Faculty & Executive Coach

Aaron Tabacco, PhD, has been leading people through growth and change in some of life’s most challenging contexts for over thirty years. He is currently the Director of Staff Experience at the UCSF Department of Medicine and a Berkeley Certified Executive Coach. Aaron is known across many organizations and populations for his talents in coaching, leadership and organization development, mediation, and teaching. A former professor of nursing and senior program administrator, he enjoyed simultaneous roles in clinical practice, education, and research. He is an internationally published and regarded scholar in the areas of the neurobiology of learning and behavior, family science, and worked as a clinical specialist in executive functioning for 15 years prior to his current roles.

Across his career, Aaron has focused deeply on the professional comportment of students, faculty, staff, and executives, and has earned a strong reputation for insightful and compassionate coaching and communications, as well as the ability to deliver transformational feedback. Additionally, he has served a number of individuals and groups as a mediator, helping to bridge communication and value conflicts that otherwise prevent forward movement in high-stakes circumstances, from C-Suites to ICUs. Overall, he uses his former career and education as a nurse to guide organizations in their journeys to become holistic workplaces that promote optimal health and work/life integration. As a graduate and coaching faculty member of the Berkeley Executive Coaching Institute (BECI), Aaron’s approach to his clients centers upon connection through high-level presence, compassion, and emotional intelligence.

Aaron’s role at UCSF is punctuated by a robust internal executive coaching program in which he works with physician leaders, physician scientists, and senior staff administrators across all missions of academic medicine. Additionally, he has been a frequent speaker on topics of leadership development at several past AAMC conferences.