Marie Ciavarella, Psy.D.

Marie is an executive coach and leadership advisor with more than 25 years of experience partnering with C-suite and senior executives on leadership effectiveness, succession, and strategic transformation. She brings deep experience working with leaders in professional services, life sciences, financial services, health care, and higher education.

As a coach, Marie operates at the intersection of organizational strategy, leadership performance, and psychological expertise, helping senior leaders translate insight into sustained business impact. Her work focuses on the leadership challenges that matter most at the executive level, including enterprise alignment, stakeholder influence, executive presence, and leadership transitions.

Marie also brings extensive consulting experience in senior leadership team effectiveness, executive development, and assessment-based coaching. Her engagements have included onboarding new executives, strengthening collaboration and alignment within senior teams, and supporting enterprise-wide leadership succession planning. She is frequently called upon as a trusted advisor to senior leadership teams seeking to improve decision-making, alignment, and collective effectiveness.

Known for her ability to establish credibility quickly with senior leaders, Marie balances challenge and support to help executives leverage strengths, address blind spots, and lead with greater clarity and impact. She partners closely with her clients to ensure development efforts are directly linked to leadership performance and organizational outcomes.

Marie specializes in assessment-driven executive coaching, using robust psychological and leadership assessments to generate insight into leadership impact, behavior, and effectiveness. Through this data-informed approach, her clients gain greater self-awareness, sharpen their leadership focus, and set clear goals for meaningful professional growth. She has also designed and delivered executive learning and development programs, as well as supported organizational change and culture initiatives.

Marie holds a PsyD in clinical psychology from The Illinois School of Professional Psychology and began her career at the University of Chicago before transitioning into leadership consulting and organizational effectiveness work. She is a licensed psychologist, a board-certified coach, and an active member of the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology. She earned her bachelor’s degree in psychology and English from the University of Illinois Chicago and is a Phi Beta Kappa.

In her free time, Marie enjoys fitness, currently focused on the sport of triathlon, spending time in nature, cooking, and reading. She and her family, including twin daughters, enjoy traveling and exploring together.