Teresa’s work with leaders has been characterized as visionary and innovative by peers and clients, with whom she cultivates the capacity and courage needed to effectively lead organizations while integrating environmental and social justice (see more at wiserwilderleadership.com/testimonials). Her research-based approach leverages psychological and spiritual wisdom to tailor coaching and facilitation practices to each leader and group. 

As President and Founder of Wiser Wilder Leadership, LLC (WWL), Teresa supports experienced leaders and emerging elders as they strengthen their understanding and use of meaning and wisdom. As an senior professor and endowed chair over decades, Teresa brings multidisciplinary expertise in organizational leadership and business to bear to design courses across levels from undergraduate to executive graduate programs. 

Teresa has presented her innovative, award-winning research in a dozen countries across three continents. Her work has been published in top academic journals, including the Journal of Management, the Journal of Organizational Behavior, and the Journal of Business Ethics. The Journal of Business and Psychology named her article on meaning and well-being in work a Top 12 Contribution from more than 800 articles submitted in 2019. 

Teresa developed the Wisdom Cohort and Wisdom Coaching models for executive leaders, specifically designed for experienced adults and executives to leverage the wisdom within and between experienced leaders to significantly expand capacity for effective and meaningful leadership. Her clients have included C-suite executives and other senior leaders in dozens Fortune 500 and smaller companies across the consumer goods, technology, financial, and health care sectors as well as leaders of public and private K-12 and university institutions and systems, the U.S. military, national-level non-profit, and faith-based organizations. She has developed and delivered dozens of graduate level academic courses including Leadership Synthesis and Discernment, Inclusive Leadership in Diverse Organizations, and Leading for Well-being at Work. Her non-credit executive programs include co-founding The Whiteness Workshop for white leaders working for racial justice, co-developing and facilitating the Anti-Racist Curriculum Series for faculty, and the Executive Program for Nurse Leaders at the University of St. Thomas-Minnesota. 

For leaders at all levels, Teresa brings broad and deep experience facilitating the learning and development of adults by designing innovative and customized leadership development experiences using current research and ancient wisdom; identifying leaders’ deep connections within and to others and the world; and facilitating meaningful and deeply personal conversations across diverse people, which result in accelerated healing and growth. Working from her own intentionally cultivated insight into the interconnectedness within and among all things, Teresa walks alongside leaders as they become more impactful and wiser. 

EDUCATION 

  • BA, Economics Magna cum Laude, St. Olaf College including semester at Cambridge University, UK 

  • MA, Theology with honors, St. Catherine University including year at Harvard Divinity School 

  • PhD, Human Resources/Industrial Relations, Carlson School of Management, University of Minnesota 

CERTIFICATION 

  • Certified Public Accountant 

  • Graduate Certificate in Spiritual Direction, St. Catherine University 

  • Certified Diversity and Inclusion Instructor, National MultiCultural Institute