Founders and Management Team

Henry Kimsey-House, co-founder of CTI, is the main designer of the coaching course curriculum, including the leadership program. Today, Henry continues to develop and refine the CTI coaching curriculum, leveraging his creative insights and experience as an actor. He is also co-author of the industry best-seller Co-Active Coaching.

An actor since age nine, Henry brings that experience and understanding of human process and development to CTI. His acting career includes appearances in Woody Allen's movie, "Stardust Memories," soap operas and regional theatre productions. According to Henry, his acting experience contributed greatly to the creation of Co-Active coaching and to the creation of language in the CTI courses that addresses the core of who we are.

After acting for several years, Henry joined the Actors Information Project (AIP), in New York City, a career counseling service for actors. As vice president of curriculum development, he created a variety of workshops and programs to help new actors succeed in their craft and in the business of acting.

In the 1980s, Henry became one of the first professional coaches, with a specialty in coaching artists and actors. In 1992, he turned his creativity to co-founding and co-designing the curriculum for CTI.

Henry studied acting at Lewis & Clark University, University of Wisconsin (Eau Claire), University of Tennessee (Chattanooga) and in New York City.

Karen Kimsey-House, President and co-founder of CTI, brings her entrepreneurial and business experience insights to CTI. She is at the forefront of the coaching profession as a well-known keynote speaker, workshop leader and co-author of the industry best-seller Co-Active Coaching.

A successful entrepreneur, she founded the Learning Annex San Francisco adult education program in 1986, and helped develop it to become one the most admired programs among the Learning Annex city programs. According to Karen, she has always been an entrepreneur, from starting a cleaning business while working as an actress, to founding the Learning Annex San Francisco, to co-founding CTI. Karen brings to CTI a powerful blend of business expertise and human insights from her acting career and training.

A founding member of the Personal and Professional Coaches Association, Karen holds a Master Certified Coach (MCC) designation through The International Coaches Federation. Karen today continues her work as a professional coach, specializing in entrepreneurs and start-up companies, helping them with innovative business practices and no-nonsense strategies to move things forward quickly.

Karen has a B.S. in English from Idaho State University and MFA in Communications and Theater from Temple University.

Laura Whitworth, co-founder of the Coaches Training Institute, passed away in February 2007 after a two year battle with lung cancer. Laura's legacy is how she helped shape the coaching industry with her determination, persistence, creativity and compassion. Her numerous accomplishments have touched and changed many lives in profound ways.

As professional coach, Laura nurtured individuals, groups, teams, and organizations toward greater productivity and effectiveness. She worked with hundreds of entrepreneurs and organizations including Pacific Gas and Electric Company, Pacific Bell, and the Oakland Unified School District. In 1997, she was named among the ten most influential coaches by Professional Coach Journal.

In the very early years of the coaching profession, Laura was a founding member of the Personal and Professional Coaches Association, which merged with the International Coach Federation (ICF).  Laura co-founded the Association of Coaching Training Organizations (ACTO); an organization created to steward high quality coach training and evolve the industry. In 2002 Laura co-founded The Bigger Game Company, a transformative program designed to explore new ways for individuals or teams within organizations to lead.

In her spare time, Laura co-authored Co-Active Coaching, a best selling book that helped define the field of professional coaching. Laura also led the effort to take the Co-Active Coaching model into federal and state prisons where it continues to have a profound impact on the lives of inmates. In 2007 this program was renamed the Laura Whitworth Prison Project in her honor.

Laura is best described as a fierce warrior and champion of the highest potential for each person she touched.  She was bold, courageous, rigorous, incredibly brilliant and disarmingly human.  She served this world well and called us all forth, over and over again, asking, no demanding, we reach for the stars.  Her passing left a hole in the world of coaching and her presence among us will be sorely missed.

Shirzad Chamine is CEO of The Coaches Training Institute (CTI), based in San Rafael, CA. Shirzad joined CTI in 2002 because he recognized that coaching represented a powerful mechanism to enable individuals to achieve their personal and professional potential. He also saw CTI's unique Co-Active model as a powerful context for building more effective business relationships between employee, manager, and the organization.

Prior to joining CTI, Shirzad founded MindSteps, Inc -- the first web-based enterprise software for career development and performance management, used by companies such as Hewlett Packard, Wells Fargo Bank, Agilent, and Visa International. Before founding MindSteps, Shirzad was a senior marketing manager and/or consultant to Hewlett Packard, Apple Computer, and Autodesk, Inc.

Shirzad has served as Visiting Professor of Interpersonal Dynamics at University of San Francisco School of Law and facilitated Stanford MBAs in similar classes. He has also been a guest lecturer at Stanford's Industrial Engineering program.

Shirzad holds an MBA from Stanford University, an MS in Electrical Engineering from Columbia University, and a BA in Psychology from San Francisco State University.

Karl Sniady is the Chief Operating Officer and Chief Financial Officer at The Coaches Training Institute (CTI). Karl was introduced to Co-Active coaching when he lived in Boston and hired a CTI-trained coach.  Having had first hand experience with how powerful the Co-Active model is, Karl was very excited to have the opportunity to use his professional skills in CTI's Co-Active business environment.

Karl brings more than 25 years of executive experience to The Coaches Training Institute. Since starting his career as an auditor with Coopers & Lybrand, Karl has had experience with everything from multi-national and publicly traded companies, to internet start ups. After moving to the Bay area in 2004, Karl joined MediaZone, a market leader in online, video broadcasting, as the CFO. Prior to MediaZone, Karl was the CFO for Performant Financial Corporation, a private equity backed financial services company. Karl has also served as the EVP and CFO of S&H Greenpoints; a venture capitalist funded B2B marketing loyalty company, and helped lead the company from two million to fifty million in revenue. He then took his EVP and CFO experience to Trendlines Incorporated, a public company with annual revenues of more than three hundred million. While at Trendlines, he successfully completed a secondary common stock offering, restructured its bank credit facility and was responsible for human resources, IT, distribution and call center operations. Prior to Trendlines, Karl was the CFO for Auto Source, Inc. Previous to that, he spent 10 years with two subsidiaries of Netherlands-based SHV where he held multiple positions.

Karl received his MBA from Northeastern in Boston, and completed his undergraduate work at the University of Cincinnati where he received his BS in Industrial Management. Karl has been married to Gwen for over 28 years; his son Matt lives in the Bay Area and his daughter Maria lives in Boston.

Paul Byrne will be heading our effort to take Co-Activity into corporations and organizations as our new VP of Sales and Marketing. Paul brings 15 years of senior-level experience building and managing public companies, as well as personally advising many of the world's leading executives on issues ranging from HR strategy to marketing and sales operations. Prior to becoming a CPCC, Paul served as the European Managing Director for the Corporate Executive Board, a $400 million corporate best-practice consulting and executive education firm. In addition, Paul held various sales and general management roles at Forrester Research. Paul has built and managed the international operations for two "Business Week Hot Growth Companies." Paul grew up in Boston, is married to a Dutch citizen and is father of three precious little ones.

Sabrina M. Roblin, CPCC is the Vice President of Global Leadership Development at the Coaches Training Institute and a board member of the Association of Coach Training Organizations (ACTO). She manages the hiring, retention and development of the individuals in leadership roles in CTI's programs around the globe as well as the quality of their delivery in those programs.  Her past work experience includes management positions in Pacific Gas & Electric Company, Wells Fargo Bank and Broderbund Software. She is a graduate of CTI's leadership program and has studied personal and collective leadership, and cross-cultural wisdom with world-renowned author, teacher and corporate consultant, Angeles Arrien. Her adventurous spirit has led her to participate in competitive ski racing, mountain climbing, skydiving, SCUBA diving, and mountain biking.  Born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area, she has traveled and lived in Europe and spent one of her college years at the Sorbonne University in Paris. Sabrina holds a Bachelor's degree from San Francisco State University.

Trudy Kendall, CPCC, PCC, is the Director of Strategic Initiatives and is responsible for the development and implementation of new programs for CTI. Trudy joined CTI in 1999 and has held a number of management/executive positions during her tenure.

In 1990 Trudy was introduced to the world of coaching while working for the Bechtel Corporation in San Francisco, California. After intensive training, she became a team coach for work process improvement teams for Bechtel. In addition to her work as an internal team coach, she held a number of management positions within the organization, primarily in the areas of administration and information management.

Trudy was strongly drawn to one-on-one coaching and was certified by CTI in 1998 when she expanded her personal coaching business and ended her 18-year career with Bechtel. In addition to her work at CTI, Trudy continues to coach personal clients and her niche is working with mothers with teenage daughters.

Trudy has a degree in Business and Humanities from Golden Gate University and is a member of the ICF and the Marin Coaches Alliance. In addition to her position on CTI's management team, Trudy is both a supervisor and examiner in CTI's certification program.