Kendra Nitta, Former Leadership Coach at DOI

About

I was privileged to serve at the United States Department of the Interior for nearly 29 years, helping to administer the laws supporting sustainable stewardship of natural resources. Alongside this work, I provided leadership coaching to women in the Executive and Judicial Branches, particularly other women of color, to help them find resourcing and empowerment.

Now that I’ve left federal service, I continue to grow the leadership of women in federal service in two ways. First, I partner with organizations to provide coaching supervision to their internal coaches and coaching programs, in order to increase the professional capacity and ethical consistency of the coaches who are working with these amazing women. Second, I continue to provide leadership coaching directly to women in federal service through my own private coaching practice.

I am both a Professional Certified Coach (PCC), International Coaching Federation, and hold an EMCC Global Individual Coach Accreditation at the Senior Practitioner level. I’m also accredited as a coaching supervisor by the Coaching Supervision Academy International, and am an active member of the Global Supervisors Network and the Americas Coaching Supervision Network.

I also remain actively engaged in legal scholarship for the next generation of natural resources attorneys through my volunteer service with the Foundation for Natural Resources and Energy Law. I look forward to working with your leaders and your coaches!

Roles

Sep 2020–Present

Current role

Coach Supervisor & Leadership Coach

California

Consulting

I help women, primarily other women of color, reframe their stories. Whether you’re an executive, an emerging leader, or a coach supporting others, the creative reflection of coaching or coaching supervision can help increase your resilience, and ensure that you remain effective and ethical as you write the next page. I know because that’s what my coaching and coaching supervision clients tell me about how they’ve transformed their personal and professional lives. These amazing leaders describe my approach as rigorously honest and unconditionally kind. I look forward to talking with you about your next chapter, or finding a new ending for the one you’re in now.

Sep 2020–Nov 2025

Former role

Leadership Coach

U.S. Department of Interior (DOI), Federal Coach Network & Interior Coach Network

As a leadership coach in the Federal Coach Network and Interior Coach Network, I provided coaching services to court executive officers, park superintendents, senior leaders, and program staff in U.S. Government agencies, including the National Park Service, Fish and Wildlife Service, U.S. Geological Survey, U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service, Federal Judiciary Center, and U.S. Institute of Peace. I also provided coaching supervision to experienced federal internal leadership coaches in the Environmental Protection Agency, National Science Foundation, General Services Administration, Department of Defense, and Department of the Interior.

Mar 1997–Nov 2025

Former role

Senior Attorney (GS-15)

U.S. Department of Interior (DOI), Office of the Solicitor, Division of Mineral Resources

Legal

For almost 29 years, I served as lead agency counsel for complex litigation involving use of federal lands, minerals, and natural resources. I advised, provided subject matter expertise, and led trainings on emerging natural resources issues for my primary client agencies in the Interior Department (Bureau of Land Management, U.S. Geological Survey, and the National Park Service), as well as other federal agencies and outside organizations.