Carol J. Geffner, Ph.D.

President

Carol J. Geffner, Ph.D., has over 25 years of leading and consulting to public, private and non-profit organizations designing and delivering tailored coaching programs from intermediate level to executive staff using various approaches designed to meet individual and team development needs. Dr. Geffner for the prior six years was a Professor of Practice of Governance and Management, and Director of the Executive Master of Leadership program at the Sol Price School of Public Policy at the University of Southern California and has held faculty positions at the Peter F. Drucker and Masatochi Graduate School of Management at Claremont Graduate School, and Chapman University. Carol is also an affiliate of the Kets De Vries Institute, a global coaching company, headquartered in London. She earned her MPA from USC and a Ph.D. from the Claremont Graduate School.

Her coaching clients represent local, regional domestic and global organizations, including the Los Angeles District Attorney’s Office, USC’s Viterbi School of Engineering, Inland Empire Health Plan Foundation, Optum, Kaiser, MERCK, Deutsche Bank, University of California Irvine, CHOC Children’s Hospital, Antelope Valley Health System, United Way and many others.

At present, Dr. Geffner is leading a multi-year leadership development program including training and coaching for the Inland Empire HealthPlan Foundation (IEHPF), providing leadership development and coaching to 80 executive and emerging non-profit leaders across the Inland Empire.

In a similar client engagement, Dr. Geffner is designing and delivering leadership development and coach training to a BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Color) audience of mid-senior level executives for the California Water, Wastewater & Energy Workforce Development Program (CWWEWDP) through WELL (Water Education for Latino Leaders).

During her full-time tenure at USC as Director of the Executive Master of Leadership program, Carol coached and mentored over 100 mid-executive-level leaders from numerous government, non-profit and corporate entities, including the Los Angeles City Fire Department (LAFD), Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD), Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, Navy Seals, Disney, SLACK, USC’s Department of Public Safety, US Marine Corps and an array of public sector organizations. She also delivers leadership and executive training to the California State Association of Counties, National Conference for State Legislatures, and the California Institute for Behavioral Health Solutions.

Dr. Geffner serves on the Los Angeles Police Department’s Leadership Advisory Board and the Peter F. Drucker Graduate School of Management’s Advisory Board. She is recipient of an Axiom Book Award for her recent book, Building A New Leadership Ladder: Transforming Male-Dominated Organizations to Support Women on the Rise published by MIT Press, and speaks regularly on topics related to leadership, DEI, organizational change and governance. Dr. Geffner is currently developing an inaugural course for the USC Marshall School of Business, Executive Education on “Women in Senior Leadership Roles”.