Susan Skjei, Ph.D. (last name pronounced “shay”) has been consulting with leaders, executive teams and boards of non-profit organizations, businesses, and government agencies for over 25 years. She has a unique ability to create energetic and high trust learning environments that accelerate the achievement of practical organizational results while building strong, collaborative relationships. Through her company, Sane Systems, Susan provides consulting, facilitation, training and coaching in the areas of leadership, strategic planning, organizational culture, mindfulness, innovation, and change management.
For the last 6 years Susan served as the Director of the Authentic Leadership Center (ALC) at Naropa University. The Center combined the network of practitioners and teachers from the acclaimed Authentic Leadership in Action (ALIA) Institute, formerly based in Nova Scotia, Canada, with Naropa’s Authentic Leadership Certificate program. The purpose of the Center was to inspire, educate and empower current and next generation leaders to act as agents of positive organizational and social change. Utilizing the disciplines of mindfulness, organizational learning, expressive arts, neuroscience, and complexity science the ALC’s transformative learning method fostered deep insight and increased leadership capacity for positive impact in organizations and society. Susan continues to provide professional development programs for Naropa as an independent contractor.
As an organization development consultant Susan has designed and led large-scale change initiatives for such diverse client groups as Hewlett-Packard, Phipps Construction, The Colorado Air National Guard, StorageTek, Fraser Health Authority in Vancouver, the Mental Health Center of Boulder County, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Nestle Corporation, and Habitat for Humanity. These change initiatives have included the development of core values and purpose, leadership competencies and mindfulness, strategic planning, process improvement, teamwork, innovation, and organization design. Many of her recent projects have included sustainability focus with groups such as LOHAS, Naturally Boulder, ReSource, and the Lean and Green Division of the Association of Manufacturing Excellence (AME).
In her last corporate position, Susan was a Vice-President and Chief Learning Officer for StorageTek, a $2.4B provider of electronic storage solutions. She was responsible for developing the learning and change management strategy for the corporation and implementing it across 40 countries and 8,500 employees worldwide. She also implemented a virtual corporate university to provide education and training to employees, customers and partners of StorageTek throughout the world. Previously, she was a Training and Development manager at Hewlett-Packard.
Susan is an experienced executive coach, and works closely with CEOs, executives and managers to help them articulate their personal and professional goals and to implement these goals effectively within their own organizations. She specializes in coaching executive teams and has designed and facilitated numerous leadership and board retreats. Susan was certified as a professional coach (PCC) through the International Coaching Federation in 2006 and is an active member and presenter at Associated Consultants International, the Academy of Management, and the International Leadership Association.
Susan has a Ph.D. from Fielding Graduate University in Human and Organization Systems, a Master of Science degree from American University/NTL in Human Resource Development and a certificate in Change Management from Cornell University. She is the founder and director of the Authentic Leadership Certificate Program at Naropa University, www.enaropa.org, a founding member of the ALIA Institute and a senior associate with the Presencing Institute. She has designed and facilitated leadership workshops, programs and conferences for thousands of participants in the United States, Canada and Europe.