Jan Portillo
Jan Portillo is a Trustee of the RSA and RSA US.
Jan is an independent leadership coach and coach facilitator who coaches leaders of change in public and private sector organisations. She supports and challenges individuals, teams and organisations to grow through reflection, learning and action.
Her clients have included the NHS, National Education Scotland, local and national government, housing and transport groups, Newcastle University, the National School of Government, the Learning and Skills Improvement Service, and the Centre for Excellence in Leadership. Jan is also an experienced facilitator, co-leading workshops on coaching approaches for hundreds of participants.
While Jan was a senior member of a Government Standards Unit, she was responsible for leadership of a national coaching strategy in post-16 education. As Regional Director for the Department for Education, she worked with government to create a national programme for the learning and skills sectors. Thousands of frontline practitioners and managers were trained to use coaching and action learning approaches, and new cross-sector networks were established.
Jan has extensive experience leading complex change in organisations: translating strategy and concepts into implementable models and practice. She has been Director of Teaching and Learning in a large further education college, a quality improvement consultant for national government agencies and a part-time Ofsted Inspector for post-16 education. She has contributed to numerous action research projects.
Jan co-designed a national programme of coaching and action learning on behalf of government to support new collaborative partnerships, establishing a national team of coaches committed to reflective practice and bespoke learning.
Jan currently serves on the Board of the Gateway Studio Project. Previously she served as Director on the Global Board of the Association for Coach Training Organisations (ACTO), on the Board of the UK International Coach Federation Board (ICF), and as co-chair of the ICF Global Conference Education Committee.
Jan has been a Fellow of the RSA since 2007 and a Life Fellow since 2015. She is a former chairman of the North East England region and was a member of the Fellowship Council.
