All About Olver
About Olver International
Olver International is the cumulation of several iterations of businesses (starting with Coaching Excellence LLC, 2005) centering on coaching, counselling, training and professional development tools to help individuals and those with clients raise their self-awareness and create positive behaviors for productive careers and relationships. Olver was formally established in 2021 but is built on several decades invested in research and practice stemming from social work to corporate board rooms. Extensive focus has been on building a network of professionals and understanding their needs to apply an innovative stack of resources for advancing skills and meeting needs in our highly volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous world.
Kim Olver, Founder and Lead Coach
Kim resides in Chicago, IL when she is not travelling for work. Originally from the Northeast she spent her childhood and early adult life in New York and Pennsylvania, respectively. Kim is passionate about helping others achieve their goals as individuals and in navigating relationships. She is a licensed counselor, certified coach, award-winning, best-selling author, gifted speaker and educator, as well as a leader and entrepreneur in her own right.
Counselor– Holds undergraduate degree in Psychology from Indiana University of Pennsylvania. Licensed Professional Counselor in State of Illinois (2003); Military and Family Life Counselor (2009) with US Department of Defense; Licensed Clinical Counselor in State of Illinois (2011).
Coaching – Coaching for Excellence (2005); launched Academy of Choice (2011); Board Certified Coach (2012).
Speaker – Virtual and Live Speaking Engagements across the globe including Canada, Colombia, Croatia, Finland, Ireland, Kenya, Kuwait, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, Slovenia, China, Scotland, South Africa, South Korea,
Educator/Learning Designer – Senior Faculty Member at the William Glasser Institute (2007), Empowerment Parenting curriculum (2012); Anger Management curriculum (2021), Mental Freedom Creator (2021).
Leader – Various leadership roles including Executive Director William Glasser Institute – US (2010-2020); Executive Director William Glasser International (2013 -2023).
Kim draws a great deal of inspiration and empathy from her own relationships as wife, untimely widow, single mom to two sons and now a joyful grandmother of eight.
Here are some highlights:
2003 – Became a Licensed Professional Counselor in the state of Illinois
2005 – Licensed Coaching for Excellence as an LLC
Established InsideOut Press as a subsidiary of Coaching for Excellence to help aspiring writers write, produce, market and sell their books
2006 – Co-authored the book Leveraging Diversity at Work with her friend and colleague, Sylvester Baugh
Co-authored a book with Ken Blanchard, Les Brown, Mark Victor Hansen and Byron Katie, entitled 101 Great Ways to Improve Your Life
2007 – Became a senior faculty member for the William Glasser Institute
2009 – Became a Military Family Life Counselor for the Secretary of Defense
2010 – Became Executive Director of WGI-US
Became a Licensed Clinical Professional Counselor in the state of Illinois
Became a Cadre Speaker at Yellow Ribbon Reintegration events for the Department of Defense
2011 – Award-winning, best-selling Secrets of Happy Couples was published
Academy of Choice was established as a subsidiary of Coaching for Excellence
2012 – Became a Board Certified Coach
Academy of Choice began offering the 30-hour coaching program for counselors
Published her Empowerment Parenting curriculum and taught it to Cook County Probation officers who teach parenting skills to court- mandated parents
2013 – Became Executive Director of William Glasser International
2014 – Academy of Choice added the 60-hour program to their coaching program offerings
2019 – Award-winning Choosing Me Now was published
Academy of Choice offers the 120-hour program to its coaching program offerings
A Choice Theory Guide to Relationships is published as one of the series for “A Choice Theory Guide to…”
2020 – Left GIFCT-US as ED
The Mental Freedom Experience is created and taught to beta groups
2021 – The Mental Freedom Experience is used with individual clients and couples
Coaching for Excellence’s name was changed to Olver International and the https://olverinternational.com website was created
2023 – Cadre speaking program ended
Mental Freedom research began
Stepped down as ED of WGI
Mental Freedom Certification program launched
Kim lives in Chicago and invites people to email her at kim@olverinternational.com.
Download Kim’s extended personal biography here.
