A Tradition of Trusted Executive Coaching &
Strategic Partnership

With over +25 years of experience in leadership, human resources, and organizational development, Lisa Anna Palmer is the executive coach trusted by Vice Presidents and C-Suites across high-impact industries and sectors (public, private, and non-profit).

She is the international bestselling author of Light A Fire In Their Hearts: The Truth About Leadership and host of the LYLTalks podcast. A recipient of multiple awards, including the International Impact Book Award and RESET Mental Health Leader Award, Lisa brings an unmatched blend of powerful questions, strategic insight, emotional intelligence, and heart-centered wisdom to every coaching engagement. Lisa specializes in helping senior executives transform what she calls “The Pressure Cooker” — the relentless demands of senior leadership — into clarity, confidence, and conscious impact.

Her clients come to her when they’re navigating high-stakes decisions, imposter syndrome and feelings of isolation, burnout, conflict at the leadership table, or transitions that require courage, realignment, and recalibration.

With Lisa, they find a confidential space to breathe, be themselves, reflect deeply, strategize wisely, and lead with integrity and intention. Her approach is rooted in creating safe spaces for growth and guided by evidence-based coaching techniques, extensive organizational experience, deeply informed practice, and leading-edge methods. The result? Her tailored approach and signature framework helps leaders to:

• Handle pressure and sharpen their decision-making in high stakes situations.
• Strategize to align values to maximize impact on organizational success.
• Resolve complex conflicts and self-regulate in the Boardroom with emotional mastery.
• Build cultures and adopt engagement strategies that retain and inspire top talent.
• Expand leadership presence and legacy.

Clients consistently say: “Lisa changed the way I lead — and how I live.” Whether you’re navigating chaos, preparing for the next level, or seeking meaning beyond metrics, Lisa brings the roadmap, the mirror, and the moment of pause you’ve been needing.

Ready to think clearly, lead wisely, and live purposefully?

Lisa will help you help yourself so that you can be, do and feel your best in the Boardroom and the senior management table. Let’s explore how Lisa can support your next chapter.

Book a confidential strategy call to explore if this is the right time for your leadership breakthrough.

Elite leaders across sectors and around the globe trust Lisa when it matters most — don’t wait until the pressure cracks your clarity.

Who is Lisa Anna Palmer?

Lisa Anna Palmer is proud mom of her adult son Jake whom she raised with her lifelong partner, Andrew. She is the proud daughter of Italian immigrants who came to Canada in the 1950's, and is one of three kids and grew up in Joliette, Quebec. Her late father Corrado Cattelan owned a small cement finishing company and his entrepreneurship inspired her to start her own company, after almost 20 years working as part of a corporate teams with a multinational and two crown corporations.

In 2011, Lisa launched Cattelan Palmer Consulting. In 2020, she became the Founder & CEO of Light Your Leadership Inc. She is the award-winning international bestselling author of Light A Fire In Their Hearts: The Truth About Leadership, and the creator of the LYLTalks podcast. 

As an Executive Coach, Lisa, a.k.a. The VP Coach, is internationally recognized for helping Vice Presidents and C-Suite leaders take a pause and take a breather, so they can gain clarity, recalibrate their presence, and expand to lead with confidence. With over 30 years of leadership experience, including roles in HR, organizational development, and executive coaching and advice, Lisa has worked across multiple sectors. She understands the real-world pressures that senior leaders face in the pressure cooker: the nonstop performance demands, the crossfire of expectations, and the emotional cost of carrying so much — often in isolation.

Lisa's Approach is Real and Unfiltered for Authentic Leaders:

Lisa combines rigorous executive strategy with deep emotional intelligence. She’s more than a coach — she’s a thought partner, sounding board, and safe space for leaders who are expected to have all the answers, all the time. By offering you a confidential space for leaders to just "be" and be able to breathe, her clients report leaving sessions feeling lighter, clearer, and ready to take on whatever challenge they need to face at work or in their personal lives.

A Trusted Partner to Executive Leaders Across Industries:

Over +25 years in the fields of Leadership and Human Resources & Organizational Development, as a trusted advisor for vice presidents and C-suite leaders, and their management teams. Since she began her career at the age of 22 with PwC, and spent close to 14 years working with federal employers, including Canada Mortgage & Housing Corporation and the Royal Canadian Mint, Lisa has been passionate about helping people at work from day one. She has coached and facilitated workshops for thousands of people during her career. 

Lisa’s corporate experience both as an external coach and consultant or internal HR leader spans over a dozen government departments, CMHC, RCM, PwC, and numerous private sector and non-profit clients across North America and in Europe. She's delivered training/HR services for thousands of employees at all levels of the organization, across industries and sectors. She is particularly known for creating trusted coaching spaces both through coaching and on her podcast for VPs in growing industries, where high-stakes decisions meet high human impact.

Lisa’s fundamental belief is that what sets great leaders apart is their ability to connect at the human level. Lisa is mobilizing like-minded people who care about the state of leadership to grow the Light Your Leadership Community and join this movement so that we can carry this message to the masses around the globe.

Lisa is committed to paying it forward. She is being recognized for her Community Impact for serving as the Co-Founder and Co-Chair of Mustakabali Wetu-Our Future NGO, which is based in Kenya, as well as through her serving on the Board of Obsidian the Leadership Development Centre, and as Chair of the Champions Program at Elevate International.

Lisa's Coaching & Facilation Certifications

• Certificate Executive Coach (Advanced) Coach Academy Executive Leadership Level 2 Course requirements for International Coaching Federation (ICF) PCC-Level Accreditation (in progress)
• Certificate of Completion for Emotion-Focused Family Therapy course (Anchor Psychology)
• Certified Extreme Leadership Institute LEAP Facilitator (Steve Farber)
• Commerce Program (HR), Part-Time, University of Windsor, Ontario
• Certified Expert Speaker (one-year program)
• Certified Passion Test Facilitator 
• Certified Life Inventory Assessment Coach
• ProActive Certified Coach & Certified Extreme Leadership Facilitator  
• Certified Expert Speaker 
  
• Certified Passion Test® Facilitator 
  
• Certified Cross-Cultural Change Facilitator 
• B.A. Psychology, university-level HR courses. HR fast-track at Sprott, School of Business, Algonquin College: Human Resource Management courses.

Lisa's Awards & Distinctions

• Winner of International Impact Book Award in three categories: Business, Business of Sustainable Practices and Environmental Leadership, and Business of Human Resources and Workplace Culture (2025)
•  RESET Honors in the RESET Mental Health Leader Award (2025)
• Finalist for the Ottawa Businesswoman of the Year Awards (BYA) for Community Impact (2025)
• Top Women Coaches Shaping the Business Landscape, Women’s Journal (2024) 
• Outstanding Leadership Award at MoRE 2.0 Conference in Las Vegas (2023)
• Most Impressive Women Entrepreneurs, Making Waves in the Industry, CIO Business World (2023)
• Industry Era Magazine's Top 10 Most Inspiring Women Leaders for (2022)
• Top 100 Canadian Professionals (2020)
• Fluently Trilingual: English, French, Italian