Michelle Claffey

Leveraging extensive corporate experience, Michelle specializes in creating customized engagements as mechanisms to increase effectiveness, spark new possibilities, and generate optimal conditions for leaders, teams, and organizations to transform and thrive. With a foundation of trust and respect, Michelle supports leaders and teams to stretch and accelerate their talent development and impact by boosting overall leadership and team skills, identifying blind spots or obstacles that trip them up, noticing patterns of behavior and thinking, envisioning new paths and choices, creating exciting possibilities, and achieving bolder outcomes. Using a blend of coaching, facilitation and training, Michelle works with leaders and teams to help them live, lead, and work effectively, authentically, and collaboratively even amidst complexity, uncertainty and challenges.

Prior to coaching, Michelle was a research and people leader in a fast-paced, matrix team environment at Pfizer and brings to coaching 15 years of organizational and team experience along with a strategic, analytical and innovative mindset. Michelle now partners with leaders and teams across a range of industries with a niche in STEM and pharma-based organizations. Through her pro bono work with the non-profit The Coaching Fellowship, she enjoys giving back by coaching women leaders throughout the world who are impacting environmental and social changes.

Michelle has a doctoral degree in chemistry from the University of California Berkeley and a bachelor’s degree in chemistry from Bates College. Michelle is certified as a coach through the International Coach Federation. She holds a Certificate in Leadership Coaching from Georgetown University, a certificate for the Co-Active Coach curriculum by the internationally recognized Coaches Training Institute, a Certificate in Team Coaching from Corentus, and a Certificate in Facilitation from Georgetown University. She is also certified in numerous leadership and team assessments, such as The Leadership Circle and Team Management Profiles.

After graduate school in the beautiful California Bay Area, Michelle returned to Connecticut to enjoy a research career in large pharma while raising children close to family. She currently resides with her two teenage children, who appreciate growing up near 11 cousins, and Michelle loves her time with family and friends. In addition to reading, running and playing tennis, she is energized by meeting new inspiring people during her travel adventures.