Mary A. Ferdig, Ph.D., is a leadership consultant, educator, organizational researcher, and activist with four decades of experience at the intersection of human communication and organizational change. She has worked directly with more than 8,000 professionals across corporate, nonprofit, academic, and international sectors — including major nuclear utilities (Cooper Nuclear Station, Ontario Hydro, Zion, and Crystal River), where the cost of miscommunication is catastrophic.

As co-founder of the Sustainability Leadership Institute (2004), Dr. Ferdig maintains a global network of practitioners across the U.S., Canada, the UK, the EU, Israel, South Africa, and Australia. She has presented at the Academy of Management, international nuclear utility conferences, and a transdisciplinary summit at Leuphana University in Germany.

She holds a B.G.S. and M.A. in human communication studies from the University of Nebraska, Omaha, and a Ph.D. in organizational studies from Benedictine University, Chicago. Her publications include chapters in Research in Organizational Change and Development (2005) and the Encyclopedia of the World’s Biomes (2019), with additional work in conference proceedings, white papers, and academic journals. She has served as External Examiner for the Ph.D. program in Complexity Management at the University of Hertfordshire, UK.

Her forthcoming memoir, THE SPACE BETWEEN VOICES: A Memoir of Connection, Awareness, and Generative Communication in a Fractured World, represents the natural next chapter in a body of work that has always been, at its core, about how we reach each other.