Lecturer | Founding Director, Center for Equity, Gender, and Leadership
Center for Equity, Gender, and Leadership | Sustainability
Leading expert on equity fluent leadership, value-creating strategies of diversity and inclusion, and corporate social responsibility.
About
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.
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
- Kellie A. McElhaney, Genevieve Smith, Margi Goelz. Promoting a Culture of Equity in the #MeToo Era: Moving Beyond Responding to Gender-Related Workplace Issues to Tackling Root Causes. Harvard Business Review.
Case Study
March 2019 - Kellie A. McElhaney and Genevieve Smith. Eliminating the Gender Pay Gap: Gap Inc. Leads the Way. Harvard Business Review Case Study.
2017 - Kellie A. McElhaney. Ernst and Young: Gender Balanced Teams Produce Higher Business Returns. Berkeley-Haas Case Series.
2015 - Kellie A. McElhaney. Wal-Mart’s Global Women’s Economic Empowerment Initiative. Harvard Business Review.
2014 - John Mennel, Tina Mendelson, Kellie A. McElhaney, Bill Marquard. The roadmap toward effective strategic social partnerships. Deloitte Insights.
2013 - Kellie A. McElhaney & Sanaz Mobasseri. Women Create a Sustainable Future. Center For Responsible Business.
2012 - Kellie A. McElhaney. Just Good Business. Berrett-Koehler Publishers.
2010 - Kellie McElhaney, Michael W. Toffel and Natalie Hill. Designing Sustainability at BMW Group: The Designworks/ USA Experience. Strategic Sustainability: The State-of-the-Art in Corporate Environmental Management Systems. Harvard Business School.
2005
At Haas since 2002
2017 – present, Founding Director, Center for Equity, Gender, and Leadership, Haas School of Business
2008 – present, Faculty, Institute for Business and Social Impact, Haas School of Business
2002 – 2017, Adjunct Associate Professor, Haas School of Business
2008 – 2012, Margo N. Alexander Faculty Fellow in Corporate Responsibility, Haas School of Business
2002 – 2008, John C. Whitehead Faculty Fellow in Corporate Responsibility, Haas School of Business
2002 – 2009, Executive Director & Founder, Center for Responsible Business, Haas School of Business
1994 – 2002, Managing Director, Corporate Environmental Management Program, University of Michigan Business School
1993 – 2002, Adjunct Professor, University of Michigan Business School
1992 – 1993, Visiting Professor, Sichuan International Studies University
1991 – 1992, Adjunct Instructor, University of Cincinnati
1989 – 1992, Fifth Third Bancorp
Visiting Positions
2013 – 2014, Management Institute of Finland
2010 – 2014, Visiting Professor, EADA, Barcelona, Spain
2006 – 2014, Visiting Professor, Kenan-Flagler School of Business, UNC Chapel Hill
2007, Visiting Professor, Institut d’Administration des Enterprises, University of Poitiers, Poitiers, France
1992 – 1993, Visiting Professor, Sichuan International Studies University, Sichuan, China
- 2018 – present Empower Her, Advisory Board
- 2018 – present, Gender Equity Diversity Subcommittee of the University of California Athletics Board
- 2017 – present, Closed Loop Fund, Advisor
- 2016 – 2018, Orrick, Women’s Leadership Council, Chair
- 2014 – 2017, Outotec, Sustainability Advisory Board, Finland
- 2014 – 2018, Sedgwick Women’s Forum Advisory Board
- 2014 – 2017, Pacific Community Ventures, Board
- 2013-2017, Dow Chemical Company, Sustainability Advisory Council
- 2013 – present, Sierra Global Management Board
- Advisory Board, Haas Socially Responsible Investment Fund, Atalanta Capital, SustainAbility
- Sustainability Advisory Council, The Dow Chemical Company
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
Aspen Institute and the World Resources Institute’s Faculty Pioneer Award
2005
“40 Under 40” leaders racing ahead of their time by the East Bay Business Times
2004
Finalist in Fast Company‘s Fast 50 list
2004
MBA Teaching Excellence Award, UMBS
Nominated 2001, 2002, 2003
Outstanding GSI Teaching Award
The University of Michigan
1997
- Why philanthropy plays an important role in gender equality, The San Diego Union-Tribune, 08/09/2021
- Promoting a culture of equity in the #MeToo era, Faculti, 07/23/2021
- Women make up a dismal percentage of all American CEOs. That’s a huge financial problem — but there’s a way to fix it., Business Insider, 06/30/2021
- Nike’s dominance in track and field draws scrutiny over influence, gender equity, The Oregonian, 06/23/2021
- Innovation and Impact at ICAM, Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business, 04/13/2021
- Meet Ankur Jain, The Under 30 Founder Tackling Some Of The Biggest Challenges Facing The Millennial Generation—Like Rent Relief Amid The Pandemic, Forbes, 11/30/2020
- How to Identify — and Fix — Pay Inequality at Your Company, Harvard Business Review, 11/03/2020
- At Berkeley Haas, The Hard Work To Balance B-School Cases Is Underway, Poets & Quants, 08/03/2020
- Solid8’s CEO Michael Lofthouse resigns after racist video, San Francisco Business Times, 07/12/2020
- Big brands abandon racial stereotypes, KTVU, 06/18/2020
- Companies Send Message in Support of Nationwide Protests, Voice of America, 06/01/2020
- Coronavirus Pandemic Worsens Gender Pay Gap, Newsy, 03/31/2020
- Cincinnati passes bill giving renters alternatives to security deposits, NBC, 01/25/2020
- #MeToo is necessary. It’s also freaking men out, Boston Globe, 01/09/2020
- Momentum Builds For More Women On Boards, Forbes, 12/10/2019
- The Value of Equity Fluent Leadership, MBA 292, UGBA 192
- Business Solutions for Global Mega Trends, EWMBA/EMBA 296