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Kellie McElhaney

Lecturer | Founding Director, Center for Impact Leadership | Management of Organizations | Sustainability

Kellie McElhaney Headshot

Kellie McElhaney is on the Berkeley Haas faculty as a Distinguished Teaching Fellow and the Founding Director of the Center for Impact Leadership.

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.

Expertise and Research Interests

  • Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
  • Value-creating Strategies of Diversity and Inclusion
  • Equity Fluent Leadership
  • The Gender Wage Gap
  • Gender Equity
  • Corporate Social Responsibility
  • Women in Leadership
  • Conscious Inclusion

Papers, Articles and Publications

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