As an executive coach, my Ballentine consultant had an expert touch. His professional experiences enabled him to analyze situations, provide concrete suggestions for handling leadership challenges, and offer wise counsel regarding using one’s strengths to move forward. With adept listening skills and discernment, he helped me navigate minefields to emerge as a stronger, more capable and effective leader.   …

As a relatively new academic dean at a small, liberal arts college, one of my main responsibilities was to create an environment of trust, supporting honest and open discussions about the issues affecting our institution. Having Ballentine Consulting as a partner in my first year helped me to understand how I was perceived. My leadership coach worked with me on how I communicate, both one-on-one and in small groups. We worked on both verbal and non-verbal communication. My coach was thorough in his assessment, giving me the confidence to own my leadership and communication style. The continued follow-up and reinforcement …

After transitioning from a mid-sized state institution to a small private school, it became evident that I could benefit from leadership coaching to help strengthen my interpersonal skills and communications strategies. For me, Ballentine Consulting Partners provided the ideal leadership coach. He was highly perceptive, especially when it came to the social and interpersonal nuances of academia, and had an amazing depth of experience. Skilled at developing creative strategies to address leadership and team-related issues, he helped me to take ownership of my situation. Because of his coaching, I am now a better leader, both for my colleagues and my …

DavidsonLearns serves the greater Lake Norman communities in the North Carolina Piedmont. In late 2016, our board recognized the need for major changes, including hiring an executive director and the development of a strategic plan. The Ballentine consultant provided a process framework that included inputs from all major stakeholders; led an executive retreat to establish strategic priorities and objectives; and facilitated a series of planning meetings which ultimately led to a clearly articulated five-year strategic plan. As a highly skilled practitioner, the consultant helped us challenge the status quo, better understand our strengths and weaknesses, overcome our doubts and build …

Ballentine consultants understand that every institution is different. Rather than imposing a “cookie cutter, boiler plate, off-the-shelf” solution like many consulting firms, they listen carefully to the concerns and the nuances surrounding a campus issue. Ballentine helped us kick off our first-ever capital campaign, guiding us from pre-planning to the announcement, to the implementation of strategies and tactics, to successfully move toward achieving our aggressive campaign goals. Ballentine counseled our leadership team on a wide range of issues, ranging from academic affairs, admissions and financial aid, student retention, athletics and student affairs. Their expertise is broad and deep.…

Ballentine was a key partner in addressing two of my highest priorities as I assumed the role of President of the University of Richmond. Our consultant conducted a thorough and forward-looking assessment of the existing marketing and communications area that prompted buy in from our trustees, and eventually completed a very successful national search for our VP for Communications and Marketing, now one of my very strongest senior staff leaders. …

Ballentine was an essential part of our effort to revitalize our advancement operations and leadership, guiding staff through strategies to adopt best practices in advancement. She was key to all our upgrades to existing staff and procedures and subsequently led the successful search for our new vice president for advancement. …

As we began to craft a new strategic plan several years ago, we knew that we needed to get smarter about how we allocated our resources. Toward that end, we engaged Ballentine to launch our strategic planning retreat with a session on “prioritizing for excellence.” The consultant challenged us to question our assumptions, better understand our goals, assess our programs more honestly, and consider carefully how we were investing our resources. We emerged from this experience as better stewards of our limited resources and better prepared to achieve our goals. I would recommend Ballentine to any institution that is in …