things we've done
We've worked with executives & teams ACROSS ALL DISCIPLINES INCLUDING SALES, CLIENT MANAGEMENT, PRODUCT, TECHNOLOGY & senior LEADERSHIP. Here's some of the ways we've helped:
Helped Leaders Drive Team Alignment
Coached a senior technology leader on strategy to improve alignment and collaboration across seven different business lines.
New Hires
Coached newly hired sales leader to stand up a new team and exceed first year goals by 20%
Improved Sales Performance
Helped deal teams drive double digit growth through better customer vision and collaboration.
Supported Leadership Advancement
Coached new to management and experienced leaders to accelerate and smooth the learning curve.
Drive Change
Coached business leader on how to effectively drive change across teams that didn't report to him
Improved Leadership Skills
Helped technology executives communicate more effectively, become stronger leaders and deliver results.
Helped With Overwhelm
Coached leader on managing pandemic related challenges to improve execution.
Career Management
Coached professionals at all levels on how to be more strategic and effective in managing their careers.
Strategic Planning
Helped leader of Not for Profit develop a new strategic plan to better engage donors and beneficiaries
Testimonials
Lucille Mayer, Head of Client Experience, Apex Clearing Corp. & board Member Anita Borg institute
Lucille Mayer, Head of Client Experience, Apex Clearing Corp. & board Member Anita Borg institute
Lucille Mayer, Head of Client Experience, Apex Clearing Corp. & board Member Anita Borg institute
During my tenure as the shared-services Divisional CIO at BNY Mellon, Virun was an outspoken champion of re-imagining the client experience and bringing the entire power of the firm’s product set to all clients. We, together, broke down silos of legacy product approaches and compelled partners to think in terms of the entire enterprise. Virun is highly skilled at helping technology and business executives articulate their vision and value, solve problems and become more effective leaders. His breadth of expertise, integrity and communication skills enable him to build strong, trusting, and motivating relationships with diverse groups of people globally.
vinod jain, global product manager, paypal
Lucille Mayer, Head of Client Experience, Apex Clearing Corp. & board Member Anita Borg institute
Lucille Mayer, Head of Client Experience, Apex Clearing Corp. & board Member Anita Borg institute
Virun is a highly successful leader who is focused on helping people succeed. I met Virun at BNY Mellon where he was a founding member and co-chair of IMPACT, the multicultural employee resource group. In the following weeks and months, he helped me understand how I could be a more effective and successful leader. Virun quickly assesses where people can improve and helps them come to that understanding in a supportive, caring manner. He goes beyond skills and insights, also helping people navigate through complex corporate culture and develop effective plans. Based on my personal experience, he is someone I strongly recommend.
Helene Ellison, CEO Media Empathy Foundation
Lucille Mayer, Head of Client Experience, Apex Clearing Corp. & board Member Anita Borg institute
Clara Luo, senior manager & market strategist, deloitte
Working with Virun has been an amazing experience. He has helped me retool our strategic plan and develop a concrete set of action steps that has enabled us to take huge strides forward in a short space of time. Sessions with him are energizing and motivating. I can’t recommend him highly enough.
Clara Luo, senior manager & market strategist, deloitte
Jean Wynn, Managing Director & Head of Corporate Banking, BNY Mellon (retired)
Clara Luo, senior manager & market strategist, deloitte
Virun excels at helping me understand, dissect, break down and articulate my vision. Virun brings years of experience in sales, relationship building, and is able to ask thoughtful questions - Virun is on a different level. His coaching style is very people centric, often helping you think and understand different points of views, how to position a story based on different stakeholder views. He has a unique combination of deep understanding of business, excellent people instincts and the ability to get you to think clearly so you can make decisions you feel good about. Working with him I was able to really think through situations and come to realizations that I wouldn’t have otherwise. He is someone I strongly recommend to better understand how to navigate business & personal growth transformations.
Thaddeus Duchnowski, Managing Director, Senior Client Executive, BNY Mellon
Jean Wynn, Managing Director & Head of Corporate Banking, BNY Mellon (retired)
Jean Wynn, Managing Director & Head of Corporate Banking, BNY Mellon (retired)
Virun excels at helping leaders and teams solve problems and develop effective strategies. He engages people extremely well and always asks insightful questions. At BNY Mellon he was the go-to person for help on important deals. His coaching was a real difference maker. Teams came out of sessions energized and confident, with a clear plan on how to articulate our value and positively differentiate ourselves from the competition. His insights were invaluable and positioned us best for success. He can be real asset to any executive or team looking to grow their business.
Jean Wynn, Managing Director & Head of Corporate Banking, BNY Mellon (retired)
Jean Wynn, Managing Director & Head of Corporate Banking, BNY Mellon (retired)
Jean Wynn, Managing Director & Head of Corporate Banking, BNY Mellon (retired)
Virun is a first-rate executive and coach who people love to work with. At BNY Mellon we frequently turned to him to solve complex problems and lead change initiatives. His intelligence, coupled with an optimistic engaging style, enabled him to bring diverse groups of people along and deliver exceptional results. He is an excellent developer of talent with the ability to help people from the C-suite to the associate level see things clearly and make good decisions. Working with Virun is both productive and fun. He is someone I strongly recommend.
Alex Chafetz, Finance Associate, AXLe
Jim Walker. Senior Technology Leader, Citigroup
Jim Walker. Senior Technology Leader, Citigroup
Virun is a great coach. I worked with him when I was resetting my career after it was disrupted by the pandemic. It was an extremely valuable and impactful exercise. Virun is skilled at asking thought-provoking questions that make you dig deep, and sort out complex, and sometimes conflicting situations. Most importantly, he makes you feel very safe and comfortable, which allows you to speak openly, and not feel judged whatsoever. His coaching helped me define my goals and articulate my value clearly, which made all the difference. He is a great person that I highly recommend.
Jim Walker. Senior Technology Leader, Citigroup
Jim Walker. Senior Technology Leader, Citigroup
Jim Walker. Senior Technology Leader, Citigroup
I worked with Virun when I was a senior technology leader at BNY Mellon. I consider him a mentor, and I give him great credit for guiding me in how to navigate the labyrinth of personalities, agendas, and needs of senior leaders across both the business and technology, to push complex initiatives at an enterprise level. He has an incredible ability to help you put yourself in other people shoes to gain perspective and understanding what's important to them. I regard him as something of a wise sage. Since then, I have frequently sought his advice in career decisions, as I deeply trust his perspective like few others. Virun is truly a pleasure to work with and I look forward to our continued relationship.
Our Clients Work at some of the world's leading companies
some of the people we help
Business Leaders
Sales Teams & Executives
Sales Teams & Executives
We help Business Leaders solve complex problems and improve their leadership and management skills
Sales Teams & Executives
Sales Teams & Executives
Sales Teams & Executives
We help Sales Leaders and Teams grow and protect revenues by introducing effective practices and techniques that can be easily adopted
Fintechs & Start Ups
Sales Teams & Executives
Technology Executives & Managers
We help Fintechs and Start Ups improve their leadership practices and become more skilled at selling to investors and buyers
Technology Executives & Managers
Technology Executives & Managers
Technology Executives & Managers
We help Technology Executives & Managers become better leaders so they can improve team performance and deliver important outcomes.
Leadership Teams
Technology Executives & Managers
Leadership Teams
We help Leadership Teams of small-mid sized organizations align more effectively to improve performance and results
Not For Profits
Technology Executives & Managers
Leadership Teams
We help Not For Profits hone their business plans, and management practices so they can operate efficiently and effectively
Bring Out The Best in You & Your Team
Bring Out The Best in You & Your Team
Bring Out The Best in You & Your Team
Invest in Your Success
about virun
"A major driver of my success in banking was the ability to help people see situations clearly and think through steps to achieve their goals. It was also the most rewarding part of the job. For me Executive Coaching was a logical and compelling next step in my career journey." - Virun Rampersad
professional background
The most important thing to know about Virun is he is passionate about helping people and teams succeed. It was core to his success as a Senior Business Executive and underpins his work as a Certified Executive & Team Coach and Strategic Advisor. Virun acts as a thought partner to his clients, helping them solve problems and achieve their goals.
Virun has over three decades of corporate experience across all major functions including senior leadership, sales, client management, technology, strategy, and finance. The bulk of this time was at BNY Mellon, where he held several executive positions including Chief Operating Officer for the Global Client Management group, Global Head of Innovation, Head of Client Engagement Strategies and Senior Client Executive.
Virun has successfully led global business transformations, built a book of business exceeding $500 million as a salesperson, and coached executives and teams on sales strategies, organizational change and navigating complex business challenges. He has operated both as a business leader and "intrapreneur".
He has worked directly with CEOs and other C-suite executives at BNY Mellon, as well as a number of the world’s other leading organizations, including Bank of America BB&T/Truist, Capital One and Wachovia/Wells Fargo.
Virun was featured on the cover of American Banker Magazine in November 2015 and was awarded BNY Mellon’s Chairman Circle Award for outstanding sales performance. He is a strong supporter of DEI and was a founding member and former co-chair of IMPACT, BNY Mellon's Multi-Cultural Employee Resource Group. As he says "Innovation and diversity are different sides of the same coin."
Virun has been a keynote speaker at numerous conferences, written articles on sales and change management, and is a guest lecturer at various universities, including Columbia Business School, University of Pittsburgh, and Rutgers Graduate School of Business.
Virun received his undergraduate degree from The University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, and his master’s from Columbia University in the City of New York. He has also completed professional leadership development programs at The Wharton School of Business and Harvard Business School. He received his coaching certifications from the Center for Executive Coaching and the International Coach Federation (ICF ACC)
Executive Coaching
As a senior leader at BNY Mellon Virun recognized that while many leaders had great ideas they were passionate about, they needed help dealing with the broader leadership issues related to running a business, including:
· Defining an executable scope and focus, and understanding how this fits into the broader business ecosystem
· Building the right management team
· Having the right set of key financial metrics
· Developing effective communications
· Navigating the legal and regulatory environment
· Having a rigorous risk management discipline
· Having a clear and executable marketing, customer acquisition, onboarding and servicing plan
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With his experience as a senior business leader in financial services, including hands-on experience in digital transformation and innovation issues, as well as coaching leaders and teams, Virun recognized he was uniquely positioned to help financial services and Fintech leaders succeed. Virun formerly trained and is certified as an Executive Coach as he recognized that with the wrong approach, you can do more harm than good.
Virun believes to be successful, the coach and the client must define the issues they want to address and be committed to working on them. It is critical they develop a trusted and effective strategic working partnership as candor and transparency are key success drivers. And they must periodically review progress and reassess goals and strategies including deciding whether to end a relationship and/or introduce other parties who may be better positioned to help. For that reason, Virun has developed a network of strategic relationships with providers of complementary services so transitions can be smooth.
When it comes to growing revenue, Virun believes you won't get a different outcome with the same old solutions. Also, you'll have more success by bringing out the best in people. These beliefs led him to create an innovative approach to revenue generation, blending coaching, design thinking, storytelling and consultative practices into an engaging and enjoyable process that harnesses the teams' insights and expertise, and drives alignment. Most importantly, the process is fun, easy and clearly value-added.
A Conversation with Virun
Thoughts on Coaching
First of all does coaching really work?
There has been a fair amount of research done around that question. Here's what they've found:
- 70% of clients report a meaningful improvement in their abilities and attaining or exceeding their goals after coaching
- 80% report having increased self-confidence
- 86% a positive return on their investment of time and money
Other studies have shown coaching pays back between four and eight times the investment. Today about 50% of Fortune 500 companies use coaching and in the 2021 Chief Learning Officer survey 60.5% of respondents stated executive coaching was their preferred tool for helping executives deal with the challenges of a post-pandemic world.
How do you know if coaching has been successful?
Coaching engagements should have a goal, something the client wants to achieve, and success is measured by the attainment of that goal. For that reason, it is important at the outset to properly define how the goal will be measured.
How does coaching compare with training from a professional development perspective?
Both training and coaching are important and valuable professional development tools, but they are effective in different ways. Training is great for imparting technical or factual knowledge and techniques – teaching a person something they don’t know. It tends to focus more on the subject matter than the client and is often delivered at scale. However, without coaching and reinforcement, studies show training’s benefits evaporate very quickly.
Coaching on the other hand is client focused. Engagements are tailored to their needs and goals. It is very effective in helping executives and teams see things clearly, connect dots and make decisions more confidently. In other words, coaching taps into what clients already know and helps them harness that knowledge into practical solutions they are motivated to implement. For that reason, coaching can be a game changer in raising an executive's or team's skills and performance.
Why do you think organizations have traditionally placed more emphasis on training versus coaching?
There are two main reasons in my opinion. First, training receives the larger share of the Learning & Development budget as it is used to address important, table stakes issues. In many cases, training is not optional; it's something firms have to do. Coaching on the other hand is optional and is not for everyone -- you need to be coachable for it to work.
Second, there is a much lower awareness and understanding of coaching as a professional development tool than training. Fewer people ask for it or suggest it to their teams, and when offered this lack of understanding results in reluctance to invest the time. These factors make demand is lower. The irony of course is that coaching often creates significant and visible performance improvement. As the statistics show the vast majority of coaching clients are very happy with the outcomes. Simply put, with coaching, leaders become better at what they do and deliver better results. These are things CEOs dream about. As awareness grows, we will see greater use of coaching as a developmental too.
Why should organizations invest in coaching?
Simply put, so they can win. Talent is a major source of competitive advantage and coaching is a highly effective way of improving executive performance. It will raise the game in ways that training alone cannot.
What is your coaching philosophy?
For the right executive, coaching can be a powerful tool to drive superior performance. Skilled coaching enables executives to leverage their knowledge and experience to gain insights, improve skills and deliver better results. It is best accomplished with a trained professional or subject matter expert. It should be focused on something that is important, and relevant to the client, and there should be the opportunity to put new ideas into practice quickly. My view is if you want to take people from good to great, coaching is a very impactful tool to employ.
How did you become an Executive Coach?
I began coaching my business partners when I was a Client Executive at BNY Mellon to ensure our message was aligned and consistent. It proved to be very effective. Shortly after, I began to coach minority managers as part of leading IMPACT, BNY Mellon’s multi-cultural employee resource group, and later I coached high potential leaders as part of our Leadership Development program. In 2016 I stood up a coaching function to support BNY Mellon’s major account client coverage teams, which was a huge success, virtually transforming our sales process. These experiences were personally rewarding and made coaching the compelling and logic next step in my career journey.
What's needed to make coaching effective?
The first and most necessary condition for coaching to be effective is the client must be coachable, i.e., willing, and open to changing for professional growth. This by the way is one of the reasons why not 100% of coaching engagements are successful. The second is the topic for coaching must be meaningful to the client. If they don't care, the impact will be diluted. Third, the coaching is best done by a trained professional who enables the client to feel safe and comfortable and has the skills to engage them in thoughtful dialogue that can help them see things clearly, connect dots and come away energized and focused on action. Not having a coach with the right skills is another reason why not all engagements are successful.
What is your process for coaching?
My process for coaching begins with understanding why the client wants coaching, the problem they’re looking to solve or skill they wish to develop and why that is important to them. A big part of coaching success is the openness of the client for change that enables growth. We then establish the terms of engagement and begin coaching. In some cases, we begin with an assessment to gain insights into the client’s traits or feedback from colleagues. The insights gained here help refine coaching goals and enables us to agree on specific measures of success. As we go through the coaching engagement we will periodically assess where we are versus those goals to ensure we’re on track and the coaching is being effective.
How do you measure the value coaching brings?
The value of coaching is best measured by the value placed on achieving of the goal of the engagement. This measure is often qualitative, rather than quantitative. For example, if an executive is successfully coached to become more strategic in their approach and they do so, the coaching has been a success. While being more strategic manifests in many ways, putting a dollar value on its impact is hard.
