About ANZCAL
Supporting credible, capable and impactful coaches
The Australia and New Zealand Coaching Alliance (ANZCAL) is a professional coaching body dedicated to supporting coaches and promoting quality coaching across Australia and New Zealand.
We provide a clear accreditation pathway, professional development and a supportive community where coaches can continue learning, build credible practices and create meaningful change in the lives of others.
Why ANZCAL exists
Coaching is a powerful profession, but it operates within an unregulated industry. Without consistent standards, it can be difficult for clients and organisations to understand what qualifies someone as a professional coach.
ANZCAL exists to provide trusted accreditation that reflects the realities of coaching in Australia and New Zealand. Our accreditation standards recognise a coach’s training, experience and ongoing commitment to professional development.
Our approach brings together professional rigour and whole-person development. We believe excellent coaching requires practical capability, ethical practice, self-awareness and a genuine commitment to helping others move forward.
Through accreditation, professional development, resources and connection, we support coaches as they grow their skills, credibility and impact.
Our mission
Our mission is to empower and support professional coaches throughout Australia and New Zealand as they create meaningful, lasting change.
We believe in the potential and purpose of coaches. They are thoughtful, forward-looking professionals who help people discover new possibilities, overcome challenges and realise more of their potential.
We also recognise that coaching happens in many different settings. A coaching mindset may be used by a life coach working with an individual, a leader developing their team, a teacher building a student’s self-belief or a sports coach helping an athlete perform at their best.
ANZCAL champions quality coaching wherever it occurs. We support professional coaches as well as leaders, educators, health professionals and others who use coaching skills to help people learn, grow and create positive change.
Our values
Integrity in Standards
We uphold clear, ethical standards that protect the credibility and future of the coaching profession. Trust is built through consistency and accountability – accreditation must represent demonstrated capability, not simply affiliation.
Insightful Practice
We honour the depth of human experience while maintaining professional structure and clear outcomes. True transformation requires both reflection and disciplined execution – insight becomes powerful when paired with accountability.
Meaningful Contribution
We cultivate a professional community where experience is shared, diverse perspectives are respected, and contribution strengthens collective growth. We actively hold space for the breadth of modalities coaches bring, and welcome honest conversation about how our industry continues to evolve.
Leadership Through Action
We lead the profession with clarity, discernment, and decisive movement toward meaningful progress. Insight must ultimately translate into responsible action – leadership is measured by impact, not visibility.
Excellence
We build structures and rhythms that support long-term professional growth. Consistency, discipline, and thoughtful systems allow individuals and organisations to perform at their best, sustainably, over time.
Stewardship
We take shared responsibility for protecting, strengthening, and advancing the credibility and maturity of the coaching profession. In an unregulated industry, the profession’s future depends on those who practise within it – upholding standards today protects public trust for generations to come.
Meet our leadership team
Samantha Hannah
CEO and Co-ownerSamantha Hannah is a Trainer Master Coach with more than 25 years of coaching and teaching experience across education, sport, IT, image coaching and wellbeing.
Her connection with coaching began at the age of 14 when she coached a junior netball team at her school. That early experience sparked a passion that has continued throughout her life. Today, Samantha coaches netball at Premier 1 and representative levels and is working towards the Performance Coach Qualification with Netball New Zealand.
Samantha’s coaching philosophy centres on helping people uncover their values, sense of meaning and potential. She believes coaching is not about giving someone the answers. It is about creating the space, support and encouragement they need to find their own way forward.
Alongside her work with ANZCAL, Samantha runs a wellbeing coaching practice in Wellington and provides individual and group coaching and training. Her qualifications span education, communication, adult learning, life coaching, Human Design, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, positive psychology, NLP, meditation, mindfulness and yoga.
As CEO and co-owner of ANZCAL, Samantha is committed to carrying its vision forward while building an involved and connected professional community. She wants ANZCAL members to know that their voices matter and that they have a part to play in shaping the Alliance’s future.
Sharn Rayner
Business Strategist and Co-OwnerSharn Rayner brings more than 30 years of experience across executive coaching, business strategy and human resources leadership.
She joined ANZCAL because she believes the coaching profession deserves clear standards, deeper practice and a professional community that genuinely invests in the growth of its members.
Although Sharn and Samantha had not met in person when they agreed to work together, a series of thoughtful conversations revealed a strong alignment in their values and their vision for the coaching profession. Sharn recognised in Samantha a consistent, values-led approach to leadership and the shared commitment needed to build something meaningful.
Sharn is an Outthinker Coach, Gravitas Impact Maestro Coach, ICF-trained coach and NLP Practitioner. Her approach is grounded in holistic coaching, recognising that lasting change comes from working with the whole person rather than focusing only on the immediate challenge.
At ANZCAL, Sharn helps guide the organisation’s professional direction, supports coaches in developing credible and impactful practices and contributes to the responsible stewardship of the profession.
Outside work, Sharn enjoys yoga, beach walks in Tairua with Vinnie, her retired guide dog and spending time on adventures with her family.
Realising our potential together
ANZCAL is more than an accreditation provider. It is a professional community for people who believe in the value of coaching and its ability to create positive change.
Whether you are an experienced coach, developing your practice or using coaching skills within another profession, ANZCAL provides a place to connect, continue learning and be recognised for the quality of your work.
Together, we can help shape a coaching profession that is credible, ethical and genuinely impactful across Australia and New Zealand.