Opening Comments

Welcome, everyone! Thank you for being here today for the Lifetime Achievement Award ceremony honoring our dear friend and colleague, Dr. Bill Bergquist. In Hollywood, when a supremely talented professional reaches a pinnacle of performance and achievement that deserves honoring, they are presented with the Lifetime Achievement Award. Today’s ceremony allows us to express our heartfelt gratitude to Bill as we honor him with a Lifetime Achievement Award.

It’s a joy to see so many dear friends and colleagues from all over the world gathered here today in Bill’s honor. A special welcome to several members of Bill’s beloved family who are here today as well.

Bill is so appreciative and generous, and he is always thinking of ways to honor others, it’s wonderful to see how many people are here today to acknowledge Bill’s professional lifetime of contributions to coaching, psychology, publishing, and academia — and the impact his work has had on each of us. His commitments to stewardship, collaboration, and his visionary genius have inspired and touched so many people, and many of us can point to significant ways Bill has impacted our careers and our professions.

Many of you, like me, are his colleagues, collaborative partners, co-authors, and co-conspirators. Some of us know Bill through his academic consulting and the PSP, some of us through his psychology expertise, some through his writing, and some from his leadership in the coaching field. Today we reflect on the impact Bill has had on each of us and the world. I’ve wanted to do something like this for Bill for many years, and it wouldn’t have been possible without Agnes Mura, Kathleen O’Donnell, and Maureen Simmons. Thank you!

For those of you who don’t know me, I’m Suzi Pomerantz, Bill’s co-founder and stewardship partner of the Library of Professional Coaching. Bill, like several of us on this call, has been generating collaborative experiences from the very genesis of the coaching profession in the very early 1990’s and the PCMA, which was the precursor to the ICF. I first met Bill about 20 years ago when we danced together at one of the transitional moments in one of the early Executive Coaching Summits, where Bill’s visionary genius was on full display as he proposed wild ideas that in the ensuing years actually became a journal, a consortium, and an online library (the IJCO, the ICCO, the LPC). I’ve had the pleasure and privilege of serving with him in stewardship of each of those organizations.

There are so many things I love about Bill; his natural curiosity, his relentless pursuit of knowledge, his brilliance, his love of music and theater, his visionary ideas that usually begin with “what could occur is…”, his commitment to stewardship, his integrity, and his vast scholarly interests. He always has wonderful stories to share, and I learn something new in every conversation with him. I treasure our friendship.

We are excited to honor Bill because his work has made such a big difference for so many across the globe. Bill is one of the most prolific writers of our time, weaving together concepts and ideas that cross between the fields of coaching and psychology. Rarely, do we find someone with as much knowledge, heart and wisdom as Bill. His research and publications in the fields of coaching and psychology, his expertise in appreciative inquiry, the 52 books and over 200 articles he has authored, his work consulting to higher education, his graduate school, his work creating the IJCO, ICCO, and LPC are just a few of his incredible accomplishments.

It will be wonderful to hear from you all today as you share your Bill story. Here’s how today’s ceremony will unfold:

We have about 20 people who prepared to share a few words, and at the end we will open it up for anyone else who wishes to say something. I’ll ask that we keep our comments brief to allow time for as many people as possible to share their thoughts. I’m sure we could all speak at length about our dear Bill, but we will do our best to manage our time as best we can so we have time for everyone. Then, we will present the award, and Bill will have the opportunity to say whatever he wants to say to all of you. Then, we will open it up for anyone else who would like to say a few words afterwards.