MARIN LEADERS INSTITUTE

"Leaders grow; they are not made." -Peter Drucker

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FACULTY

Octave V. Baker, Core Faculty

Octave V. Baker, Ph.D., has 20 years of experience as an internal and external organizational development consultant and as a cross-cultural and communications trainer.  He has served as a senior organization development specialist at Advanced Micro Devices and as associate director of the Masters Program in Organizational Psychology at John F. Kennedy University (Campbell campus).  He is also an Adjunct Lecturer in the Engineering Management and Leadership Program at Santa Clara University. 

He consults with public agencies and nonprofit organizations on leadership development, organizational change, strategic planning, and developing community-based collaboratives.  He also helps organizations enhance cultural competence and inclusion at all levels.  In addition, he facilitates meetings and retreats.

He received his doctorate with honors in Community and Organizational Psychology from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor.  He is a graduate of the Organization and Systems Development Program at the Gestalt Institute of Cleveland and is a professional member of the NTL Institute.  He also holds a certificate in Executive Coaching from the Professional School of Psychology in Sacramento, CA.  Dr. Baker is listed in Community Leaders and Noteworthy Americans.

Judith Noel, Faculty
Judith has degrees in Education, Counseling Psychology, and Organizational Behavior. She has expertise in organization culture change, leadership development, diversity, work redesign efforts, quality improvement processes and building high performance cross-functional teams. Ms. Noel coaches senior executives in Fortune 100 companies in numerous industries. Her 23 year old bi-coastal consulting firm, the Seapoint Consulting Corporation, specializes in organizational change and executive development.

She currently leads an international group of women in a five-year collaborative research project on women's leadership, is the founder of the LUNA Institute for Women's Leadership and Learning and has held teaching positions at the Whithemore School of Business and Economics, the Universities of New Hampshire, Minnesota, Sonoma State and Georgetown. Judith qualifies practitioners in the MBTI through Otto Kroeger Associates, is a member of the Stanford Facilitator Network and a former Director at National Training Labs.

She is a consultant and trainer with expertise in organization culture change, leadership development, and diversity who has held teaching positions at the Universities of New Hampshire, Sonoma State, Minnesota and Georgetown. Judith holds degrees in Education, Counseling Psychology and Organizational Behavior.

Leyna Bernstein, Faculty

Leyna Bernstein is the Director of Programs at the Center for Community Benefit Organizations. Prior to joining the CBO, Ms. Bernstein was the Program Director at the Center for Volunteer and Nonprofit Leadership of Marin. Former roles have included Director of Consulting Services at The Management Center, a San Francisco-based nonprofit resource center serving all of Northern California, and independent consulting and training services to nonprofit organizations through her own firm, Bernstein & Associates.

Before founding her own firm, Ms. Bernstein spent over a decade as a human resources executive with The Nature Company, The Gap and Smith & Hawken.  Her work focused on translating socially responsible missions and values into organizational practices, policies and procedures.

Ms. Bernstein has taught and lectured throughout the Bay Area on nonprofit management, leadership and governance. She is the author of “Best Practices: The Model Employee Handbook for California Nonprofits” and “Creating Your Employee Handbook: A How-To Kit for Nonprofits”, both published by Jossey-Bass.  Ms. Bernstein earned her B.A. at the University of California at Berkeley.

Susy Stewart, Faculty

Susy Stewart, CYT is a warm and sensitive teacher who draws on 20 years of yoga practice and her experience as a teacher and educator specializing in team building, conflict management and leadership.  Susy has studied yoga in India and teaches at the Yoga Center of Marin.  Her teaching connects perennial wisdom with the modern world promoting inner and outer peace.   

William B.Stewart, Faculty
William B. Stewart, MD is a nationally renowned oculoplastic surgeon, a former Chairman of California Pacific Medical Center’s Department of Ophthalmology, and a current member of the Senior Management team at California Pacific Medical Center. He is a co-founder and the Medical Director of the Institute for Health & Healing.

Dr. Stewart was inspired to create this integrative medicine program after working at the world’s largest eye hospital in India, where each patient is served with a balance of scientific expertise and spiritual attention. “Health involves the physical, mental, emotional, social, environmental, and spiritual dimensions of our existence,” he says. “Healing processes range from becoming aware of feelings, to combinations of therapies such as surgery and nutrition, to deep lifestyle changes.”

Dr. Stewart has received the “Best Doctors in America” recognition every year for more than ten years. He is a frequent guest lecturer around the world, has published in numerous medical journals, and is soon to publish a consumer health book based on his experience. His medical degree is from the University of Minnesota Medical School, and his postgraduate medical education included study at UCSF, the University of Colorado, the University of Miami, the University of London, and the Aravind Eye Hospital in India.

Funded with a grant from the Marin Community Foundation. 

Supported by Pacific Gas and Electric Company and Greater Bay Bank.