Brenda Peyser

Brenda Peyser held leadership positions in the academic and corporate worlds for almost 35 years.

Brenda is one of the co-authors of The No Club – Putting a Stop to Women’s Dead-End Work , with Linda Babcock, Lise Vesterlund, and Laurie Weingart.

Most recently, Brenda was a Distinguished Service Professor of Professional Communications at Carnegie Mellon University’s Heinz College, where she taught classes in professional speaking and acting. From 1998-2016, she was Associate Dean of the Heinz College's School of Public Policy and Management, where she oversaw masters programs in public policy, arts management, entertainment management, and healthcare.

She is the founding Executive Director of Carnegie Mellon, Australia and one of the founders of the Heinz College’s Institute for Social Innovation. Brenda has taught in the Carnegie Mellon Leadership and Negotiation Academy for Women and consulted with organizations to improve women’s communication skills. Before joining Carnegie Mellon, she held positions in higher education and as a senior manager in the New York office of Coopers & Lybrand (now PricewaterhouseCoopers), where she worked for 10 years. There, she conducted projects for government, non-profit, and private sector organizations from start-ups to Fortune 500 companies.

Brenda was a professional actress in New York and regional theatres, performing everything from Shakespeare to new plays, before moving into business and academia. She holds a Master of Fine Arts in Acting from Temple University.