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ICF Chennai Charter Chapter

The Chennai Charter Chapter of International Coaching Federation is the leading organization for coaches and coaching, in Chennai and its surrounding regions. It came into existence with a membership of 20 coaches, and in merely a few years of its existence, has grown sustainably to become a thriving community of 90 members & associates. It is a not-for-profit registered under the Societies Registration Act that exists to advance the art, science and practice of professional coaching, and to empower the world through coaching. It is a young chapter, known for being vibrant, inclusive & happening, and growing over the years from strength to strength. It has been at the forefront of creating awareness about coaching and supporting the professional coaching community in the region through its varied and regular efforts.

It was recognised as a Charter Chapter of ICF in January 2021 – which is a testament to the stability, governance and growth of the Chapter.

About ICF

ICF stands for International Coaching Federation. It’s the leading global organization for Coaching & Coaching. ICF is dedicated to advancing the coaching profession by setting high standards, providing independent certification & building a worldwide network of training coaching professional.
In 2020, ICF Celebrated its 25-year anniversary. ICF continues to lend instant credibility to its members by setting high standards across the board for the coaching industry & all its facets. ICF is consistently recognized among coaching professionals worldwide for:

  • Developing coaching core competencies
  • Establishing a professional code of ethics and standards
  • Creating an internationally recognized credentialing program
  • Setting guidelines through accreditation for coach-specific training programs
  • Providing continuous education through world-class events, Communities of Practice (CPs) and archived learning
  • Leading and informing conversations about the future of coaching.

For more details about ICF, Click here

Our Purpose

The Purpose of ICF is - Coaching is an integral part of a thriving society and every ICF Member represents the highest quality of professional coaching. Guided by this, we have articulated the ICF Chennai purpose. Navigate below to read more about our purpose.

Grow Coaching

ICF strives to creates Coaching awareness among people and make it accessible to all

Grow Coaches

Enable continual professional development of Coaches through diverse programs, deepen coaching competencies, stay current with trends, and learn collaboratively

Grow Chapter

Continuously expand the chapter by bringing together coaches across the region to harness a vibrant ecosystem, exchange ideas, and enable each other’s growth

Grow Community

Expand community reach through partnerships with corporates, institutions, and associations to drive coaching awareness and amplify its impact

Namma ICF Chennai continues to 

Enable, Expand and Evolve

⁠Enabling

our Coaches through knowledge sessions, tools, frameworks and continuous member engagement.

Expanding

our chapter footprint and through renewed community outreach and partnerships.

Evolving

through continuous growth, innovation and impact for more sustainability.

⁠Enabling

our Coaches through knowledge sessions, tools, frameworks and continuous member engagement.

Expanding

our chapter footprint and through renewed community outreach and partnerships.

Evolving

through continuous growth, innovation and impact for more sustainability.

Our Values

Respect, Integrity, Collaboration, Excellence are core values of ICF. ICF Chennai Charter Chapter is committed to upholding these values. In addition, we have articulated seven values that are an integral part of our Chapter, and guides everything we do. These values also have paved the way for the Culture of our Chapter.

The Seven Values of ICF Chennai

Board of Directors 2024-26

The Board of Directors of ICF Chennai Charter Chapter for Nov 2024 – 26, assumed responsibility on November 2024!.This team that is made up of coaches from diverse backgrounds, is bound by its commonality of shared energy and commitment of intent, towards making a difference through GROW. The Board members are volunteers from the members of the ICF Chennai Charter Chapter, and positions voluntary in nature.

Kannan Swaminathan, PCC

President

Raj Dharmaraj, PCC

Immediate Past President

Baburaj Nair, PCC

Secretary & Director Strategic Initiatives

J.Lakshminarayanan, ACC

Treasurer & Director Finance

C V Amarendran , ACC

Director - Membership

Ranjith Rajagopal

Director - Member Experience

Krishnaswamy S, ACC

Director - Technology

Meetu Mohanty

Director - Marketing and Communication

Sriram T, ACC

Director - Conferences and Events

Sanil C K, PCC

Director - Corporate Engagement & Partnerships

Soundar Subramanian, PCC

Director - Community Service Partnerships

Aruna Sanagavaram , PCC

Director - Learning & Development

President’s Message

Hello and welcome to ICF Chennai Charter Chapter! It’s a privilege to share this message with you – ‘Namma’ ICF Chennai chapter as we fondly know it, is one of the most vibrant, welcoming and active chapters in the ICF ecosystem. We attained the status of Charter Chapter within ICF Ecosystem in 2021 and one of the 11 chapter worldwide to chosen to receive ICF Chapter Excellence Awards. Our Members and Associates consider this as a home and close knit network of professionals. As a chapter we have a range of initiatives which help us to Enable, Expand and Evolve our core mission of GROWing Coaching, Coaches, Community and Chapter. Come and be part of the Chapter, experience Professional Development, Social Impact and networking within Coaching community.

Mission & Vision 2024-26

When we set out to outline our Chapter’s plans for 2024-26, we were clear that we wanted to keep the essence of our original GROW vision – a clear focus on our 4 pillars: Coaching – our shared profession & body of knowledge, Coaches – anyone engaged in or interested in Coaching; Chapter – our members & associates who are our key constituents, and Community – all of our stakeholders, internal and external.

“GROW – Coaching, Coaches, Chapter & Community”
is deeply engrained within the DNA of our chapter, and is accordingly our new Mission - our overarching purpose that guides all our plans and activities

ICF Chennai’s Vision 2024-26 builds on this for the next 2 years:

“To be a Global Coaching Hub, that creates Abundant Growth for Coaching, Coaches, Chapter & Community, throughThought Leadership, Focus on Excellence & Enhanced Impact, leveraging the Collective Power of our Stakeholders”

Our vision extends our GROW theme to the next aspirational level - to create Abundant growth for all our stakeholders, become a global hub for all things coaching, by demonstrating thought leadership, excellence and positive impact in all we do, and harnessing the collective strength across our ecosystem. This vision for our Chapter translates into key initiatives that we will undertake, mapped across 3 growth horizons –  Enable, Expand and Evolve, over the next two years.

Enable: Utmost focus on continuous member engagement and enable coaches with programs including monthly learning sessions, peer coaching, Book reviews, blogs, learning Sundays, Reciprocal coaching, Tools, skills enhancement initiatives

Expand: Focus on membership growth , community outreach, impactful community service partnership, intern-chapter collaboration, thought leadership , corporate coaching and DEIB

Evolve: Widen the coaching knowledge horizons through initiatives such as Research on  coaching. Stabilize and transform internal systems and processes to facilitate chapter expansion and elevation of offerings including Technology upgrades, succession planning, governance management, sustainability. 

Our focus is to GROW Coaches, Community of Coaches, and Coaching, and Chapter through Enabling, Expanding and Evolving the Member engagement and experience, learning platforms, connecting with the community through outreach programs, and building systems and process for sustaining the momentum of the chapter. We believe that this Vision and Mission will help set ICF Chennai Charter Chapter on its next trajectory of GROWth over the next two years, and invite you to join us in co-creating this exciting journey!

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ICF Diversity & Inclusion Statement

In July 2020, the ICF Global Board of Directors approved the ICF Statement of Diversity, Inclusion, Belonging and Justice. Staff and volunteer leaders from ICF’s six family organizations subsequently cosigned this statement. This statement of principles reflects a position we invite every ICF Member, Credential-holder and accredited training provider to subscribe to.

ICF Members and Credential-holders live and work in more than 140 countries and territories. ICF is a vibrant global community committed to the shared vision of making coaching an integral part of a thriving society. Our mission is to lead the global advancement of coaching. To do this, we must reflect on our blind spots and be aware of opportunities for improvement. We cannot ignore the challenges that many coaches and coaching clients face due to systemic problems in their communities.

As members of the ICF community, we ascribe to the core values of integrity, excellence, collaboration and respect. The foundation of these values is a shared commitment to diversity, inclusion, belonging and justice. We will place diversity, inclusion, belonging and justice at the forefront of every decision we make within our Association. As we continue the journey toward our vision, we will recommit ourselves to valuing the unique talents, insights and experiences that every coach and client brings to the world.

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Kannan Swaminathan

President – ICF Chennai Charter Chapter
PCC

Kannan Swaminathan,PCC has over three decades of experience in Banking and ITES. He has handled roles across multiple business domains - in Business Development, Operations, Change and Strategy. He is a founder CEO of a consulting firm focussed on advisory to BFSI, on Risk, Change and People Capability.

Kannan previously held role of Director Programs for ICF Chennai Charter Chapter and has been actively involved in Training, Facilitation and Coaching, including Pro-bono initiatives of the chapter.

He holds certifications Stakeholder Centred Coaching, Human Potential Assessment and NLP. His areas of interests are in people development through Coaching, Training and Mentoring. He facilitates change as a specialisation in organisaitons and in people.

Raj Dharmaraj

Immediate Past President – ICF Chennai Charter Chapter
PCC

Raj Dharmaraj (PCC) is immediate past president of ICF Chennai. He has over three decades of experience across leadership roles in consulting, IT services and HR, at Cognizant and TCS. He has worked with global clients on a range of engagements spanning business & technology consulting, account management, HR and M&A. He is currently a partner with Effilor Consulting (www.effilor.com).

Raj is an alumnus of XLRI and a Fulbright Fellow from Carnegie Mellon. His professional certifications include the Cultural Orientations Framework (COF) for leading & coaching across cultures, Systemic Team Coaching and Marshall Goldsmith certification related to facilitation & change.

His areas of interest include individual and team coaching for leadership and career transitions, change management, mindfulness and emotional balance.

He currently serves as Independent Director on the Boards of Unifi MF Trustee Co. and Anarva Consulting, He is a co-founder of Chennai Mentors and an active member of Sweekar - the Rainbow Parents. Outside of work he enjoys yoga, reading and golf.

Baburaj Nair

Baburaj Nair is a people process specialist with a difference. He is an author, a poet, a prolific researcher, a leadership transformation coach, and a Fellow of Institute of Directors. He was part of the Leadership Management Team in his last four companies.

With his exposure to different business /social contexts (more than 20 years of multi-industry/locational and around 7 years of academic/social sector exposure), and training inputs from professors of Harvard and Michigan Universities, he provides business solutions from wide, value-adding perspectives of life/business to his clients.

With more than 6000 facilitation/training hours, 3000+ hours of mentoring, and 600+ hours of coaching experience, Baburaj's continuous focus is to "build actionable knowledge for sustainability". He was the youngest advisor to the Education Project at National level of Aga Khan International and closely worked with British High Commission and Commen Wealth, and was the Dy. Director - Social Development Centre of Academy of HRD.

He was also National Executive Secretary of the National HRD Network. He does his consultancy/coaching work with bases in Cochin, Mumbai, and Dubai. He has published more than 40+ papers in the field of people management/governance and two co-edited books and three co-authored books in the field of people leadership (including two collection of poems).

J Lakshminarayanan (JL)

J. Lakshminarayanan (JL) is a Leadership Coach and a catalyst for personal and professional growth. With over two decades of corporate experience, his mission is to help individuals discover their true potential. He is a Chartered Accountant with over 2 decades of experience across renowned companies such as Sundaram Finance, Caterpillar, Dell Technologies and Finastra Software.

JL’s life-altering turning point came in 2020 during the pandemic, which made him realise his inner strength, mental resilience and passion for growth. This transformative period sowed the seed to expand his mindset, and explore new careers, which eventually inspired him to transition from Finance Leader to Professional Coach.

JL is an ICF ACC credentialed coach and is pursuing his PCC credential, having completed the necessary training requirements. His is the founder of a coaching practice dedicated to empowering individuals and teams to achieve their full potential. His motto is simple - to be a trusted thinking partner and a catalyst for growth and transformation.

C V Amarendran

Director - Membership

Amarendran C V is a HR Professional with close to 42 years of experience in HR . Has exposure in Manufacturing, FMCG . Hospitality, Service and Retail organisations of repute with PAN India Exposure. Has good exposure in working for start up organisations from the seeding point to steady state. Currently working as a HR Consultant & Coach extending support to organisations based on business need.

Current key assignment is in helping students and farmers in becoming entrepreneurs under the Integrated Agri Business Entrepreneurship Centre in Erode under the auspices of Kumaraguru Institute of Agriculture.

He has also completed the ACC journey and have been accredited with the certification in January 2024. He has undertaken Executive Coaching and Career Coaching. Has been a good mentor to several executives in the organisations worked. His specific areas of expertise has been in change management, leadership development, culture diversity management for executives at all levels in the organisations worked.

Ranjith Rajagopal

Ranjith Rajagopal comes as an IT Digital Transformation leader and Enterprise Agile Coach with 25 years of broad experience across industry domains and technology landscapes in leading global team and delivering large transformation programs

Ranjith is currently an Agile Transformation Coach with NatWest Group, a leading banking and financial services group in the UK . Prior to that, Ranjith had a hugely successful tenure of over 22 years with Cognizant Technology Solutions, where he played various Leadership and management roles for various clients across different industry domains and geographies.

Ranjith is a Leadership Coach pursuing International Coaching Federation (ICF) Professional Coaching Certification (PCC).

Ranjith has served as a speaker, panelist, Chairperson in different Agile conferences and meet ups

He is based out of Chennai and enjoys playing Badminton and running marathons. He also loves mindmapping "

Krishnaswamy S

Leadership and Career Transformation Coach

Krishnaswamy is a IT delivery leader turned professional coach. With over 24 years of experience managing global delivery teams, he is keen on helping Mid/Senior Managers and Executives hone their leadership skills, facilitate transformation and to help them realize their true potential.

His areas of expertise include individual and team leadership development and career transformation. As a consulting partner with Effilor consulting, he leverages Effilor’ s industry proven framework -LEAP in providing comprehensive Talent Transformation program addressing specific capabilities that are configured and aligned to the organization’s strategic goals

He is certified in DISC and also a certified Independent director. He is based out of Chennai and likes reading, playing Badminton and Volleyball.

Meetu Mohanty

Executive Leadership Coach

Meetu Mohanty is a passionate Life and Leadership Coach with over 12 years of diverse work experience across human resources, leadership training, Capability development, operations and change management. She brings a rich and well-rounded perspective to every role she undertakes in different sectors spanning from an International NGO, The Population Council, an Outsourcing Multinational to IT sector at Sopra Steria.

An ICF Level 2 Certified Coach, NLP Practitioner, and Dale Carnegie Certified training professional, Meetu blends strategic communication, and people-centric development to empower individuals and teams. She is a certified Access Bars and Reiki practitioner, integrating holistic practices into her coaching approach.

She is also an executive committee member of Toastmasters International in a Mumbai, India Club. Outside of work, Meetu is an avid reader, a music enthusiast, and finds joy in creative expression through writing and podcasts. She is the founder of Soar Centered which facilitates Coaching and Training.

Based In Bhubaneswar, India, in her role at ICF Chennai, she leads impactful marketing and communication initiatives remotely, amplifying the chapter’s mission to advance the coaching profession with authenticity, creativity, collaboration, and connection. She is an active volunteer for ICF Los Angeles and ICF Chennai Charter Chapter’s pro bono coaching initiatives.

Sriram T

Life & Performance Coach | NLP Trainer

Sriram T is a Certified Life and Performance coach (ACC), a Certified NLP Trainer & NLP Master Practitioner and a corporate facilitator. He enjoys working with people and masters the art of creating spaces for people to learn, grow and have fun. With over 4 years of Coaching and Facilitation, experience, he has coached several hundreds of people from various walks of life and has been part of several transformational programs.

With his expertise in the field of Business development, he has worked with some large clients on several EQ based leadership programs as well.

With over 19 years of experience in setting up and leading various business development roles, Sriram has handled challenging and large profiles working with several large corporates.

He is a passionate theatre artist and has done over 250 stage shows and acted in over 12 Tamil films. Sriram loves playing cricket and badminton and is a very passionate music lover.

Sanil C K

PCC, Executive Coach

Sanil is a ICF PCC certified Executive Coach. With over 20+ years of global experience managing Global IT Delivery management, Sanil developed a passion for coaching Senior Execs and leaders as part of his leadership role and transitioned into a fulltime internal coach for the past 5 years.

He is certified in Executive coaching, team coaching and a certified Menthal Health first aider. He speciailizes in 121 Exec/leadership coaching and team effectiveness coaching to transform them into high performance individuals/teams.

Soundar Subramanian

Soundar Subramanian an International Coaching Federation(ICF) certified Professional Coach(PCC), Gallup Global Strengths Coach, Certified Neuroscience Coach, NLP practitioner.

With 32 years of work experience across industries by leading Programs; Techno-Functional, Consulting, Sales and People Management roles.

Have been coaching future Leaders, Executives, and Business Founders to experience Freedom from Stuck state through their Strengths and Willful Mind. Helps in getting to know ones blind spots and blockers.

On a mission to assist 2000+ Executives, Leaders and Business Founders to transcend and leverage Potential to experience Empowerment and Extraordinariness through practicle decisions.

Aruna Sanagavaram

PCC, ORSC

Aruna Sanagavaram (PCC, ORSC) is a global team coach who empowers teams and individuals to thrive through professional and personal transitions. With over 25 years of international leadership experience in manufacturing, IT, management education, and corporate training across India, The Netherlands, Oman, Japan, and Brunei, Aruna brings a unique global perspective to her coaching.

As the founder of Swadhyay, a leading coaching and training firm, Aruna specializes in developing global leaders through customized cultural awareness workshops and delivers impactful coaching, HR consulting, and leadership development solutions. Aruna partners with organizations in the Manufacturing, Oil & Gas, IT, and Finance sectors to enhance collaboration, elevate team performance, and align strategic goals.

Committed to the coaching community, she actively volunteers with ICF Chennai and IWN-CII in their probono coaching initiatives.