Ellen Taaffe
Clinical Assistant Professor of Leadership, Director of Women's Leadership Programs at Kellogg School of Management
Biography
Kellogg School of Management
Ellen Taaffe is a Clinical Assistant Professor at the Kellogg School of Management, where she teaches Personal Leadership Insights and is the Director of Women's Leadership Program. She designs and delivers the Kellogg Women's Leadership Seminar series, the signature program for female students across Kellogg's Full-time, Evening/Weekend, and Executive MBA programs. She is a featured speaker and executive leadership coach in Kellogg's Executive Education programs on Leadership and Governance and in MBA Leadership courses and programs.
Outside of Kellogg, Ellen is a TEDx speaker and shares her insights on leadership, governance, and advancing women and inclusion through her writing and speaking in corporations, conferences, and universities and in media like Forbes, Washington Post, Kellogg Insight, and WGN radio. She runs a leadership advisory consulting and coaching business, and serves as an independent board director for two public and one private company boards, chairs two Nominating and Governance Committees and one Compensation Commitee, and is a member of two compensation and three audit committees.
Prior to her academic, governance, and coaching career, Ellen spent 25 years with Fortune 500 companies holding the top marketing management post at divisions of PepsiCo, Royal Caribbean, and Whirlpool Corporation. She built world-class brands, led multi-billion dollar portfolios with P&L responsibility, launched new businesses, led turnarounds, and merged businesses and cultures post-acquisition. She then pivoted into a growth stage small business as President of Ravel (formerly SDA before sale), a brand strategy consultancy to Fortune 500 clients. Over her career, she has been acknowledged for brand management and digital and traditional brand marketing (Gold and Silver Effie awards), business growth (Inc.5000 list), governance (Directors to Watch list), and people leadership (Top Small Company to Work Finalist).
Ellen has loved leading and coaching teams and individuals to create the businesses and careers they desired. She's done this for years as a manager, trainer, and mentor and now as an executive coach, teacher, speaker, and writer. She is passionate about helping businesses and people ascend to higher levels of performance, possibility, and purpose. Additionally, she is on a mission to advance women and inclusion in the workplace. Her mission: More Seats (and Voices) at the Table.
Ellen received her MBA from the Kellogg School of Management in 1997. She also holds a BS from the University of Florida's Warrington College of Business.
Education
- MBA, 1997, Northwestern University
- B.S., 1983, Marketing, University of Florida
Professional Experience
- Vice President, PepsiCo, 1999-2001
- Vice President, PepsiCo, 2001-2003
- Vice President, PepsiCo, 2003-2005
- Senior Vice President, Royal Caribbean Cruises Limited, 2005-2007
- Vice President of Marketing, Whirlpool Corporation, 2007-2009
- President, Smith-Dahmer Associates, 2010-2015
- Independent Consultant and Executive Coach, 2015-present
- Board of Directors, Hooker Furniture Corporation, 2015-present
- Board of Directors, John B. Sanfilippo & Son, Inc., 2011-present
- Clinical Assistant Professor of Leadership and Director of Women's Leadership Programs, Northwestern University, 2016-present
Awards
- Directors to Watch 2017, Directors & Boards Magazine
Videos
Taking Center Stage Can Change Your Life. | Ellen Taaffe | TEDxWilmetteWomen
Read about executive education
Other experts
Jeffrey Hughes
W. Jeffrey Hughes is Professor of Astronomy at Boston University. A native of Wales, he received both his BSc and PhD in physics from Imperial College, London. He spent two years as a Hayes-Fulbright Scholar doing post-doctoral research in the US, spending a year at both the University of Colorad...
Mike Palazzolo
Assistant Professor Mike Palazzolo’s research examines how consumers make intertemporal trade-offs. He has two streams of research stemming from this over-arching interest. The first explores consumer search behavior and the trade-off between short-term effort and long-term outcomes. The second e...
Andreas Rasche
Andreas Rasche is Professor of Business in Society at the CBS Centre for Corporate Social Responsibility (cbsCSR) and Co-Director of the CBS World-Class Research Environment “Governing Responsible Business” (GRB). He has taught courses in the MBA and doctoral programs, chaired Executive Education...
Looking for an expert?
Contact us and we'll find the best option for you.