MOR Leaders Program (MLP)

About MOR

Since their inception in 1983, MOR has supported, advised, coached, and, inspired leaders as they develop strategies designed to enhance their individual and organization’s success. In addition to customized leadership development programs, MOR offers strategic consulting and survey services, working in partnership with clients to bring about sustainable improvements.

MLP Program Objectives

  • To enhance the professional and personal development of senior staff who will play increasingly important management and leadership roles.
  • To explore opportunities for each individual to make sustainable improvements in their effectiveness.
  • To gain a heightened perspective on strategic issues facing higher education institutions post-pandemic.
  • To evolve each individual’s capabilities to build a diverse workforce and create an inclusive work environment.
  • To strengthen relationships and foster collaboration within and across the participating universities.

Nomination Criteria

When we consider nominations for the MOR Leaders Program (MLP, formerly ITLP), we are looking for members of the One IT community across campus who would benefit most from participation in the program. We look for the technology leaders of today and for the future we need to create the vision and motivate people to move UC Berkeley to the next level. The successful candidate should:

  • Demonstrate significant leadership potential and a desire to grow their skills
  • Currently serve in a supervisor/manager role, preferably with several years of managerial experience
  • Be a mid-career professional on the leadership path
  • Have 3+ years of service at UC Berkeley
  • Expect to stay at Berkeley for at least 3+ years

Program Design

The program provides a variety of learning opportunities encompassed in four tracks: an individual development track, an applied learning track, a leadership community track and a workshop track. This engagement will start with the individual track and span over ten months. Some workshops will meet in-person at host universities and others will be virtual.

The Individual Development Track

Each participant will create and pursue an individual development plan. The process includes 360° feedback, a self-assessment, and the establishment of personal goals. Individuals will work with an executive coach and receive a number of one-to-one coaching sessions. This component supports participants in doing the individual “work on self” which is a critical dimension of the program. To best meet each individual where they are and give them a running start into the development experience, the front end of this program has a heavy focus on the individual development track. Initial steps include:

  • Registration and 360° survey
  • MOR coach 360° debrief with the participant with guidance on creating a development plan with goals and applied practices
  • Participants begin working on their development plans, join affinity groups with a similar focus to exchange insights and start working with learning teams on Workshop I presentations.
  • Coaches continue to meet with each participant and with learning teams/affinity groups and learning teams throughout the program.

The Applied Learning Track

Because this engagement is spaced over ten months and integrates real-life challenges, client cases, and application assignments, participants have the opportunity to immediately put into practice what they learn and the opportunity to expand on their learning when they convene in learning teams/affinity groups and in the applied learning meetups and in later workshops.

The Leadership Community Track

The program puts considerable emphasis on building a leadership community. Workshops are interactive; learning teams/affinity groups are charged with work between sessions; participants are assigned peer coaches. The bonds formed during the program become currency for getting things done across the organization. Participants learn from each other, rely on each other, and sustain their relationships well beyond the program.

The Workshop Track

Intensive workshop sessions, focused on providing conceptual frameworks, building selected competencies, and introducing tools needed to fulfill the leadership and management roles particular to universities. Applied meetups allow for deeper dives and cohort connections between workshops. The workshops are spaced across ten months, each with application assignments to be completed between the sessions. Leaders from sponsoring organizations will be presenting to the cohort as well.

Program Themes and Sample Topics

The Evolving Leader

  • Distinguishing Between Leading, Managing and Doing
  • No Amount of Tactics Will Make Up for What You Lack in Strategy
  • Strategic Thinking in a Higher Ed IT Environment

Leading Change

  • The Leader’s Role in Bringing About the Needed Evolution
  • What Neuroscience Can Teach Us About Making Sustainable Changes

Leadership Involves Exercising Influence

  • What is Your Influence Style?
  • Developing Your Influence Strategies

Enhancing the Needed Interpersonal Skills

  • Enhancing Your Emotional Intelligence
  • Building Relationships
  • The Leader As Communicator
  • Leaders Need to be Resilient

The Leader's Role in Creating a More Inclusive Environment

  • Understanding How Mental Models Influence What We See
  • Group Process and Dynamics, Facilitating Inclusion, Addressing Equity

Leaders Deliver Results

  • Delivering Results You Can Measure
  • Coaching for Results

Leadership and Ethics

  • Why Do Good Leaders Make Unethical Decisions?

Talent Development and Disruptive Innovation

  • Talent Management
  • How to Have Difficult Conversations
  • Leading in a Time of Disruptive Innovation
  • Continuing Your Leadership Journey

Proposed Format for the 2023 MOR Leaders Program

  • Names and emails are required by Nov. 21, 2023, to enroll in the cohort.
  • Registration and 360 survey instrument begin Dec. 1, 2023
  • Executive coaching begins in Jan. 2024, so participants may establish an individual development plan prior to workshop one.

2024 UC Berkeley MLP

Workshop One: Feb. 27 - 29, 2024 (3-Day In-Person Workshop, hosted at Florida State University) Tuesday & Wednesday, 8:30 a.m. - 5 p.m. | Thursday, 8:30 a.m. - 2 p.m.


Workshop Two: Part 1: Apr. 4 - 5, 2024 (Virtual)
Day one will meet for 4.5 hours, Day two will meet for 90 mins. Exact times TBD

Workshop Two: Part 2: May 16 - 17, 2024 (Virtual)
Day one will meet for 4.5 hours, Day two will meet for 90 mins. Exact times TBD


Workshop Three: June 25 - 27, 2024 (3-Day In-Person Workshop hosted at UC Berkeley) Tuesday & Wednesday, 8:30 a.m. - 5 p.m. | Thursday, 8:30 a.m. - 2 p.m.


Workshop Four: Part 1: Aug. 1 - 2, 2024 (Virtual)
Day one will meet for 4.5 hours, Day two will meet for 90 mins. Exact times TBD

Workshop Four: Part 2: Aug. 22 - 23, 2024 (Virtual)
Day one will meet for 4.5 hours, Day two will meet for 90 mins. Exact times TBD


Workshop Five: Sept. 24 - 26, 2024 (3-Day In-Person Workshop, hosted at Notre Dame) Wednesday & Thursday, 8:30 a.m. - 5 p.m. | Friday, 8:30 a.m. - 2 p.m.


2024 Berkeley Cohort:

  1. Allison Czapracki, Manager, Learning Environments and Tools, Research, Teaching and Learning (RTL)

  2. Finsen Chiu, Manager of EECS Instructional IT, College of Engineering

  3. Jovie Soliman, Voice Services Manager, Campus Information Technology Infrastructure (CITI), bIT

  4. Michelle White, Operations Director, Student Affairs IT

  5. Patrick Pender, Operating Systems Support Manager, Campus Information Technology Infrastructure (CITI), bIT

  6. Sally Baker, Manager, ITCS Service Desk and Remote Device Support, Campus IT Experience (CITE), bIT

  7. Sunil Kumar Panta, Application Delivery Manager, Campus Applications and Data (CAD), bIT

  8. Vahid Nadi, Manager of Information Management and Workflow (Imagine Team), Campus IT Experience (CITE), bIT

Functional Sponsor

Casey Hennig, One IT Program Manager, Berkeley IT

UC Berkeley MLP Alumni pictured with Sean McDonald from MOR Associates in 2023