Joe Jacobi

La Seu d’Urgell, Catalonia, Spain

Meet the Coach

Joe Jacobi's approach to coaching is inspired by his learnings from a 19-year career with USA Canoe & Kayak. He combines this extraordinary experience with a passion for innovative coaching for sustained high-performance in his work with Valor clients. His performance strategies challenge his clients to get outside of their day-to-day rush of life and bring focus to what truly matters most with simplicity, purpose, and flow. To date, Joe’s collaborative coaching has impacted the careers of countless Olympic-level athletes and his Valor clients in top US hospitals, corporate c-suites, tech giants, and on sales leaderboards.  

Joe made history with his extraordinary canoeing career. He is a 10-time US National Champion, has medaled six times at the World Championships, and won Olympic Gold with his partner at the 1992 Barcelona games, the only Americans to hold gold in the sport. Out of the water, Joe has served as CEO of USA Canoe and Kayak, the sport’s national and Olympic governing body. Always the adventurer, he has experienced many unique challenges including paddling a kayak 113 miles from Cuba to the Florida Keys. Today, Joe continues to be active both physically and mentally training for marathons and sharing knowledge and insight on his blog, Sunday Morning Joe.

Favorite Quote

“A master in the art of living draws no sharp distinction between his work and his play; his labor and his leisure; his mind and his body; his education and his recreation. He hardly knows which is which. He simply pursues his vision of excellence through whatever he is doing, and leaves others to determine whether he is working or playing. To himself, he always appears to be doing both.” —Francois Auguste De Chateaubriand

Education, Affiliations, & Accomplishments

CEO of USA Canoe and Kayak (2009-2014)

2005 International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame Inductee 

Six-Time World Cup Medalist - Whitewater Canoe Slalom 

Ten-time US National Champion - Whitewater Canoe Slalom

2004 Olympics, Athens - Whitewater Canoe Slalom

1992 Olympics, Barcelona - Gold Medalist, Whitewater Canoe Slalom

1989 Canoe Slalom World Championships - 5th place 

1989 Canoe Slalom World Cup Series - 3rd Place 

Leadership Development, Leadership Oklahoma City

Catalan language, CFA La Seu, La Seu d’Urgell

Dr. Cindra Kamphoff

Mankato, MN

Meet the Coach

Dr. Cindra Kamphoff leverages her wealth of knowledge, experience, and partnership to encourage her clients to create a bold vision for their future. Since 2006, she has coached high performers, executives, and championship teams including Olympians, players in the National Football League, and leaders of Fortune 500 companies, retail giants, and financial organizations. Cindra’s focused, non-judgemental, and fun approach helps clients create a stronger connection and clarity of their best selves while increasing resilience, courage, and ability to design the life and work they seek. 

Cindra was an elite collegiate athlete herself, earning a scholarship to run track and cross-country. Today, she channels her passion for high-performance into each session as she supports her clients towards sustainable peak performance. Beyond one-on-one coaching, Cindra is also a professor and accomplished speaker, and writer. She speaks at trainings and conferences around the country and it has featured her work in the New York Times, Sports Illustrated, The Huffington Post, and USA Today. Cindra is also the author of an Amazon Bestseller and corresponding workbook, Beyond Grit: Ten Powerful Practices to Gain the High-Performance Edge, and the founder of the top-ranking podcast, High-Performance Mindset.

Favorite Quote

“If your dreams don’t scare you, they aren’t big enough."—Ellen Johnson Sirleaf

Education & Affiliations

Minnesota Vikings - Mental Performance Consultant 

Vice President of the National Speakers Association 

Association for Applied Sport Psychology - Certified Mental Performance Consultant (CMPC)

University of North Carolina at Greensboro - Ph.D., Sport and Performance Psychology 

University of North Carolina at Greensboro - M.S., Sport and Performance Psychology 

University of Northern Iowa - B.A., Psychology; graduated Summa Cum Laude

Inga Stasiulionyte

Vilnius, Lithuania

Meet the Coach

Inga Stasiulionyte leverages her experiences as an Olympic javelin thrower, business analyst, and mental strength coach to help her Valor clients discover new heights. Her athletic work has impacted European Champions, Olympians, and National Record holders. Off the playing field, Inga seamlessly translates her coaching to drive the performance of her Valor clients—elite professionals in top U.S.hospitals, tech-industry giants, and corporate c-suites—as well as future leaders as the Head of the MIT Sports Entrepreneurship Bootcamp. 

Inga earned an impressive set of accolades over her javelin career. She is a multiple-time Lithuanian National Champion, two-time PAC-10 Champion, NCAA Champion, four-time NCAA All-American, and represented Lithuania in the 2008 Beijing Olympics. As a senior at the University of Southern California (USC), she earned the distinction of being the first female in PAC-10 history to win a throwing event in four straight seasons. For her collegiate accomplishments, Inga was inducted into USC’s Track and Field Hall of Fame in 2012. Today, she continues her athletic legacy developing Olympian mindset training programs and serving as a mental strength coach for Olympians and Olympic hopefuls. 

 
Favorite Quote

“Vincit qui se vincit - He conquers who conquers himself.” 

Education, Affiliations, & Accomplishments

2012 University of Southern California Track and Field Hall of Fame Inductee 

2008 Olympics, Beijing - Javelin

Four-Time NCAA All-American - Javelin

National Champion, Lithuania - Javelin 

2004 PAC-10 Champion - Javelin

2001 NCAA National Champion - Javelin 

2001 PAC-10 Champion - Javelin

Head of MIT’s Sports Entrepreneurship Bootcamp (2017-2020)

Massachusetts Institute of Technology - Global Entrepreneur Bootcamp 

International University of Monaco - Master of Science, International Business and Global Affairs

University of Southern California, Marshall School of Business - B.A. Entrepreneurial Studies 

Dr. Lauren S. Tashman

New York, NY

Meet the Coach

Dr. Lauren Tashman has impacted performers from all arenas and levels since 2003. She has consulted with a wide breadth of high performers, from elite athletes and Olympians to VPs of public tech companies, leading legal professionals, and the performing arts. Most recently, she serves as a Mental Performance Coach for Golf and Body NYC and the Canadian Women’s National Softball Team, the Director of Mental Training for the G2 Girls Golf Academy, and conducts her own practice reaching people around the world. With Valor, Lauren’s work has helped sales leaders, innovators in tech, physicians at top US hospitals, and venture capitalists stay on top of their game when it matters most. 

Lauren fell into a passion for performance coaching, earning her Ph.D. in Educational Psychology after 13 years of elite equestrian show jumping. Her budding career in the sport was halted after a series of falls shook her confidence and motivation. Today, she leverages personal experience with her skills from years of training, research, and coaching, to help others navigate the ups and downs of the pursuit of excellence. Lauren is also an accomplished writer, speaker, and presenter in the field. She is the co-host of The Path Distilled podcast and has co-edited three books: Becoming a Sport, Exercise, and Performance Psychology Professional: a Global Perspective; Global Practices and Training in Sport, Exercise, and Performance Psychology; and Performance Excellence: Stories of Success from The Real World of Sport and Exercise Psychology. 

Favorite Quote

“If you never push yourself beyond your comfort zone, you will never improve.” —Dr. K. Anders Ericsson

Education & Affiliations

Association for Applied Sport Psychology - Certified Mental Performance Consultant (CMPC)

Florida State University - Ph.D. Educational Psychology, Sport Psychology Concentration

Florida State University - M.S. Educational Psychology, Sport Psychology Concentration

The College of New Jersey - B.A. Psychology

Shameema Yousuf

London, England

Meet the Coach

Shameema Yousuf brings a diverse background as a former banker and fund manager, elite international athlete, and psychologist to her work with Valor clients. Since 2010, she has made a career supporting the performance and mental health of elite athletes and executives across the globe. Shameema has led a psychology program for the Brighton Hove Albion Football Club (soccer) in the UK, serves as the consultant sport psychologist for the Zimbabwean Olympic Committee, mentors early career practitioners, and conducts her own practice in the U.K. and Zimbabwe. Her former career in finance allows her to effortlessly translate her performance psychology knowledge for her clients at Valor, helping leaders in sales, tech, and healthcare achieve sustainable peak performance. 

Shameema’s work extends into advocacy and diversity and inclusion initiatives transnationally, serving on several international committees. In 2020, she was recognized on the Muslim Women’s in Sport Powerlist for her esteemed contribution to sport. An international force, Shameema has presented around the world on mindfulness and performance, cultural sport, and performance psychology, has 20 publications to her name in numerous journals and books, and has been featured on world media channels including the BBC, Sky Sport, and Wimbledon Radio. 

 
Favorite Quote

“Dream with ambition, lead with conviction, and see yourself in a way that others might not see you, simply because they’ve never seen it before.” —Kamala Harris

Education & Affiliations 

Muslim Women in Sport Powerlist 2020

Association for Applied Sport Psychology - Certified Mental Performance Consultant (CMPC)

American Psychological Society (APA) - Division 47 Member 

British Association of Counseling and Psychotherapy - Registered Counsellor

Health and Care Professions Council (UK) - Registered Sport and Exercise Psychologist 

British Association for Sport and Exercise Science (BASES) - Member and Supervisor 

Boston University - M.Ed. Counseling Psychology, Sport and Performance Concentration

Brunel University, UK - M.Sc. Business Finance

City University, UK - B.Sc. Joint Honours Economics and Accountancy

Iris Zimmermann

Rochester, NY 

Meet the Coach

Iris Zimmermann leverages a wealth of experience from her impressive career as a World Fencing Champion, Olympian, and businesswoman to coach others towards finding personal and professional success. In her post-fencing career, she owned and operated the Rochester Fencing Club with her sister for nine years. In that time, the pair doubled club membership and moved to a space triple the size of the original fencing club. Today, Iris brings all of her talents, knowledge, and skills into her coaching of Valor clients as they strive towards sustainable peak performance as they lead global tech companies, physicians at top US hospitals, high-growth sales teams, and financial institutions. 

Iris is known in the fencing world as a record-breaker and a woman of many firsts. At just 14 years old, she became the first World Fencing Champion from the United States in any age or weapon category. Iris went on to become one of the youngest participants to win a National Championship and the first medalist in US history for women's foil at the 1999 Senior World Championships. Iris participated in the 2000 Sydney Olympics and is the 2001 NCAA Fencing Champion. In 2013, she was inducted into the US Fencing Hall of Fame for her record-breaking career. She continues her legacy through teaching the sport of fencing to all ages, is the first and currently the only female commentator for the International Fencing Federation, and currently serves as a VP of the U.S. Olympians and Paralympians Association. 

 
Favorite Quote

“Crisis has two meanings-one is danger and the other is opportunity.” —George Mumford

Education, Affiliations, & Accomplishments

Vice President of the United States Olympians and Paralympians Association

2013 United States Fencing Hall of Fame Inductee 

Three-time Div. I National Champion 

2001 NCAA Fencing Champion 

2000 Olympics, Sydney - Fencing (Foil) 

1999 Senior World Championships - Bronze Medal, Foil (First American World Medalist)  

First American Junior World Champion

First American Cadet World Champion

University of Rochester, Simon School of Business - M.B.A.

Stanford University - B.A. Political Science