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Cris Hagen

About Cris:

Professional Background:

Cris is a leadership coach and facilitator for senior executives and firms seeking to expand their influence and reputation. Cris has 30 years of experience coaching leaders at all levels, including the C-suite, to improve leadership effectiveness, build strong leadership teams, improve business results, plan and guide organization change, improve interpersonal relationships, resolve conflict, and to translate strategic vision into cross-functional, executable action plans. His clients enjoy working with someone who has played an internal role in organizations, who understands business, who works to achieve measurable results, and who has the interpersonal skills to build client relationships based on trust, collaboration, and mutual respect.

In his leadership coaching work, Cris focuses on the client’s ability to build effective relationships which create strategic impact, leadership presence, and valued partnerships with clients. Cris’ clients report his strength as a coach lies in his ability to make powerful distinctions that allow them to see new and powerful pathways for growth, changing previously intractable situations into new opportunities. Cris is also an experienced facilitator for executive retreats and team building workshops.  Cris is also an adjunct coach for Right Management.

He was first introduced to his career in 1980, when he worked for University Associates, Inc., a leading publisher, consulting and training firm in the areas of Human Resource and Organization Development.  While managing the Professional Services Department there, he attended several of UA’s conferences, workshops, and their renowned HRD Intern Program conducted by several of the leading OD experts in the world.

Throughout his career, whether leading an internal OD function or consulting as an external consultant/coach, Cris has built the experience and business savvy in a wide range of industries that gives him a solid understanding of the challenges and opportunities that leaders face in building organizational capability and leading strong leadership teams.

Cris’ passion is one-on-one leadership coaching, and designing and facilitating leadership team building workshops and strategic planning retreats.  He has led numerous successful large-scale change initiatives that involve implementing new systems, culture change, and improving employee engagement.

Cris has led internal OD and Leadership Development activities in several large companies, including San Diego Gas & Electric (where he started the first OD function in the company’s history), Rockwell International, Prudential Healthcare, and Semtech Corporation.  He has also served as a Principal Consultant at PricewaterhouseCoopers where he led change management project teams for companies such as The Walt Disney Company, Beckman Coulter, STERIS Corporation, Applied Materials, Famers Insurance, and Amgen.

Cris is also a skilled and engaging presenter and has lectured at:

  • Pepperdine University
  • University of Southern California
  • Loyola Marymount University
  • Biola University

He has also spoken at the ASTD and OD National Conventions, and been a repeat presenter at local and regional chapters of ASTD, OD Network, and the National Human Resources Association.  He has also written several articles on leadership, change, and organization design that have been published in online newsletters and been quoted in hard cover publications such as the Harvard Business School Press in their series on business Literacy for HR Professionals.

Cris has a Master’s Degree in Counseling from San Diego State University and received his Bachelor’s Degree in the John Muir Special Project Major from UC San Diego.

On a personal note:

Cris’ personal mission is to help leaders create workplaces where people enjoy their work and co-workers in a spirit of community, and where the business is more successful as a result.

Cris loves the outdoors, and has spent time every summer since he was two years old camping, backpacking, fishing, and making photographs in California’s Sierra Nevada.  He also makes frequent trips to Anza Borrego State Park where he enjoys hiking, photography, and travelling the back roads of the Park.  On weekends he enjoys riding his road bike on the many trails and roads in the Ventura County area, and occasionally participates in organized rides throughout the State.

Cris enjoys international travel, and has recently visited South Africa, Croatia, Ecuador, Italy, Switzerland, the UK, and France.  Photographs of a safari in South Africa adorn his living room walls to remind him of the truly wild and untamed nature of the world around him.

Cris has played guitar since the age of 13, and enjoys monthly jam sessions with some former high school buddies to revisit some of the rock and roll favorites of the 60’s, 70’s, 80’s, and 90’s.  He also enjoys entertaining family and friends.

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Cris Hagen
Cris Hagen
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