Nihar Chhaya is a Fortune 50 executive coach and keynote speaker with over 20 years of business and leadership development experience.  

He has been a trusted coach to the C-suite and leaders at global companies including:  

• American Airlines
• 3M
• Baker Hughes
• Bridgestone
• Cigna,
• Coca-Cola
• Cox Enterprises
• Dell
• Eli Lilly
• GameStop
• GE
• FedEx
• JP Morgan Chase
• Johnson & Johnson
• Lockheed Martin
• Pioneer Natural Resources
• Raytheon
• Royal Caribbean
• Royal Dutch Shell
• Target
• Texas Instruments
• Wieden+Kennedy – and many others.

Nihar brings a high level of business credibility to his coaching, having personally held leadership roles in finance, sales and marketing at several global corporations. During his career, he co-founded the internal strategic planning group of Limited Brands (NYSE: LB) in the office of the CFO. He also coached the CEO of several startups in South America on behalf of the Endeavor organization.  

Prior to starting his own practice, Nihar was the Head of Talent and Executive Development at Texas Instruments, a Fortune 200 company and spent many years as a Senior Advisor to boards and CEOs on executive assessment and development with Korn Ferry Hay Group and CEB Gartner.     

What sets his coaching apart is Nihar’s ability to combine business acumen with curiosity and non-judgmental observation to help his clients thrive.  

Maya Leibman, the CIO of American Airlines said about his coaching: “Nihar has this uncanny ability to know what I want to say before I say it – and he articulates my own thoughts and feelings better than I can myself…I value him enormously and highly recommend him.”  

And Kim Ernzen, the VP of Naval Power at Raytheon Missiles and Defense, has said:  

“Nihar is an incredible coach, the time I spent with him was invaluable.  He has a unique ability to push you in dimensions you were not even aware you needed to be pushed.  I am forever grateful for the time we had and would highly recommend him to anyone looking to scale to the next level and unlock their potential.”

In addition to coaching and speaking to global audiences, Nihar is a regular contributor to Harvard Business Review and Fast Company and writes a column on leadership strategy for Forbes.  As one of the world’s top coaches, he is a member of Marshall Goldsmith 100 Coaches (MG100) and holds the PCC (Professional Certified Coach) credential from the International Coach Federation as well as the CPCC certification from the Coaches Training Institute. 

Nihar also teaches a highly rated seminar on leadership to Executive MBA students at the Cox Business School at Southern Methodist University, guest lectures at the Jones Graduate School of Business at Rice University, and regularly speaks to the Georgetown University alumni community.