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Kellie McElhaney

Lecturer | Founding Director, Center for Equity, Gender, and Leadership, Haas School of Business

headshot of Kellie McElhaney

Kellie McElhaney is on the Berkeley Haas faculty as a Distinguished Teaching Fellow and the Founding Director of the Center for Equity, Gender and Leadership (EGAL). 

Launched in November 2017, EGAL’s mission is to educate equity fluent leaders to ignite and accelerate change. Equity fluent leaders understand the value of different lived experiences and courageously use their power to address barriers, increase access, and drive change for positive impact. McElhaney helped develop the equity fluent leadership concept and teaches it across the country and around the world.

In 2003, McElhaney founded the Center for Responsible Business, solidifying corporate responsibility as a core competency and competitive advantage for the Haas School. Haas was rated #1 in the world for corporate responsibility by The Financial Times. She received the Founder and Visionary Award at Haas in 2013 for this work.

McElhaney wrote a book entitled “Just Good Business: The Strategic Guide to Aligning Corporate Responsibility and Brand.” She writes case studies of companies who are investing in women and equity-fluent leadership (Wal-Mart, Gap, Inc., Boston Consulting Group, Zendesk), and conducts research in the area of equal, pay, conscious inclusion, equity fluent leadership, and value-creating strategies of diversity and inclusion.

McElhaney consults and keynotes for Global 1000 companies and organizations all over the world on her areas of expertise, and has a TED talk. She is the mother of two incredibly strong teenage daughters.

Awards & Honors
  • Most Influential Women in Bay Area Business 2019, Honored by the San Francisco Business Times, May 2019
  • California Management Review Case of the Year, “Eliminating the Gender Pay Gap: Gap Inc. Leads the Way”, 2017
  • Earl F. Cheit Award for Excellence in Teaching 2012-2013
  • Founder & Visionary Award Center for Responsible Business 2013
Academic Background
  • PhD, Higher Education (Business Cognate), University of Michigan
  • MA, Organizational Behavior/Management, Ohio University
  • BA, Political Science, English, University of North Carolina