June 2026 
President's Message
Building on the Momentum of International Coaching Week
Meet Jonathan Evans
Jonathan brings more than a title to the ICFBC presidency. He brings 20+ years of leadership, coaching, education, and community development, guided by a commitment to Indigenous representation, accessibility, and culturally grounded practice. LEARN MORE ABOUT JONATHAN
Celebrating ICW Momentum
There are moments when a community does more than gather. We re-member who we are.
International Coaching Week highlighted ICF British Columbia's strength through conversations, events, and community. We witnessed curiosity, generosity, and excellence as members supported each other and the future of coaching, demonstrating what matters.
Coaching is changing. Credentials are essential. They protect standards, deepen trust, and signal professional commitment. Still, our value as a chapter cannot rest on credentials alone.
“Our deeper work is to steward a living community where coaches feel connected, supported, challenged, recognized, and inspired to grow.”
That is the future I see for ICFBC.
A chapter where members belong to each other. A chapter where we build a community strong enough to serve today’s coaches and flexible enough to meet tomorrow’s possibilities.
Uplift the Profession – Run for the board!
Leadership is one of our most important conversations.
We are entering a meaningful season of growth and renewal. The choices we make now will shape how we strengthen coaching across British Columbia. This is why our upcoming Board elections matter.
“Strong chapters don’t happen by chance; they develop from members investing in the profession.”
Leadership in our chapter is about stewardship, listening well, deciding wisely, and building with others.
We are committed to a transparent, fair nominating process led by past-president Stephen Hinds. Members can trust that recruitment is open, skills-based, and aligned with the chapter’s needs. The Vice-President, who will become President, is open. More details about roles, nominations, timelines, and the process will be shared by July 15, 2026.
If you’ve wondered whether your voice, skills, or experience could shape ICFBC, the answer may be yes. We need thoughtful leaders, courageous listeners, and people who see both details and the horizon. [SHARE YOUR INTEREST]
All voices matter here. every contribution is valued.
Together, we are building a chapter that honours professional excellence, welcomes diverse identities, and creates exceptional experiences for members across British Columbia.
The future of ICFBC is not something we are waiting for.
It is something we are building - together.
Co-operatively Yours,
Jonathan Evans
President, ICF British Columbia
Get involved and express your interest in joining the board! [Volunteer Link]
Spotlight Event
ICFBC at CPHR 2026: Strengthening the Voice of Coaching within the HR Community
This year marked ICF BC’s third consecutive year participating as an exhibitor at the CPHR BC & Yukon Conference — and our growing presence is making an impact.
Over the course of the conference, our chapter representatives engaged with hundreds of HR professionals, organizational leaders, consultants, benefits providers, and workplace decision-makers from across British Columbia and beyond. With 148 badge scans and many additional conversations, the energy and interest surrounding professional coaching was unmistakable.
What was especially exciting was the nature of the conversations taking place.
This year, we observed a meaningful shift in the dialogue. Increasingly, attendees were not asking what coaching is — they were asking how coaching can be effectively integrated into organizations.
Discussions focused on leadership development, manager-as-coach approaches, employee engagement, workplace resilience, organizational culture, and coaching as a strategic resource for navigating complexity and change. Several benefits providers also expressed strong interest in exploring coaching as a potential offering within employee discretionary spending or wellness benefit categories, opening exciting possibilities for broader access to coaching services.
Our booth also served as an important platform for relationship-building and thought leadership. Thanks in part to the highly successful presentation delivered by ICF BC Programs Director, and UBC Associate Director, Organization Development and Engagement, Lisa Ryan, there was clear enthusiasm for more coaching-focused educational content within future conference programming. Multiple attendees and exhibitors shared that they would welcome additional sessions exploring the practical application of coaching within workplace settings. You might consider submitting an application to speak at next year's conference!
As this was our third year participating, ICF BC is increasingly recognized as an established and credible presence within this professional ecosystem. Consistent visibility matters. It builds familiarity, trust, and legitimacy — positioning our chapter not simply as a conference exhibitor, but as an emerging industry voice within conversations shaping the future of work, leadership, and organizational development.
We strategically followed our conference participation with an HR-themed panel discussion during International Coaching Week that followed a few weeks later! It was a great way to keep those conversations going and deepening the connections.
What does this all mean for our members?
It means increased awareness of professional coaching, stronger visibility for ICF-certified coaches, expanded partnership opportunities, and growing recognition of coaching as an essential organizational capability.
Our continued participation helps elevate the profile of coaching across the HR profession and creates pathways for future speaking opportunities, partnerships, referrals, and broader organizational adoption of coaching.
Thank you to all who contributed to representing ICFBC so thoughtfully and powerfully. Special thanks to Heather Turnbull for generously volunteering to help staff our booth with our Organization Engagement Director, Ashli Komaryk. Together, we are helping shape the future of coaching in British Columbia.
Calendar of Events
Coaching with a Systemic Lens
June 16, 2026
12:30 PM PDT - 2:00 PM PDT
Zoom Meeting
Co-Creating the Coaching Relationship
June 24, 2026
12:30 PM PDT - 2:00 PM PDT
Zoom Meeting
Chapter News
Meet Our New Chapter's Treasurer
Please join us in welcoming Sophia Kokileff, ACC, CPA, as the new Treasurer of the ICFBC Chapter. Sophia brings a strong combination of coaching expertise and financial leadership, and we are delighted to have her support the chapter in this important role. Welcome, Sophia!
Sophia Kokileff (CPA, ACC) is an educator who helps individuals and organizations align their work with purpose.
She brings over a decade of experience spanning public accounting, corporate finance in the fintech industry, higher education, and professional coaching, a path that ultimately led her to her own deliberate career pivot, and to the work she does today.
As a Career, Leadership & Life Coach, Sophia partners with corporate professionals and entrepreneurs navigating the full arc of their professional journey: building career clarity and confidence, stepping into leadership, managing organizational change, and making intentional transitions in work and life. She also works with organizations through team coaching and workshops, helping teams connect around a shared purpose to drive both performance and fulfillment.
A Passion for Growth: A Conversation with Casey Chung
Casey Chung, CPA, PCC, is a career and business coach whose lifelong passion for teaching, mentoring, and helping others grow eventually led him to coaching. Learn more about his journey, the impact he hopes to create through coaching, and the experiences that continue to shape his work and life.
What inspired you to begin your journey in coaching?
I've always been passionate about teaching, mentoring, and helping others grow. While I began my career in finance, it wasn't until I stepped into a coaching and performance management role during COVID that I realized coaching combined everything I was looking for meaningful impact, personal fulfillment, and the opportunity to work directly with people.
What is the most meaningful impact you've seen from your work in coaching and organizational development?
The most meaningful transformations happen when clients gain the clarity and confidence to move forward after feeling stuck, uncertain, or overwhelmed. I value creating a space where people can be honest with themselves, often leading to powerful shifts in perspective, self-compassion, and decision-making.
How do you integrate coaching into your work with senior executives and organizational transformation?
My approach with leaders is highly personalized and focused on helping them identify blind spots, navigate challenges, and uncover creative solutions. Together, we translate insights into action so they can lead with greater clarity, confidence, and alignment with their values.
How has coaching influenced your life and work, both professionally and personally?
Coaching challenged me to take ownership of my wellbeing, embrace uncertainty with curiosity, and intentionally create a life aligned with my values. It gave me the confidence to build my own business, pursue a more balanced lifestyle, and be fully present for the people and experiences that matter most.
What do you hope to see as our coaching profession grows and develops?
I would love to see more cross collaboration between ICF and other professions going forward. This way, we can continue to expand our reach as coaches to other industries. The blending of different minds breeds new perspectives, connection, and impact!
June Reflection
relational Space : Expanding the Relational Field
There is a quiet revolution happening in how we understand inclusion. It begins not with policy or frameworks, but with a question: Who am I willing to be in relationship with?
DEIB work, at its most transformative, is not primarily about representation or compliance. It is about expanding our capacity to hold relational space. To stay curious when discomfort arrives. To remain present with people whose lives, histories, and ways of knowing differ profoundly from our own. This is not a soft skill. It is a profound discipline.
Relational capacity is not fixed. Like any muscle, it grows through use and through challenge. It expands when we linger in conversations that unsettle us, when we resist the urge to resolve ambiguity too quickly, when we allow another person's reality to land rather than simply processing it from a distance. And crucially, it expands when we are willing to be changed by what we encounter. Not just to witness difference, but to let it shift something in us.
It is that quality, the willingness to be genuinely altered by another person's presence and experience, that transforms individual encounters into something larger. Community is not a backdrop for this work. It is what this work produces. When enough people show up with that kind of openness, a different quality of belonging becomes possible. One that holds complexity rather than flattening it, and that grows stronger precisely because it was not built on sameness.
The invitation this month is this: notice where your relational world has edges. And consider, with curiosity rather than pressure, what it might look like to lean gently beyond them.
Linda Schmidt,
DEIB Director, ICF BC Chapter
Global Updates
Important Dates for ICF Global 2026
ICF Converge | Washington DC | October 28-30, 2026
ICF's Annual conference returns to Washington DC! Join thousands of coaches for world-class education, cutting-edge research, networking opportunities, and the chance to earn CCE units while connecting with the global coaching community.
