Ascentim founder Lisa L. Baker, a former executive at Citigroup, Microsoft, and Synchrony, announces a 12-week group coaching cohort for senior leaders navigating pressure and performance demands.
BALTIMORE, MD Lisa L. Baker built her career at the top levels of American corporate life. For more than two decades, she navigated the executive floors of Citigroup, Microsoft, and Synchrony, companies that collectively shape the economic landscape of the nation. Then she made a decision that defines her work today: she left to build something of her own.
Baker is the founder of Ascentim, an award-winning leadership development firm, and this fall, she is bringing her most ambitious program to market, a 12-week virtual group coaching cohort designed exclusively for senior leaders operating under the weight of high expectations and complex decisions.
The announcement arrives at a moment when organizations across the country are grappling with a leadership readiness crisis that few are willing to name out loud.
A National Leadership Gap
The numbers are striking. According to DDI’s Global Leadership Forecast 2025, 80 percent of organizations report a lack of confidence in their own leadership pipelines. Only one in five human resources leaders says they have successors prepared for critical roles.
Baker has spent the past five years working closely with senior leaders in one-on-one coaching settings, and she has seen the effects of that gap up close.
“Many leaders have built successful careers, but they’re operating under constant pressure,” Baker said. “Over time, that pressure shapes how they think, what they believe they should do, and how they lead.”
Her fall cohort is a direct response to that reality, a structured, intentional space for leaders to examine the patterns driving their decisions and reconnect with what Baker describes as their Area of Greatness.
“Over time, that pressure shapes how they think, what they believe they should do, and how they lead,” Lisa L. Baker, Founder, Ascentim
The Program: Built on Five Years of One-on-One Work
The 12-week virtual cohort brings Baker’s established coaching methodology into a focused group environment for the first time. The program is organized around her G.R.O.W. framework, a four-part model developed through years of executive coaching practice:
Gain insight into the patterns and assumptions shaping how leaders operate. Realize new possibilities by moving beyond the expectations that have accumulated over a career. Overcome the obstacles, internal and external, standing between a leader’s current reality and what they actually want. Win at life and leadership in a way that is both effective and personally meaningful.
At the center of the experience is Baker’s concept of the Area of Greatness, the place where a leader’s strengths, passions, and purpose converge. Baker describes it as the foundation from which the most effective and sustainable leadership decisions are made.
The cohort is designed for a select group of participants, allowing for the depth of reflection and peer engagement that Baker says is essential to lasting change.
A Track Record That Speaks for Itself
Baker’s professional biography reads like a case study in American corporate achievement. Her leadership roles at Citigroup, Microsoft, and Synchrony gave her direct experience navigating the pressures, politics, and performance demands that define life at the top of large organizations.
When she founded Ascentim, she brought that experience into a firm focused on helping leaders operate in greater alignment with their strengths, values, and purpose , rather than simply responding to the next demand on the calendar.
The results have drawn recognition from some of the most respected names in business publishing. Ascentim has earned the Inc. Best in Business award in both 2022 and 2023 for coaching and career development, and Baker has been named Globée® Woman-Owned Startup of the Year, a distinction that places her among the country’s most notable women entrepreneurs.
Who the Program Is Designed For
Baker is direct about her intended audience. The cohort is built for senior leaders, those already operating at high levels of responsibility, who are ready to examine how they lead and make more intentional decisions about what comes next.
It is not a remedial program. It is, Baker says, a next-level one.
“My work focuses on helping leaders move beyond external expectations and operate in greater alignment with their strengths, values, and purpose,” she said. “The cohort creates the environment to do that work at depth.”
About Ascentim
Ascentim is a leadership development firm that works with leaders and their teams to strengthen how they lead, make decisions, and operate in high-pressure environments. Founded by Lisa L. Baker, the firm has earned national recognition for its approach to executive coaching and organizational leadership development.
The fall 2026 cohort is open to a select group of senior leaders. Baker is based in Baltimore, Maryland.
For more information, visit ascentim.com.
