Carole Leland, Ph.D.

Dr. Carole Leland, a principal in Leadership Enterprises, has spent the past twenty years in the field of leadership development—as researcher, teacher, executive coach and consultant.  In addition to her work in executive development, she has focused on the areas of experiential learning and leadership diversity.  She is well known for her facilitation of executive planning reviews, executive coaching and feedback, and the design and teaching of leadership development in both the private and public sectors.  In addition, she is a frequent presenter at international and national conferences, corporate retreats, and professional associations.  

From 1987 -1996, Dr. Leland was a professional staff member of The Center for Creative Leadership serving as a Program Manager and Senior Faculty member at the San Diego branch.  She developed and led the Women’s Leadership Program and managed the Looking Glass Experience, as well as teaching and coaching in scheduled and customized programs.  In 1995, The Center for Creative Leadership (CCL) designated Dr. Leland a Senior Fellow in Leadership Diversity, an honor granted by the Center’s Board of Governors and President for distinguished service to the Center and national recognition in a designated field.  She continues her work with CCL as an Honorary Senior Fellow and Senior Adjunct Faculty member.  For 6 years she was a member of a CCL team providing programs on leadership for transition and change for the Canadian government.  Her distance learning program “Women As Leaders” sponsored by CCL and PRIMEDIA Workplace Learning, was awarded second place for the Best Distance learning Series at the 16th Annual TeleCon Academy Awards of Teleconferencing.  

Since 1996, Dr. Leland’s consulting portfolio has continued the emphasis on leadership for transition and change.  A considerable portion of her professional commitment is to the public health field with consulting and coaching assignments in both international and domestic organizations.  She is currently affiliated with the Public Health Institute, the International Family Planning Leadership Program, the USAID Population Leadership Program, and the Center for Health Leadership.  Her client list includes major corporations in the pharmaceutical, energy, financial services arenas as well as government agencies, foundations and higher education.  Dr. Leland is a member of the Advisory Council and core faculty of the Rutgers University Center for Strategic Urban Community Leadership.  Her teaching and service to the Hispanic Women Leadership Institute at Rutgers were honored with a special citation in 1994.  She has been a faculty member with the Advanced Management program at the University of California, Riverside, School of Business, and a senior associate with several executive and organizational development firms.  

Dr. Leland is co-author with Helen S. Astin of the highly acclaimed Women of Influence, Women of Vision: A Cross-Generational Study of Leaders of Social Change (Jossey Bass, 1991), which Warren Bennis has called “the single best book on women and leadership.”  She is a Past President and Board member of the National Society for Experiential Education, and has held faculty and administrative posts at the City University of New York, Pennsylvania State University, Columbia University, the College Entrance Examination Board, and Brown University.  Her bachelors degree, magna cum laude in English, is from Syracuse University.  She completed the masters degree in education at Harvard and her doctorate in higher education and sociology at Stanford where she was a Carnegie Fellow.  In her spare time, she enjoys the arts, photography and her dogs.  Dr. Leland lives in San Diego, California.