Brigette M. Bethea, Owner and Lead Strategist of ULEAD, a training and development firm, whose career has spanned the intelligence, defense, public education, and nonprofit sector, has been named the Frances Hesselbein Leadership Forum’s first virtual Executive Coach in the University of Pittsburgh’s Graduate School of Public and International Affairs (GSPIA).
As Executive Coach, Ms. Bethea will support GSPIA students, faculty, and staff through leadership development workshops, one-on-one mentoring and coaching, network building, and class visits beginning this month, through the 2021 spring semester.
Until recently, Ms. Bethea served as the Director of Leadership Development at Business Professionals of America, an education nonprofit supporting over 44,000 students across the US pursuing careers in business management, information technology. Ms. Bethea also served in the United States Army for eight years as a Military Intelligence Officer and also spent a number of years working at the Pentagon as part of the defense warning personnel under the Joint Chiefs of Staff in support of the President of the United States’ strategic defense agenda.
Throughout her military and government career, with both the United States Army and Department of Defense, she focused heavily on growing effective teams. In her educational roles, Ms. Bethea has worked with both educators and students on leadership programs and has supported the development of leadership trainings to ensure meaningful connections.
At the Johnson Institute, Ms. Bethea will design and direct a number of distinct leadership development sessions that highlight not only the skills that employers will expect from young leaders and the ways in which students can build those skills now, but she will also provide insight on how students can look for roles that align with their values as they transition to the workforce.
According to Senior Lecturer Julia Santucci, director of the Johnson Institute and the Hesselbein Forum, “Brigette brings a perfect blend of multicultural experience—including work in Iraq, Afghanistan, South America, and South Africa—and problem-solving in the military and public sectors, that will greatly benefit our students and members of the Pittsburgh and Hesselbein communities.”
Ms. Bethea is originally from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and is currently pursuing her Doctorate of Education with a focus on Leadership and Administration which will compliment her Master’s in Leadership from Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business.
Previous Hesselbein Forum Executive Coach appointees include Fred Thieman, former President, Buhl Foundation and former U.S. Attorney for Western Pennsylvania (2019-2020), Kathleen Hower, co- founder of Global Links (Spring 2019) and Lindsay Anderson, former Senior Advisor, Federal Emergency Management Agency (2017-2018).
The Hesselbein Forum, within the Johnson Institute, provides a variety of opportunities for fostering and growing leadership including the Hesselbein Lecture Series, the Leadership Program in International Affairs, and the publication of the award-winning Leader to Leader journal.