Susan Wilkes
Susan Brock Wilkes, Ph.D., is the founder and managing partner of Wilkes Consulting, a leadership development firm specializing in work with nonprofit organizations and institutions of higher education. Susan is an organizational psychologist with extensive experience in executive coaching, leadership and team dynamics, board governance, and strategic planning. She is as an affiliate faculty member at Virginia Commonwealth University, where she worked for 20 years prior to founding her own firm.
Susan has been voted as Instructor of the Year for Richmond, Virginia’s Nonprofit Learning Point and current serves as the lead faculty for its Emerging Nonprofit Leaders Program. Common training topics include emotional intelligence, nonprofit lifecycles, strategic thinking, stress management, visionary leadership, high performing work teams and leading change.
A co-creator of a specialized assessment coaching process for fund development professionals, Susan is also the author of four experiential earning tools published in the Pfeiffer Annuals. Her community engagement is extensive, including her current service on the Board of the Fan Free Clinic and on the founding leadership team for Impact 100 women’s philanthropy program.
Susan’s latest publications are “Strengthening the Next Generation: A Multi-faceted Program to Develop Leadership Capacity in Emerging Nonprofit Leaders” in the Journal of Nonprofit Management and Leadership and Words for the Journey published by the nonprofit Chrysalis Institute. A Phi Kappa Phi graduate of the doctoral program at Virginia Commonwealth University, Susan also holds an undergraduate degree in psychology, with distinction, and masters’ degree in counseling from the University of Virginia.