Dr. Connie Watson has over 30 years of experience working with leaders and teams from a variety of cultural contexts (from inner city Philadelphia to India). She has been instrumental in coaching and facilitating learning that increases individual’s and group’s multicultural capacity, strategic thinking, emotional intelligence, and growth mindset. She is passionate about helping people navigate courageous conversations with care, respect, and honesty. Connie operates from a sense of purpose to encourage personal growth (mind, body, and heart) and co-create high performing teams and sustainable learning organizations with her clients and partners.

Born in Canada as a second generation Macedonian and brought up Jewish in a small midwestern town in the United States, Connie learned to navigate difference and appreciate the complexity of intersectionality early in life. This sparked her interest in the social sciences, and she became a Psychology Professor. In this role, she created and taught learning communities (focused on social justice, criminology, and wellbeing/resilience.) and co-authored a certificate program for Peace & Community Psychology.

More recently, Connie was the Lead Faculty and Director of the Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Business Initiative in Philadelphia where she played an instrumental role in supporting over 400 entrepreneurs, during her tenure, as they created growth plans for their businesses and strengthened their leadership capacity. She also served at the Director of the Faculty Center for Teaching and Learning at the Community College of Philadelphia and was the Director of Staff Professional Development at Central Michigan University. Currently, Connie is an independent consultant working with non-profits to Fortune 100 companies.

Connie is co-author and presenter of a number of articles and research studies including: A Collaborative Inquiry: Raising Cross Culture Competence, Sisters Without Borders: Collaborative Mentoring for Social and Personal Wellbeing, Evolution and Reconstruction of Learning Cities for Sustainable Action, and Internationalizing the Community College. She has presented her work at the American Psychological Association, the Society for Human Resource Management, and the International Transformative Learning Conference. Connie is certified in Appreciative Inquiry, MBTI Personality Assessment, NCBI (Diversity Training) and has been a training evaluator for the American National Standard Institute (ANSI). She has received several awards including an Endowed Teaching Chair from Delta College and she is on the board of LearnLong Institute, a thinktank that promotes research and education in Transformative Learning and Social Change. Connie has a BA in Psychology from Western Michigan University, a MS in Organizational Psychology from Emporia State University, and an Ed.D. in Adult Learning and Leadership from Teachers College, Columbia University.

On her free time she enjoys the outdoors, from camping and hiking to paddle boarding. She loves hanging out with her family and pets and is always up for an adventure. Visiting and learning about new places and people reminds her of the vastness and of the world and at the same time, the interconnectedness of all things.

Connie Watson, Ed.D