Wilkes Consulting, LLC was launched in January, 2006, by Susan Brock Wilkes, Ph.D. to provide customized leadership and team development services. While Susan is the primary consultant for the firm, she maintains a wide network of colleagues with specialized organizational and leadership development expertise.  If project scope indicates it would be useful, additional consultants or coaches may collaborate on the work.

Susan Wilkes is an organizational psychologist who brings an in-depth understanding of human potential and group dynamics to her work.   An academic with keen interest in practical applications, Susan is committed to helping her clients gain lasting knowledge which they use to benefit themselves and their organizations.  She is known for her insightful and warm approach, participatory learning methods, ability to forge common goals among independent thinkers, and focused attention on outcomes.

Biographical Information

Susan’s experience in leadership and team development is extensive.  Prior to establishing Wilkes Consulting, she was employed at the Grace E. Harris Leadership Institute at Virginia Commonwealth University, where she designed and directed leadership development programs for diverse groups. Earlier, she was the Director of the Workplace Initiatives Program at VCU, which she founded in 1994. In that role, she created a profit center and led her team in the successful design and delivery of executive coaching, leadership assessment, and training programs to nonprofit, governmental, and private sector clients.  Previous positions include serving as Assistant Director of the VCU Career Center and as a career counselor at the University of Richmond Women’s Resource Center. 

Susan continues to serve as an affiliate faculty member in the Department of Psychology at VCU and as an adjunct professor at Mary Baldwin College.

She is a highly rated classroom teacher who has taught courses such as industrial/organizational psychology, group dynamics, adult development, stress management, career counseling, and consultation.  A skilled designer of assessment tools and experiential training activities, Wilkes has had four works selected for publication in the Pfeiffer Annual series.  She is the author of a 360-degree feedback leadership assessment tool which is used in a variety of leadership training programs, including the Virginia Executive Institute.

A Phi Kappa Phi graduate of the doctoral program at VCU, Susan Wilkes also holds an undergraduate degree in psychology, with distinction, and masters’ degree in counseling from the University of Virginia.  She is a Licensed Professional Counselor whose practice includes more than 20 years of experience working with adults. 

Wilkes served as President of The Chrysalis Group, a nonprofit which aids people in spiritual and psychological growth, from 1999-2003 and on the Board of Directors since 1995.  Other nonprofit leadership roles include Past-President of the Richmond Chapter of the Association for Psychological Type and a founding board member of “Hold the Door for Others,” a nonprofit founded to help people experiencing loss.  Her most recent publication is as editor of the anthology Doorways:  Families, Friends, and Survivors of September 11 Reflect on Living with Loss.  A black belt in Tae Kwon Do, Susan is an avid runner and yoga practitioner.  She lives in Richmond, VA with her husband and two sons.