Darleen Souza, MA, ACC-ICF

About

Executive Solutions Biography

Background

Darleen Souza is a seasoned Chief Human Resources Officer and executive coach with over 28 years of experience driving large-scale transformation across complex healthcare systems. Her work is grounded in aligning leadership effectiveness with organizational performance—translating strategy into operational execution that delivers measurable results.

Darleen brings deep expertise in executive coaching, workforce transformation, talent strategy, and cultural integration. She has led five enterprise HR transformations across multiple health systems, including large- scale workforce redesign, leadership alignment, and modernization of HR service delivery models supported by advanced technologies such as Workday and Strata.

Her coaching approach is rooted in her CHIT Leadership Compass—Courage, Humility, Integrity, and Truth—guiding leaders to operate with clarity, accountability, and authenticity. She integrates evidence-based frameworks including Humble Inquiry, Just Culture, High Reliability Organization (HRO) principles, and Crucial Conversations.

Darleen partners with senior executives and leadership teams to strengthen decision-making, build trust, and accelerate results.

Darleen’s leadership philosophy centers on uncovering what is often hidden in plain sight. Through intentional inquiry, courageous dialogue, and disciplined execution, she helps leaders align around purpose and drive meaningful results.

Select Client Results:

Executive leadership alignment and team effectiveness

Strengthen executive and Board presence

Workforce redesign and talent strategy

Organizational culture and engagement

Succession planning and leadership development

Change leadership and strategic execution

Leading with influence and impact

Led a $26M workforce redesign initiative across a multi-site health system

Deploy workforce analytics platforms including Workday and Strata

Implement enterprise-wide leadership and engagement strategies

Extensive team and leadership development success

Significant Talent Strategy experience with recent experience resulting in reduction in vacancy rate from 18% to under 4%

Hidden in plain sight

Your future. Your Life. Your Legacy.