About The Above Average School

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For more than two decades, Dr. Terri L. Williams, Ed.D., MCC, has helped leaders, teams, and organizations become more effective by strengthening the conditions in which people can lead, learn, and perform at their best. An executive leadership strategist, scholar-practitioner, educator, and International Coaching Federation Master Certified Coach (MCC), Terri brings together decades of experience in executive leadership, organizational learning, coaching, leadership development, and applied research.

A U.S. Army veteran and survivor of the September 11, 2001, attack on the Pentagon, Terri built a distinguished public-service career spanning more than three decades. Her senior roles included serving as Chief Learning Officer at the Federal Aviation Administration, Special Assistant to the Secretary of Defense for Military Community and Family Policy, and in leadership positions within the Department of Veterans Affairs, Intelligence Community, Department of Defense, and U.S. Space Command.

Today, Terri is President and Founder of The Above Average School and serves as Adjunct Faculty with Georgetown University’s Institute for Transformational Leadership, Adjunct Professor with American University’s Key Executive Leadership Programs, and Senior Advisor and Faculty with the Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors (TAPS) Institute for Hope and Healing®.

Her work focuses on leadership development, vertical development, executive presence, women’s leadership, multicultural leadership, team effectiveness, navigating uncertainty and transition, grief-informed leadership, well-being, emotional intelligence, organizational learning, and leadership in complex systems. Her emerging work also explores the intersection of artificial intelligence, learning architecture, leadership capability, and the future of work.

Terri’s coaching and consulting experience spans the defense, technology, healthcare, government, and professional services sectors. She has worked with leaders associated with organizations including NASA, the Department of Defense, the military services, the Federal Aviation Administration, the Department of Veterans Affairs, the Intelligence Community, Apple, Google, LinkedIn, General Motors, USAA, State Farm, and major healthcare organizations.

Terri earned her Doctor of Education (Ed.D.) in Leadership and Learning in Organizations from Vanderbilt University’s Peabody College of Education and Human Development. Her doctoral research, Identity Disruption in Leadership: Grief, Loss, and Meaning-Making in an Era of Polycrisis, examined the organizational conditions that help people experiencing significant loss remain connected, supported, capable of learning, and able to continue leading.

She is continuing her scholarly development through the University of Pennsylvania’s Executive Doctoral program. Her interests include organizational learning, leadership, learning architecture, technology, artificial intelligence, and the systems required to build sustainable human and organizational capability.

• Executive Doctoral Program — University of Pennsylvania, GSE  (current)
• Ed.D., Leadership and Learning in Organizations — Vanderbilt University, Peabody College of Education and Human Development
• MBA, Human Resources — University of Phoenix
• M.S., Management — National Louis University
• BBA — Averett University
• Associate Degree — University of Maryland University College

Terri has also completed executive and advanced leadership development through institutions including The Wharton School, MIT Sloan, Harvard University, Yale School of Management, Oxford, Cambridge, Stanford, HEC Paris, Northwestern Kellogg, Georgetown University, American University, The Aspen Institute, the Federal Executive Institute, and the U.S. Office of Personnel Management Senior Executive Service Candidate Development Program.

• International Coaching Federation — Master Certified Coach (MCC)
• European Mentoring and Coaching Council — Senior Practitioner
• ICF Coach Assessor
• Certified Dare to Lead™ Facilitator
• EQ-i 2.0 / EQ 360 Emotional Intelligence
• Korn Ferry Leadership Architect
• Advanced development in leadership presence, cultural intelligence, Outward Mindset™, Red Team Thinking, grief education, coaching, and executive assessment

Terri has also completed advanced professional learning through the NeuroLeadership Institute, Search Inside Yourself Leadership Institute, The Arbinger Institute, Institute of Coaching at McLean Hospital, and the Grief Recovery Institute®.

Her public service has been recognized through honors including the Department of the Army Meritorious Public Service Medal and the Secretary of Defense Meritorious Civilian Service Award.Additionally, she was selected to represent the U.S. Army in the Women in Military Service for America commemorative postage stamp initiative.

Across her work as an executive, educator, coach, researcher, and learning strategist, Terri is guided by a central question:

What conditions help people continue to learn, lead, and become who they are capable of becoming—especially when the world around them is changing?

Terri and her husband are part of a multigenerational military family. Their son and niece are graduates of the United States Military Academy at West Point, and serving today. Outside of her professional and academic work, Terri enjoys French cooking, bicycling, yoga, lifelong learning, and spending time with her family.