Barbara L. Kaufman, Ph.D.
President
ROI Consulting Group, Inc.

Dr. Barbara Kaufman, President of ROI Consulting Group, Inc., has invested over twenty years as an executive, business coach and educator in helping organizations increase their leadership effectiveness. As a trusted advisor to leaders in business and the non-profit sector, Dr. Kaufman combines executive experience with practical and creative guidance on ways to increase leadership effectiveness and organizational capacity. Her work has involved issues such as strategic planning, governance, leadership effectiveness, executive coaching, team building, conflict management and organization design.

Dr. Kaufman's years on the inside of Fortune 500 to mid-size companies in executive-level positions have been followed by sixteen years as an entrepreneur and management consultant. Dr. Kaufman's clients include a wide-range of non-profit and public sector organizations such as, California State University, University of California, University of North Carolina, University of Nebraska, St. Norbert College, College Board, Research Triangle Institute, International, and the Association of Governing Boards (AGB). Over the past several years, she has also focused on helping governance and advisory boards increase their effectiveness through improved leadership and creative problem-solving. Areas of interest include developing research-based strategies for board self-assessment, governance (leadership and infrastructure), strategic planning, succession planning, managing board diversity, creating effective board orientations and other related topics.

A committed volunteer who contributes both her time and resources to professional development organizations, Dr. Kaufman is an advisor to and past-president of Leadership California, a non-profit organization devoted to educational programs and furthering the advancement of women leaders in business, government, education and other public and private arenas. She is the 1998 recipient of the prestigious Leadership California Leader award for her program design and board development efforts over the past eight years. Other volunteer efforts include the Advisory Board of Leadership California, the Association of Governing Boards and the Achieving Styles Institute.

Dr. Kaufman received her Ph.D. from Claremont Graduate University (CGU). She served as the Leader-in-Residence for the academic year 1998-1999 at the Institute for Advanced Studies in Leadership, located at the Peter Drucker School of Management (CGU), where she earned her Masters in Executive Management. Dr. Kaufman often serves as an adjunct professor at Claremont Graduate University, where she teaches courses in leadership and succession management. She is also a certified consultant for the Association of Governing Boards in the areas of presidential assessment and board development, as well as a certified instructor in the use of the Connective Leadership Achieving Styles Model.

Dr. Kaufman's recent publications include Reining in Those "Maverick" Trustees (July-August 2007, AGB, Trusteeship). Organizational Champions (July/August 2006, Board Member), The Role of Executive Coaching in Performance Management (March 2006, University Business), The Leader as Change Agent (March 2005, University Business), En Route to Executive Retention (January 2005, American Society of Association Executives, January 2005), The Juggling Act (July 2004, University Business), The Role of Executive Coaching in Performance Management (September 2005, Journal of Business Strategy), and Succession Planning Means Planning Ahead (February/March 2003, Board Member).