Carl Tishler

Executive Coach - London

Hi, nice to meet you. I’m Carl.

I’m an executive coach and the founder of HPNA Academy, where I help ambitious, high-performing professionals lead themselves with the same clarity and discipline they bring to their work. My coaching is built on three decades of experience in high-stakes environments - spanning investment banking, private equity, deeptech, and scaleups - where I’ve served as CFO, COO, Chief People Officer, and Non-Executive Director.

I’ve been interested in people and being of service since I was very young, and I’ve reorientated my career over the decades to be in alignment with that priority.

Over the years, I’ve also come to understand that sustainable high performance isn’t an accident - it’s about structure, habit and community. That insight, along with my own experience navigating burnout and embracing neurodiversity, led me to develop my Academy’s “CEO of Self” framework: a practical, repeatable system for managing energy, decision-making, and direction. I first built it for myself. Then I started using it with portfolio companies, coaching clients, and ultimately with the full team at Hazy, where I led people strategy through to a successful exit. For six years, I met individually with every team member every two weeks, helping embed a culture of reflection, resilience, and performance across the company.

I founded the HPNA Academy in 2008, focused on executive training for high performers. Since then, I’ve worked with C-suite leaders, Olympic athletes, startup founders, and operators from companies like PayPal, Carlyle, and Microsoft-backed ventures. What unites them is a drive to lead at their best - without compromising who they are or what matters most.

In addition to creating and holding space for you I can also act as a sounding board, challenge partner, and an accountability ally. Much like a non-executive director would for a business, but focused on you. I bring both the technical understanding of strategy and finance, and the human fluency needed to navigate identity, purpose, and resilience at senior levels.

I’m also an ICF-accredited coach and guest lecturer at Cambridge Judge Business School’s CHRO Executive Education Program.

Whether you're at a pivotal moment, (scaling your role, shifting into the C-suite, navigating change), or simply determined to lead with more clarity and intention - I’d love to partner with you.

Originally from Boston I have studied, lived and worked around the world and currently live in London.