Nelson Zagalsky, Ph.D.
Executive Coach
Dr. Nelson Zagalsky has led High-Tech Focus, an executive-coaching and management-consulting practice since 1997. Clients have included Parker Aerospace, Wonderware Invensys, ADC Telecommunications, and other major tech-sector companies.
He is a certified executive-coach who has senior line-management and management-consulting experience across the tech-sector. He also holds a Ph.D. in Engineering. This background enables him to simultaneously work with his coaching clients on two tracks; a business-track focused on helping the client gain new insights into a business or management challenge, and a leadership-development coaching track. Observations about obstacles encountered on the business track inform the development track of needed behavior shifts or new competencies. Previous coaching assignments have targeted shifts in such problematic behaviors as avoiding conflict (for a Director of Engineering (DOE)), intimidating subordinates (for a General Manager), lack of authenticity (for a Marketing VP), over-committing (for a DOE), lack of emotional control (for a Director of IT), etc.
He is certified as an Integral Coach® through New Ventures West, an International Coaching Federation accredited coaching school. Integral Coaches® help clients advance their competency through custom designed practices that address the multiple aspects of their being; Mind & Consciousness, Physical Body & Behavior, Relationships & Culture, and Environment. This holistic behavioral-coaching methodology helps clients achieve the lasting changes which will support increased leadership effectiveness.
Nelson has held Director and Vice-President level engineering and marketing positions, and has personally made the transition from such functional management positions to enterprise leadership positions such as General Manager and Director of Corporate Planning for Honeywell. Having walked in his clients’ shoes, he is able to develop a rapid understanding of their “Structure of Interpretation”, which enables him to provide useful new perspectives on their challenges, and more accurate diagnosis of coaching needs.
Nelson’s background includes more than 25 years of diverse high-tech industry experience, including over 15 years with Honeywell as Director of Engineering (Aerospace & Defense, Industrial Controls), Director of Marketing (Industrial Controls), Director of Corporate (Strategic) Planning, and General Manager (Secure Communications Systems). More recently, he served as Vice President of Engineering for BE Aerospace, a manufacturer of In-Flight Entertainment systems.