Elizabeth Leiba

Founder, The Center for Black Women, Work, and Power

I lead a research-driven initiative examining labor, leadership, and institutional accountability at a critical inflection point in the American workforce.

My work focuses on how Black women experience power inside organizations, how institutions respond to economic and cultural disruption, and how leadership norms, policy decisions, and workplace structures shape outcomes over time. I approach these questions through long-form research, narrative analysis, and applied inquiry grounded in lived professional experience.

I have published multiple books that function as field-based research, documenting patterns in voice, silence, leadership evaluation, and institutional behavior across corporate, educational, and policy-adjacent environments. These works serve as qualitative evidence informing my ongoing analysis of workplace systems rather than as prescriptive or self-help material.

The Center for Black Women, Work, and Power provides a formal home for this body of work, supporting sustained scholarship, public-facing analysis, and institutional engagement. It is intentionally structured as a lightweight research entity to preserve independence, rigor, and publication focus.

I am currently engaged in research, writing, and advisory work related to workforce transformation, leadership dynamics, and organizational accountability.

For research inquiries or institutional correspondence:
info@centerforblackwomenworkandpower.org

Podcast Host

Host of Black Power Moves, a weekly deep dive podcast that is part of the Ebony Covering Black America Podcast Network. Episodes inform about Black culture, empowerment, entrepreneurship, and history.  

The podcast format exemplifies a casual, get-to-know-you conversation, rather than an interview. This  expresses the mission and goals, which are simply to amplify the voices of Black people across the Diaspora.

To that end, there are no prepared questions, to recreate the tradition of oral storytelling through a historical African lens. Guests tell their own stories in a way that feels comfortable and natural, with the host guiding the conversation in the framework of an authentic, culturally sensitive and relevant narrative that has a goal to amplify Black voices and inspire, educate and motivate listeners. 

Guests include Black tech leaders, college presidents, community leaders, trail blazing business and social entrepreneurs, educators, and cultural icons.

Notable Guests Include: 
- Qaadirah Abdur-Rahim, the City of Atlanta’s Chief Equity Officer
- April Walker, General Manager of the US Microsoft Technology Centers
- Glenn Woods, Senior Brand Social Media Manager for Hulu
- Kimberly Evans, Vice President for JP Morgan Chase & Company
- Sheldon Louis, Partner Manager for Twitter Sports
- Jacqie McWilliams, Commissioner of the CIAA
- Adjoa B. Asamoah, Co-Founder of the CROWN Coalition
- Manuel Godoy, CEO of Black Sands Entertainment 
- Dr. Kevin James, President of Morris Brown College
- Dr. Hadiyah-Nicole Green, Founder of the Ora Lee Smith Cancer Research Foundation
- Natalie Miller, Owner of the Historic Magnolia House 
- Jackie Iloh, Diversity & Equity Strategist at Lyft 
- Donna Dozier Gordon, Head of Inclusion & Diversity in the US at H&M
- Sue-Ann Robinson - Attorney for Ben Crump Law and CJ Lawrence - CEO of Black with No Chaser

Best Buy

Responsible for driving an integrated & strategic approach that enables talent mobility and experiential learning opportunities to develop and retain leaders at all levels of the organization. Leads and fosters an environment of belonging through transformative enterprise programs and initiatives that focus on driving equitable data-driven decision-making, best practices and programs into our core people and business rhythms and operations to drive meaningful and sustainable business results.

* Leads a cross-functional Center of Excellence (COE) enterprise working team to design and successfully operationalize [pilot & scale] Best Buy’s Talent Mobility flagship program – Tidal Wave.
*  Engages and partners with C-Suite executives and other senior business leaders to strategically set direction for business and change integration development initiatives to drive Best Buy’s retention and representation goals.
* Champions leadership cultural mindset shift and behavioral changes that promote inclusive best practices and programs.
* Sets strategic direction to enable equitable talent development experiences and initiatives. 
* Champions and leads a transformative approach by applying change management principles and methodologies to enable inclusive business and employee engagement practices 
* Leads efforts for strategic partnerships to enable our business integration priorities in Best Buy’s Marketplace [Retail, Supply Chain & Home Services] operating model and structure.
* Works cross-functionally with key business leaders and stakeholders to drive and influence 
data-driven decision-making through measurable and equitable development programs and solutions.
* Consults and supports talent management and development strategy through enterprise-wide leadership development solutions, talent pipeline, career development capability and succession planning.
*Leverage survey insights to identify talent and career development strategies to drive employee engagement

Sr. Director, Human Resources

* Designed and developed Change Management and Communications capability for Best Buy’s Supply chain organization of over 5,000 employees across 45 Distribution Centers in the US
* Played significant role leading communication efforts for Best Buy’s Supply Chain Operating model changes during COVID-19 Pandemic 
* Responsible for developing and executing change initiatives for Best Buy’s multi-million-dollar Supply Chain network – supporting field and corporate leaders and employees through coaching, communications, stakeholder engagement and training efforts.
* Led a team to perform critical change management activities to ensure success of major implementations in Best Buy’s Supply chain network – including roll-out of technology automation supply chain systems.
* Provided strategic leadership and coaching support and coaching to Chief Supply Chain Officer and other Officers in the development and implementation of critical and major strategic initiatives and organizational planning that drove transformational change for the business. 
* Supported Supply Chain leaders through their cultural transformative journey with a growth mindset from a legacy way of thinking that supported and enabled the notion that Inclusion and Diversity is a business imperative.

Director, Organizational Effectiveness and Change Management

* Supported senior leaders to set strategic direction and organizational effectiveness goals  
* Developed change management capability strategic vision and business road map
* Engaged/influenced senior leaders on strategic decision-making impacting organizational culture  
* Strategized and led end to end change management efforts for business and technology initiatives, large-scale multi million-dollar Retail and Enterprise program initiatives impacting over 100,000 Best Buy store and corporate employees.
* Led change strategy efforts for AGILE product model framework transformation for the business focusing on people behavior changes; people risk assessment, resistant and adoption measurement plans
* Led a team of Change Managers to design, plan and execute end-to-end strategic and tactical change management plans for product technology releases, programs, projects and other enterprise-wide initiatives
* Impact assessments, change readiness, communications planning/execution, user training effectiveness, adoption measurement, process documentation, communication toolkit, Agile Product teams change management support
* Plan and execute executive and senior leader level communication strategies and plans for Order Management and other cross-functional businesses
* Drive and influence change management best practices to be embedded within the organization's framework and continuous improvement efforts

Sr. Manager, Change Management, Best Buy

- Designed and executed change management strategies and plans for business teams impacted by technology implementations and process changes. 
 - Successfully managed change activities on multiple technology project releases for cross-functional audiences. 
 - Developed and documented structured/streamlined branded communications delivery process for the Order Management organization. 
 - Drove cross-functional stakeholder engagement, leadership and sponsorship alignment, impacts assessments, learning/training activities, communication, business readiness, deployment, sustain and change adoption measurement.

Manager, Change Management, Best Buy

Wells Fargo (Contractor through Experis)

•	Coordinated work efforts for User Acceptance Testing [UAT] for Talent Acquisition Management System [TAMS] implementation
•	Responsible for risk and issue management log for Deployment and User Acceptance Testing
•	Coordinated work efforts for developing and executing User Experience Lab for global end users impacted by system implementation
•	Responsible for developing and managing strategy for end user pilot efforts for TAMS implementation
•	Responsible for creating and managing business deployment plan/checklist across multiple work streams for TAMS implementation

Project Manager - UAT/Deployment

Target

• Created comprehensive Organizational Change Management (OCM) strategy for multi-million dollar enterprise initiative impacting approximately 2,500 end users at Target’s Multi channel Fulfillment Centers
• Performed change impact analysis and stakeholder analysis to determine most effective approach to leverage executive sponsorship, engage business teams across the enterprise, prepare communications and perform organizational readiness assessment. 
•Identified organizational risks to change and developed a change plan to mitigate those risks 
• Measured effectiveness of change management and communication strategies and made adjustments where necessary
• Assisted in developing business process documentation and training materials for impacted business and technical end users
• Partnered with functional project managers/analysts to gather requirements for establishing the support process for impacted end user population for the delivery of the warehouse management system
• Partnered with the Project Management Office to ensure change work plan was delivered on time and within scope and budget, providing weekly project plan progress reports to project managers
• Utilized project support technologies such as MS SharePoint, MS Project and MS Excel to enable highly effective team assignments, risk/issue management and collaboration. 
• Conducted and led client meetings and presentations regarding business impacts; and advised clients on options, risks and any impacts on their processes and systems

Business Process Consultant in Organizational Change Management

• Managed multi-million dollar Finance SAP system enhancements to Target’s finance systems and coordinated with Information Technology, Organizational Effectiveness, Functional teams and 3rd party application project managers [e.g., AP Lawson, Winshuttle] to ensure that SAP software system application upgrades met organizational objectives and had little to no negative impact on client financial operations.
• Partnered closely with Technology, Organizational Effectiveness and Functional teams to create, market and execute change and communication strategies/plans and ensured applications met business needs and a high level of organizational adoption
• Conducted impact analysis, identified and partnered with finance business teams and 3rd party application project managers [AP Lawson, Winshuttle] that connect directly with SAP to ensure system upgrades are successful without impacting stability to SAP
• Partnered with IT and functional support teams to establish protocol and for building cross-company best methods and procedures and responding to the needs of SAP end users through computer labs, end user support forms, etc.
• Collaborated with impacted clients/leaders and run-state organizations to define and gather requirements for technical and business process documentations for ensure greater end user experience after system implementation
• Directly engaged internal business teams and external vendors and overseas clients [approximately 1,500 users] through multi-channel communications channels – social media, emails, intranet sites, videos, etc.

Organizational Change Management Consultant, SAP Finance

• Developed efficient communication methods including the use of social media, forums, emails, intranet site and videos for disseminating information related to organizational changes and client expectations. 
• Nurtured strategic relationships with key retail internal partners: Store Operations, Target Communications, Target Technology Services and other client groups by effectively using PowerPoint, written and/or verbal communication methods, Wikipedia, SharePoint and intranet sites. 
• Consulted and provided strategic direction for contact center teams’ communications tools such as Wikipedia, SharePoint and intranet sites. 
• Developed appropriate communication strategies for internal leaders to enable realization of their team vision, values and objectives. 
• Managed organizational communication standards and protocols for various call center client groups
• Created and ensured adherence to communications standards and overall strategy for client groups.

Communications Consultant

• Captured, developed and shared the organizational knowledge by focusing on organizational objectives that included improved performance, competitive advantage, the sharing of lessons learned, and continuous improvement of the organization.
• Initiated and participated in projects that resulted in improvement of Target’s helpdesk knowledge database striving to improve first call resolution
• Collaborated with project managers and help desk leaders to convert preexisting business methods, and policies into standard operating procedures and ensured Knowledge Management best practices were defined and supported. 
• Collaborated with technical developers, partners and end user support groups to ensure the help desk is ready to support new and existing technology

Knowledge Management Analyst/Technical Writer

Communications Coordinator

Credit Correspondence Coordinator

Guest Service Representative

Ameriprise Financial Services, Inc.

Mutual Funds Specialist

Multimedia Broadcasting Limited

Broadcast Journalist

As a Senior Human Resources leader focused on career, culture and change integration at Best Buy, I lead a strategic integrated approach to enable talent development, mobility initiatives and immersive learning experiences to drive employee engagement and retention. I have over 20 years of experience in leading and executing large-scale, high-impact transformational and organizational initiatives for Fortune 100 and 500 organizations, with outstanding results, efficiencies, and productivity.

I am passionate about fostering an environment of belonging through transformative enterprise programs and initiatives that focus on driving and embedding equitable data-driven decision-making, best practices, and talent initiatives and programs into core people and business rhythms and operations. I leverage my outstanding skills in talent development, strategic leadership, change management/leadership, communications and stakeholder engagement to influence, cultivate, and maintain cross-functional relationships and partnerships with C-suite executives and leaders from all levels of the organization. My mission is to deliver greater employee engagement and experiences leading to successful adoption and sustainable business outcomes.

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Elizabeth Leiba

Judy Akosua Osei, CDP

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