The New Year usually brings change of one type or another – and 2023 begins with news of an important transition at Cambria.
Our longstanding managing partner, Ellen Kumata, is stepping out of her management duties and transitioning to a senior advisory role in our parent firm, Spencer Stuart. Ellen will also continue as a valued CEO and Boards coach in Cambria’s coach network. There’s so much to say about Ellen and her incredible legacy, but first a word or two about the firm she was instrumental in building and will soon depart.
Since its founding in 1985, Cambria has been about the collective strength of our leaders, staff, and our amazing coaching network. And because we walk the walk, in terms of developing individual skills and leadership capacity among our people, we are confident in the seasoned management team in place now.
As part of the Spencer Stuart family, Cambria’s operational management will be led by partners Colleen Gentry and Scott Simpson, who are supported by key managers Susan Roussell and Susannah Welch. Additionally, oversight of the consulting practices will be headed by Scott Simpson (technology) and Colleen Gentry, Susan Johnson O’Neil and Jody Bradham (coaching). As Ellen likes to say: “Cambria’s never been stronger and there’s no better time to begin my next chapter.”
Ellen’s career has been one of many chapters — if not volumes. As the founder of Cambria’s executive coaching practice shortly after she joined the firm nearly 35 years ago, Ellen has been at the forefront of coaching’s evolution and has shaped Cambria’s role in advancing coaching as a strategic development tool.
In fact, Ellen says it best: “I am proud of Cambria’s role in helping to move coaching to a place on most leaders development menu – as a positive tool for building leadership muscle versus addressing a performance or fit problem.”
Leaders and teams today widely call on Cambria’s executive coaches to develop their potential versus to address shortcomings. In no small measure, Ellen Kumata helped to influence that evolution – in how she led Cambria’s client engagements, developed the firm’s esteemed coaching network – and, of course, in her countless coaching engagements with CEOs and senior leaders across a wide spectrum.
As for her next chapter, Ellen will continue to coach her CEO and senior leader clients for an interim period. She will also advise the coaching network as needed and help address key strategic issues within Spencer Stuart. Ellen also has booked some long-planned and extensive travel. Plus, there’s the Cape Cod house and new horse to return to, come Spring.
On behalf of everyone at Cambria, our beloved clients, cherished former clients, and many colleagues – both current and former – we wish Ellen all the very best! And we thank her – sincerely – for her tireless leadership, exacting professionalism, boundless mentoring, her great ear, and for always showing how best to stay the course.
