Meet Our Coaches
Coaches / Facilitators
Dobbin Bookman
Titi Akisanya
Adaora Ayoade
Samson Umurhurhu
Adeyanju Olomola
Uzoma Okoronkwo
Oluwatoyin Ademola
Gloria Gbemudu
Babara Lawrence
Akanimo Ekong
Olayinka Ola
Michael Thomas
Dobbin Bookman
Dobbin Bookman is the Portfolio Director of the Owner/President Program at the Harvard Business School – a program that helps the world’s top privately held business owners and presidents to expand their business perspective, leadership expertise, and global network. He is also the Principal Partner at TBG Advisory, a Boston Massachusetts based consulting firm providing strategic advisory for corporates of all sizes. Prior to leading the OPP program, Dobbin served as a Director in Executive Education at the Harvard Business School. Before moving into Academia, Dobbin was Director of Corporate Strategy at Monster Worldwide, overseeing corporate strategy, including investments in mergers and acquisitions and joint partnering arrangements.
Dobbin has held many senior roles in organizations including Bear Stearns & Co, Microsoft Corporation and Advent International. He holds a dual Masters Degrees from Harvard – MBA and Health Policy, Management and Finance. He is a tenured Executive and Career Coach and is part of the HBS Career Services team as well as a Program Moderator with Harvard Publishing’s Corporate Learning team.
Titi Akisanya
Titi Akisanya is a trained and certified executive coach and renowned Human Resource Professional with over 15 years of C-Level experience in several multinational corporations.
Her passion for strong, principled leadership drives both her work as an Executive Coach and her focus on well-rounded deliver leaders. Titi is the immediate past President of the Nigeria Chapter of the International Coaching Federation (ICF) and is a proponent of Organizational and Executive Coaching, Small Business Coaching, Performance Coaching, Youth Coaching and Neuro Linguistic Programming across the country and region.
Sequel to leaving paid employment, she established Theta Alpha Consults Limited, carving a niche for providing sorely needed Executive and Personal Performance coaching as the Leadership Coach of Choice in Nigeria, the West-African Region, and beyond. Her personal passions drive her particularly in the development and empowerment of promising female executives.
Adaora Ayoade
Adaora Ayoade is the Lead Consultant and MD/CEO of EZ37 Solutions Limited. She has successfully led a range of multidisciplinary projects in key sectors – including Oil & Gas, Banking, Information Technology, Education and Manufacturing – and has a proven track record of helping individuals and companies achieve their potential.
Adoara is the current President of the International Coaching Federation (Nigeria Chapter) and has several years of coaching experience. She was the Head of HR & Corporate Services at IIS, a member of the Zard Group of Companies. She also carried out several consulting roles for Microsoft and for State Governments in Nigeria.
Adaora holds a B.Sc. in Microbiology and an M.Sc in Information Science from the University of Ibadan. She has a Post Graduate Certificate in Management from the University of Greenwich UK,. She is a recognized trainer for the World Bank through the International Finance Corporation (IFC), a certified trainer by the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO) and is a certified Professional in Human Resources (PHRiTM).
Samson Umurhurhu
Samson Umurhurhu is the CEO of Thrive Coaching Centre and a tenured HR Professional.
Prior to setting up Thrive Coaching Center, Samson spent over 17 years at Nestle as the Head of Human Resources for Nestle in Nigeria, and then Head of Human Resources for Nestle in Central & West Africa. He was later posted to the Nestle Global Head Office in Switzerland as an HR Coordinator in the Human Resources function and was later appointed to the Corporate Total Rewards Function as the Compensation & Benefits Manager for Asia, Oceania, Africa & the Middle East.
Samson is a certified Strengths Coach by the Gallup Organisation; a Center for Coaching Certification USA Certified Master Coach, as well as an International Coach Federation (ICF) credentialed Associate Certified Coach (ACC). He has featured as a Speaker in China, the UK, Thailand, Singapore, Vietnam, Turkey, Dubai, Malaysia, Switzerland. He worked as an internal company Coach to HR and Compensation & Benefits Leaders in many countries while still in the employment of the Nestle Group.
Adeyanju Olomola
Adeyanju Olomola, a Certified Coach, works with and supports Small Business Owners and individuals in corporate organisations who desire/are about to make/have made a leadership layer turn. Her niche is Business and Organisational Coaching.
Prior to setting up her Coaching Practice, she worked in the Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) industry with over 18 years of diversified experience in Retail Sales, Service Delivery, Reputation Management, Community Relations, Incident Management & Crisis Resolution, Public Affairs and Corporate Communications. Whilst in the corporate world, she prioritized talent identification and development evidenced by associates who moved to higher leadership roles.
A member of the International Coach Federation, she holds the Associate Certified Coach (ACC) credential. She is a certified John Mattone Intelligent Leadership Executive Coach and is an Extended Disc Behaivoural Assessment Practitioner. With an unwavering belief in the enormous potential within every individual, she partners with her clients as they are transformed in form and functionSM. She is the Lead Coach and CEO of The Source Coaching Ltd.
Uzoma Okoronkwo
Uzoma Okoronkwo is a tenured Human Resource Executive with over 10 years of experience supporting senior leaders in Multinationals across the West African Region. She is a Birkman certified Coach and acting Vice President and Head of Human Resources Department at Verod Capital, the largest Private Equity group in Nigeria.
Uzoma began her career in the Training and Development department of FedEx (Red Star Express) before joining Nestle Nigeria, where she specifically focussed on broader HR roles. Uzoma subsequently moved to Frigoglass Industries (Nigeria) as the Compensation & Benefits Manager before she joined Coca-Cola (Nigeria) as the HR/Total Rewards Manager and holding various Strategic HR Business Partner roles across their African operations. Prior to her current role, Uzoma was the HR Director of Mouka Limited.
Gloria Gbemudu
Gloria Gbemudu is the Lead Coach of MarkOwens Coaching and Leadership. She is a Certified Professional Co-active Coach (CPCC) trained at the Coaches Training Institute San Rafael California USA. She is also a member of the International Coach Federation and is an Associate Certified Coach (ACC). Gloria is also a Certified John Mattone Intelligent Leadership Executive Coach.
Gloria is a workplace Performance Coach who works with clients to ensure that an engaged and empowered relationship exists to impact business outcomes, lives and relationships. She engages teams and individuals around the right behaviors to ignite performance from inside out.
Prior to working as a full-time coach, she spent over 15 years working in the Telecoms industry, taking up increasing levels of responsibility along the way.
Akanimo Ekong
Akanimo Ekong is a career Human Resource professional with several years of experience in Senior Executive positions.
Akanimo spent 25 years at Resourcery Inc as the Executive Director, Human Resources after which he served as Managing Director of People Productivity Solutions Nigeria, a US based HR Technology firm with operations in the US, UK and Nigeria.
Olayinka Ola
Olayinka Ola is consummate HR professional with over 20 years of HR consulting and practice experience. She is currently the Senior Change Manager at a United States Financial Regulatory Agency and is the Chair of the PIPA Advisory Board. Beyond her role in the US Government, Olayinka is also the Principal Partner at CTR Solutions, a Change Management practice that has supported several global organizations (including the likes of Coca-Cola) on Change and People related projects. She also serves as an Adjunct Professor at the University of Maryland, University College. Prior to these, Olayinka has worked with several global organizations including the Ford Motor Company (Labor Relations), Accenture (Change Management and Human Performance Consultant) and PEPCO Holdings (Strategic Organizational Effectiveness Consultant).
Michael Thomas
Michael Thomas is the Country Director of Great Place To Work Ghana and Managing Partner a Partners In People Africa providing organizational development consulting advisory services to clients across the region. Prior to starting PIPA, Michael was the Country Director for Great Place To Work Nigeria and Senior Vice President for Africa, a role in which he provided advisory services to clients in both the Private and Public Sectors.
Prior to joining Great Place To Work, Michael was the Chief Strategy Officer at Ancient International, an infrastructure development firm where he was responsible for guiding the organisation’s investments and management of it asset portfolio. Before this, Michael was a management consultant, providing strategic advisory to business leaders in the US and Nigeria and has held several leadership positions over his 18 year career.
Michael is a tenured facilitator leading several executive learning and development engagements and is a speaker at various conferences and events across the continent and is a Birkman Certified Coach. He has been featured in several publications and media outlets including CNBC Africa.