Executive Snapshot: Rick DeJarnette

I partner with senior leaders and their teams to bring clarity, alignment, and excellence to complex, high-stakes leadership challenges. Through coaching, facilitation, strategic planning, and retreats, I translate insight into sound decisions, meaningful change, and sustained performance.

This work reflects a deep sense of purpose and responsibility for how I choose to serve. In 2018, a serious climbing accident became a defining inflection point, sharpening my perspective on leadership when the stakes are high and the margin for error is thin. The experience clarified my direction toward coaching and deepened my commitment to helping leaders navigate complexity with discernment, integrity, and humanity. That balance of rigor and care continues to shape how I work with senior leaders and their teams.

Who I Serve:

I work with:

  • Senior Executives: C-Suite, SVP, VP, ED, and founders seeking measurable leadership impact.

  • Senior Government Leaders: Appointed officials, secretaries, commissioners, and deputy commissioners operating under public scrutiny and complexity.

  • Executive & Cross-Functional Teams: Teams striving for alignment and execution excellence.

What I Solve:

I help leaders and teams realize results in:

  • Executive leadership effectiveness: complex problem solving, decision-making, and interpersonal impact.

  • Team alignment and performance: clarity, collaboration, and execution.

  • Strategy and growth execution: turning direction into measurable outcomes.

  • Strategic planning and facilitation: high energy, focused, and well-run sessions that produce clear outcomes and ownership.

  • Leadership retreats: structured offsites that deepen alignment, trust, and clarity.

What Sets This Work Apart:

I combine executive coaching, facilitation, strategic planning, leadership retreats, and business advisory in ways that:

  • Are tailored to each leader’s context and organizational reality.

  • Integrate inner leadership capacity with outer execution.

  • Balance challenge and support so leaders stay grounded under pressure.

  • Move between individual, team, and system-level work to drive real change.

  • Emphasize disciplined clarity and practical relevance to daily leadership decisions.

Typical engagements follow a structured, outcome-focused flow:

    • Diagnose & Align: Clarify goals, context, and stakeholder inputs.

    • Design & Calibrate: Co-create a tailored plan.

    • Execute & Support: Coaching sessions, workshops, retreats, and advisory.

    • Reflect & Measure: Use feedback and milestones to refine the path.

    • Sustain & Scale: Embed practices and tools for long-term growth.

    • Executive Coaching: 3–9 months with regular coaching sessions.

    • Team Coaching Series: 3–9 months with analysis and recurring engagement.

    • Strategy Advisory: 3–12 months with assessment and co-created solutions.

    • Greater strategic clarity and alignment

    • Enhanced decision-making and solutioning

    • Enhanced leadership effectiveness

    • Increased team productivity

    • Stronger systems & operational improvements

I work with organizations across sectors including:

Health & human services, life sciences, biotech & pharmaceutical, profession & legal services, financial services, state & local government, VC/PE-backed companies, startups, and founder-led organizations.

Select Case Studies:

  • A senior executive at a Fortune 500 biotech company sought to expand enterprise-wide impact. A tailored coaching engagement strengthened strategic presence, empowered successors, and built adaptive leadership capacity. Results included broader influence across leadership forums, a stronger internal leadership bench, and higher resilience and long-term performance.

  • A senior government leader needed clarity, disciplined decision-making, and stakeholder navigation under scrutiny. Executive coaching improved executive presence, reduced reactive decisions, and increased consistent follow-through across complex systems.

  • A leadership team facing expanding responsibilities engaged in structured team coaching. Outcomes included reduced internal conflict, clearer role definitions, improved communication, and more capacity for high-value strategy execution.

Testimonials:

  • "I wanted to take a moment to thank you for the impact you’ve had on our IT organization. Your work with the team has led to significant, positive changes in how we collaborate and interact, and those improvements are clearly taking hold."

    —CIO, $2.8B Organization

  • "This coaching experience has been very powerful for me, challenging me to get comfortable with a mindset shift. Your guidance and feedback have been really effective in my stress management, and it has made me look at things from a new perspective. You've earned my trust and admiration, and I am grateful because the things you are coaching me on are very important and I am listening."

    -SVP, Fortune 100 Company

  • “Over the past decade, I've had the privilege of working with Rick and benefiting from Rick’s coaching during some of the most defining moments of my career. His wisdom, strategic insight, and steady encouragement have been absolutely invaluable."

    — Public Official

  • Rick’s insights and advice have been instrumental in taking my leadership abilities to another level. He understands the challenges of working with teams in large law firms, making him uniquely well-suited to help partners in leadership positions articulate and execute their strategic goals.”

    — Senior Partner, AMLaw 50 Firm

  • “In the six years I worked with him, Rick helped me navigate my firm through strategic growth, pandemic woes, staffing challenges and eventual sale. I was leading without a business partner and without having been to business school; Verdant provided trusted counsel, developed my decision-making abilities, and pointed me to essential outside resources."

    — Founder and CEO

  • "I could not let the season pass without telling you how grateful I am for you. You are moving me from functional caterpillar to butterfly.

    — CEO, $27B Organization

  • Rick has challenged me to refine my leadership approach, navigate tough organizational dynamics, effectively manage change, and build stronger, more collaborative teams. His guidance has helped me lead with greater clarity and confidence, and I’m deeply grateful for the impact he’s had on my growth as a leader.”

    - Commissioner

  • "My coach didn’t just provide the answers; he helped me learn how to make powerful decisions grounded in my values and stand confident in my ability to tackle the relentless ups and downs of a growing business.”

    - Founder and CEO

If you are considering leadership coaching, facilitation, or advisory services to strengthen strategic impact, influence, and growth, please reach out to connect: contact@verdantleadership.com