TEAM: CHRISTEL SLAUGHTER

Dr. Christel Slaughter is CEO at SSA Consultants, and for more than 30 years she has led organizational change and planning efforts for hundreds of clients across the United States with a concentration of this work focused in the public sector.

Her expertise is rooted in organizational design and development, specializing in change management, performance improvement, strategic planning, public outreach and engagement, training design and delivery, leadership development, facilitation services, and executive recruitment and coaching.

Some of her recent work includes leading the cultural organization transformation of a publicly traded community bank; designing and implementing an award-winning customer service program for a large health care institution; leading an ongoing organizational development, design, and build-out of the Louisiana Emergency Response Network; and designing integration strategies for the State of Louisiana’s multibillion-dollar coastal protection and restoration efforts.

Christel also worked to establish and implement Blueprint Louisiana, a statewide grassroots reform effort, where she has served as a principal since its inception. She is also Project Director of the East Baton Rouge City-Parish Green Light Plan, serving as the direct link between local government officials, program management team members, and the communities and stakeholders they both support.

In addition to client engagements, Christel is also a nationally recognized public speaker, presenting at notable conferences such as the National Association of Bar Executives, the Louisiana Association of Nonprofit Organizations and the Diocesan Fiscal Management Conference.

Prior to embarking on her consulting career in 1983, she served as a faculty member at Louisiana State University for seven years as a Distinguished Alumni Professor. Christel holds a Bachelor of Science in Marketing and a doctorate degree in Systems Management and Organizational Design from LSU, and while preparing for her doctorate, the Academy of Management Doctoral Consortium selected her as one of the top 35 doctoral students in the nation. In 2009, she accepted an invitation from the dean of LSU’s E.J. Ourso College of Business to teach a course in the Flores MBA Program as an adjunct professor.

An active leader not only in the business and academic world, but also in the community as a whole, Christel's accomplishments are numerous. She served as a delegate to the White House Conference on Small Business in 1995. She served as a torchbearer for the 1996 Summer Olympic Torch Run, and in 2009, she received the Brotherhood & Sisterhood Award for Greater Baton Rouge that “recognizes individuals in the Greater Baton Rouge community who have devoted their professional, philanthropic, and volunteer capacities to humanitarian services.” In 2010, LSU’s E.J. Ourso College of Business Administration inducted her into the Hall of Distinction for “making a significant contribution to business, academia, or government as well as to the community.” Most recently, in 2012, she received the Chancellor's Sesquicentennial Service Award, which seeks to honor individuals who have gone beyond the scope of their job or organization requirements to contribute their time and talents to LSU and the community in ways that benefit the common good.

Christel Slaughter, PhD

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