Meet our Coaches
The Center for Liberated Leadership provides executive coaching to leaders in contexts as varied as higher education, K-12, health care, small business, non-profits and more.
Contact us to explore how working with one of our coaches can accelerate your professional goals and help develop sustainable work practices.
Walt Jacobs
Executive Coach
Building on more than 25 years of experiences as a professor of Ethnic Studies and administrator, Walt Jacobs, Ph.D., is a certified executive and leadership coach who sparks clients’ reflections of their narratives, and then explores possibilities for the next chapters of their trajectories. He has an astute ability to see the potential in people, evaluate what they are poised to take on, and help them chart and navigate pathways to use their strengths to sort through clutter, succeed, and shine. Walt has served as a Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs and was a university dean for nine years.
LaTanya Buck Jones
Executive Coach
Dr. LaTanya Buck Jones is a Board Certified Coach and strategy consultant with 20+ years of experience in equity leadership. She specializes in transition and change, prioritization and goal mapping, communication across differences, leading with self-awareness, and inclusive leadership. A former inaugural Dean for Diversity at Princeton, she integrates restorative practices and inclusive leadership in her coaching. LaTanya holds a Ph.D. in higher ed and certifications in executive coaching and strategic planning.
Jennifer Mitchell
Executive Coach
Jennifer Mitchell, with 20 years of experience in higher education and small business management, offers coaching to help leaders define their leadership style and personal success. She is a Board Certified Coach, certified Executive Coach, and Career Coach, with a focus on goal achievement, self-regulation, sustainable health practices, and emotional resiliency. With a Master's in International Public Relations, she specializes in leadership development and crisis management. Jennifer is trained in Reiki II, Jin Shin Jyutsu, and Herbalism.
Cristina Alcalde
Leadership Coach
Cristina Alcalde, PhD, is a leadership coach, anthropologist, and scholar-practitioner who partners with higher education leaders navigating complexity, institutional pressure, and career transition while staying grounded in their values. A former Vice President for Transformational and Inclusive Excellence and Associate Dean, she brings deep experience in governance, crisis leadership, and strategic influence. Cristina integrates feminist leadership theory, restorative practices, and crisis training to help leaders build executive presence, navigate power dynamics, and lead with clarity, courage, and sustainability.
Chinyere Oparah
Founder & CEO
Lead Executive Coach
During the past three decades Chinyere has dedicated herself to developing and embodying a new way to lead that fosters joy, creativity, resilience and peak performance for leaders and the communities they serve. As an executive coach, Chinyere combines an equity and trauma-informed lens with mindfulness and proven leadership toolkits from the Center for Executive Coaching, to accelerate transformative change for her clients and the organizations they lead. Her deep humanity and compassion, combined with an orientation toward action and results, helps the leaders she works with to realize unimagined confidence, impact and balance.
Melissa Francis
Executive Coach
Melissa Francis is an ICF-certified Executive and Career Coach who partners with early- to mid-career professionals, emerging leaders, and leaders in social-impact organizations to lead with clarity, purpose, and momentum. She brings 25+ years of public-service leadership in complex environments and multilingual fluency (Spanish, Haitian Creole, and French) to culturally responsive, trauma-informed coaching that drives real- world behavior change, equitable team dynamics, and values-aligned impact. Melissa began her career in international public service and served in senior leadership roles with the U.S. Agency for International Development, supporting teams across more than 80 countries.
Yvette Alex-Assensoh
Executive Coach
Yvette M. Alex-Assensoh is an experienced leader and ICF-certified executive coach with over 30 years in U.S. higher education, including roles as faculty member, dean, lawyer, and vice president. She has led major initiatives that strengthened faculty retention, improved institutional climate, and advanced equity—such as Indiana University’s STEM learning community for women and the University of Oregon’s first climate survey. A former ACE Fellow and Fulbright Scholar, she is passionate about love-centered leadership and enjoys cooking, swimming, board games, Star Trek, and Christian fiction.
Lisa Dunnigan
Senior Leadership Coach
Lisa Dunnigan is a Leadership Transition Coach with over 20 years of experience in higher education and Fortune 500 companies. She helps leaders navigate senior leadership complexities and invisible transitions. With certifications in Hogan Leadership Assessments, MHS Change and Influence Style Indicators, and as a DDI Master Facilitator, Lisa's approach emphasizes the leader's experience at the heart of their leadership. With an MBA in organizational leadership, she has worked in various industries and served on nonprofit boards.
Shawn Nealy-Oparah
Executive Coach
Shawn Nealy-Oparah, Ed.D., is an innovative somatic abolitionist and trauma-responsive educator with over 20 years of experience in teaching and leadership. A former teacher and vice principal, she supports urban school leaders in developing holistic and humanizing practices to transform teaching and learning. Shawn is passionate about the quality of human connection, understanding relationship legacies, and the power of emotional intelligence. She is an experienced leadership coach and member of the Center for Executive Coaching.