About Us

Company Overview

At Communication Matters: Executive Coaching & Training, we believe soft skills are the foundation of leadership success. Leaders can’t wait until they ascend to the highest levels to learn these skills. Leaders at all levels need them now and these skills need to continue to evolve as the leader grows. We coach and train leaders and teams to communicate effectively, to develop rewarding professional relationships, and to enhance their leadership presence so that they can drive results for their organizations.

Since 2006, we have worked with more than 300 organizations, including more than 1,000 coaching clients in the association and for-profit arenas. We use proven, results-oriented solutions to help our clients achieve remarkable results. Our principal and associate coaches have completed rigorous training programs, hold credentials from the International Coach Federation (ICF), and bring to our work a wealth of comprehensive senior-level association, nonprofit and corporate leadership experience.

Carol Vernon

Carol Vernon, Principal of Communication Matters: Executive Coaching & Training, is a highly skilled and experienced certified executive coach and team trainer and developer. Carol was inspired to start her company after years of observing that doing your job well isn’t enough. Without executive presence and the ability to communicate effectively with diverse stakeholders, leaders can’t achieve their full potential or achieve the results they seek.

Prior to starting her firm in 2006, Carol spent more than 15 years working as a senior leader in an association and an industry foundation. Earlier, she served almost 10 years as a congressional aide and political communications advisor, helping elected officials fine-tune their leadership voice. Since 2008, she has been the executive communications coach for the Campaign School at Yale University, supporting women seeking elected office.

Carol holds a bachelor’s degree in communications from Chestnut Hill College, Philadelphia, PA and did graduate work at Temple University, Philadelphia, PA. She is certified as an executive coach by the International Coach Federation. In addition, she is certified in a variety of assessment tools including, MBTI, DISC, 360s, Emotional Intelligence, and Communication Style Preferences.

Meet Administrative Assistant/Bookkeeper Wendy Hancharick

Work With Carol

Affiliate Coaches

Jo-Anne Goldman Chase

Vincent Randazzo

Annette Hurley

Recent Coaching & Training Engagements

For a healthcare association:

For a trade association:

For a non-profit membership organization:

For a corporate client:

For women leadership initiatives:

We coached the new CEO during her first six months in her role as she worked to establish strong and highly accountable relationships with her senior leadership team and her board. We identified opportunities to support her in fine-tuning how she communicated her vision for change to her multiple internal and external stakeholders. Using several assessment tools to identify the leader’s preferred communication and work style, we videotaped the leader and provided real-time feedback, along with customized resources to support this already successful leader in ensuring executive-level communications and relationship management.

We worked with the association’s senior team to create more awareness about this team’s current communication “norms” and their impact on their colleagues. Working together, over a series of virtual and in-person sessions, we identified more effective behaviors for communicating and working together and we created an “accountability loop” to ensure that the senior leaders have a more consistent way (across the team) of communicating with their colleagues.

We developed and led a customized virtual training program to help its 250+ employees learn the skills and develop the will needed to connect deeply and communicate effectively with their colleagues and members in the remote work world. Follow-up individual coaching was provided for team leaders to create ongoing support for their success in managing through transition and practicing empathetic and situational leadership.

We coached a rising leader through her professional transition from a sole contributor, to a manager of a small team, to currently stepping into a broader organization-wide executive role. Focus was on helping her move from simply being highly competent in her role, to being successful via helping others succeed. We used our proven coaching frameworks and included a 360-degree assessment, and multiple customized resources to help the rising leader embrace and excel at her opportunity to lead.

We provided leadership training programs to numerous organizations committed to growing their women leaders, including staff, members, and clients, by delivering customized training programs focused on fine-tuning executive presence and other key leadership skills. Depending on client and needed outcomes, programs included ongoing small group and peer coaching.