Wendy Axelrod

Wendy Axelrod, PhD, is a coach, author, speaker, and volunteer. Supporting thousands of people through workshops, leadership coaching, and mentoring, she has helped fulfill the development ambitions of professionals, managers, leaders, and organizations.As a speaker and workshop facilitator, Wendy guides leaders to learn what it really takes to be an exceptional development manager, weaving development and performance seamlessly. She is the co-author of Make Talent Your Business: How...See more

Wendy Axelrod, PhD, is a coach, author, speaker, and volunteer. Supporting thousands of people through workshops, leadership coaching, and mentoring, she has helped fulfill the development ambitions of professionals, managers, leaders, and organizations.As a speaker and workshop facilitator, Wendy guides leaders to learn what it really takes to be an exceptional development manager, weaving development and performance seamlessly. She is the co-author of Make Talent Your Business: How Exceptional Managers Develop People While Getting Results, which identifies five research-based practices that distinguish exceptional developmental managers. Her work has appeared in SmartBriefs on Leadership; AMA's Moving Ahead, Leader to Leader, and Leadership Excellence; The Conference Board's Human Capital Exchange; SHRM's HR People + Strategy; and European journals. Wendy speaks at conferences for organizations including the Association for Talent Development, The Conference Board, Human Resource Planning Society, and HR Summit Asia, as well as corporate events. Wendy's clients include Fortune 100 companies and medium-sized firms in the United States and globally. Wendy has been a consultant with Korn Ferry and AchieveForum, a faculty member for the Institute for Management Studies (IMS), and a coach for AthenaOnline. As a human resources executive during her 16-year tenure at Sunoco, she led the functions of leadership development, organization change, and talent management and guided the company through a significant multiyear organizational change process, helping to create more effective habits of managers and leaders. Passionate about development and professional growth, Wendy is the volunteer creator and moving force behind the renowned Philadelphia Area Mentoring Program for HR Professionals, completing its 17th year in 2019. In 2017, when Wendy co-chaired a session on strategically driven mentoring programs, to her surprise, she was ceremoniously recognized as the region's "Mentoring Guru." Over a 20-year period, she has formally served as a mentor to two dozen women and men. Wendy also consults with companies on their mentoring programs. Wendy holds a Ph.D. in organizational and industrial psychology from Colorado State University and a B.S. from Drexel University (receiving the M.M. Creese Award as the Outstanding Senior Woman). Shecompleted an advanced program at Columbia University, and she is certified in dozens of executive coaching and organization development tools. Wendy and her husband live outside Philadelphia and have five children. They love the outdoors (kayaking, hiking, camping) and are avid community and global volunteers, notably volunteering for a two-week medical mission to developing countries through Rotary International. See less