Dr. Tonya Echols is a multi-award-winning global leader, executive coach, educator, and leadership psychologist. She is the Founder and Managing Principal of Vigere, an international coaching and consulting firm.
Tonya has over 30 years of experience in corporate management, digital and traditional media, technology, finance, coaching, leadership development, and diversity, equity, and inclusion. She works with numerous organizations across a variety of industries, including Fortune 500 companies. With a master's degree in Organizational Leadership from Gonzaga University and as a summa cum laude graduate of the University of Tennessee in Business Administration-Accounting, Tonya earned a Doctorate in Leadership Psychology with emphases in Neuroscience and Inclusive Leadership from William James College.
Tonya is an adjunct faculty member for the graduate programs at William & Mary and Harvard University Extension School, teaching leadership and organizational behavior. She is a faculty member of the Institute for Professional Excellence in Coaching (iPEC), a contributing member of the Forbes Coaches Council, and an Affiliate Member of the Institute of Coaching, McLean Hospital, a Harvard Medical School affiliate. She is also an executive and leadership coach for the TED Fellows Coaching and Mentoring Initiative and a member of the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology. Her writing has also been featured in several publications, including Forbes and HuffPost. Tonya is a Professional Certified Coach (PCC) credentialed by the International Coach Federation (ICF) where she has held several leadership roles, including currently as director and officer of the General Enterprise Board.
Tonya applies her diverse professional background to connect with her clients by drawing on her own real-world experience of successfully leading large teams and addressing a variety of management challenges. As a practitioner, she helps her clients move forward to find actionable, inclusive, and human-centric solutions that allow them to accomplish their goals and become impactful, transformational leaders and organizations. Additionally, Tonya’s academic research reflects her commitment to creating a more universal perspective on how the many aspects of our identities inform our lives, relationships, and leadership performance through her development of the Social Identity Development Model™ and its related assessment, the Social Identity Development Instrument™.
An avid traveler, Tonya embraces the opportunity to encounter, experience, and appreciate many different people and cultures from all over the world and strongly believes that anyone can design their life as they choose and step into leadership with authenticity, confidence, and purpose.
