When I first started coaching seventeen years ago, the most common question I heard when I said “I’m a coach” was “What sport?”
The coaching world has come a long way since then, but even in 2009, executive coaches held an important and respected role in corporations.
Over the years, coaching has become deeply integrated into organizations, from small businesses to Fortune 100 companies. Where coaching in the early 2000s focused on remedial support, executive and leadership coaching today is a high-value, retention and performance tool for people across the organization. It is now common for employees to work with a coach, whether they are an individual contributor, first-time people manager, or established leader.
Even more interesting is the fact that corporations are increasingly putting time, resources, and energy into employee well-being, connecting employees with resources to manage stress and burnout, find more balance, and invest in their mental health. According to KFF (Kaiser Family Foundation), 79% of large corporations now offer wellness programs, including access to “lifestyle and behavioral coaching.”
With these trends, Executive Coach Training programs have leveled up to meet the growing demands. The best Executive Coach Training programs also recognize the importance of employee well-being and employee assistance programs in the workplace and equip coaches to not just coach on corporate and business topics, but on whole-person wellness, stress management, and employee burnout.
With that in mind, we have compiled a list of the best Executive Coach Training Programs of 2026.
How we compared them
Coach Training EDU is on this list, and we held our program to the same standard as every other. Each competitor figure below comes from that program's own website, checked in October 2026. Prices and schedules change, so confirm current details with any program before you enroll.
We looked at the same things for every program: ICF accreditation level, format and schedule, total cost, what is included, and how well it prepares a coach for the well-being, stress, and burnout conversations that now sit inside so much executive work. The questions we used are in the FAQ at the end, so you can apply them to any program you are considering.
The programs at a glance
| Program | Published price | ICF accreditation | Format | Duration | Additional information |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Coach Training EDU Executive Coaching Package | $11,250, or $12,500 with installments | Level 1, Level 2, AATC | Live 2-hour online classes, cohorts of 10-12 | 9-12 months | Executive, Team, and Career Coaching certificates included along with lifetime membership & business classes. |
| iPEC Coach Training Program | $11,490 as a bundle ($11,990 purchased separately) | Level 2 | Three 3-day live training events (in-person or virtual) plus online webinars | 7-10 months, plus 2-4 months for COR.E Leadership Dynamics | Energy Leadership Index Master Practitioner certification included, Business Dynamics purchased separately |
| Co-Active Training Institute Complete Certification Journey (CPCC) | $10,470 as a bundle ($12,470 purchased separately) | Level 2 | Live online, weekly practice pods of 9-10 | 5-18 months | 3 courses can be completed on the fast track or regular path. |
| Center for Executive Coaching Executive Coach Certification curriculum | $10,990, or $11,192 with installments | Level 1, Level 2 | 2-day or 3-day live seminars, 4-7 months online classes & mentor coaching | 4-7 months | Bonus certifications include Business Coach, Career Coach, and BCC. Additional work required. |
| Georgetown University Executive Certificate in Leadership Coaching | $13,995 | Level 2 | Live online or on-campus cohorts, multi-day sessions once a month | 8 months | 8 courses included, bachelor's degree or equivalent required |
| NYU School of Professional Studies Certificate in Executive Coaching | $12,420 | Level 2 with mentor coaching course, ACSTH without | Live Zoom plus self-paced work | 18-24 months (Estimate. 4 semesters required) | Courses must be completed in order, one per semester. Mentor coaching offered separately |
| American University Executive Coaching Program, with Heidrick & Struggles | $11,990 | Level 2 | Live online, 2-3 full days a month, cohorts up to 24 | 5 months | 12 full-day sessions required over 5 months |
Below, each program gets a short profile. As a Master Certified Coach (MCC), the highest ICF credential, I've added the questions I would ask before enrolling in each one.
Program by program
1. Coach Training EDU: Executive Coaching Package
Coach Training EDU is ICF accredited at Level 1 and Level 2, and it holds ICF's Advanced Accredited Team Coaching (AATC) accreditation. The Executive Coaching Package costs $11,250 paid in full, or $12,500 with installments. Training is delivered in live 2-hour online classes, in cohorts of 10 to 12 participants, over 9 to 12 months.
The package includes Executive, Team, and Career Coaching certificates, along with lifetime membership and business classes for building a practice. Mentor coaching is included.
Well-being runs through the training. Graduates leave with tools for recognizing and reducing burnout, in their clients and in themselves. Coach Training EDU also offers a health and wellness training pathway aligned with National Board for Health & Wellness Coaching (NBHWC) requirements. The program trains to the ICF Core Competencies and Code of Ethics rather than a proprietary house model, so graduates can work in any organization's language and systems. Graduates work at Nike, FICO, IBM, Netflix, Columbia University, and Starbucks.
Best for: senior leaders who plan to keep their current role while they train, want Level 1, Level 2, and team coaching in one package, and expect to coach whole-person well-being as well as performance.
Questions I'd ask as an MCC Coach
- In a typical 2-hour class, how much time do students spend coaching and receiving feedback, and how much is instruction?
- Who are the mentor coaches, what credentials do they hold, and will they meet ICF's new Mentor Coach Specialization requirement from 2027?
- How does the team coaching training connect to the ACTC, given that the ACTC requires an ICF credential first?
- What support is there for finding clients and logging the 100 or 500 client hours after the classes end?
2. iPEC: Coach Training Program
iPEC's Coach Training Program combined with the advanced COR.E® Leadership Dynamics course costs $11,490 as a bundle, or $11,990 purchased separately. The program is ICF Level 2. It is built around three 3-day live training events, held in person or virtually, plus online webinars. The core program runs 7 to 10 months, with 2 to 4 more months for COR.E Leadership Dynamics.
Energy Leadership Index Master Practitioner certification is included. Business Dynamics is purchased separately. iPEC teaches its own methodology, Core Energy Coaching, and its third module addresses physical, emotional, psychological, and spiritual blocks, which gives graduates a framework for whole-person conversations.
For a full side-by-side, read our iPEC vs Coach Training EDU comparison.
Best for: people who enjoy immersive live training events and want to learn a signature coaching framework.
Questions I'd ask as an MCC Coach
- How much of the training is iPEC's own model, and how much is the ICF Core Competencies? How will the model translate inside a client organization that has its own leadership language?
- Will I use the Energy Leadership Index with executive clients, and are there ongoing costs to administer it?
- With live events spaced months apart, how is my coaching observed and corrected in between?
- What does Business Dynamics cost, and what do I lose by skipping it?
3. Co-Active Training Institute: Complete Certification Journey
Co-Active is one of the longest-established names in coach training. Its Complete Certification Journey costs $10,470 as a bundle, or $12,470 if the courses are purchased separately, and leads to the Certified Professional Co-Active Coach (CPCC). The program is ICF Level 2 and runs live online, with weekly practice pods of 9 to 10.
The journey has three courses: Co-Active Foundations, Ignite the Practice, and Deepen the Work. They can be completed on the Fast Track or a longer, flexible path, for a total of 5 to 18 months. The Co-Active model treats people as whole human beings, a natural fit for coaches who want to work on meaning, values, and balance alongside performance.
For a full side-by-side, read our Co-Active Training Institute vs CTEDU comparison.
Best for: people who connect with the Co-Active model and value an active alumni community.
Questions I'd ask as an MCC Coach
- Which courses count toward the ACC and which toward the PCC, and does the bundle include the ICF pathway components or are they sold separately?
- How much of the curriculum applies the model to executives, teams, and organizations?
- If I take the flexible path, how do I keep my skills progressing over 18 months?
- How large is each cohort beyond the practice pods?
4. Center for Executive Coaching: Executive Coach Certification
The Center for Executive Coaching focuses on executive work specifically. Its Executive Coach Certification costs $10,990, or $11,192 with installments, and is ICF accredited at Level 1 and Level 2. The program combines a 2-day or 3-day live seminar with 4 to 7 months of online classes and mentor coaching.
Bonus certifications include Business Coach, Career Coach, and Board Certified Coach (BCC), with additional work required. Graduates also receive the Center's proprietary coaching toolkits and training on marketing a coaching practice.
Best for: people who want a focused program with executive-specific tools and a streamlined path to launching.
Questions I'd ask as an MCC Coach
- How much of the 4 to 7 months is live, observed coaching practice, and how much is on-demand content?
- How many participants are in the live seminar and the online classes?
- Which components make up the Level 2 hours, and is the PCC performance evaluation included in the price?
- What additional work, time, and cost do the bonus certifications require?
5. Georgetown University: Executive Certificate in Leadership Coaching
Georgetown's program is ICF Level 2 and costs $13,995. It runs eight courses over eight months, totaling 148.5 contact hours. Students choose a live online cohort or an on-campus cohort in Washington, DC, and cohorts meet for multi-day sessions once a month. A bachelor's degree or equivalent is required. The program puts weight on the personal development of the coach, the "being and doing" of leadership coaching.
Best for: leaders who want a university name on the certificate and can block out several consecutive weekdays a month.
Questions I'd ask as an MCC Coach
- Can I take two to three consecutive weekdays a month for eight months without risking my current role?
- Is mentor coaching included in tuition, and how much of it is one-on-one?
- How large is the cohort, and how often is my coaching observed by faculty?
- What support is there after the eighth month for building a practice and logging client hours?
6. NYU School of Professional Studies: Certificate in Executive Coaching
NYU's certificate costs $12,420 and has four courses, each with 50 ICF education hours, for 200 hours total. Delivery mixes live Zoom sessions with self-paced work. Courses must be completed in order, one per semester, so the program takes an estimated 18 to 24 months. The Level 2 path requires NYU's Mentor Coaching course, which is offered separately. Without it, NYU describes the path as ACSTH.
Best for: people who want a university credential and prefer a longer, semester-paced timeline.
Questions I'd ask as an MCC Coach
- What is the full cost once the Mentor Coaching course is added?
- ICF retired the ACSTH name and now uses a Level 1 and Portfolio path structure. How does NYU's non-mentor path apply under ICF's current rules?
- Over roughly two years, can I start coaching clients and logging hours before I finish?
- How large are the live sections, and who teaches them?
7. American University: Executive Coaching Program
American University delivers its program in partnership with Heidrick & Struggles, the ICF Level 2 accredited provider. Tuition is $11,990. The program runs live online, two to three full days a month, in cohorts of up to 24, and requires 12 full-day sessions over 5 months.
Best for: professionals who want a short, intensive university program and can take full weekdays for class.
Questions I'd ask as an MCC Coach
- Is mentor coaching included, and who provides it?
- With up to 24 people in a cohort, how much observed one-on-one practice will I get?
- Can I attend all 12 full-day sessions? What happens if I miss one?
- After five months, what support is there for completing client hours and applying for the credential?
What an executive coaching certification actually gives you
Two different things get called "certification," and it helps to separate them.
The program's certificate. Every school awards its own, such as Certified Executive Coach or Certified Professional Coach. It shows you completed that school's training.
The ICF credential. The International Coaching Federation (ICF) is the field's main credentialing body. It awards the ACC, PCC, and Master Certified Coach (MCC) credentials. No training program can award these. A program can only be accredited to provide the education that counts toward them.
That accreditation comes in levels:
- ICF Level 1 is 60 to 124 hours of coach-specific education, with mentor coaching and a final performance evaluation at ACC standard. It supports the ACC.
- ICF Level 2 is 125 to 175 hours, with mentor coaching and a final performance evaluation at PCC standard. It supports the PCC.
For an experienced leader, Level 2 is usually the better fit, because PCC is the credential corporate buyers tend to look for.
What you still need after any program
Finishing an accredited program means you have met the education requirement for an ICF credential. The credential itself requires more. Under ICF's current rules:
- ACC: 60+ hours of education, 10 hours of mentor coaching over at least three months, 100 hours of client coaching with at least 8 clients (at least 75 hours paid), and the ICF ACC Exam.
- PCC: 125+ hours of education, 10 hours of mentor coaching, 500 hours of client coaching with at least 25 clients (at least 450 hours paid), and the ICF credentialing exam.
- ACTC: an active ICF credential at any level first, then 60+ hours of team coaching education, 5 hours of coaching supervision, 5 team coaching engagements in the past five years, and the ICF Team Coaching Certification Exam.
The client hours take most people longer than the training does. Plan for them from the start.
ICF is updating these rules. From January 1, 2027, mentor coaching must come from a mentor who holds ICF's new Mentor Coach Specialization. From April 1, 2027, the performance evaluation is no longer required for Portfolio-path ACC and PCC applications, and a new PCC-MCC exam replaces the current one. Check ICF's site for the rules in effect when you apply.
A note for internal coaches
If you plan to coach inside your own company, much of that work can count. ICF classes coaching delivered as part of your job responsibilities as paid coaching. Coaching your own direct reports does not count toward client hours, because the reporting relationship changes what the engagement is. Log sessions as you go and keep documentation that the coaching took place.
Internal coaching is also effective. A meta-analysis of workplace coaching studies found stronger effects from internal coaches than from external ones (Jones, Woods and Guillaume, 2016).
What an executive coaching credential is worth
- Credentialed coaches earn an average of $10,000 more per year than coaches without a credential. (ICF 2025 Global Coaching Study)
- The global average fee for a one-hour coaching session is $234, across all coaching types. (ICF 2025 Global Coaching Study) In North America, the average was $272 in ICF's previous study. (ICF 2023 Global Coaching Study)
- Revenue and fees rise with experience. Coaches with 10 or more years of experience average $69,721 a year in coaching revenue, against a global average of $49,283. (ICF 2025 Global Coaching Study) A leader with two decades of experience starts with an advantage.
- Executive coaching sits at the top of the market. Harvard Business Review's survey of executive coaches found a median rate of $500 an hour. (Coutu and Kauffman, 2009)
The outcome evidence is strong too. A meta-analysis of 17 studies found coaching has positive effects on skill-based, affective, and individual-level results outcomes (Jones, Woods and Guillaume, 2016, Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, 89(2), 249 to 277).
How to get your employer to pay
Many executive coaching students are sponsored, and the case is easy to make. Gallup reports that global employee engagement fell to 20 percent in 2025, its lowest level since 2020, at an estimated $10 trillion in lost productivity (Gallup, State of the Global Workplace, 2026). Managers account for about 70 percent of the variance in team engagement (Gallup), and manager engagement itself fell from 31 percent in 2022 to 22 percent in 2025. A leader trained in coaching addresses both problems.
Before you ask, settle two questions your employer will decide: whether sponsorship comes with a commitment to stay, and whether you may take outside clients. Knowing the answers makes the request easier to approve and protects you later.
Which program fits you
- You want Level 1, Level 2, and team coaching accreditation, plus wellness training and business classes, in one live program you can do while you keep your job: Coach Training EDU.
- You want a signature coaching model and intensive live modules: iPEC or Co-Active.
- You want a compact program and executive-specific tools: Center for Executive Coaching.
- You want a university name and can take full weekdays for class each month: Georgetown or American University.
- You want a university name on a longer, semester-based timeline: NYU.
Frequently asked questions
Questions to ask any program
Which ICF level is the program accredited at?
Level 1, Level 2, or both. Ask whether the level applies to the whole program or only with an add-on course.
Is it live or self-paced, and how big is the group?
Coaching is a performance skill. You improve by coaching in front of an experienced coach and hearing feedback. Small live cohorts give you far more of that than recorded lectures.
Is mentor coaching included?
ICF requires 10 hours of mentor coaching for the ACC and PCC. Some programs include it in tuition. Others sell it separately. From 2027, ask whether the program's mentors hold ICF's Mentor Coach Specialization.
What is the full cost?
Include add-on courses, mentor coaching, specializations, and the payment-plan total if you will not pay in full.
How many hours a week, for how many months, and on what schedule?
If you plan to keep your job, a program that meets for full days each month is a different commitment from one that meets for a few hours a week.
Does it prepare you to coach well-being, stress, and burnout?
Executive clients bring these topics to coaching whether or not the agenda names them. Look for training in burnout, stress management, and whole-person wellness, and for a path to health and wellness credentialing if that work interests you.
Does it state the post-program requirements plainly?
An ICF credential also requires logged client coaching hours and an exam. A program that shows you this up front is one you can plan around.
Does it teach team coaching and practice building?
Much executive work happens with leadership teams, and many graduates want outside clients. Both are skills in their own right.
About executive coach training
How long does it take to become a certified executive coach?
Most accredited programs take 5 to 12 months, and some university programs take up to two years. The ICF credential then depends on logging client hours: 100 for the ACC, 500 for the PCC.
Can I complete executive coach training while working full time?
Yes. Look at the weekly hours and the meeting schedule. Short weekly sessions fit a full-time role more easily than multi-day modules.
Is an ICF credential required to work as an executive coach?
No law requires it, but corporate buyers increasingly expect it, and credentialed coaches earn more on average.
What is the difference between ICF Level 1 and Level 2?
Level 1 is 60 to 124 education hours and supports the ACC. Level 2 is 125 to 175 hours and supports the PCC. Both include mentor coaching and a final performance evaluation, at ACC and PCC standard respectively.
See how the Coach Training EDU program is structured. Our Executive Coach Certification page covers the full credential path, the weekly schedule, and pricing. To see the teaching before you decide, attend a live class. To talk it through with a person, Schedule a Call.
