Justin Reilly

I founded Iron Mountain Leadership, an executive coaching practice based in Jonesborough, Tennessee, after my own experience of being coached convinced me of what disciplined, relational support can do for leaders.

Years ago, after missing a major promotion and watching my confidence take a hit, I was skeptical when my supervisor first suggested executive coaching. Eighteen months later I had moved from struggling with conflict to handling it directly, from doubting my professional judgment to advocating for it with conviction, and from seeking validation outside myself to finding it within. That transformation is the foundation my coaching practice is built on. I do not coach from theory alone. I coach from having done the work myself.

That foundation is matched by formal preparation. I hold an Executive Coaching Certificate from Emory University, a Master of Theological Studies from Vanderbilt University, and a BS from the University of South Carolina, and I bring nearly twenty years of nonprofit leadership and organizational strategy experience into my coaching relationships. I understand both the operational demands of running a mission-driven organization and the formational, often unspoken interior work that sustains a leader once those operational demands start to mount.

I am also an actor at the Jonesborough Repertory Theatre. The stage has taught me that presence is a skill, not just being in a room but being with the people in it, tracking what is underneath their words, and offering full, unhurried attention that people can feel and that builds the trust necessary for honesty.

I remain active in the nonprofit sector itself through my ongoing work at Appalachia Service Project, where I contribute to fundraising and donor outreach, keeping me close to the operational realities my coaching clients face. I offer practical knowledge from a coach who has built a disciplined practice of presence and self-examination that I now offer to others walking the same path.