Tonya Echols is a global leader and multi-award-winning international Executive Coach and Leadership and Organizational Development Consultant. She is the Founder and Managing Principal of Vigere, a global coaching and consulting firm. 

Tonya has over 28 years of experience in corporate management, digital and traditional media, technology, finance, coaching, leadership development, and diversity, equity, and inclusion. She works with numerous organizations across a variety of industries, including Fortune 500 companies. With a master’s degree in Organizational Leadership from Gonzaga University and as a summa cum laude graduate of the University of Tennessee in Business Administration-Accounting, Tonya is a doctoral candidate in Leadership Psychology with emphases in Neuroscience and Inclusive Leadership from William James College. 

Tonya is an adjunct faculty member for the graduate programs at William & Mary and Harvard University Extension School, teaching leadership and organizational behavior. She is a faculty member of the Institute for Professional Excellence in Coaching (iPEC), a contributing member of the Forbes Coaches Council, and an Affiliate Member of the Institute of Coaching, McLean Hospital, a Harvard Medical School affiliate. She is also an executive and leadership coach for the TED Fellows Coaching and Mentoring Initiative and a member of the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology. Her writing has also been featured in several publications, including Forbes and HuffPost. Tonya is a Professional Certified Coach (PCC) credentialed by the International Coach Federation (ICF), of which she is Chair of the Professional Coaches Global Board and a director of the General Enterprise Board. 

Tonya applies her diverse professional background to connect with her clients by drawing on her own real-world experience of successfully leading organizations and addressing a variety of management challenges. As a Certified Diversity Executive®, she helps her clients move forward to find actionable, inclusive, and human-centric solutions that allow them to accomplish their goals and become impactful, transformational leaders and organizations. 

An avid traveler, Tonya embraces the opportunity to encounter, experience, and appreciate many different people and cultures from all over the world and strongly believes that anyone can design their life as they choose and step into leadership with authenticity, confidence, and purpose.