About Kellen

“Culture” and “Strategy”—these are two of my absolutely favorite words. Not necessarily the words themselves, but the wonderful realities and immense potential behind what these concepts represent.

My passion for strategy and culture was born and cultivated over the more than two decades I have spent traveling, living, and working abroad as a professor, international organization developer, initiative strategist, intercultural trainer, program developer, educational consultant, and expat. I have had the honor and privilege to teach, train, and collaborate with students and leaders from over 40 different countries and six continents on a variety of educational, humanitarian, and organizational projects.

As an Intercultural Competence (ICC) Trainer

I help you thrive in diversity, wherever you are. Whether working with university students, organizational leaders, or expatriates, my passion is helping you understand, value, and leverage cultural diversity as the powerful strength that it is in your business, initiative, education, and relationships.

As a Strategy Coach

I help you fulfill your mission. I love to guide leaders and teams through a relational, methodical, and intentional process that enables you to clarify your unique goals and form concrete, customized, and effective strategies to bring them to life.

The ATLAS Manifesto

A Note from the Founder: The Journey Behind the Method

“I didn’t build ATLAS Coaching from a textbook. I built it from the friction of two decades leading in the "in-between" spaces of our world.

My graduate and doctoral work gave me the research, but my life gave me the resonance. I have stood at the helm of a multinational organization where the strategy looked right on paper, but the cultural reality was unraveling in the human interactions. I have navigated the exhilarating highs of leading the creation of an international nonprofit and the quiet, heavy "belly of the whale" seasons of starting over in a new landscape.

I believe in three things that an algorithm will never understand:

1. Context is the Soul of Strategy: A plan that ignores the cultural and organizational soil it’s planted in will never bear fruit. Whether you are leading a global team, redesigning strategies of an organization, or recalibrating your own life, your specific context is the only place we can find the truth.

2. Growth Requires a Witness: The hardest parts of leadership, strategic, and life transitions are the ones that feel invisible. You don’t just need a "processor" of information; you need a partner who has stood in the fire and, because of that unique element of true human resonation, knows how to help you walk through it.

3. Clarity is Forged, Not Found: We don't merely "discover" our path; we architect it through honest, sometimes difficult, relational interaction and authentic partnership.

Whether you are in a boardroom in Budapest or a basement in Salt Lake City, your mission matters. ATLAS exists because I believe that even in the most complex transitions, there is a pathway to thriving. Let's find it together.”

— Kellen Criswell, EdD Candidate