Ilene J. Leff is the Founder and CEO of Leff Management Consulting. She is a recognized expert on leadership, strategy, organization effectiveness and change management with a focus on talent management, compensation and business development. She is both a senior management consultant and senior advisor to private sector companies, social entrepreneurs and nonprofits. Most recently, she focuses on building companies and nonprofits for the 21st century. She has been at the center of the changes in business, government and the nonprofit sectors.
Social Entrepreneurs
Since 1995 she has served as Senior Advisor to Ashoka: Innovators for the Public, one of the first organizations to recognize and support social entrepreneurs, as it grew from 12 to over 300 staff members. Its current strategy is Everyone a Changemaker. Other social entrepreneurs, working at the intersection of the private and social sectors, she helped start and grow include Community Greens, Endeavor, First Book, Get America Working, Teach for America, Working Today/Freelancers Insurance Co, a B corporation; Youth Venture.
Private Sector Clients
Ilene serves many leading companies. Her private sector clients include (alphabetically): Aremis, BOC Health Care, Capital Cities/ABC, Clinique, Colgate, DASI, Estee Lauder Companies/Estee Lauder and Estee Lauder International, First Data, Hearst Magazines, Johnson & Johnson, Lambda Labs, Liz Claiborne, May Department Stores Co., RAMCO, RosettaBooks, Sara Lee-Hanes, Unisys
She partners with and supports professional services firms including Brand Equity Ventures, Consumer Venture Partners, Goldman Sachs, Harris Rothenberg International, Hillman Capital, McKinsey & Company, New York Business Forums, Redding Consultants, Right Management Consultants, Sawyer Miller Group.
Nonprofit Clients
Her nonprofit client sectors and organizations include
Arts/Culture: Carnegie Hall, Metropolitan Opera Guild, New York Live Arts, Studio Museum in Harlem, Village Center for the Arts, Woodruff Arts Center
Associations: Fashion Group International, Fragrance Foundation
Community Foundations: Collier County, Connecticut
Conservation: Open Space Institute, Land Trust Alliance
Education: Columbia University, New Visions for Public Schools, Young Women’s Leadership Network
Health Care: Clinton Presidential Foundation, Collier Health Services, Columbia Medical Center, Helen Keller Worldwide, International Trachoma Initiative
Services: Connecticut Food Bank, Goddard Riverside Community Center, Netaid.org, Seamen’s Church Institute
Women’s Issues: National Women’s Law Center, Women’s Housing and Economic Development Company, Women’s Network for a Sustainable Future
Ilene has advised clients in these sectors across a variety of growth assignments, most recently organization transformation, strategy, human resource management planning, policies, programs; performance management, training, development, compensation and benefits design, recruiting, onboarding, information systems, employee relations, troubleshooting, emotional intelligence, new business development, legal compliance. There has never been one employee complaint against any organization “on her watch.”