Dear Members and Friends of ACTO,

This letter usually comes from the desk of the President of ACTO Board, but this time we are writing from the collective desk – the entire Board of ACTO! In this closing letter of 2024, we want to be authentic with you, and build intimacy, clarity and energy for the future, through our sharing.

ACTO came into existence in 1999 and like any voluntarily run body, it has had its many moments of glory and challenge. ACTO has also evolved in response to the changing times and the needs of the coaching profession. November 2019 was one of the landmark moments, where ACTO developed and adopted its stand for Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging as being at the heart of everything it does in the field of coaching and coach training.

With the pandemic in 2020, unexpected change swept across the globe, and the past 4 years have brought ACTO our share of unprecedented challenges – challenges for how we gather, how we operate, and how we disseminate.

There is much to celebrate about our swift response to go online with our offerings, the conferences we hosted and the way we kept the ACTO spirit alive. AND, we have also faced serious hurdles – fluctuating membership, health concerns for our team members, thinning human energy available for governance and other activities, and eventually – financial survival.

Consequently, at the ACTO Annual Board Retreat in October, we gathered to face the darkest of questions – ‘Should ACTO sunset?’. As you may empathise, this was a heart-wrenching question, with no easy answers. We want to share with you how we approached this moment and what emerged.

The Board of ACTO met over two online meetings of 4 hours each on October 7, and October 11. The key theme was to take an honest look at ACTO’s purpose, its identity and relevance, and its future options.

We needed a facilitator to hold space and a mirror for us. We are grateful to Altaf Shaikh for generously contributing his time and energy to step into this role and accompany us as we built clarity.

Through a few conversations leading up to the retreat we had awareness that there would be shifts in Board Membership as people made wholesome and authentic choices about how best they could serve their own and ACTO’s needs. We were prepared that should ACTO move past the ‘sunset’ stage, then a new and committed team would be taking things forward.

We connected first as humans, and had a few circles of sharing our identities, noticing and dipping into the richness of the diversity that was held between us. We built intimacy with the vulnerability we showed up with.

We laid everything threadbare, including the sombre reality that passion for ACTO notwithstanding, a low bank balance and a confused identity can take us only so far!

We then also acknowledged that passion and a cohesive team can create magic and ACTO has a significant relevance, a contribution to make and MUST be sustained!

Here are some perspectives on ACTO in the direct words of our Board members:

After years of an identity crisis, ACTO is reborn with new energy. It offers an open, diverse, and inclusive space where we can dialogue freely and creatively to strengthen the profession. I have been involved in ACTO for more than six years. I was attracted to it because I have always felt at home and challenged to give the best of myself. I am staying because I want to continue giving what I have received over these years. It is where I have found people who are similar to me but also different. ACTO is one of the environments where I have learned the most about the profession and myself. – Virginia Gonalez-Velez, President

Why is ACTO relevant? I believe most coaches and coach trainers have a yearning to create an inclusive environment and a place where everyone feels that they belong. ACTO lives this, provides a home for it, and can foster this yearning in others. – Halli MacNab, Past President and Board Member

I believe in ACTO because, ACTO is a gathering place for coaches and coach training organizations who believe in Equity in the field of coaching. ACTO is the place where the development of individual and organizational competencies in DEI is provided and supported. – Steve Galloway, Board Member

In my association with ACTO, I have encountered authentic emotions in its people and I trust the language of emotions. ACTO offers warmth; a global platform; freedom and space for the unheard voices, for the need-to-be-heard wisdom voices, for the first-time voices, for the expert voices; for experimentation and for creativity. Surely, it is a pleasure and privilege to serve such a body, especially through a time of challenge – so much to do, so much to learn! – Jagruti Gala, Chair Education Committee

New Sunrise: Since 2020, the landscape of coaching and coach training has experienced tectonic shifts. ACTO, V2 is an evolution of the organization to support where we need to be tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow, and I’m excited to be part of that reimagination. – Jim Smith, Treasurer and Board Member

We are glad to report that we transformed from ‘maybe we need to sunset’ to ‘let’s SPRINT, it is a new sunrise’! We bring you that energy for 2025! We count on your every support to make this sprint and the future meaningful, successful and joyful!

Our organization is not diverse without you. Please join as an individual member ($100USD) or sign up as an organization ($325USD) now to support our ongoing work in creating a diverse, equitable and inclusive environment in coaching.

With Affection and Joy
ACTO BOARD