About the IEFCC
The International Executive Function Coaching Certification (IEFCC) exists to advance humane, ethical executive function coaching across education, workplaces, and communities — safeguarding those most at risk and raising standards for everyone. Our mission is to ensure that executive function coaching is delivered to the highest ethical and professional standards, so it can transform education, workplaces, and communities worldwide.
We are an independent certification body, providing impartial assessment and recognition rather than training. Like an examination board, we certify competence while a network of approved training providers delivers the teaching. This separation preserves the integrity, consistency, and credibility of our certification across the globe.
Founded by Michael Delman and Victoria Bagnall, the IEFCC is grounded in 28 Professional Standards that define safe, inclusive, and effective coaching practice. These standards form the benchmark for certification and give clients, organisations, and the wider profession confidence in the quality of service provided by accredited coaches.
What is the IEFCC
Our Mission
To protect people by assuring quality, ethical standards in executive function coaching worldwide — with particular care for those most at risk of harm.
We exist to protect people by setting a global benchmark for executive function coaching, with particular responsibility to safeguard marginalised and neurodivergent communities. Our certification ensures that coaches practise to high professional standards, grounded in evidence, ethics, and inclusion, so that quality personal development support is accessible and safe for everyone.
Our Vision
Our vision is a world where executive function coaching is a recognised and respected profession, transforming education, workplaces, and communities through ethical and inclusive practice. We are dedicated to ensuring that everyone — especially the most marginalised — can trust that executive function coaching is safe, ethical, and of the highest standard.
How we work
The International Executive Function Coaching Certification (IEFCC) is an independent body dedicated solely to assessment and certification. We do not deliver training ourselves. Instead, we partner with a global network of approved training providers who prepare and mentor coaches to meet our standards.
This separation — much like the model used by examination boards — ensures that certification is impartial, consistent, and credible worldwide. Training providers focus on teaching and development, while the IEFCC provides rigorous assessment and recognition of competence.
By working in this way, we maintain the integrity of the certification process and give clients, organisations, and the wider profession confidence that every accredited coach has met the same high standards, regardless of where they trained.
Meet our founders
Our founders established the IEFCC in 2025, driven by a desire to raise standards of executive function coaching globally and offer people seeking executive function coaching confidence that they are accessing high quality, ethical support.
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Founder & Director of CertificationVictoria is a critically acclaimed trainer, author, and global pioneer in executive function coaching and neuroinclusion. She has trained thousands of teachers, coaches, and professionals worldwide, and through Connections in Mind CIC has established internationally recognised executive function coach training programmes and coaching practices. Victoria has been at the forefront of advancing our understanding of behavioural neuroscience and its practical application in education and the workplace. She is deeply committed to safeguarding the most marginalised and shaping a global movement towards neuroaffirmative practice.
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Founder & Non Executive Director
Michael is an award-winning educator, a school founder and former school principal, author, and pioneer of executive function coaching in the United States. Founder of Beyond BookSmart, one of the world’s largest executive function coaching organisations, he has spent decades developing evidence-based approaches that empower learners of all ages. Michael brings unparalleled expertise in coaching practice, professional standards, and training design.
A highly respected Board of Advisors
International Executive Function Coaching Certification has been shaped by the advice and insight of some of the most respected voices in executive function coaching and related fields worldwide.
Their experience spans practice, research, education, advocacy, and systems-level work, and their guidance has helped inform standards and governance that are thoughtful, rigorous, and grounded in real-world practice.
Meet our board of advisors
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Dr Peg Dawson
ADVISOR
Peg Dawson, Ed.D., NCSP, received her doctorate in school/child clinical psychology from the University of Virginia. She worked as a school psychologist in Maine and New Hampshire, and recently retired after 30 years at the Center for Learning and Attention Disorders in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, where she specialized in the assessment of children and adults with learning and attention disorders. Along with her colleague, Dr. Richard Guare, she has authored many books on the topic of executive skills, including books for both parents and professionals. They have also written books on executive skills coaching and have trained hundreds of coaches in the United States and abroad. Dr. Dawson is a past president of both the National Association of School Psychologists and the International School Psychology Association. She is also the 2006 recipient of NASP’s Lifetime Achievement Award and a 2010 recipient of the International School Psychology Association Distinguished Services Award.
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Moonlake Lee
ADVISOR
Moonlake Lee is a leading neurodiversity advocate in Asia. She is also the founder of Unlocking ADHD, a Singapore charity which empowers ADHDers and their families to live life to the fullest. Drawing on her lived experience and community leadership, she has shaped national conversations on neuroinclusion through public education and workplace partnerships. Moonlake is part of the Working Group on the ADHD Clinical Practice Guidelines in Singapore. She is also the Lead Editor of "Differently Wired Minds," a special edition book featuring the journeys of over 60 Singapore ADHDers which reduces stigma and promotes compassionate, practical support for the ADHD community.
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Cara Stanley
ADVISOR
Cara Stanley is a highly respected educator and former Executive Director of the UC Berkeley Student Learning Center, where she spent nearly three decades advancing equity, belonging, and academic support for diverse learners. Known for her visionary leadership and deep commitment to student flourishing, Cara helped transform the SLC into a nationally recognised model of peer-led, inclusive learning. She brings extensive expertise in learning support, community building, and compassionate educational practice.
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Tony Lloyd
ADVISOR
Tony Lloyd is a nationally respected neurodiversity leader, researcher, and advisor, with a career spanning education, public policy, and social justice. Formerly the long-standing Chief Executive of the ADHD Foundation, he played a pivotal role in shaping national understanding of ADHD and neurodiversity through advocacy, policy influence, and cross-sector collaboration. Now a Visiting Professor at Liverpool John Moores University, Tony continues to contribute to national conversations on inclusion, inequality, and systemic change, drawing on both lived experience and decades of leadership to promote dignity, equity, and belonging.