Ellen Kagen

Ellen B. Kagen, M.S.W., PCC Ellen B. Kagen is an Adjunct Assistant Professor at Georgetown University and the founder of the Georgetown Leadership Academy, a national leadership learning and consultation effort focusing on the leadership role within complex systems change and community transformation.


in the fields of health, education and human services. Ms. Kagen has successfully adapted the curriculum for early intervention and disability networks, state and community systems, young professionals, families and youth, nonprofit boards, the US-Afghan Women’s Council, and over 30 States and Communities across the country with topics such as Advancing Cultural and Linguistic Competence and Diversity, Reducing Health and Mental Health Disparities and Adaptive Leadership in Child Welfare and Early Intervention Systems of Care. At the heart of Ms. Kagen’s work is a focus on innovation and breakthrough strategies. To support public sector executives and early stage leaders, Ms. Kagen and her colleagues created an innovative new coaching and consultation model called Transformation Facilitation which strengthens leadership effectiveness in reaching system and organizational goals. Ms. Kagen is a founding partner of Coach Approach Partners and principal with the Kagen Leadership Group, LLC. She holds an MSW in Social Strategy from the University of Maryland and a Certificate in Leadership from Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government. Ms. Kagen is an ICF certified Executive Coach at the PCC Level and received her training from Georgetown’s School of Continuing Studies. She is a proud Wexner Foundation Leadership Fellow and the co-author of two chapters in the “Leadership Equation”, entitled Leadership Function and Styles and The Work of Leadership in Systems Change published by Brooks in 2010. She and her husband David Waghelstein live in Annapolis and are involved in a variety of community and social change initiatives.