OUR TEAM

David Goldsmith

David Goldsmith

FOUNDER AND CEO, 7 PATHS FORWARD

Executive Coach | Coaching Pioneer | Thought Leader | Speaker | Educator

GLOBAL THOUGHT LEADER

David Goldsmith is a founder and longtime leader of the executive coaching profession. For more than 30 years, he’s expanded and improved coaching globally through training, advocacy, and organizational leadership. During that time, he’s also coached hundreds of executives and entrepreneurs to quickly achieve better results and greater success.

While personable and approachable, David is known for the speed and efficacy with which he helps clients solve difficult problems, make significant improvements and proceed directly to their goals. Insightful, incisive, and forthright, David is uniquely efficient in identifying opportunities, catalyzing progress, and delivering value.

David co-founded the Foundation of Coaching, now the Institute of Coaching at Harvard University Medical School. He served as the first president of Coach U, one of the oldest and most established coach training schools. He co-founded the International Coaching Federation (ICF), the largest association of coaches worldwide with over 50,000 members, and he trained the first coaches in Japan, helping establish the first Japanese coaching company, coacha.com.

As a thought leader and educator, David has organized innovative global coaching conferences and is a sought-out speaker and panelist at business, coaching, and academic summits.

In addition to educating other coaches, David serves as an executive coach to senior leaders worldwide in companies like Google, Meta, and Boston Consulting Group. Many of his clients work in the tech, healthcare, professional services, fintech, and construction industries.

With offices in Santa Fe, New Mexico, and Melbourne, Australia, David is the founder of The Goldsmith Group, and 7 Paths Forward (7PF), and is also the Dean of the Platinum Program at Coaching.com. Through 7PF’s Accelerating Coaching Excellence (ACE) program, David has built a vibrant and growing global community of 3,000+ elite and uniquely certified professional coaches. He is routinely one of the top 5 speakers at Coaching.com/(WBECs) annual Summit with over 15k attending.

When he’s not busy improving the quality of coaching and leadership worldwide, David enjoys spending time with his family, collecting art, crafting artisan breads, sipping excellent espresso, and making cheese.

David Goldsmith Coaching Credentials:

Nadia Batirev

Nadia Batirev

CHIEF OF STAFF

Nadia is a seasoned operator with extensive experience across venture capital, startups, and high-growth environments. As Chief of Staff at 7 Paths Forward, she is responsible for overseeing daily operations, managing workflows and critical projects, and leading strategic planning efforts. A trusted advisor to the Founder and CEO, Nadia provides valuable insights on key business decisions, initiatives, and potential risks. With expertise in strategic operations and cross-functional execution, she serves as a force multiplier, ensuring seamless alignment between vision and execution while streamlining processes for operational efficiency.

Nadia excels at coordinating high-priority projects, driving cross-functional collaboration, and fostering alignment between leadership and external partners. Passionate about operational excellence, she thrives in fast-paced environments where innovation is balanced with results-driven execution. She ensures that the organization remains focused on strategic goals while maintaining the agility needed for day-to-day efficiency and impact.

Marcy Swenson

Marcy Swenson

FACULTY

As an executive coach working with growth-stage CEOs and tech leaders, a startup founder with multiple exits, and a managing partner at a seed-stage investment fund, Marcy has deep knowledge of the entrepreneur’s journey from multiple perspectives. Following a successful career co-founding 3 tech companies (CPTH to IPO in 1999), Marcy became one of the first executive coaches working with startup founders.

Prior to becoming a coach, I was a co-founder with two successful exits; at CPTH (Nasdaq), I built the tech team that led to IPO. Forbes names CPTH the fastest-growing high-tech company in the world in 1999. CPTH grew to 3000 employees in 4 years; for comparison, Google grew to 3000 employees in 6 years.

As a coach, I offer my clients guidance, skill building, mentoring, and support, and a perspective grounded in 20 years of experience building great software products & services, leading exceptionally productive technical teams, and building successful companies. Our work together will identify and transform your toughest issues -- the things that challenge you repeatedly in your business and your life.

Emma Noguchi

Emma Noguchi

FACULTY

Emma is the Managing Director of Coaching Go Where, and heads up our Coaching Institute. She is an ICF Master Certified Coach (MCC), trainer and facilitator in leadership development.

For the past decade, Emma has been focused on coaching and developing leaders and leadership teams. With an unwavering faith in human potential, Emma coaches aspiring managers, directors and executives from various industries, focusing on helping them gain clarity and self-awareness. She also teaches coaching skills to managers so they can in turn -develop and coach their team members- to unleash greater performance.

With a cross-cultural background, Emma is also passionate about grooming Asian Leadership to support diversity and inclusion in all organizations she works with.

Emma has more than 15 years of combined corporate experience in advertising, marketing and HR consulting. Educated as a lawyer in France and India, she moved to Japan and worked her way up in the Advertising industry, both for Japanese and International agencies. She was also the head of Carre Noir Japan, a French design agency. In her last roles, she was a regional director for Publicis Group, handling key clients worldwide, as well as the director of Mercuri Urval Asia, a global HR consulting firm specialized in executive search and leadership advisory.

In her free time, Emma is an avid mindfulness practitioner, enjoys competing in triathlons and cooks vegan dishes with vegetables she grows in her garden.

Neha Sangwan, MD

Neha Sangwan, MD

FACULTY

Neha Sangwan, MD, CEO and founder of Intuitive Intelligence, is an internal medicine physician, engineer, international speaker, executive coach, and corporate communication expert. Her private practice and corporate consulting focus on empowering individuals, organizational leaders, and their teams with the tools for clear, effective communication. She addresses the root causes of stress, miscommunication, and interpersonal conflict, often healing chronic conditions such as headaches, insomnia, anxiety, depression, and burnout.

Neha consults with organizations such as the American Heart Association, American Express, Apple, Kaiser Permanente, and Google and has shared her journey on three TEDx stages (Berkeley, San Luis Obispo, Babson). She is the author of two books:

  1. TalkRx: Five Steps to Honest Conversations that Create Connection, Health, and Happiness

  2. Powered by Me: From Burned Out to Fully Charged at Work and in Life

Anna Tan

Anna Tan

FACULTY

Anna’s flair in executive coaching empowers leaders to become the inspirational role model they desire to be, where their company and their teams are proud to be led by them, and those whom they love in their personal life, feel enriched by having them in their lives.

Leaders come to Anna for coaching when they need business and professional transformation, both in mindset and performance. To shift from fixed to growth mindset, from motivation to inspiration, to discover how to change their behaviours and adapt their working style and become unstoppable.

This is achieved by understanding their internalised belief system and their identity as a leader through tapping into the science of neuroscience, neurolinguistic programming and social psychology. This ultimately springboards them into sustained transformation in their personal and business life, as both are interconnected, with an enhanced self awareness, insight and paradigm shifts.

Anna is a highly successful multiple award winning consultant with over 25 years experience of leading multi-million dollar portfolios, as a project, programme and business transformation consultant. She has numerous accolades and won the prestigious UK Government – Cabinet Office Project and Programme Management Award. She has co-published several academic papers on ‘Communities and Trust’.

She coaches C-suite and top level executives from MNC’s across APAC, transforming their business results. Anna was Executive Education Fellow at the National University of Singapore, with the Advanced Computing for Executives (ACE), specialising in Change Management and Leadership Development.

Michelle Hoover

FACULTY

Michelle Hoover is a leadership development strategist, advisor, and executive coach. A trusted thought partner to CEOs and business visionaries, she has designed, delivered, and facilitated leadership-development programs for more than 75,000 learners across five continents in her 19 years in leadership development.

Michelle is the founder of Baem Leadership, a strategic consultancy that advises global corporations, mid-stage startups, and purpose-driven organizations on empowering and emboldening their leaders — especially First-Generation Professionals — to lead themselves and their teams more effectively. Prior to founding Baem, Michelle established the Leadership and Learning function at Audible, an Amazon company, launching the company’s first suite of management-development learning initiatives. Before that, she led two years of 100 percent year-over-year growth at venture-backed educational startup General Assembly, leading the organization’s global expansion and building the core strategic asset upon which The Adecco Group’s $400M acquisition was based. Michelle also spent eight years holding several roles at Duke Corporate Education, then ranked by the Financial Times and BusinessWeek as the No. 1-ranked provider of customized executive education.

A First-Generation Professional herself, Michelle is a former newspaper reporter and editor and earned her B.A. in journalism from Penn State University and her Ed.M. in higher education from Harvard University, where she focused on organizational and leadership theory. She lives with her partner and his 8,000-piece vinyl collection in Fairfield County, Connecticut, where she is adapting to life in the suburbs after 17 years in Manhattan.

Samantha Cooprider

Samantha Cooprider

FACULTY

Samantha Cooprider (aka Sam or Scoop) is a powerhouse in leadership development and organizational effectiveness, known for helping leaders anticipate challenges and spark innovation. A culture and systems-thinking enthusiast, Sam brings over 25 years of experience leading at some of the world’s most transformative companies, including Meta (formerly Facebook), Google, and Tesla. She’s also served as CEO of Learning as Leadership and even opened and ran a fitness studio in Vallejo, CA—proving her knack for building thriving communities in any space.

Rooted in her early career in the nonprofit sector, Sam carries a mission-driven mindset into everything she does. She’s just months away from earning her PhD in Leadership & Organizational Development and holds credentials as a Professional Certified Coach (PCC) and SHRM-certified professional. Whether she’s coaching execs or co-creating conscious company culture, Sam is all about meaningful, lasting impact.

Omeed Rezaian

Omeed Rezaian

ADVISOR: SENIOR PARTNER, MANAGING DIRECTOR

STRATEGY | RESULTS | FULFILLMENT

Omeed partners with visionary leaders to architect breakthrough results across business, government, and society. Global executives and heads of state engage him at pivotal moments when conventional approaches fall short and the stakes couldn't be higher.

Drawing from 25 years of experience spanning BCG, Google, and transformative work on five continents, Omeed brings a unique methodology that starts with the fundamental "why" behind ambitious goals. This approach consistently delivers exceptional outcomes across Fortune 100 companies, government institutions, high-growth startups, and mission-driven organizations.

His work spans critical challenges in technology, financial services, healthcare, energy, and public sector transformation. While most organizational changes fail, Omeed's systematic focus on sustainable behavioral and systemic change has helped leaders achieve unprecedented results—whether launching new ventures, driving digital transformation, or reshaping entire industries.

What distinguishes his approach is the ability to work seamlessly across levels—from enterprise-wide transformation to team dynamics and individual performance. By aligning personal purpose with organizational mission, he helps clients not only solve immediate challenges but build lasting capabilities that fuel future success.

Leaders partner with Omeed to create cascading impact that transforms organizations, advances missions, and leaves enduring legacies that matter.