Dr. Towanna Burrous is the President of the Institute for Coaching Innovation (ICI), an ICF-accredited coaching institution advancing the practice of transformational coaching and human-centered leadership. A pioneer in leadership coaching, she has dedicated her career to helping leaders and organizations strengthen the human capabilities required to lead, adapt, and innovate in an increasingly complex world.
With more than three decades of professional experience spanning technology, program management, business development, and leadership development, Dr. Burrous has held pivotal roles at organizations including the Central Intelligence Agency, Verizon Enterprise Solutions, and General Dynamics. Her career has included work supporting sophisticated communication systems during significant global events as well as designing leadership and organizational strategies that help people and organizations navigate change.
Dr. Burrous is the author of Where AI Meets Empathy: Coaching the Human Side of Innovation, an Amazon bestseller that explores what leaders and organizations must strengthen as artificial intelligence reshapes the workplace. Her work challenges organizations to invest in their human infrastructure as intentionally as they invest in technological infrastructure, emphasizing empathy, trust, discernment, reflection, cultural awareness, and coaching as essential capabilities for leading through transformation.
As an entrepreneur, Dr. Burrous has a long history of creating platforms that expand access to leadership development, education, and professional opportunity. In 1999, she founded the Young Women’s Empowerment Network, followed by the Black Life Coaches Network in 2011, initiatives that provided transformative development and professional opportunities to hundreds of individuals. Today, through ICI, she leads accredited coach education and works with corporate, nonprofit, and government organizations to develop leaders, strengthen organizational capability, and build cultures where people and innovation can thrive.
A sought-after speaker, executive coach, and thought leader, Dr. Burrous brings together the disciplines of coaching, leadership, technology, and organizational transformation. Her work examines a defining leadership question of the AI era: How do organizations embrace technological innovation while strengthening the distinctly human capabilities that technology cannot replace?
Under Dr. Burrous’s leadership, ICI has trained more than 4,000 coaches and leaders and delivered more than 10,000 hours of executive coaching. The company has also earned national recognition through multiple appearances on the Inc. 5000 list of America’s fastest-growing private companies.
Across her work as an educator, author, speaker, and organizational partner, Dr. Burrous is helping shape a future of leadership in which technological advancement and human development move forward together.