Dr. Wallis has a lifelong history of interweaving academic pursuits and the practice of leadership in organizational settings. She has concentrated her consulting, executive coaching, and teaching on the practice of leadership in complex and challenging organizational settings in healthcare and other service industries. She has designed leadership development and organizational theory courses in several business schools, has supervised doctoral dissertations contributing to leadership literature, and currently is a professor at Pitzer College, Pepperdine Universityʼs Graziadio School of Business and Management, and Danube University.

Her particular interests in leadership development and collaborative developmental action inquiry as a way for understanding and harnessing individual, group, and organizational levels of action underpin her approach with students and management consulting clients. A central research interest is linking individual and senior leadership team development to improving organizational performance. One of her most recent publications in the Leadership Quarterly, “Individualized Leadership: A qualitative study of senior executive leaders” presents one study in which individuals in formally assigned, unique leader-follower dyads created mutually transforming relationships.

Nancy has served in numerous executive roles with leading healthcare insurance companies, where she had administrative responsibility for $1 billion in medical expenses, including premium billing and collections, medical claims, and risk management. Other past affiliations include KPMG Peat Marwick and PricewaterhouseCoopers, where she led cross-cultural teams in accomplishing critical organizational improvement and change initiatives. Nancy is recognized for her work with senior executives and their teams to improve their efficacy in leading change and organizational learning in alignment with organizational goals and desired outcomes. Current executive coaching clients include medical doctors committed to enhancing their leadership presence, influence, and impact with their staff and colleagues. Her client list includes Allergan, Wellpoint, Henry Mayo Newhall Memorial Hospital, Blue Shield of California, HP, Conagra Foods, Universal Music Group, Makar Properties, Trizecahn, MedImmune, and J.D. Power.

With a career as a scholar-practitioner, Dr. Wallis is committed to the study and practice of leadership that improves the quality of human lives, in small and large systems, in which personal and collective transformations are engaged, and where organizational goals are aligned with increasing social and economic justice. She is a member of the Academy of Management, where she serves on the board of the Organizational Development and Change Division. She is Chair-elect of the Management Consulting Divisionʼs Doctoral Consortium, and presents her research at the annual meeting. She is a founding member of Action Inquiry Associates, a member of the Growth Edge Network (GEN), and faculty member at the Center for Creative Leadership. She is also a member of the Academy of International Business and presents regularly at the annual conferences associated with these organizations, as well as at industry and client meetings throughout the US and Europe.

Dr. Wallis holds a doctorate degree in Human and Organizational Systems, with a focus on organizational leadership development. She earned her M.S.P.H. and M.B.A. degrees from U.C.L.A., and her B.S. in Biochemistry from UC Davis.

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