Danae Johnson
CEC, MCC, CPHR
Danae is a seasoned executive coach and leadership practitioner with a clear purpose: supporting leaders and organizations to create meaningful impact, fulfillment and sustainable change — at work and in life.
With more than 20 years of experience in executive coaching, leadership development, organizational culture design, and progressive people practices, Danae brings both strategic insight and practical wisdom to her work. She partners with executives, senior leaders, and teams across the public and private sectors who want to strengthen their leadership effectiveness, expand their impact, and lead with greater clarity, confidence and intention — particularly in times of complexity, change and transition.
Before founding her own consultancy, Thinking Partners Inc., Danae served as Vice President of People Development at Intrawest Corporation, a global leader in resort operations and real estate development with over 25,000 employees and volunteers worldwide. In that role, she played a key part in shaping leadership capability and organizational culture in large, values-driven, and fast-paced environments.
As a coach, Danae has worked with over 500 professionals, including more than 50 executive coaching clients in recent years. Her work is frequently described as “transformative,” supporting leaders to progress into more senior roles and expanded responsibility “in a confident and fundamentally sound position.” Clients report improved leadership of complex teams, resulting in “measurable improvements in performance and outcomes for the business.”
Danae is particularly known for her ability to support leaders through pivotal moments — stepping into new executive/senior roles, leading transformational initiatives, navigating significant organizational change and planning for the next phase of their careers. Leaders she works with describe gaining new strategies to influence and inspire others, along with increased confidence, presence and effectiveness. One executive shared that Danae was “a tremendous support in helping me transition into my VP role and become the type of leader I wanted to be.”
Her coaching style is grounded, insightful, highly relational while supportively challenging. Clients consistently note her authenticity and care, with one leader observing that “Danae’s coaching style had a significant impact on the success of this process — she genuinely cares about her clients.”
Danae is a published author and thought leader. Her work includes A World Book of Values (co-author) and the culture change case study “A Values-Based Culture Takes One Company from Good to Great” (co-author, HR Voice). She holds credentials as a Master Certified Coach (MCC), and Certified Executive Coach (CEC), a recently retired designation as a Chartered Professional in Human Resources (CPHR) and is certified in multiple leadership, team and organizational assessments.