching
Moving into a new level of executive leadership means meeting higher expectations, taking on different responsibilities, and facing new challenges.
Executive Coaching offers you a strategic partner to proactively assess yourself, develop and practice new skills, and accelerate your own and your teams’ performance.
Physician Coaching
Transitioning from a mainly clinical role to a senior leadership position, The Clinician Leader faces the daunting task of managing faculty, staff, and healthcare teams, navigating relationships and politics in an entirely new way.
Working with an Executive Coach helps you achieve your goal of becoming a Department or Division Chair, while strategically preparing yourself for the leadership challenges ahead.
Joanne’s unique combination of Human Resources and Corporate leadership experience will provide you with awareness, understanding and an action-oriented approach to improving your executive performance.
About Joanne
As a former vice president of human resources, Joanne understands both the successes and challenges of being a senior leader. She understands that for leaders, growth, feedback and behavior change is hard work.
With three decades of executive and business experience coupled with a foundation in counseling and education, Joanne has a deep understanding of corporate and academic medicine culture, strategy, and operations allowing her to work with leaders and their teams, and to naturally link executives and physicians' coaching goals to desired results.
