Sue Padernacht

Biography

Sue Padernacht brings together rigorous academic preparation and extensive executive-level practitioner experience in her work as a Continuing Lecturer in Organization and Management at the Paul Merage School of Business, University of California, Irvine, where she has taught since 2005.

Padernacht holds a Doctor of Education in Organizational Change and Leadership from the University of Southern California's Rossier School of Education, where her dissertation investigated physician burnout during the COVID-19 pandemic and its implications for healthcare leadership, patient care, and nurse-physician team dynamics. She also holds a Master of Arts in Organizational Psychology and Behavior from Columbia University, Teachers College, and is a Professional Certified Coach (PCC) credentialed by the International Coach Federation.

At UCI Merage, Padernacht teaches primarily in the Flex MBA and Executive MBA programs, with a portfolio spanning negotiations, talent strategy and management, and executive leadership. She has received the Excellence in Teaching Award for her Negotiations for Executives course, most recently in 2024, a distinction that reflects the consistency and continued relevance of her work in the classroom.

She has also designed and delivered executive education for UCI's Merage Institute, working with Israeli technology entrepreneurs across FinTech, MedTech/Life Sciences, and FoodTech sectors, and has taught in leadership academies for organizations such as Ingram Micro, Hyundai USA, and Microsemi, as well as the Leadership of Healthcare Transformation Certificate program. Beyond UCI, she teaches Professional Communication in the Master of Professional Accountancy and Master of Quantitative Finance programs at the University of California San Diego, Rady School of Management, and Negotiations in Academic Medicine in the Leadership Learning Collaborative at the Medical College of Wisconsin.

In mid-2026, Padernacht published a negotiation role-play case with the Northwestern University Kellogg Dispute Resolution and Research Center, available through the Kellogg Teaching Resources platform at teachwithkellogg.com/product/anywhere-umc.

Padernacht's teaching is grounded in more than 40 years of practitioner and executive experience spanning corporate leadership, consulting, and entrepreneurship. In 1999, she founded Ncline Leadership Strategies, https://www.nclineleadership.com/index.asp, a consulting practice through which she has provided consulting, coaching, facilitation, and training to hundreds of organizations across dozens of industries, including healthcare providers and suppliers, technology, financial services, entertainment, and higher education. She stepped away from the practice when recruited to serve as Chief Learning Officer and Vice President of Talent and Organization Development at Tribune Publishing (2015–2018), where she was a driver of strategic change, leading the organization's digital transformation across all business units while rebuilding the talent development function across 11 United States markets. She has since returned to Ncline, where she integrates her executive experience and doctoral research into a practice focused on leadership development, organizational change, and executive coaching, bringing that same expertise into the classroom to help students navigate the complex realities of leadership, negotiation, communication, talent strategy, and organizational change.

Padernacht also hosts Tapping Wisdom, a podcast featuring leadership insights and conversations with thought leaders from industry and academia https://www.nclineleadership.com/video-resources.asp, and is a sought-after speaker at professional industry conferences and on podcasts on negotiation, leadership, burnout, and organizational change.

Padernacht serves on the National Board of Directors of the American Lung Association, https://www.lung.org/about-us/our-leadership/sue-padernacht, where she is a member of the Public Policy Committee and contributes to ad hoc committees focused on talent and volunteer engagement and learning and development, areas that directly intersect with her academic and professional expertise.

Education

• EdD in Organizational Change and Leadership, University of Southern California, Rossier School of Education, 2022
• MA in Organizational Psychology & Behavior/Organization and Leadership, Columbia University, Teachers College, 1984
• BA in Psychology, State University of New York at Stony Brook, 1982