Published: Sept. 16, 2015

Three new faculty members joined the Center for Education on Social Responsibility (CESR) this fall.

A Holistic Leader

Marni Gauthier, CESR InstructorThe embodiment of a holistic approach to leadership “from the inside out,” new CESR instructor Marni Gauthier, PhD, is an award-winning teacher, expert learning designer and published author as well as a certified yoga instructor, devoted meditation practitioner, and athlete (she has placed first in several of fifteen completed triathlons!).

This semester she teaches CESR’s course.

Before landing on CESR’s doorstep, Marni was a tenured professor of contemporary literature and film for 10 years at the State University of New York. In 2010 the CEO of Conversant, a global consulting firm headquartered in Boulder, sponsored her participation in their signature nine-month leadership intensive. From there, she went on to train executive teams how to conduct “Crucial Conversations,” became a certified professional coach,and continued mentorship with Fortune 500 leadership consultants.

Based on a holistic leadership paradigm and approaching one’s life as a creative force, Marni founded her own consulting-training practice,, in 2012. Her current book,Co-Creativity: The Art of Holistic Leadership and Relationship, addresses the women’s leadership and men’s movements.

“From all this, I learned that a corporation is only as socially responsible and sustainable as its people and particularly, its leaders. A leader who knows her purpose and who consciously aligns her values with the Mission, Vision and Values of the organization s/he leads—and vice versa—helps make that enterprise sustainable,” says Gauthier.

So how did she end up teaching at CESR?

Gauthier actively sought to bridge her successful academic career with her more recent leadership development work.

“In a stroke of serendipity, I met the fabulous Dave Payne, who told me with relish of CESR. I was attracted to the role of values-based leadership within the Leeds School, and of students' discovering and living into their own values in CESR.”

“The students are great – smart and driven, clearly, but also, I am finding, down to earth and real,” says Gauthier. She’s impressed by students’ willingness to step outside their comfort zones “to learn something new about themselves and where they’re going in the world.”

An HR Expert

CrisAn avid hiker, fly fisher and world traveler, Cris Aboussie is a new CESR instructor teaching BCOR 3010, Business Applications of Social Responsibility after working as a discussion leader at CESR for the last two years.

As a human resources professional for over 25 years as well as founder of HR Solutions, Aboussie says that after a long business career, “CESR is a great place to put some of my experience to work helping students find their way in the business world.”

She has provided her expertise to CEOs and the management teams of start-ups, high-growth companies, and technology-based organizations.

“It is refreshing to know that [the curriculum] is still evolving in order to keep pace with the needs of our students and with what is happening in the world,” says Aboussie.

A Staffing Pioneer

nancyHaving started three successful staffing firms since the ‘80s, new CESR Instructor Nancy Chapple is the owner of Bolder Staffing Inc., one of the top women-owned businesses in Colorado and winner of national awards for Best of Staffing.

“One of the initiatives of our company was to go green completely, and about four years ago we went entirely paperless in our application process, which in the staffing industry was difficult,” says Chapple.

“I've made some massive mistakes as well as smart business decisions,” she admits. “I think what drew me to CESR was the belief that I could help, through my own experience, the nextgeneration of business people.” Chapple teaches BCOR 1015, World of Business, after having been a discussion leader for the last two years.

Chapple raves, “Not only are the students awesome (I have to use their words) but the CESR staff has been incredibly supportive. They have taught me to strive to do whatever it takes to help students be successful.”

For More about CESR’s Award-Winning Faculty…

of them describing their courses.