Coaching with Sher Downing, PhD
You didn't build a career — or a business —
to run yourself into the ground doing it.
With 30+ years in higher education and corporate training, including C-suite roles at R1 research institutions, Sher coaches two groups navigating the same tension: staying human while building something that matters.
Higher Ed Professionals Ready for What's Next
~70%of recent PhD recipients now leave higher education for industry, government, or other sectors — long before retirement is the driver.The Hechinger Report, 2025
Faculty, staff, and administrators alike are rethinking what a career in higher ed looks like. Sher spent decades inside institutional leadership — including C-suite roles at R1 research institutions — before building her own award-winning consulting practice. Now she helps higher ed professionals translate that expertise into a business of their own, no matter where they sat on campus.
Faculty exploring consulting, speaking, or a practice of their own
Staff and administrators ready to build influence beyond one institution
Anyone who has built deep expertise inside academia and isn't sure how it translates outside it
Request a virtual 1:1 session to begin exploring where your expertise can bring the most impact in your future career.
Why this work exists
Academia has changed and it’s not your fault.
~70%
of PhD recipients are already leaving higher ed for industry, government, and other sectors — a shift accelerated by funding cuts and burnout, not just retirement.
The Hechinger Report, 2025
Why Clients Hire Sher
Sher Downing, PhD has spent 30+ years helping people and institutions move from where they are to where they're going — including 30+ years in higher education and corporate training, with C-suite roles at R1 research institutions. That's the throughline in her coaching today: she doesn't just advise from the outside, she's guided the actual transition, over and over, at scale.
During the pandemic, her company, Downing EdTech Consulting, helped clients move more than 2,000 courses online almost overnight — coordinating national and international teams through a transition most organizations weren't prepared for, retraining staff and standing up new virtual operations under real pressure. That same pattern runs through her institutional work: leading teams through shifts in delivery model, structure, and strategy across large education networks including Apollo Group institutions, federal and state government agencies, and wellness-industry organizations, alongside global companies, small businesses, and individual professionals building something of their own.
It's why she now coaches people through their own version of that same shift: higher ed professionals moving from an institutional role into a practice of their own, and entrepreneurs learning to run a business through a caregiving season rather than waiting for an easier one. Her thought leadership follows the same thread — an international speaker across 40+ conferences and industry events, from the ICDE World Conference in Dublin to the Gartner CIO Leadership Forum, and the author of Navigating The Entrepreneur Sandwich™.
Clients hire Sher because she's helped people move through hard transitions before — not because she's read about it.