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Coaches

Virginia Mansell

As Founding Partner of SMG, Virginia Mansell Executive Coach has built one of APAC’s leading executive coaching firms. She continues to lead the business while working with CEOs and boards on leadership transitions, stakeholder alignment, and executive presence.

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Virginia Mansell Founding Partner

Expertise

Trained
psychologist

30 years
experience

Industry
professional

Member of
APS

Experience and background

Virginia brings over three decades of experience across business, HR leadership, and executive development. As an organisational and clinical Psychologist, she combines deep behavioural insight with commercial acumen — a dual perspective that continues to shape SMG’s approach to leadership effectiveness.

As Founding Partner of Stephenson Mansell Group, Virginia leads the firm with a hands-on approach — shaping business strategy, mentoring the coach community, and overseeing the design of flagship programs. Under her leadership, SMG has become one of the leading executive development businesses in Australia and the APAC region.

She is a graduate of INSEAD’s Organisational Leadership program and the Tavistock Institute’s program on Leadership and Authority in Organisations. Virginia is also the author of The Focused Executive: How to Maximise Your Leadership Effectiveness, a guide for senior leaders transitioning from operational to strategic leadership. She has contributed thought leadership to Company Director and The Australian Financial Review, and remains an active voice in national leadership conversations.

At SMG, Virginia designed cornerstone programs including Advanced Leader as Coach, Women’s Leadership Program, and Leadership at the Peaksignature offerings that continue to influence how leadership is developed across the region.

Virginia's approach

First and foremost, Virginia believes working with people in a holistic way within their specific context is critical to their personal and professional development.
Working in the current context, understanding the business combined with a deep awareness of the psychodynamic-systemic approach at individual and organisational level, identifies challenges and issues which can then be addressed through appropriate interventions leading to significant long-term behavioural changes within the organisational system.

She is committed to providing genuine, evidence based though leadership, ensuring her clients have access to the best practice thinking on how to effect change.

Qualifications and memberships

  • Virginia has a BA in Psychology and Statistics and a Postgraduate Degree in Counselling Psychology
  • She trained with Dr Anthony Grant at the University of Sydney’s Coaching Psychology Unit, contributed to the inaugural Standards Australia guidelines on organisational coaching and has completed a “Leadership and Authority in Organisations” residential at the Tavistock Institute London and INSEAD’s “Leadership for Creativity” program, with Manfred Kets de Vries.
  • Virginia worked as an assessment psychologist whilst at the Cairnmillar institute and is accredited in the Centre for Creative Leadership Benchmarks®, LEA 360, TLCP and Kantor Structural Dynamics Assessments as well as many additional leadership development tools.
  • She is a Board Member of CoachLogix (San Diego) and Mentoring Officer, YPO Executive Committee (Sydney). Virginia is a Member Australian Psychological Society.

Personal insights

Virginia remains active in the business and professional community. She enjoys spending time with extended family and friends, physical fitness – swimming, yoga, golf, snow skiing – travelling, cooking & reading.

What our clients say

I started work with Virginia Mansell 18 months ago with a clear objective of working out how I could better fit into my new organisation and work more collaboratively with my peers.

Virginia challenged me on how I thought, what I valued and what I needed to do to make the change…. Have things changed……. absolutely…… Now I feel like a different person, happier, calmer and much more effective with my peers, my team and my Senior Executive relationships. This resulted from the supportive and challenging journey of personal self-discovery Virginia assisted me with. The ultimate feedback on the change I have made came from my wife…she recently said to me “I fell in love with you, but I love so much more as the person you have become… .

Managing Director, International Airline Company

I started work with Virginia Mansell 18 months ago with a clear objective of working out how I could better fit into my new organisation and work more collaboratively with my peers.

Virginia challenged me on how I thought, what I valued and what I needed to do to make the change…. Have things changed……. absolutely…… Now I feel like a different person, happier, calmer and much more effective with my peers, my team and my Senior Executive relationships. This resulted from the supportive and challenging journey of personal self-discovery Virginia assisted me with. The ultimate feedback on the change I have made came from my wife…she recently said to me “I fell in love with you, but I love so much more as the person you have become… .”

Managing Director,, International Airline Company

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