Barry Posner

Keynote speaker Barry Posner is the Michael J. Accolti, S.J. Chair and Professor of Leadership at the Leavey School of Business, Santa Clara University, where he served for 12 years as Dean. Barry has received the Association for Talent Development’s highest award for Distinguished Contribution to Workplace Learning and Performance, recognized as one of the Top 50 leadership coaches in America, ranked among the Most Influential HR thinkers in the world by HR magazine, listed among the Top 75 Leadership and Management Experts in the world by Inc. magazine, and among Global Gurus Top 20 Leadership Gurus!

He is the co-author of the award-winning and best-selling leadership book The Leadership Challenge, which is listed among The Top 100 Business Books of All Time, receiving book-of-the-year honors by the American Council of Healthcare Executives, Fast Company, and the Critic’s Choice Award from the nation’s book review editors.

In addition Barry co-authored other award-winning, inspiring and practical books on leadership: Stop Selling & Start Leading, Learning Leadership: The Five Fundamentals for Becoming an Exemplary Leader, Turning Adversity Into Opportunity; Finding the Courage to Lead; Great Leadership Creates Great Workplaces; Credibility: How Leaders Gain and Lose It, Why People Demand It; The Truth About Leadership: The No-Fads, Heart-of-the Matter Facts You Need to Know; Encouraging the Heart: A Leaders Guide to Recognizing and Rewarding Others; A Leader’s Legacy; Extraordinary Leadership in Australia and New Zealand, Making Extraordinary Things Happen in Asia, and The Student Leadership Challenge.

Barry is an internationally renowned scholar who has published more than 100 research and practitioner-oriented articles, in such publications as the: Harvard Business Review, Academy of Management Journal, Journal of Applied Psychology, Human Relations, Personnel Psychology, and IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management. Barry has served on a number of corporate boards, as well as for public and community organizations, such as the American Institute of Architects, Center for Excellence in Nonprofits, Global Women’s Leadership Network, San Jose Repertory Theatre, Sigma Phi Epsilon Fraternity, SVCreates, and Uplift Family Services.

Barry received an undergraduate degree in political science from the University of California, Santa Barbara, a master’s degree from The Ohio State University in public administration, and his Ph.D. in organizational behavior and administrative theory from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. Barry has been a visiting professor at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Sabanci University (Istanbul), and the University of Western Australia.