vailsymposium

Sarah Smith Orr, with an MBA and PhD from Claremont University, is owner of Smith Orr & Associates, a consulting business specializing in executive leadership, strategic partnerships, education innovation and leadership. She’s also worked in-country and remotely with Fundación Escuela Nueva based in Bogota, Colombia. Sarah teaches various courses on leadership and social entrepreneurship, currently serving as teaching faculty with UCLA Extension, designing and teaching courses in leadership behaviors in culturally diverse global business and crisis situations, and with University of Nevada, Reno, teaching social entrepreneurship.

Sarah served as Executive Director of Kravis Leadership Institute and visiting professor in Claremont McKenna College’s Psychology Department, where she taught courses in leadership and social innovation. She was recipient of “Faculty Member of the Year” when she taught at the Peter F. Drucker and Masatoshi Ito Graduate School of Management, part of Claremont Graduate University.

She co-edited the book, “Improving Leadership in Nonprofit Organizations,” and she has written book chapters and a case study. Sarah is a certified practitioner and member of the advisory board of the Connective Leadership Institute and certified life/organizational coach with Hudson Institute of Coaching. As founding Executive Director, she led the Leadership California startup, a statewide leadership development/ educational program for California’s women leaders. Always active in community, she is a trustee at New Mexico School for the Arts in Santa Fe. Sarah serves as an advisor to the Vail Alliance for Purposeful Living, and she has been instrumental to its launch.