World Class Coaches
90+
PUBLICATIONS
8
TIME ZONES
11
OLYMPIC MEDALS
18
ELITE ATHLETES
4
HALL OF FAMERS
Featured Coaches
Dr. Lauren Tashman
Valor Master Coach
PhD Educational Psychology, Major: Sports Psychology
Certified Mental Performance Coach (CMPC), Association for Applied Sport Psychology
Dr. Lauren Tashman has over 10 years of experience coaching and consulting athletes and professionals to be at the top of their game. As a Valor Performance Coach, she draws from her training in sports psychology and background in high level sports to help individuals and teams adopt a mindset for sustained success.
Dr. Lauren S. Tashman is a Certified Mental Performance Consultant (CMPC) with the Association for Applied Sport Psychology (AASP). She provides mental performance coaching, leadership advising, and team/organization consulting. Lauren has consulted for over 10 years with many different sports at a variety of levels including youth, collegiate, amateur, professional, national, and Olympic. Additionally, she provides coaching in various corporate sectors including law, exercise, and the performing arts. Lauren’s coaching is also influenced by her 13 years competing as an elite equestrian showjumper.
Matt Cuccaro
Valor Master Coach
Masters, Counseling / Sport Psychology
Matt Cuccaro strives to shape the purpose, courage and potential of elite performers. With his background in professional golf and Sports Psychology, he seeks to inspire professionals to seek and achieve their highest level of performance.
Matt Cuccaro has over ten years of experience maximizing the performance of athletes, coaches, parents, business professionals and educators. He has a Masters in Counseling and Sports Psychology from Boston University. His clients have included Olympians, All-Americans, NCAA Champions and Fortune 500 executives.
Whitney Otto
Valor Master Coach
Masters, Education / Counseling Psychology
Certified Co-Active Coach
Whitney Otto uses her background in psychology and as a World Champion Athlete to facilitate high-performance coaching for teams and individuals. Her approach to coaching is rooted in connection, honesty, humor, clarity, experimentation, and celebration.
Whitney has a Masters of Counseling Psychology and is a certified Professional Coach through the Coaches Training Institute. She has had over fifteen years of experience coaching high-performance individuals and teams, including Fortune 500 corporations, universities, and nonprofit organizations.
Dr. Daniel Smith
Valor Master Coach
PhD Industrial and Organizational Psychology, Minor: Quantitative Methods/Analytics
M.S. Engineering Psychology
M.S. Engineering Management
Dr. Dan Smith is an accomplished business leader, educator, research scientist, and executive coach. During 25 years of commissioned service, he served in command and executive leadership positions at every level of the military. As deputy commander in Afghanistan, Dan led and inspired a 1,650-person combat battalion, operating daily across 1,500 square miles of unforgiving terrain. He leverages these experiences to help others and inspire them to meet the complex and dynamic challenges they face both personally and professionally.
When not deployed, Dan developed Army leaders as Chief Instructor of Combat Engineering and Tactics at the US Army Engineer school for 3 years, while serving at the United States Military Academy at West Point for a total of 9 years. At West Point, Dan achieved the rank of Associate Professor, developing curriculum and teaching classes including General Psychology for Leaders; Military Leadership; Team Dynamics; Leadership in Combat; and Human Factors Engineering. Dan served as a mentor for the Army Football Team; and as a mentor and coach of West Point’s National Champion Combat Weapons Team for 8 years.
Dr. Jeff Coleman
Valor VP Coaching
PhD Educational Psychology
Certified Mental Performance Coach (CMPC), Association for Applied Sport Psychology
Dr. Coleman’s career has been centered on great teams through the creation of culture and collective routines. He has helped individuals prepare most efficiently toward their goals and understand how to switch to a confident and trusting mindset when it’s time to execute in the moment.
Dr. Coleman is a graduate of Florida State University where he studied performance psychology, cognitive expertise, and team leadership development. Dr. Coleman serves as the VP of Coaching and is responsible for Content creation on the Valor platform. Beyond worked with athletes from the youth to Professional and Olympic levels, he spent a decade at the United States Military Academy at West Point providing performance psychology and leadership training to cadets and Army officers.
Dr. Lea Ann Parsley
Valor Performance Coach
Olympic Silver Medalist
Dr. Lea Ann Parsley has a history of high performance, from winning a silver medal in the 2002 Olympic Games in Skeleton to decades of experience as a firefighter, EMT and Registered Nurse. She brings a tenacious and persistent attitude to everything she does.
Lea Ann has always been a high performer. At Marshall University she played basketball and track where she was twice named the Athlete of the Year. After taking up skeleton after college, she won a silver medal at the 2002 Winter Olympic Games in Salt Lake City, UT. In addition to sports, Dr. Parsley is an experienced healthcare professional with over 25 years as a registered nurse and health educator as well as 20 years of experience as an EMT and firefighter.
Joe Jacobi
Valor Performance Coach
Olympic Gold Medalist
Joe Jacobi’s leadership capabilities led him from a Gold Medal in the Olympics in Spain to CEO of US Canoe & Kayak. His concentration on performance and the mind reveals there is opportunity in every challenge.
Joe has a 19-year career as an elite athlete with USA Canoe/Kayak that includes paddling rivers in more than 20 different countries. He has served as the CEO of USA Canoe/Kayak and now he lives in Spain where he spends his time coaching high performance leaders, executive teams, and athletes.
Iris Zimmermann
Valor Performance Coach
Olympian and World Champion Fencer
A Stanford University graduate, Iris made her mark on the fencing strip and as an entrepreneur. Her insatiable appetite for high performance means she is looking for an extra edge in everything she does.
Iris was inducted into the USFencing Hall of Fame in 2013 for her record-setting fencing career. At just 14 years old, she became the first world champion for the US in any age or weapon category. She is an Olympian, a 3-time National Champion, and became NCAA Champion while competing for Stanford University. Iris owned her own business for nine years after earning her MBA from Simon Business School and has been coaching professionals to perform at their best since Valor began.
Caryn Davies
Valor Associate Coach
Two-Time Olympic Gold Medalist-Rowing
Caryn Davies is a three-time Olympian and two-time Gold Medalist, corporate lawyer, and Valor Coach. She knows the importance of bringing your best each and every day.
Caryn represented Team USA in three Summer Games, earning a silver medal in Athens 2004, and gold medal in Beijing 2008, and another gold in London 2012, all in the women's eight-oared rowing event. She is the most decorated Olympic alumni from Harvard University. Caryn has a BA from Harvard, an MBA from Oxford, and a JD from Columbia University.
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