Dr. Jennifer R. Madden

Jennifer R. Madden, Ph.D. is president of Leverage Point Development. Dr. Madden is a strategist, researcher, teacher, facilitator, and design thinker providing strategic planning, resource development, technical assistance, and capacity building. Dr. Madden holds a Ph.D. from the Weatherhead School of Management, a Master’s Degree in Nonprofit Management, and undergraduate degrees in Economics and American Studies, all from Case Western Reserve University. Dr. Madden is a Nonprofit Management Research Fellow, a Fowler Sustainability Fellow and a Management Design Fellow. Her research is on designing effective cross-sector partnerships then leveraging those collaborations to build capacity for effective performance and social innovation. She is passionate about urban economic development, solution finding, bringing ideas to fruition and training the next generation of innovative design thinkers (and change agents) for system-level change and positive deviance.  

Dr. Madden holds a faculty appointment as the inaugural Dean of the School of Business at Linfield University. Dr. Madden previously served as Department Chair, Associate Professor of Management & Marketing and the founding Director of the Master of Business Design & Innovation program she developed and launched at Carthage College. The graduate program teaches students to lead and manage high performing cross-functional teams, design innovative solutions and develop effective strategies/programs across sectors. 

Her book, Inter-Organizational Collaboration by Design in the Routledge Critical Studies in Public Management Series examines how collaborations can overcome barriers to innovate and rejuvenate communities outlining the factors and antecedents that influence successful collaboration. The book proposes a theoretical perspective for collaborators to adopt the language of designers, evidence-based tools and strategies to enable success. The book outlines her journey from research to action resulting in a “Collaboration Blueprint” that assisted community-based nonprofit organizations to secure over $13.5M in grant funding (with nearly $9M raised in a single year).