About Me

Leadership Coach & Consultant

Monisha Kapila is a seasoned executive coach and leadership consultant with 20 years of experience supporting nonprofit and philanthropic leaders and organizations. Rooted in the principle of "leadership by purpose," she believes change happens when individuals and organizations are deeply aligned around a shared vision and have a clear, strategic pathway to achieve it.

Background & Experience

Monisha founded ProInspire where she served as CEO and co-CEO for 15 years. ProInspire is a nonprofit that activates leaders at all levels to accelerate racial equity. Monisha founded the organization in 2009 and created programs to expand talent pipelines, grow leaders, and support organizations to advance racial equity. She has designed and facilitated leadership programs, trainings, and retreats for 100+ staff, executive teams and boards of directors. Past clients include the James Irvine Foundation, the Kresge Foundation, Communities in Schools, Share Our Strength, and many other nonprofits. Monisha helped launch multiple field-wide initiatives, including Equity in the Center and the Impact Fellowships Summit. Before ProInspire, Monisha spent a decade working across for-profit and nonprofit organizations, including Andersen, CARE, Accion, and Capital One.

Coaching & Consulting Approach

As a consultant and advisor, Monisha supports CEOs, Boards, and Executive Teams to build strong cultures aligned to their mission and values. Her coaching practice enables leaders to bring their full selves and leverage their strengths to navigate complex challenges and opportunities. Monisha's approach is shaped by her unique experiences as a first-generation immigrant, working mother, and nonprofit founder and CEO.

Areas of Expertise

  • Organizational change

  • Racial equity

  • Shared leadership

  • Board development

  • Succession planning

  • Founder transitions

  • Nonprofit mergers/spinoffs/sunsets

Education & Certifications

Monisha earned her BBA from the University of Michigan and MBA from Harvard Business School, where she received the Dean's Award. Monisha received a Certificate in Leadership Coaching from Georgetown University in 2010 and the Associate Certified Coach (ACC) designation from the International Coaching Federation in 2012. 

Her holistic coaching approach integrates tools from multiple disciplines, including:.

  • Annie E. Casey Foundation's Results Count® 

  • Leadership Circle Profile™ (certification completed in 2022)

  • Positive Intelligence (completed in 2024)

  • Strozzi Institute's Embodied Transformation program (completed in 2023)

  • Dare to Lead™ program (completed in 2020)

  • Various racial equity frameworks

Thought Leadership

Monisha serves as Adjunct Faculty for the Nonprofit Management Executive Certificate Program at Georgetown's Center for Public & Nonprofit Leadership. She teaches classes to nonprofit leaders about talent management and diversity, equity, and inclusion. 

Monisha is a public speaker and has done keynote speeches and panels for conferences including Community Action Network, Council on Foundations, Emerging Practitioners in Philanthropy, Grantmakers for Effective Organizations, Independent Sector, and Young Nonprofit Professionals Network.

Monisha has written extensively in publications such as Stanford Social Innovation Review, Chronicle of Philanthropy, and the Huffington Post. Her contributions to the field have been recognized through numerous accolades including:

  • Chronicle of Philanthropy's 40 Under 40

  • Harvard Business School Leadership Fellow

  • American Express NGen Fellow

  • National Urban Fellows America's Leaders of Change

She has served on multiple nonprofit boards and is currently Vice Chair of the Board at the National Human Services Assembly.

Personal Life

Outside of work, Monisha enjoys spending time with her husband and two children, finding easy dinner recipes, and hiking around Falls Church, VA.