Our Team
Jamie Gobel — Founder & CEO
Jamie Gobel founded Evolve Coaching after co-leading a founder-owned company through significant growth, a private equity acquisition, and the transition that followed. That experience, leading through growth, change, complexity, and increasing pressure, shaped a belief that sits at the heart of Evolve: the strongest, most sustainable results are created when people and performance are strengthened together.
For more than 20 years, Jamie has worked at the intersection of leadership, people strategy, growth, and organizational change. Her experience spans more than two decades of leading inside a growth-stage organization, from the frontline through executive leadership, and now coaching executives and leadership teams across growing, enterprise, and private equity-backed organizations. She brings firsthand understanding of what it takes to lead through growth, change, ownership transitions, and the moments that test both leaders and their organizations.
Jamie is a Certified Professional Coach (CPC), Energy Leadership™ Index Master Practitioner (ELI-MP), Emotional Quotient Inventory 2.0 (EQ-i 2.0) Certified Practitioner, and Certified Health Coach.
Jamie created the Energy to Lead framework, which helps leaders and teams understand how energy, mindset, behaviors, and choices shape leadership, culture, performance, and results. She also co-created ELX: Energy Leadership for Women, a transformational coaching experience designed to help high-achieving women reconnect with themselves, reclaim their energy, and lead with greater clarity, confidence, and intention.
Jamie's approach doesn't ask leaders to choose between performance and humanity. She believes the strongest organizations develop both, creating leaders, teams, and cultures equipped to perform, adapt, and thrive through growth and change.
- Energy-driven
- Certified coaches
- Change and transition navigators
- Emotional intelligence
- Enterprise and high-growth leadership
- Private equity experience
- Health and wellness
Rachel Dorfman
Growth, transition, and increasing complexity can challenge even the most experienced leaders. Rachel Dorfman helps leaders at all levels meet those moments with greater clarity, confidence, and resilience.
With more than two decades of executive leadership across media, technology, and customer success, Rachel has led high-performing teams, built strong client relationships, and refined operational processes. She is a Certified Professional Coach (CPC), Energy Leadership™ Index Master Practitioner (ELI-MP), and Emotional Quotient Inventory 2.0 (EQ-i 2.0) Certified Practitioner.
Rachel draws directly on her corporate experience in her coaching, helping leaders manage growing complexity, lead through transitions, align people with strategy, and build resilience in high-pressure environments. She combines candor, empathy, and objective insight, creating space for leaders to uncover blind spots, shift patterns, and take intentional action.
Her work helps leaders show up with greater clarity and authenticity, strengthen relationships, and create sustainable results for themselves, their teams, and their organizations.
Bhavika Shah
Meaningful change often requires looking beyond what's happening on the surface. Bhavika Shah helps leaders and professionals uncover the beliefs, patterns, and energy influencing how they think, lead, and show up.
With more than 20 years of cross-sector experience spanning public policy, social impact, entertainment, banking, and consulting, Bhavika has held leadership roles across organizational effectiveness, change management, operations, and cultural transformation. Her work has centered at the intersection of people, systems, strategy, and culture, helping leaders strengthen organizations and create environments where people and performance can thrive together. She is a Certified Professional Coach (CPC), Energy Leadership™ Index Master Practitioner (ELI-MP), and Clinical Hypnotherapist.
Bhavika blends this strategic background with a deeply personal coaching approach, particularly with leaders experiencing transition, identity shifts, burnout, or significant change. She helps clients explore not only what they want to change, but the beliefs and patterns that may be influencing them, creating greater self-awareness, clarity, confidence, and more intentional choices.
Across individual coaching, workshops, and group programs, Bhavika's work recognizes that sustainable change often comes from aligning what we do with the deeper beliefs and energy shaping how we show up.
Ellen Gifford
For nearly 30 years, Ellen Gifford has worked at the intersection of culture, strategy, and energy, helping leaders and organizations create meaningful, sustainable performance.
A seasoned leadership coach, innovative HR executive, and business consultant, Ellen brings nearly three decades of experience across healthcare, insurance, entertainment, and hospitality. A passionate advocate for purpose-driven leadership, she is known for reimagining how culture, strategy, and energy come together in today's evolving workplace.
Ellen holds an MBA, is a SHRM-certified HR professional, Lean Leader, Certified Professional Coach (CPC), Energy Leadership™ Index Master Practitioner (ELI-MP), Emotional Quotient Inventory 2.0 (EQ-i 2.0) Certified Practitioner, and graduate of the Results Based Leadership Institute. Her leadership has earned national recognition, including Becker's Hospital Review and the Ultimate Software Innovation Award.
As Co-Creator of ELX: Energy Leadership for Women, Ellen partners with Jamie Gobel to create transformational group coaching experiences that help women master their energy, elevate their impact, and lead with greater intention in both their professional and personal lives.
Deanna Walker
When pressure causes people and organizations to contract, Deanna Walker helps them expand what's possible. Drawing on decades of experience in creativity, innovation, and human development, she helps individuals, teams, and organizations access new ways of thinking, challenge familiar patterns, and tap into the creativity needed to continue growing and evolving.
An executive coach, strategist, innovative educator, songwriter, and producer, Deanna brings a rare blend of creative intuition, emotional insight, and strategic thinking to her work. As a Senior Lecturer at Vanderbilt University, she founded and built the university's first songwriting program, now thriving in its twenty-fifth year, and has coached and mentored thousands of emerging leaders, including award-winning innovators, artists, and executives.
Deanna's coaching integrates creativity, innovation, and emotional intelligence to help leaders reconnect with their core values, access new perspectives, and lead with greater clarity, authenticity, and imagination. She is a Certified Professional Coach (CPC), Energy Leadership™ Index Master Practitioner (ELI-MP), and Associate Certified Coach (ACC) through the International Coaching Federation (ICF).
Grounded in empathy and resilience, Deanna challenges the status quo while honoring the human at the center of leadership.
Ready For What's Next?
Let’s talk about where you are, what you want more of, and what you’re ready to create next.
