As a Director of The Busch School Masters Program at The Catholic University, I am always searching for speakers that have a true message and can get that message across to our students. Phil had an unbelievable impact on the students as he talked about his own experience, the importance of ethics in leadership in the workplace, and the importance of living a meaningful life generally. I knew he had the students’ attention when he asked them to think about their individual gifts and how those gifts can impact the world. The students began to think about their life in those terms because it was evident from the questions they asked Phil in the presentation. When he left that evening, I thought about how impactful his words were in my own life. More importantly, I knew that I would need to get Phil back in front of the students. It was obvious that what Phil was saying was a heartfelt reflection on his own life and success. I can tell you with confidence that it is not easy to find speakers like Phil who have the ability to change students’ lives with their words.

I worked with Phil while dealing with significant life changes and staging my company for an exit. I needed to step back and get a strategic view of who I was, what I wanted, how I worked with people, and what my leadership strengths were at this transitional point in my life. It was critical I got myself in shape first in order to lead my company through a transaction; therefore, I engaged Phil as an executive coach. We worked through my servant leadership style, how I could improve my time management skills to be more strategic, how to work a strategic plan in manageable chunks, and how to work the roles and responsibilities of the leadership team within my company. The experience with Phil prepared me as a person and leader, and I successfully transacted my company to a Private Equity firm in early 2020.

Phil is a very genuine and approachable person and I enjoyed working with him as my professional coach. Phil has a lot of empathy and really cares about his clients. His ability to always be “on your side” without being a “yes” person made him a solid sounding board when I needed it. I typically have a difficult time opening up and trusting people, especially believing that our conversations will be kept in confidence. Phil never let me down and made me feel comfortable that I was in a safe environment.

Phil added a lot of additional value by sharing useful material and websites to support my growth. He is quite skilled at listening and guiding you instead of providing a standard directive. This technique truly helped me meet my goals. Being a female, I always thought I needed a female coach, but Phil is very in-tune with gender variables and how we interact in life. His real-world examples were extremely helpful, and they continue to resonate with me quite often today.

Phil Panzarella is a leader who generates results by supporting others, creating ideas and opportunities, and by being an example as a compassionate, innovative, and tenacious individual. It has been to our larger communities benefit that Phil has been the chairman of Easter Seals, serving the DC, MD, and VA region as well as nationally to have Phil’s leadership. Phil led Easter Seals through a highly successful expansion of military and veterans’ services through his ability to see the potential impact our organization could have at a critical time for our returning service members. Through Phil’s insight that Easter Seals could quickly and decisively tap into our direct program services (employment programs, therapy, family services, medical support, training as well as our holistic focus on families) and our existing infrastructure, he anticipated that Easter Seals could accelerate a response for more and better services for those who have served our nation and needed a new and innovative solution. Phil uniquely put the pieces of the puzzle together with absolutely no personal or business benefit for himself. He is a selfless ambassador for all persons with special needs whether related to the military or others who are vulnerable due to disability or other causes. Phil has been such an inspirational leader that Easter Seals Board of Directors serving DC, MD, and VA took the unusual step of asking him to take on a third term as Chairman of the Board. It has been a pleasure and a growth experience for me personally to be associated with Phil as Chairman during my tenure as the President & CEO of Easter Seals in the region.

I have had an opportunity to work with Phil for over 5 years. During this time, I have observed his executive leadership and coaching abilities in various settings and with diverse audiences. He is an active listener who is results-oriented, analytical yet empathetic, and committed to coaching people to discover and experience the best version of themselves.

Phil is dedicated to his clients, his fellow team members, and to his community. He has very high standards and constantly exceeds people’s expectations. He has a proven track record of improving his clients’ processes and performance while being a leader in the community.

Phil has a longstanding association with Easterseals DC MD VA and is a positive leader whose wisdom, relationships, and insights are helping us grow to better serve the community. One of the nicest things about working with Phil is, because of his expertise as a certified coach and in strategic planning, he brings a coaching perspective to strategy and a strategic perspective to coaching. He asks the questions that build team alignment on “why” a project is more important than “how” it can be done!

I have had the pleasure of working with Phil Panzarella on numerous occasions. First, as a partnering company, then as a subordinate and again as a partnering company GBW. He is committed to his people and his values and ethics are worthy of emulation by all leaders in all companies. He is always the consummate professional and his company is a mirror to his commitment for service and quality. It is always a joy to work with him and his people.

Phil is an excellent executive coach. I worked with him for just over a year prior to taking on additional C-suite responsibilities. Phil was an attentive listener, always positive and upbeat. He often posed thought-provoking questions, which forced me to consider and reconsider items that I might have glossed over on my own. Phil helped me to harness my skills as a servant leader, and taught me how to work with other leadership styles to achieve results.”

I felt more confident and better prepared after working with Phil; and now, several years later, I am confident that my time with Phil prepared me to establish and lead my own company. I would wholeheartedly recommend Phil as an executive coach, leader, and mentor.

Phil Panzarella’s leadership as Chairman of the Board of Directors at the Fairfax County Chamber of Commerce was nothing short of outstanding. His ethics, integrity, relentless attention to detail and organization has positioned the Chamber to truly be deemed “the Voice of Business in Northern Virginia”.

As a seasoned banker, I have been very fortunate to have Phil Panzarella as my executive coach. He is great at helping others enhance their leadership abilities, establish clear direction to improve performance, and execute. Thanks to his guidance, I was able to push my limits and discover my true potential as a career banker, while always creating a safe, yet challenging environment for me. I found his coaching style to be very innovative and effective!

Phil Panzarella is a local leader who provided business coaching services when I was growing my first company in the USA. He offered personal guidance with an emphasis on personal success coming out of business success, for example, he convinced me that life insurance was a positive move for a services business owner. Smart move! My company grew to 250 employees. Phil’s encouraging friendliness, astute questioning, along with his integrity and empathy helped me to achieve growth, from 40 to 250 employees, within two short years. To anybody that is searching for positivity and needs quality listening skills from a reliable listener, I fully recommend Phil Panzarella. There aren’t many entrepreneurs like him who have sold their business and can speak from experience of what that’s like (it’s hard!), but you can rely on Phil to tell it like it is.

I worked with Phil in an executive coaching arrangement throughout the first six months of 2023 and I highly recommend his expertise and coaching services. Passion and purpose define Phil’s work, and anyone collaborating with him is likely to benefit from significant growth in both of those areas of focus. The schedule of engagements when working with Phil isn’t a rote list of best practices or common offerings; it is a journey to define and explore and maximize your passion and your purpose. My primary focus in working with Phil was professional – to enhance and improve the culture and effectiveness of the non-profit I served as a statewide Executive Director. But I also grew personally over the 20+ sessions we held, challenging myself to better address challenges and to seek opportunities for growth in my own life. This work is critical and demands sustained effort. Phil’s coaching leadership is the ideal guide for the journey.