Jennifer Scott Mobley, Ph.D.

Supporting mid-level and senior leaders as they prepare for the future of higher education and the next steps in their careers.

Jennifer is a leadership and executive coach who helps higher education leaders and institutions cultivate the mindset and skill set needed to thrive in an ever-changing world. Informed by approximately 20 years of progressive experience as a higher education leader, Jennifer’s coaching, training, and research focus on the key leadership competencies that higher education leaders need so they can break down silos and build strong collaborations and cultures where everyone can flourish. She works extensively with deans, provosts, and vice presidents as they navigate change in higher education and the next steps in their careers.

Jennifer holds a Ph.D. in Communication from Ohio University, and she has held a variety of leadership positions in academic and student affairs throughout her career, including program director, department chair, and assistant dean at a small liberal arts college. She currently serves as a director of strategic initiatives where she works closely with the provost on developing and coordinating high-priority strategic planning initiatives. In addition to her work as a higher education leader and coach, Jennifer is an experienced trainer of professional development programming for emerging and senior leaders in higher education, ranging from department chairs to provosts. She serves as a co-instructor for the Leading and Influencing Bootcamp at Academic Impressions. Jennifer’s research has been featured in several journals, including The International Journal of Appreciative Inquiry, Communication Studies, and The Journal of Applied Communication Research, among others.

Jennifer has also worked with numerous clients in education and business, including the Tennessee Higher Education Commission, New York University, Microsoft, GE Aviation, Commonwealth University of Pennsylvania, and Middle Tennessee State University. She serves as a coach for the University of Tennessee’s Executive Leadership Institute and an executive coach for the President’s Executive Leadership Academy at TCAT Knoxville. She brings those experiences, as well as her training and practice as an organizational communication professor and consultant, to synthesize best practices and approaches in a new paradigm about what it means to be an effective leader in 21st-century higher education.

As a Gallup-certified strengths coach, Jennifer uses strengths-based and design-thinking approaches to support leaders and teams in the successful pursuit of strategic and transformative initiatives. A core of her coaching philosophy is providing clients with the evidence-based frameworks and communication strategies needed for leading change and building successful collaborations in higher education. Ultimately, Jennifer combines a proven track record of higher education leadership with a variety of advising, consulting, and coaching approaches to ensure that each leader has a custom process to help them achieve their highest professional and institutional priorities.