Throughout its history, Leadership Burbank’s nine-month premiere leadership program has been facilitated by skilled professionals in leadership development with guest speakers and facilitators from some of most talented local and regional experts in business, community building, education, charitable work, and the entertainment industry. Each class benefits from a slightly different focus of leadership development and civic engagement due to the commitment of the Board of Directors to keep this program relevant to today’s leadership issues, skillsets, and solutions.
Throughout our more than thirty years of serving the Burbank community, our experts in leadership have carefully taught class members and Leadership Burbank is grateful to all of our facilitators. The Leadership Burbank’s nine month leadership development curriculum is always evolving to stay relevant to today’s leadership models, challenges, and successes. Our curriculum is challenging, inspiring, and based in discovering values based leadership, both for each class member as well as in a group dynamic. Leadership Burbank is grateful to each facilitator for their leadership and passion for our mission, impacting the lives of over 600 alumni.
During the 2026-2027 class session, the nine-month program will take a slightly new approach, keeping the leadership development at its core as well as maintaining the exciting access to a behind the scenes look at Burbank’s finest. Facilitators for these class sessions will call on leaders who are critical to Burbank, as well as regional experts and guest speakers.
During the course of the Leadership Burbank nine-month program, class members will also meet with and learn from experts at these exciting Burbank destinations:
- The City of Burbank
- Providence St. Joseph Medical Center
- Hollywood Burbank Airport
- Warner Bros. Discovery
- Burbank Chamber of Commerce
- Worthe Real Estate Group
- Nickelodeon Animation Studios
- The YMCA of Burbank
- and more!
For the leadership development curriculum, Leadership Burbank is calling on one of our original partners, Woodbury Business Institute, formerly Woodbury University. The Woodbury Business Institute (WBI), a distinct AACSB-accredited unit within the University of Redlands’ School of Business and Society, is pleased to build on WBI’s longstanding commitment to leadership development and community engagement in Burbank. The program will be facilitated by a team of three course facilitators:
- Dr. Joan Marques, Director and Professor of Management
- Dr. Jennifer Madden, Dean, School of Business and Society
- Dr. Adam Wood, Professor of Management
With their academic expertise and practical, real-world experience, they’re experts in strengthening people and preparing them to lead in a wide variety of sectors in communities.
Here is the facilitation team:
Here’s a little about Dr. Joan Marques, PhD, EdD, MBA :
Dr. Joan Marques is a trailblazing scholar, author, and educator reshaping how we think about leadership, ethics, and spirituality in business. As Director of the Woodbury Business Institute at the University of Redlands, she has pioneered a bold academic vision that fuses mindfulness with management, turning conventional leadership models on their heads. Armed with dual doctorates – a PhD in Social Sciences from Tilburg University and an EdD in Organizational Leadership from Pepperdine – Marques commands unprecedented scholarly influence: 40+ published books, 180+ peer-reviewed articles, and an h-index of 36. Her masterwork, The Encyclopedia of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Spirituality (Springer, 2025), exemplifies her gift for turning complex interdisciplinary research into societal impact. Beyond academia, she co-founded the Academy of Spirituality and Professional Excellence and the Business Renaissance Institute. Honored as Commandeur in Suriname’s Honorary Order of the Yellow Star, she embodies a rare synthesis of rigorous scholarship and soulful wisdom.
Here is a little about Jennifer Madden, Ph.D.:
Dr. Jennifer Madden is a nationally recognized academic leader driving innovation and social responsibility into the heart of business education. She most recently served as the inaugural Dean of the School of Business and Paul S. Barber Chair of Design and Innovation at Linfield University, where she built and accredited bold new graduate programs – including Design and Innovation and Sport Leadership – anchored by a distinctive international consulting capstone. Her career spans influential faculty roles at Carthage College, Case Western Reserve University, and Cleveland State University, where she sharpened a scholarly focus on collaborative problem-solving across organizations. Her book, Inter-Organizational Collaboration by Design, holds a place in the Routledge Critical Studies in Public Management Series. A champion of community engagement and cross-sector partnership, Madden holds dual bachelor’s degrees in Economics and American Studies, a Master of Nonprofit Organizations, and a PhD in Management – all from Case Western Reserve University, where her academic journey began and evolved into national leadership.
Here is a little about Adam Wood, Ph.D.:
Dr. Adam Wood is a scholar-practitioner who bridges rigorous behavioral science with real-world organizational impact. Holding a PhD in Management with a specialization in Organizational Behavior from the University of Southern California, an MA in Psychology from the University of Colorado, and a BA from the University of Chicago, Wood brings a multi-method lens to the study of interpersonal perception, leadership, negotiation, and decision-making – probing how emotion regulation and recognition shape individuals, teams, and organizational culture. Before entering academia full-time, he spent years as a management and technology consultant across the United States and Europe, advising giants like Visa, Sybase, Federal Express, and American Management Systems, and later extended that expertise into global leadership development consulting. A published author and frequent presenter at the Academy of Management and American Psychological Association, Wood is an active member of the Academy of Management, American Psychological Society, Society for Personality and Social Psychology, and Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology.
Thank you to all of our Facilitators!
Leadership Burbank will forever be grateful to all of our facilitators who have helped to grow and shape our nine month program and support our class members in the Leadership Burbank journey!
Past facilitators include Mary Alvord and Sue Georgino, Don St. Clair and Janet McIntyre, Dr. Phyllis Cramer, and JP O’Connor, FASAE.
