Crypto · Globe Stocks Daily
The Women Leaders Association, the largest publisher and events organization for women professionals with 43,000 members and more than 130 regional chapters, today announced Julia Furtaw as the first official Coaching Partner of its Detroit chapter, DetroitWomenLeaders.org. The appointment launches the association's new Coaching Partners program in southeast Michigan, giving members direct access to coaches who have been carefully screened for credentials, track record, and client results.
The Coaching Partners program was created to solve a problem the association's members raise constantly: coaching is one of the highest-impact investments a professional woman can make in her career — and one of the hardest to shop for. Coaching titles are unregulated, quality varies enormously, and a leader evaluating coaches on her own has little way to verify who is genuinely proven. Under the new program, the Women Leaders Association does much of that screening on the member's behalf. Every Coaching Partner is vetted for recognized certifications, verifiable experience, and excellent client reviews before being presented to members, so each chapter's professionals can book a consultation with confidence, have a great experience, and keep rising in their careers.
Change is good. It's also really hard — and Furtaw coaches from having lived both sides of it: personal and professional changes that left a lasting impact, some she pursued, others out of her control. An executive and leadership coach, she helps clients define and pursue the best versions of themselves, personally and professionally — navigating leadership growth, promotions, job changes, layoffs, and retirement. She excels in coaching new managers, managers transitioning to director, and directors transitioning to VP, with a proven track record of helping clients position themselves for new challenges and bigger roles.
Her coaching builds on more than 35 years in publishing and educational technology, including 17 years at Cengage Group, where she rose to Executive Director of Global Academic Content — and where, for the final two years of her corporate career, she coached leaders internally alongside her executive role. She has led through an IPO, a company sale and bankruptcy, Covid and the shift to permanent remote work, and numerous reorganizations — the very kinds of change her clients face. A certified Hudson Institute coach and ICF Associate Certified Coach, she is also a certified Leadership Circle Profile® practitioner offering 360-degree assessments for leaders preparing for higher-level roles, and she completed Kotter's Foundations of Change. Beyond her practice, she mentors the next generation of women leaders as an International Officer of Pi Beta Phi Fraternity, serving as Collegiate Region Director overseeing 16 chapters across the Midwest and Ontario with a team of seven specialists.
"Change is good — and it's also really hard. I know because I've lived both kinds: the changes I pursued and the ones that came for me," said Furtaw. "My clients are navigating promotions, job changes, layoffs, and retirement, and my job is to help them uncover what drives them and what holds them back — because that's when transformational goals take shape. Helping a new manager grow into a director, or a director step into a VP role, brings me real joy. I'm honored to bring that work to the Women Leaders Association's Detroit members."
Detroit-area members can now view Furtaw's full profile, including her focus areas and credentials, book a free 30-minute chat directly through her calendar, or send her a private note through the page, at https://DetroitWomenLeaders.org/coaching.html?coach=JuliaFurtaw
"Julia has led through the changes our members fear most, an IPO, a company sale, a bankruptcy, reorganizations, the shift to permanent remote work, and she has spent decades helping others rise, from the leaders she coached inside Cengage to the sixteen college chapters she guides today," said Lydia Price, 2026 Volunteer Chair of the Women Leaders Association. "Launching our Detroit program with a coach who specializes in the manager-to-director-to-VP climb is exactly what our members ask for most."
The Detroit launch is part of a national rollout, with the association planning to extend the Coaching Partners program across its network of more than 130 chapters, pairing each city's members with coaches selected for that market.
The Coaching Partners program extends the association's broader mission of giving professional women both the structural transparency and the individual support they need to advance. Research from Pew and others estimates that women still earn roughly 15 percent less than men on average, and most women have little visibility into which employers actually advance women fairly. The Women Leaders Association has invested heavily in closing that information gap: its Glass Ceiling Score project, uses big data to score most major U.S. employers on how fairly they promote women into management and executive roles, and its chapters publish Best Women Employers rankings, compensation studies, and annual Top 50 Women Leaders awards. Coaching Partners adds the complementary, personal dimension: once a member can see the landscape clearly, a proven coach helps her move through it.
About Julia Furtaw
Julia Furtaw, MBA, ACC, is the founder of Julia Furtaw Coaching (juliafurtawcoaching.com) in Grosse Pointe, Michigan, providing 1:1 executive coaching, Leadership Circle Profile® 360-degree assessments, and spot coaching for leaders seeking clarity on a specific challenge. A certified Hudson Institute coach and ICF Associate Certified Coach, she spent more than 35 years in publishing and educational technology, including 17 years at Cengage Group rising to Executive Director of Global Academic Content, with leadership across content strategy, new product development, and product management for academic and K-12 markets. She holds an MBA from Wayne State University and a B.A. from James Madison College at Michigan State University, and serves as an International Officer of Pi Beta Phi Fraternity. Detroit members can connect with her through her profile above.
About the Women Leaders Association
The Women Leaders Association is a non-profit committed to the development and advancement of women in the corporate arena. With 43,000 members and more than 130 chapters in major cities, it is the largest publisher and events organization serving women professionals, producing conferences, leadership programs, original research, and daily publications for its members. We also celebrate the top 50 business women in each city, publish a Glass Ceiling Score ranking how well most employers advance women, and then recognize the best women's employers in each city from these rankings.
Events Near You: https://WomanLeaders.org/r/
Visit the Detroit chapter: https://DetroitWomenLeaders.org
Media Contact: Women Leaders Association, Service@WomanLeaders.org
Free Detroit Women Leaders Resources — available to all women in southeast Michigan at no charge:
- Best Women Employers and Glass Ceiling Scores: https://DetroitWomenLeaders.org/GlassCeiling
Media Contact:
Lydia Price
Women Leaders Association
Service@WomanLeaders.org
