Michelle Coussens is Dean of the School of Business at Kendall College in Chicago, Illinois. Since 1934, Kendall College has offered engaging, specialized fields of study that generate employment-ready graduates poised for professional leadership positions in services industries around the world. Reporting to the Provost, Ms. Coussens oversees and manages all aspects of the Business School, including faculty and curriculum selection and assessment, as well as program direction. As part of Kendall’s academic leadership team, she participates in the College’s general education curriculum, assessment, and faculty development initiatives, providing vision and perspective.

Ms. Coussens also owns and operates Plan B Consulting. Services span teaching how and why to prepare a business plan, assisting in plan development, and business plan review. In addition, she facilitates strategic planning and other business retreats and conducts market analysis and competitive intelligence for various types of entrepreneurs and organizations nationwide.  In 2005, she developed, and still teaches, a two-day business planning course for NeighborWorks® America, a Congressionally-funded organization providing funding and technical assistance to community development entities nationwide. She has also served as a consultant to several community development organizations both within and outside the NeighborWorks network. Michelle is on the faculty of the American Management Association where she teaches strategic planning seminars, and through her business, she has published a monthly newsletter for the past five years, Planning Possibilities, which is currently distributed to more than 3,000 clients and contacts.

While previously working full-time as a senior analyst in the Research Department of the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, Michelle also taught at DePaul University as an adjunct instructor for the management department. Prior to working at the Fed, she spent several years working in the insurance arena. She has performed various managerial and technical roles throughout her 20+ year career and has particular expertise and demonstrated success in business planning and market analysis, as well as in project management and business development.

Michelle holds particular personal interest in researching and assisting not-for-profits. Her work in this arena originally began through her engagement in applied research focused on community development, most specifically related to financial literacy initiatives. In 2004, she published an article titled “Beyond Financial Education:  Changing Financial Behavior” in the Federal Reserve publication Profitwise News & Views and in 2005 published an article for the same publication titled “Toward Financial Literacy:  Program Leaders Comment on Evaluation and Impact”.  The full paper version of this article was accepted by and published in the American Council on Consumer Interests’ 2006 Annual. She and Chicago Fed co-author Robin Newberger also published papers regarding the role of insurance in improving financial access and wealth-building for moderate income consumers in two Federal Reserve publications in spring 2008.

Active in the community, Michelle has served several organizations in a volunteer capacity. She sat on the advisory board of Provena Pine View Care Center and created their first annual fundraiser, and she has acted as an annual fundraiser for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation for over fifteen years. She has served on the board of the Chicago Women in Publishing (CWIP) for two years, serving most recently as Vice President of Business Operations. She has served as an economics instructor for Junior Achievement and is active in several organizations including the Empowering Women Network, The Executives Club of Chicago, and ExecuNet. She has also led a partnership between Kendall College and Jobs for Youth Chicago, in order to assist at-risk youth in succeeding in college and has recently initiated a business leadership program between Kendall and the American Management Association that targets Chicago-area high school students.

Ms. Coussens holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in mathematics from Northwestern University and a Masters in Business Administration, with a concentration in Marketing, from DePaul University. She holds several professional insurance designations—Associate in Risk Management (ARM), Chartered Property/Casualty Underwriter (CPCU), and Registered Professional Liability Underwriter (RPLU) and has completed actuarial exams in Calculus, Statistics, Operations Research, and Economics.

Michelle lives in Batavia, a suburb of Chicago, where she and her husband spend their “free time” navigating and surviving life with three very busy teenagers.