About Bernie
"To create a new successful and purposeful life, all you need is an open mind and the wisdom and courage to challenge the belief system that currently creates your reality."
-Bernie Siegel
Bernie Siegel is an Executive Development, Career Management Coach and Strategist. He is a graduate of the Institute for Professional Excellence in Coaching (IPEC), an internationally recognized professional coach training organization fully accredited by the International Coach Federation (ICF), the worldwide governing body for the profession.
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| Bernie coaching a couple in the Galapagos Islands |
A native New Yorker, Bernie majored in accounting and finance at Queens College. For over 25 years, he held management positions in some of the most well known, successful companies in their respective industries. He has the distinction of being one of less than a dozen CPAs in the United States who are also certified professional coaches.
Bernie began his career at KPMG, one of the Big Four accounting/consulting firms, where he spent six years observing and learning about what made small, fast growing businesses successful. He left KPMG for Wall Street and joined Discount Brokerage Corporation of America, the nation’s first discount broker, as controller. He quickly rose to the position of Chief Operating Officer and Chief Financial Officer. He helped to triple the size of the company through internal growth and an aggressive acquisition strategy that he oversaw. Bernie helped the company to navigate successfully through the stock market crash of 1987, and the company was later acquired by Fleet Financial Group. Fleet's Chairman of the Board recognized the company as a “gem” because of its performance and well-run operations.
In 1993, Larry Waterhouse, the founder of Waterhouse Securities (now TD Ameritrade) personally asked Bernie to join his firm’s management team and be his “Chief of Staff” and Chief Financial Officer. For six years Bernie helped to oversee the growth and implementation of Waterhouse's successful internet strategy. With Larry Waterhouse as his mentor, Bernie had the privilege of seeing how a company could grow successfully by keeping to its core values, “treat everyone with dignity and respect” and “always do the right thing.” TD Waterhouse grew to 40 times its size in trading volumes while Bernie was part of the management team.
Bernie was then recruited as one of the founding executives of Wit Capital Group, the first online investment bank, where he helped the company to grow to over $3 billion in market value and sell a 25% stake to Goldman Sachs. Bernie worked with more than 100 start-up companies to raise funds and helped some to go public. Bernie created and oversaw the Human Resources, Operations, Finance and Compliance departments. He not only worked successfully with his own company but he also had the opportunity to work directly with many of Wit Capital’s start-up companies.
In his last stint in corporate management, Bernie joined a start-up venture capital firm as CFO and helped the company raise over $200 million in capital and open offices around the world. Bernie worked with many start-up companies and helped them achieve success. He was unanimously elected as CEO by the Board of Directors, whose members included Texas Pacific Group and The Carlyle Group, and orchestrated the company's sale in 2001.
During his corporate career, Bernie was an active team member in all the organizations he served. Entrepreneurial by nature, he was instrumental in growing these companies, some from start-ups, to world-class successful organizations. All along the way he observed how the appropriate behaviors would help propel him and others to success.
Bernie's move to the coaching profession was a natural outgrowth of his passion for helping people. He is a coach, consultant, mentor, and friend to his clients. He has the wisdom and experience to understand how to help his clients succeed with goals they oftentimes never imagined.
Bernie enjoys speaking and has organized and presented leadership and career coaching workshops and presentations in many venues in NYC. He is President of the award-winning New York City Chapter of the International Coach Federation, the largest urban chapter in the world. He serves as a Board Member of the Village/Chelsea Chamber of Commerce. He is the co-creator and frequent guest on Coach WorldCoach TV where he espouses the benefits of using a coach to achieve amazing results. He has appeared on network and cable TV as well as been a feattured guest on several radio talk shows.His clients enjoy his down-to-earth genuine style of coaching. He enjoys skiing, scuba diving and travel and approaches life with a sense of humor.
Bernie Siegel accepts the prestigious 2008 Local Spirit, Global Presence award in
