Hi! I’m Liz. For nearly 20 years, I have been a practicing organizational psychologist, researcher, and advisor specializing in the intersection of leadership development and identity. My practice focuses on a question that most standard development models ignore: what actually happens to a leader’s sense of self when the work they've been doing stops fitting who they are becoming?

In the nearly two decades that I have spent inside startups, high-growth global enterprises, and leadership teams under immense pressure, I have watched this exact scenario play out. My dual vantage point — as both a high-stakes internal leader and an external advisor — defines how I work. Before founding the Lab, I held senior leadership roles at Workday, Qualtrics, CoachHub, Limeade, and Healthfirst, leading at the intersection of behavioral science, product strategy, and executive development. I have built teams, advised C-suites, and engineered people strategies in environments where the pace was relentless, and the consequences of misalignment were high.

This experience informs Pavese Insights Lab, my research-grounded advisory and coaching practice, and forthcoming book, The In-Between. My practice works specifically with executives, founders and high performers navigating private inflection points, and high-growth organizations where leadership drift has begun to impact systemic dynamics, culture, and decision-making.

I hold a Ph.D. in Industrial/Organizational Psychology and am an ICF-credentialed executive coach. As a recognized speaker, I have keynoted at ATD, SHRM, and SIOP and many other conferences. My writing has appeared in Fast Company, SHRM, and Training Industry, and I currently have a monthly column on Workday Perspectives. I am also a contributing author to The Coaching Buyer's Handbook and The Ethical Coaches Handbook.

My work begins with a single premise: the leaders who navigate transitions well are not the ones who push through fastest. They are the ones who understand what is actually changing, and why.