Description
This peer mentoring circle creates space for women leaders navigating significant organizational changes that challenge their professional identity and core values. Using action learning principles and peer coaching, participants will explore how to lead authentically when external constraints limit traditional approaches to their work. Monthly sessions will help participants identify and articulate their core professional values, recognize misalignment between personal and organizational values, and develop strategies for maintaining integrity while adapting to new realities. Through structured reflection, action inquiry, and experimentation with practical tools, the group will brainstorm creative ways to operationalize their values even within challenging environments. Participants will support each other in making difficult decisions about when to adapt approaches, when to advocate for change, and how to sustain their leadership practice with resilience. This circle is ideal for women in higher education, nonprofits, or mission-driven organizations experiencing shifts in organizational culture or new constraints on their work, who want to explore how to grow as leaders while honoring what matters most to them.

Bio
Emily Saunders has been championing leadership and professional development initiatives at the University of Georgia for nearly 20 years. As Public Service Faculty at the Fanning Institute for Leadership Development, she specializes in creating and delivering programs that support both individual and group learning, with particular focus on women’s leadership development, public health leadership development, organizational development, and design thinking. She facilitates numerous leadership development programs for women, communities, and non-profits, and teaches two graduate level courses in adult learning and leadership. Emily’s research centers on creating communities that support and sustain learning and leadership development. Her doctoral work on deliberately developmental organizations received the International Leadership Association Women & Leadership Community’s Outstanding Scholarship for Emerging Scholars award in 2024. She is a certified FourSight Mindset facilitator and Emergenetics Associate, and coaches clients using the Hogan Assessment, Leadership Practices Inventory, and Global Leadership Profile. She is currently pursuing International Coaching Federation certification. Emily holds an EdD in Learning, Leadership, and Organization Development, a Master of Natural Resources, and a Bachelor of Science in Forest Resources, all from the University of Georgia. She has also earned a Foundations of Design Thinking certificate. Before joining the Fanning Institute, Emily co-created and taught professional development courses, collaborated with student leadership groups, launched two mentoring programs and a university-wide onboarding series, managed multiple alumni boards, and oversaw a successful annual giving program.