Barbara Kreisman

Barbara’s background transcends more than 30 years in the field of Leadership, Organizational Development and Strategic Planning. She is currently affiliated with the Knoebel Institute for Healthy Aging, Ritchie School of Engineering at the University of Denver (KIHA) where she cofacilitates, with her husband Scott McLagan, courses on the subject of Reimagining Retirement. Barb formerly was Associate Dean of the Daniels College of Business, responsible for leading the Executive Education and the Executive MBA Program for 18 years. Prior to joining DU, Barbara worked for a variety of notable companies—including Dell Technologies, Motorola Semiconductor, and Fisher Controls, a subsidiary of Emerson Electric, in a Strategic Human Resource & Organizational Effectiveness capacity.

Barb serves as an advisory board member for the Knoebel Institute for Healthy Aging and also the DU Graduate School of Social Work. She was recently named to the Colorado Commission on Aging and is the founding principal of an organization called Purposeful-Aging.org which features a website, blog and newsletter on subjects related to Aging. She hosts a monthly Wisdom Group which meets monthly at DU. 

Her academic achievements consist of a Ph.D. in Leadership & Organizational Behavior from the University of Texas at Austin; a master’s degree from Arizona State University and a second masters University of Texas at Austin. Her undergraduate work was in Journalism at the University of Wisconsin. At age 73 she returned to school and completed a year-long Leadership and Society Fellowship at the University of Chicago focused primarily on the field of aging.

Barb served as Board Chair for Wish of a Lifetime/AARP, an organization focused on changing the image of senior citizens in our society; is a Hospice volunteer, along with her two Golden Retriever therapy dogs; was named as a Trustee (Foundation Board) of the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater where she also is on the Dean’s Advisory Board for the College of Business and Economics. She is a former member of the Denver Health Hospital Foundation Board and is a member of the Colorado Chapter, International Women’s Leadership Forum. 

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