Key Faculty

Last name starts with B

Andrew Bennett Adjunct Professorial Lecturer SPA | Key Executive Education IRC Programs

Andrew Bennett is a speaker, consultant, coach, magician, university professor, and 2x TEDx presenter specializing in leadership, organizational culture, and personal development.He spent the first te

  andrewb@american.edu

Ilona Birenbaum Adjunct Professorial Lecturer SPA | Public Administration

Ms. Birenbaum is a leadership and organizational consultant/leadership coach with over 20 years of experience and a diverse organizational development background. She is an adjunct professor and co

  birenbau@american.edu

Tracy Burnett Adjunct Professorial Lecturer SPA | Public Administration

Tracy is a Leadership Coach based in metropolitan Washington, DC. Tracy is passionate about helping leaders discover their path to achieving individual and organizational goals. Tracy is the principal

  tburnett@american.edu

Last name starts with C

Bryan Champion Adjunct Professor SPA | Public Administration

Dr. Bryan L. Champion is a Professor of Public Sector Leadership at the American University Key Leadership Programs. He has over 37 years of employment with the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC)

  champion@american.edu

Clarence Crawford Adjunct Professorial Lecturer SPA | Public Administration

Clarence Crawford is founder and president of the Teach ‘em to Fish. The God-given value proposition for the ministry is to establish a business incubator that helps deserving people get a fresh st

  crawford@american.edu

  (202) 885-2357

Last name starts with D

Sandra Donati Adjunct Professorial Lecturer SPA | Public Administration

Sandra Donati focuses on leadership development, executive coaching, building high-performing teams, federal government workshop facilitation, and strategic planning. She works with senior leaders to

  sd1956a@american.edu

Tom Draffen Adjunct Professorial Lecturer SPA | Public Administration

Tom supports leaders in the development of their strengths and skills to develop a global model of stewardship. Tom is the Vice President of Operations for Objective Area Solutions, LLC, a boutique co

  draffen@american.edu

John Driessnack Adjunct Professorial Lecturer SPA | Public Administration

Driessnack is a nationally recognized expert in Systems and Portfolio/Program/Project management and controls in the federal government. Professor Driessnack has worked with over five different federa

  driessna@american.edu

  (202) 885-6300

Last name starts with E

James Eisenmann Adjunct Professorial Lecturer SPA | Public Administration

Jim Eisenmann is an experienced advocate, leader and educator specializing in advising federal and private sector employees and employers on a variety of complex employment issues including investigat

  eisenman@american.edu

Last name starts with F

Last name starts with G

Edward Girovasi Adjunct Professorial Lect

Ed Girovasi is a Senior Consultant with the Acquisition and Product Support Group of LMI in Tysons, VA. LMI is a not-for-profit strategic consulting firm dedicated to improving the management of go

  girovasi@american.edu

Seth Grossman VP of Administration & Chief Administrative Officer UOA | University Office of Administration Operations

Seth currently serves as the Vice President of Administration and Chief Administrative Officer at American University and as a faculty member in the Department of Public Administration & Policy in AU'

  sethg@american.edu

Last name starts with H

Jennifer Hart Adjunct Professorial Lecturer SPA | Public Administration

Jennifer Hart is a corporate communications leader, training facilitator, and ICF-certified coach with a talent for building relationships and aligning expectations among diverse individuals, organiza

  jhart@american.edu

Last name starts with I

Angelo Ioffreda Adjunct Professorial Lecturer SPA | Public Administration

Angelo Ioffreda is the chief engagement officer and founder of io spark communications, a strategic communication and management consultancy based in Arlington, VA, whose purpose is to help individual

  ioffreda@american.edu

Last name starts with J

Susan Jenkins Adjunct Professorial Lecturer SPA | Public Administration

Susan Jenkins is the Director of the Division of Evidence, Evaluation and Data Policy for the US Department of Health and Human Services. She is also a member of the Federal Interagency Council for Ev

  sjenkins@american.edu

Ken Jones Adjunct Professorial Lecturer SPA | Public Administration

Ken Jones is a healthcare executive for the US Army. He works full time as a professor at a military medical school where he teaches: statistics, information systems, marketing and strategy. He holds

  kjones@american.edu

Brenda Jones Adjunct Professorial Lecturer SPA | Public Administration

Brenda B. Jones is a top-tier scholar-practitioner in OD. She co-edited (with Michael Brazzel) the recent best-seller in OD: The NTL handbook of organization development and change (Jossey-Bass, 2006)

  bbjones@american.edu

Last name starts with K

Cliff Kayser Adjunct Professorial Lecturer SPA | Public Administration

Cliff brings 20 years of experience in organization development, leadership coaching, and training. In addition to KEY, he is a faculty member in Ame

  wkayser@american.edu

Nancy Kingsbury Adjunct Professor

In October 2000, Dr. Kingsbury assumed the newly created position of Managing Director for Applied Research and Methods at the Government Accountability Office (formerly General Accounting Office), wh

  nkingsb@american.edu

Ted Kniker Adjunct Professorial Lecturer SPA | Public Administration

Ted Kniker is an internationally recognized expert and thought leader in organizational performance improvement, with extensive executive leadership roles in the public and commercial sectors. His

  kniker@american.edu

Christopher Koepke Adjunct Professorial Lect

Chris Koepke, Ph.D. is the Director of the Strategic Marketing Group at the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). He is responsible for all Medicare and Health Insurance Marketplace communic

  koepke@american.edu

Last name starts with L

Last name starts with M

Patrick Malone Director and Executive in Residence SPA | Public Administration

Professor Malone is the Director, Key Executive Leadership Programs at American University. He is a frequent guest lecturer on kindness, gratitude, emotional intelligence, compassion, ethics, mindfuln

  pmalone@american.edu

  (202) 885-6271

Mark Maxin Adjunct Professorial Lecturer SPA | Public Administration

Mark Maxin has over 30 years’ experience in federal sector employment law, addressing critical issues involving equal employment opportunity, diversity, civil rights, bargaining and grievance right

  maxin@american.edu

Wendy Melillo Associate Professor SOC | Journalism

Wendy Melillo is a full-time professor of Journalism. She teaches in the School of Communication's Journalism division. Her research is focused on how strategic communication influences society and th

  melillo@american.edu

  (202) 885-1753

Matt Minahan Adjunct Associate Professor SPA | Public Administration

Matt Minahan, Ed. D., is president of MM & Associates, an international consulting firm specializing in strategy, structure, leadership development, and communications.

Matt's clients are in

  minahan@american.edu

  (202) 885-6300

Last name starts with O

Sasha O'Connell Executive in Residence & Director, THSP MS Program SPA | Justice, Law & Criminology

Sasha Cohen O’Connell, PhD is an Executive in Residence in the Department of Justice, Law & Criminology, School of Public Affairs (SPA), American University where she currently teaches cyber policy at

  sashaoc@american.edu

Last name starts with P

Meredith Persily Lamel Adjunct Instructor KSB | General Academics & Research

Meredith Persily is CEO and founder of executive-coaching firm Aspire@Work, a consultant and facilitator, and adjunct professor/lecturer in the Department of Public Administration and Policy at Americ

  persily@american.edu

Last name starts with R

Andrew Rahaman Adjunct Professorial Lect SPA - Public Admin and Policy

Dr. Rahaman has over 25 years working nationally and internationally in diverse leadership positions building teams to design and implement both technical projects and overseeing geographically dis

  rahaman@american.edu

Russell Robinson Professorial Lecturer SPA | Public Administration

Dr. Robinson is the Director of the newly created Key Undergraduate Leadership Program (Key) and is an Associate Professor within SPA and the Key Executive Leadership Program. His expertise is on publ

  rrobinson@american.edu

Last name starts with S

Roger Schwarz Adjunct Professor

Roger Schwarz, Adjunct Professor Roger Schwarz has been teaching leaders and consulting to organizations since 1980. His area of expertise is leadership and teams. His writing, speaking, and consul

Carl Shapiro Adjunct Professor SPA | Public Administration

Carl Shapiro is an Emeritus Scientist with the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) after retiring as the Director of the USGS Science and Decisions Center (SDC) in June 2021. Dr. Shapiro was an economist wi

  cshapiro@american.edu

Gwen Sykes Adjunct Professorial Lecturer SPA | Key Executive Education IRC Programs

Gwendolyn Sykes is the United States Secret Service Chief Financial Officer. In this role, she is responsible for the execution, development and stewardship of the Secret Service’s resources and curre

  sykes@american.edu

Last name starts with T

Robert Tobias Dist. Scholar in Res Emeritus

Robert Tobias teaches courses in public sector leadership in the Key Executive Leadership Programs. He also teaches facilitation and team development, conflict management and alternative dispute resol

Last name starts with V

Last name starts with W

Ruth Wagner Adjunct Professor SPA | Public Administration

Dr. Ruth Wagner is a graduate of the AU MSOD program and a very active OD scholar-practitioner. After an early career in software engineering, Ruth led a change management practice of 50 consultants i

  wagner@american.edu

  (202) 885-2952

Reginald Wells Adjunct Senior Professorial Lecturer SPA | Public Administration

Reginald F. Wells was named Deputy Commissioner of the Social Security Administration’s (SSA) Office of Human Resources effective July 15, 2002 after serving short tenures as Deputy Associate Commissi

  wells@american.edu

Patricia Day Williams Adjunct Professor SPA | General Academics & Research

Patricia Day Williams transitioned from practicing and teaching family medicine to consulting in organization development (OD) over 25 years ago. She maintains a broad-based OD practice that includes

  pwilli@american.edu

Brian Williams Adjunct Professor SPA | Key Executive Education IRC Programs

Brian Williams, Ed.D. is a senior training specialist and the owner of Awzom Technology & Management. He is an Organizational Development Professional, Executive Coach, Professional Speaker, Author

  williams@american.edu

Last name starts with Z

Kevin Zachery Adjunct Professorial Lecturer SPA | Public Administration

Kevin Zachery was born in Paris, France, and raised in Eagle River, Alaska. He’s been a student of leadership and organizational development since high school, when he was the Commander of his Navel J

  zachery@american.edu

Ruth Zaplin Senior Executive in Residence SPA | Public Administration

Dr. Ruth Zaplin is an Executive-in-Residence, School of Public Affairs, Department of Public Administration & Policy and Director of International Programs, Key Executive Leadership Programs at Americ

  zaplin@american.edu

  (202) 885-6300