ABOUT PETE
Thirty years
in the arena
PETE DEININGER · EXECUTIVE COACH · PARK CITY, UT
Before I became a coach, I spent three decades as an investor and executive — evaluating hundreds of leadership teams, building organizations across continents, and learning firsthand what it costs to make work your identity.
30
Years as investor & executive
$8B
Fund co-managed
over a decade
100+
Executive teams
engaged
THE STORY
The career that
shaped me.
I spent 25 years in investment management — joining options pioneer O'Connor & Associates in business school, rising through some of the world's largest asset managers, eventually co-managing an $8B growth equity fund at Columbia Threadneedle in Boston. In 2008, I was asked to launch Columbia's first Asian investment office in Singapore: set up operations, build the team, navigate markets, and lead through the financial crisis.
Throughout that career, I evaluated hundreds of executive teams — from founders of early-stage startups to the C-suites of the world's largest companies. I got very good at reading between the lines: understanding what a business was doing, who was leading it, how they made decisions under pressure, and where the gaps were between the leader on the page and the person in the room.
What I didn't fully see at the time was that I was creating my own gaps. The professional identity I'd built was compelling and demanding in equal measure. Work wasn't just what I did — it was who I was. And that worked, until it didn't.
I left my last executive role not because it wasn't
working — but because I wasn't.
— PETE DEININGER
THE TURNING POINT
That changed
everything.
In 2018, my family and I moved to Park City, Utah. I thought it was a geographic transition. It turned out to be something much larger.
When I was no longer the person my title said I was, a simple question arose: who am I when the laptop closes? I had optimized relentlessly — my career, performance, professional identity. But I'd never stopped to ask what it was all actually for, or whether the person executing that optimization was the real me.
The next few years were a genuine reckoning. I tried consulting, advising, board work, operations leadership. I kept doing, because doing was what I knew. Nothing clicked the way I expected. When I stopped performing and started getting honest, the picture became clear: the work I'd always found most meaningful was helping people develop — being with them in the real work of figuring out who they were and what they actually wanted.
I enrolled in the Hudson Institute of Coaching. The inner work I did there on myself has been the most meaningful work of my life. That's why I'm here.
THE APPROACH
How I work
with leaders.
My approach blends executive coaching, psychology, and inner work. Beyond performance optimization, what I offer is something different: a rigorous, structured process for leaders who sense that the next level of their effectiveness isn't about adding skills, but instead integrating who they are with what they do.
Every engagement is built around my A5 framework — Awareness, Aspiration, Authenticity, Agency, leading to Aligned Action. We move through these as a container for deeply personal work. No two engagements look the same, because no two people are navigating the same terrain.
I work with leaders individually, in small groups, teams, and through the HighPoint wilderness expeditions: four-day immersive coaching experiences in Utah's backcountry for those ready to do this work in a different context.
Integration over optimization
Aligning who you are with how you lead — so leadership feels like an expression of self, not a performance.
.
.
Individual, group, and team coaching
One-on-one engagements, small leadership groups/teams, and the HighPoint wilderness program.
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Cognitive and behavioral patterns
Applying deep experience and insights from psychology and decision science to how leaders think and act.
Training & credentials built
on rigorous foundations.
COACHING
— Hudson Institute Certified Coach (HCC)
— ICF Associate Certified Coach (ACC)
— iEQ9 Enneagram Assessment
— Shift+ 360 Assessment Platform
FINANCE & EDUCATION
— Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA)
— Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst (CAIA)
— MBA with Honors - Booth School, University of Chicago
— BA in History - Dartmouth College
WILDERNESS & OUTDOORS
— Three-time NOLS Graduate (WY, AK, WA)
— Invited to NOLS Instructors Program
— 40+ years in outdoor/backcountry adventure & exploration
— Co-leads HighPoint Expeditions with
licensed guides
THE WHOLE PERSON
What I believe about
a complete life.
I live in Park City with my wife and two children. The mountains are not a backdrop — they're a significant part of how I understand myself and my work. I ski, mountain bike, hike, and fish, and have spent enough time in the backcountry to know what happens to people when you remove the usual props and put them somewhere that demands more of them.
That's what HighPoint is about. The wilderness has a way of making visible what daily life keeps conveniently hidden. I've experienced that across three NOLS programs and decades of time in the mountains — which is why I know it works.
I'm committed to ongoing development — as a coach and as a person. I participate in coaching supervision through the Hudson Institute, and pursue continuous learning alongside my own inner work. I wouldn't guide someone into territory I haven't explored myself.
That's the operating principle behind everything I do: I'm here to walk with you through something challenging. That's where the real work, and the real change, actually happens.
What clients say.
Working with Pete was tremendously helpful and allowed me to make a professional move while gaining clarity on goals and insight into my work style and intended outcomes. This was my first professional coaching experience, and it was tremendously helpful and rewarding. Pete was incredibly talented and patient; he listened, helped reframe barriers, and encouraged forward momentum. It was a gratifying process that I recommend to my professional peers.
KITTY F.
Business Owner
I began working with Pete during a major career transition, right as I was winding down my business after nearly ten years. What could have been an overwhelming and disorienting time became instead an opportunity for clarity, reflection, and growth. His balance of empathy and thoughtful challenge encouraged me to reframe setbacks into learnings and approach future opportunities with both ambition and presence.
JOSHUA T.
Founder & CEO
Working with Pete has been a truly transformative experience. He brings a wealth of knowledge, experience, tools, and insight to his professional coaching practice.
What sets Pete apart is his genuine investment in his clients' success. He is not only a skilled coach, but challenges unproductive thought patterns and helps turn weaknesses into strengths. I highly recommend Pete to anyone seeking meaningful, results-driven coaching. My only regret is not having more time to work with him.
SHAWN B.
Senior Leader