About Us
IAN WHITFIELD
Ian Whitfield is an Executive Coach and communications specialist. His passion is to help people move forward in their lives both personally and professionally. He founded Whitfield Executive Development with Andrea, his partner in life and business, in 2012.
Ian spent 23 years working in the non-profit sector where he held several senior leadership positions, including Director of Communications with LeaderImpact. His energetic and practical approach has helped him establish a reputation as an outstanding trainer and communicator. In 2008 he produced a training series that has impacted more than 300,000 people in over 10 languages.
Training that is highly interactive and has an immediate application is what you can expect when in one of Ian's sessions. He has training on a myriad of topics, however, his primary focus and passion are around leadership and communication. He has personally trained and coached over 200 C-Suite executives and thousands through his training sessions.
Ian is an excellent cross-cultural trainer as he has worked with companies in Canada, the United States, Europe, Africa, the Middle East, and Latin America. Clients include LafargeHolcim, PCL construction, CARSTAR automotive, RichardsonWealth, Brookfield, Canadian Tire, and Certainteed USA among others.
Ian is a trained Executive Coach and a Master Certified Consultant in the Birkman Method®. He received an Administrative and Commercial Studies Degree from the University of Western Ontario.
ANDREA WHITFIELD
With over 30 years of experience in the areas of people development, non-profit management, and small business, Andrea has refined a unique ability to understand how people and teams in an organization interact both positively and negatively. She helps people overcome relational roadblocks to become high performers that effectively contribute to a team’s success.
Andrea left her leadership position with a Canadian NGO to co-found Whitfield Executive Development. Andrea is a problem solver and is continually thinking of new paths to greater efficiency and effectiveness. Andrea also uses her Birkman® Method training (Master Certified) to help people understand and manage themselves and then others. Andrea has worked with leaders and teams from various industries including technology, finance, property management, engineering, manufacturing, and the non-profit sector. She works directly with local clients and established teams while overseeing all operations.
Our Passion
We are passionate about seeing leaders grow in their abilities, deepen their confidence and positively impact their world.
Over our lifetimes, we have seen good intentions by good people being interpreted in negative ways leading to distrust, unhealthy conflict, and a great deal of personal and professional loss. Many of these people never learned how to be effective communicators, using their unique personalities to lead others. Frankly, this saddens us.
On the other hand, we have watched leaders, new and old, experience huge ‘wins’ through the application of insights and tools. Training, coaching, and supporting these men and women isn’t just a profession it’s a passion.