Avi Shai is an executive, leadership, and organizational coach with over three decades of experience as a senior technology executive at Google (Search and Cloud), VMware, and as a co-founder of mobile/web startup teams. He brings rare firsthand credibility leading and scaling organizations from scrappy 30-person startups to Fortune 500 scale, giving him a distinctive vantage point. Avi is particularly effective with technical leaders stepping into executive roles, engineering managers building high-performing teams, and senior leaders navigating organizational change.
Having guided teams through the dot-com bust, the 2008 recession, the shift to remote work and the transition towards AI, Avi knows that mastering the intersection of leadership, execution, and compassion is what separates teams that thrive from those that don't.
For teams and organizations, Avi's coaching specialty is team transformation—taking teams that are stuck, siloed, or simply coasting and helping them unlock the potential to deliver high-quality products. He brings clarity to goals, strengthens communication and collaboration, increases velocity, and builds the psychological safety that makes exceptional teams possible.
For individual clients, Avi integrates his roles as leader, mentor, and coach with a deep commitment to each person's success and well-being. He helps clients gain career clarity, understand their core values and motivators, and achieve sustainable high performance, what he calls the art of being on target. Avi lives in California with his wife and two sons for over 20 years.
Previously, Avi was a senior engineering director with Google Search, Google Cloud and VMware. He holds a B.Sc. in Electrical Engineering from the Technion, an MBA from Northwestern University Kellogg School of Management, and is a Certified Professional Co-Active Coach (CPCC) and Professional Certified Coach (PCC).
We've helped hundreds of leaders, managers, and rising teams with our science-based frameworks and sessions. 98% of attendees say Elevate improved their confidence to manage their team, and 95% of attendees said they’d recommend Elevate to others.
We've helped hundreds of leaders, managers, and rising teams with our science-based frameworks and sessions. 98% of attendees say Elevate improved their confidence to manage their team, and 95% of attendees said they’d recommend Elevate to others.
