ICF PCC Executive Coach Credentials

PCC is the ICF's Professional Certified Coach credential

The International Coaching Federation (ICF) is a global professional body for coaches, and it awards credentials at three individual levels. PCC, Professional Certified Coach, is the middle level, held by coaches with substantial training and client experience. I hold the PCC credential.

An ICF credential is a professional coaching credential. It is not a clinical or medical qualification, and coaching is not therapy. If you want the full comparison of the three levels, my guide to ACC vs PCC vs MCC credentials sets them side by side.

Earning the PCC credential takes training, logged experience and an assessed performance

The ICF sets the same requirements for every PCC applicant, wherever they practise. In general terms, a coach must show all of the following. The ICF publishes the current hours and rules on its credentials and standards page, and they change from time to time, so check there for the detail.

• ✦Coach-specific education aligned with the ICF definition of coaching, its Core Competencies and its Code of Ethics
• ✦Coaching experience hours logged with real, paying and pro bono clients
• ✦Mentor coaching, where an experienced credentialed coach reviews and develops your coaching
• ✦A performance evaluation, in which recorded coaching sessions are assessed against ICF standards
• ✦The ICF Credentialing Exam, which tests how a coach applies the competencies and ethics in practice
• ✦A commitment to the ICF Code of Ethics, plus continuing education to renew the credential

My coaching certifications beyond the ICF credential

Each certification adds a different lens. I use them together, chosen for what you bring, rather than running every client through the same tool.

• ✦Executive Coaching: the core discipline of coaching senior leaders on performance, presence and decisions
• ✦Systemic Coaching: seeing you within the system around you, including your team, stakeholders and organisation
• ✦Systemic Team Coaching: coaching a whole team as one unit, which underpins my systemic team coaching work
• ✦Mental Fitness, as a Positive Intelligence® coach: building the mental habits that hold up under pressure, the basis of my mental fitness coaching
• ✦NLP Master Practitioner: working with the language and thinking patterns that shape behaviour
• ✦Leadership Development: designing growth for leaders and leadership populations

Twenty-six years inside organisations shape how I coach

My credentials sit on top of 26+ years in leadership, HR and talent development, inside multinational organisations and in private practice. I worked across financial services, FMCG, entrepreneurship and government.

I began in HR and talent management: developing leaders, building talent strategies, shaping culture and supporting executive teams through growth and transformation. That means I understand succession conversations, restructures, board dynamics and the realities of family-owned businesses and national talent programmes from the inside, not from a textbook.

4,500+ coaching hours, in Arabic and English

I have completed more than 4,500 coaching hours. Hours matter because coaching is a practised skill: listening for what is not said, asking the question that shifts your thinking, and holding silence long enough for you to find your own answer.

I coach in Arabic and in English, and many clients move between the two in the same session. For some topics, the language you think in is the language you need to speak in. You can read more about executive coaching in Arabic and English.

Check any coach's credential in the ICF Credentialed Coach Finder

You do not need to take any coach's word for their credential, including mine. The ICF runs a free, searchable directory, the ICF Credentialed Coach Finder, where you can look up a coach by name and see whether they hold a current ICF credential and at which level.

I encourage every prospective client and every HR team commissioning coaching to do this. If you are building a shortlist, my guide to what qualifications an executive coach should have covers what else to ask about beyond the badge.

What the credentials mean for you in the room

In practice, my training shows up as discipline. I help you think it through; I don't decide for you. I ask questions that help you see your blind spots and triggers, the same thing a coach once did for me early in my career, which is why I do this work.

It also shows up as boundaries: strict confidentiality, clear agreements with any sponsoring employer, and honesty when something you need sits outside coaching. The way I handle those is set out in coaching confidentiality and ethics.