Menu

Sue Padernacht, EdD, PCC

Sue Padernacht, EdD, PCC

Continuing Lecturer

714.615.1767

spaderna@uci.edu    Personal website  

Education

EdD, University of Southern California
MA, Columbia University
BA, State University of New York, Stony Brook

Research Interest

Leadership Development and Styles

Organizational Change and Development

Physician Burnout and Wellbeing

Physician-Nurse Roles and Relations

Healthcare Industry Trends and Solutions


Dr. Sue Padernacht earned a Doctor of Education, Organizational Change and Leadership from the University of Southern California after 35 years of corporate leadership, executive coaching, organizational consulting, and academic teaching experience. Her research focused on Physician Burnout in the COVID-19 Pandemic: Healthcare Organization and Leadership Implications for Patient Care and Clinical Team Leadership with Nurses. Previously, she earned a Master of Arts in Organizational Psychology from Columbia University, Teachers College with specializations in Organization Development and Human Resource Development, and a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from the State University of New York at Stony Brook with a minor in the Social and Ethical Issues in the Life Sciences.

Additionally, Dr. Padernacht is a Professional Certified Coach (PCC) with the International Coach Federation and an expert in leadership assessment, including certifications with Hogan Assessments, the Center for Creative Leadership, and three of the most valid and reliable emotional intelligence assessments: Korn-Ferry’s ESCI (Emotional-Social Competence Inventory), the MSCEIT (Meyer-Salovey-Caruso Emotional Intelligence Test) and the EQ-i (Emotional Intelligence Quotient), among other leadership, negotiations, organizational and team assessment tools.

As the CEO of Ncline Leadership Strategies, Dr. Padernacht advises and coaches C-suite executives and their to drive strategic change and results with expertise in organizational change, talent strategy, leadership team development and executive succession. For over two decades, she has led the firm to serve hundreds of organizations, from multinational corporations to start-ups in various industries, including healthcare providers and suppliers, technology cloud, software, hardware, digital advertising; banking, annuities, credit unions, investment management, music/entertainment studios and sales, publishing and media, real estate, construction, property management, mining, higher education; city and state governments, and non-profits. 

As a corporate executive, she has built, led, and managed high-performing, diverse teams of employees and contractors across multiple locations and time zones. In her most recent corporate executive role, Dr. Padernacht was the Chief Learning Officer and Vice President, Talent and Organization Development (T&OD) at Tribune Publishing, where she built and drove alignment of T&OD initiatives and culture change with the company’s strategic goals and digital transformation plan for 150 media business units, including the Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune, Baltimore Sun, San Diego Union-Tribune, Orlando Sentinel, among others.

At UCI Merage, Dr. Padernacht has taught Executive Leadership, Negotiations, and Talent Strategy & Management courses in the Executive MBA, Health Care Executive MBA, and Fully Employed MBA programs. She has been awarded the Excellence in Teaching Award for Negotiations in the Executive MBA program, is a member of the Merage Institute faculty, and has served on faculty of numerous corporate executive education initiatives. She also has a faculty appointment at UC San Diego Rady School of Business where she teaches Strategic Communications in the Masters of Accounting program. Previously, she was on faculty at Loyola Marymount University-Los Angeles, UCLA, and Cal Poly Pomona, was a professional speaker with Vistage International, and conducted staff and faculty EQ-i certifications at Georgetown University and Gallaudet University for student learning and counseling applications.

In her non-profit work, Dr. Padernacht is currently a member of the National Board of Directors, American Lung Association where she serves of the Public Policy Committee, the Succession and Career Development Committee, and is actively advising and training on the organization’s Diversity, Inclusion, and Equity initiatives. Dr. Padernacht is also an InterSem inter-faith facilitator, and has previously served on the Boards of the American Cancer Society, United Way's Kellogg Training & Consulting Center, Organization Development Network.