Kai Stowers is a scientist turned executive coach and a long-time mindfulness practitioner who has personally experienced the transformation that comes with intentional development and growth.
Kai began his career as a chemist, drawn to science and the chance to save lives by developing new therapeutics. Over time he grew more interested in the human side of organizations, how individuals develop and how leaders and teams evolve toward greatness.
He grounds his coaching in evidence-based methods and partners with leaders to deepen their capacity to motivate, inspire, and develop others. Much of his work helps leaders understand how to build trust and stay steady under pressure, and his research with leaders who have ADHD informs how he helps people design roles and teams around how they think.
He is an International Coaching Federation (ICF) Professional Certified Coach (PCC) with a master’s degree in Organizational Psychology and Change Leadership from Columbia University, and he is pursuing an additional certification in Positive Psychology and ADHD Coaching from MentorCoach.
Representative assignments include:
Kai helps grow your capacity to navigate ambiguity and uncertainty, stay clear under pressure, and chart a wise course forward. He pairs practical tools you can use immediately with the deeper development that lets you lead through complexity instead of being overwhelmed by it.
Before he coached leaders, Kai spent nearly two decades as a research chemist in biotech. At Genentech, he led the lab strategy for early clinical trials and managed international contract labs. Alongside that work, he led the company's mindfulness program and grew it from 200 to more than 800 employees.
At Infineon, Kai served as an organizational development consultant to executive and senior business leaders. He led the HR side of a full reorganization of the Americas sales team, guiding the shift from an external to an internal sales model through the company's largest hiring initiative of 40 positions. He built the region's first diversity strategy, designed a year-long curriculum for HR business partners, and created a governance structure for the company's employee resource groups.
In his independent practice, Kai coaches senior leaders across corporate, government, higher education, and non-profit organizations, including senior administrators through the AIHEL. He lives in Portland, Oregon, and enjoys playing ice hockey.
“I coach leaders who want to understand themselves better and work more effectively with the people around them. Drawing on organizational psychology, mindfulness, and a deep curiosity about how each person operates, I help them understand what happens for them under pressure so they can close the gap between where they are now and what they want to achieve in their careers.”