Denise Sughrue has been helping leaders drive strategic change for almost 30 years. As an executive coach Denise focuses on helping clients lead and succeed, inclusively and authentically. She has helped clients from early to late career successfully to make transitions and be purposeful in the way they show up for themselves and others. Having been a woman in STEM and working parent, Denise has a soft spot working with clients trying to navigate the difficult expectations often placed by society and the workplace. She also doesn’t believe that you need kids to expect a life outside of work.
Denise’s early career focused on innovation in DOD acquisition processes as a Program Manager within the Joint Strike Fighter PMO (now F-35). She took that experience to the consulting world and has spent the last 25 years helping clients drive transformational change. Her work includes strategic foresight across the future of work and higher ed, strategy definition and implementation, human capital transformation, and broader organizational transformation. Denise has worked across industries including higher education, biotech, aerospace and defense, telecom, DoD, and DHS.
Denise holds several volunteer positions, she serves as Secretary of the Board for Arlington Thrive, a non-profit focused on eviction prevention. She is a Co-chair of the Robert H. Smith School of Business’ Alumni Board where she also serves as an ex officio member of the University of Maryland’s Alumni Association’s Board of Governors.
Denise earned her B.S. in Aerospace Engineering with a double major in Ocean Engineering from Virginia Tech and earned her MBA from the Robert H. Smith School of Business at the University of Maryland. She also completed her certification as an executive coach from Coach Diversity Institute.
Denise lives in Arlington, VA with her husband and their three children when they are visiting or home from college.