Ilona Birenbaum
Biography

Ms. Birenbaum, a principal and co-founder of The Wynhurst Group, is a leadership consultant and executive coach with over 18 years of experience and a diverse organizational development background. Her specialties include change management, leadership assessment and development, executive coaching, performance management, training, facilitation, conflict resolution, and the design and implementation of employee development programs. Ms. Birenbaum has significant international and multicultural experience through the work that she has done in Russia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Bulgaria, and Bolivia. She has worked in many different industries that include petrochemical, technology, consulting, and non-profit.

Ms. Birenbaum has held leadership roles for American Management Systems (AMS) and Watson Wyatt Worldwide. As a Principal with AMS and a Senior Consultant with Watson Wyatt she led multiple change initiatives which included the design and implementation of performance management systems, developing and leading train-the-trainer efforts for major change initiatives, developing and managing leadership development programs within a corporate university, designing and implementing multiple employee surveys, and facilitating over 100 workshops and training sessions. Earlier in her career, as a consultant with Amoco Corporation, she led the introduction of career development and leadership assessment programs and played a major role in developing HR tools and systems for international expansion.

Ms. Birenbaum has served on the Board of Human Resources Leadership Forum (HRLF) and has done work with Listening to the City, a 5,000 person effort to provide input to the redevelopment of Lower Manhattan in the wake of the September 11th terrorist attacks. She has been published by the Washington Business Journal, the Association of Training and Development, and SMART CEO. Ms. Birenbaum is a certified facilitator of the Drexler Sibbett Team Performance Model, Center for Creative Leadership (CCL) 360 Assessment instruments, MBTI, Hay Group's Emotional Competency Inventory (ECI), Lominger's Voices, Apter Motivational Style Profile (AMSP) and Apter Leadership Profile System (ALPS). Ms. Birenbaum is also a certified Action Learning Coach and holds a Professional Certified Coach (PCC) through the International Coaching Federation.

Ms. Birenbaum earned her Bachelor of Arts in Psychology, a Masters of Labor and Industrial Relations from Michigan State University, and a Leadership Coaching Certificate through Georgetown University. She is fluent in Russian and enjoys yoga, travel, reading, and spending time with her family.

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