Bethany Zecher Sutton is a certified leadership and career coach who specializes in leadership development for individuals in higher education and nonprofit organizations.
Bethany’s career includes more than 23 years’ professional experience in higher education, with expertise in strategic planning, staff and leadership development, non-profit management, program planning and implementation, writing, editing, and fundraising. Her collaborative style demonstrates her strengths in synthesizing information; problem solving; coordinating programs, activities, and people; communicating, and orientation to detail.
In addition to coaching, Bethany currently serves as a consultant for Academic Search, a national organization with a focus on identifying and cultivating leadership within higher education. She joined Academic Search in 2018, following 17 years of service as a member of the leadership team at the Association of American Colleges & Universities (AAC&U). At AAC&U, she played a central role in the association’s work to advance quality and equity in undergraduate education, working with colleagues across the entire spectrum of the higher education community. Prior to AAC&U, Bethany worked in the Provost’s Office at the University of Pennsylvania.
Bethany also serves in a leadership role with HERS (Higher Education Resources Services), a nationally-known leadership development program for women in higher education. An alumna of the HERS Leadership Institute, Bethany provides guidance and expertise to Institute participants on a range of topics, including navigating leadership transitions, career planning, organizational change, program planning and implementation, and leadership development.
With daughters in 6th and 9th grade in Arlington Public Schools, Bethany also is an active community member. She serves as a vice-chair for the APS Advisory Council on Teaching and Learning and recently completed 7 years of service on the PTA board at Randolph Elementary, a Title I, International Baccalaureate Primary Years Program school. Bethany was the 2020 recipient of the Distinguished County Service Award from Volunteer Arlington & the Leadership Center for Excellence.
Bethany holds a graduate certificate in Leadership Coaching from the Georgetown University Center for Transformational Leadership and is an Associate Certified Coach (International Coach Federation certification). She completed the HERS Leadership Institute, a two-week intensive leadership development program, in 2013. Bethany earned a BA in history from the University of Mary Washington and an MA in history from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst.