ADVISORY BOARD
EXPERTS IN ACADEMIA AND BUSINESS
George Washington Consulting's Advisory board is comprised of experienced professionals who bring decades of academic and professional experience with the single goal of helping you be successful.
KRISTI ACUFF, MA, SPHR, SCP-SHRM
Ms. Acuff is a proven strategic human resources executive and business partner with passion for developing organizations and coaching leaders to achieve exceptional individual, team and bottom-line business performance. Kristi’s leadership experience is in strategic human resources, communications and change management in the oil and gas, and energy industries.
She served as Alyeska Pipeline Service Company’s Senior Vice President of Employee and External Relations in Anchorage, Alaska. Before Alyeska Pipeline, she was with BP in Alaska and Texas including holding the role as the US Communications and Change Management Manager on a merger-related $700 million outsourcing project and was Personnel Officer with the Alaska Energy Authority in Anchorage.
Ms. Acuff holds a Master’s Degree in Strategic Communication and Leadership from Seton Hall University New Jersey and a Bachelor’s Degree in Education from the University of Alaska Anchorage and holds HR certifications from the HR Certification Institute and the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM).
DEBRA J. COHEN, PH.D. SPHR, SCP-SHRM
Deb Cohen, Ph.D. is an association executive with more than 25 years of experience advising, speaking and guiding nonprofit, academic and for profit entities. Her latest book (2016) Developing Proficiency in HR: 7 Self-directed Activities for HR Professionals is sole-authored and Cohen is delivering talks and professional development highlighting how behavior matters to HR professionals and how to develop HR behavioral competencies. As a former Senior Vice President, with the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), Cohen was responsible for a 50-person Division covering knowledge services, original research, and the development of a profession-wide competency model.
A subject matter expert in HR, management, organizational behavior and training, Cohen’s expertise lies in creating and executing initiatives that support and develop organization strategy. Under her direction, research services were transformed into a million-dollar revenue stream, a curriculum guide for the HR profession was established and a competency model that forms the basis for a world-wide certification credential was created. Dr. Cohen received her Ph.D. in Management and Human Resources and her Master's Degree in Labor and Human Resources both from The Ohio State University. She is a certified HR professional with the designation SHRM-SCP.
She is co-author of the (2015) book Defining HR Success: 9 Critical Competencies for HR Professionals and a co-editor for a (2013) book entitled Developing and Enhancing Teamwork in Organizations: Evidence-based Best Practices and Guidelines. Prior to joining SHRM, Dr. Cohen spent 15 years as an academician teaching HRM at George Washington and George Mason Universities. Dr. Cohen has published over 50 articles and book chapters and has been published in such journals as Academy of Management Journal, Personnel Psychology, Journal of Management, and the Journal of Business Ethics. Early in her career, Cohen was the Training Manager with a large Savings and Loan company and developed/delivered training.
RHONDA LESHMAN
Rhonda Leshman is a seasoned educator with 25 years of experience in both college counseling and university admissions. After spending more than a decade in admissions at The George Washington University, Ms. Leshman turned to college counseling in both the US and around world.
Ms. Leshman guided students in all facets of their college search at The Archer School for Girls in Los Angeles. Then Ms. Leshman moved to Shanghai, China to create a comprehensive counseling program for YK Pao School successful helping Chinese students with their college search. Presently, she is on the counseling team at TASIS England.
Ms. Leshman studied at The George Washington University. She has presented at several NACAC (National Association of College Admissions Counseling) and IACAC (International Association of College Admission Counseling) conference panels on various aspects of college counseling.
LAWRENCE G. SINGLETON, PH.D., CPA, CGMA
Lawrence G. Singleton is Dean and Professor of Accounting at the Lubin School of Business at Pace University in New York. He previously served as Dean and Professor of Accounting and International Business in the Marist School of Management in New York. Prior to that he served as the Undergraduate Dean and a member of the faculty of the School of Business at The George Washington University in Washington, D.C.
He has experience in the audit and National SEC Practice groups of Ernst & Young LLP’s Washington office, and was a visiting professor at Grenoble Ecole de Management in France and Peking University in China. He has also served as a consultant to many of the world’s leading organizations, including Cisco Systems, Inc., Harley-Davidson Motor Company, NASDAQ Stock Market, National Investor Relations Institute, National Geographic Society, Public Relations Society of America, Roche, Siemens Corporation, the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development, and The World Bank. He is also active in AACSB and EFMD, the leading worldwide business school accrediting bodies.
Singleton has served as President of the Middle Atlantic Association of Colleges of Business Administration (MAACBA), an organization of business school deans and administrators from over 160 colleges and universities. He currently serves as a member of the Board of Governors of Beta Gamma Sigma and the Board of Directors of The Hudson Renewable Energy Institute.