Kellie McElhaney

Adjunct Professor / Founding Director, Center for Equity, Gender, and Leadership at Haas School of Business

Biography

Adjunct Assistant Professor, Haas School of Business, University of California, Berkeley Margo N. Alexander Faculty Fellow in Corporate Responsibility Co-Faculty Director, Center for Responsible Business LinkedIn Profile Dr. McElhaney is the Whitehead Faculty Fellow and the founding Faculty Director of the Center for Responsible Business at the Haas School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley. She launched this center in 2003, which placed corporate responsibility squarely as one of the core competencies and competitive advantages of the Haas School. The Center has received global critical acclaim with The Financial Times rating Haas #1 in the world in 2008.

Her Corporate Responsibility work focuses in three areas: (1) Analyzing and developing companies’ CSR strategy and its alignment with corporate strategy, business objectives, core competencies, and value creation; (2) Exploring the linkage between women, business leadership, and corporate sustainability (3) The business value and opportunities in branding, communication and CSR. She has written a book entitled Just Good Business The Strategic Guide to Aligning Corporate Responsibility and Brand (2010) on these focus areas, as well as given a TED talk on the topic.

Kellie also focuses on Women and Business Leadership, as well as connections between women as corporate leaders and the firm’s sustainability performance. You can see her latest study on Women on Boards and Environment Social and Governance (ESG) performance improvements here.

Professor McElhaney teaches Strategic CSR in all of the MBA degree programs- full-time, executive, and part-time. In 2012, she developed and is teaching a new class called Women in Business, which looks at why businesses are investing in the global development of women, and what the business outcomes- financially, socially, and environmentally- are when business successfully attracts, retains, and develops women in to leadership. She has written papers and company case studies on this critical topic.

Kellie keynotes for companies and organizations all over the world, and consults to Global 1000 companies in developing integrated CSR strategy, bridging her academic focus with the practitioner world. Her client list includes HP, Gap, eBay, McDonalds, Levi, Wal-Mart, Target, Clorox, Ernst & Young, NVIDIA, Blue Cross Blue Shield, Nokia (Finland), Navigant, Volunteer Match, Ford Motor Company, PG&E, Driscolls Berries, Triage Consulting Group, Ulster Bank (Ireland), Kimberly-Clark, Frontline, Accenture, StatoilHydro (Norway), Yum! Brands, Chevron, ING, Energizer Holdings, Inc., Pandora Internet Radio, Aboitiz (Philippines).

Kellie serves on the Sustainability & Environmental Advisory Committee (SEAC) for the Dow Chemical Company, is an Academic Partner with Blu Skye Consulting, serves on the Board for Globescan, and is a member of the Advisory Council for SustainAbility. She lives in the Oakland Hills in California and has two middle school-aged daughters. She enjoys photography, yoga, good wine, running and has even tried surfing. She earned her BA from the University of North Carolina, her MA from Ohio University, and her Ph.D. from the University of Michigan. Prior to moving in to academia, Kellie worked in retail banking.

Haas School of Business

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

Education

  • Ph.D. University of Michigan (1993 — 1997)
  • Master's degree Ohio University (1988 — 1989)
  • Bachelor's degree University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Selected Papers and Publications

  • 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

Selected Honors and Awards

  • 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

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