William J. Rothwell, Ph.D., DBA, SPHR, SHRM-SCP, RODC, FLMI, CPTD Fellow, is President of Rothwell & Associates, Inc., Rothwell & Associates, LLC, and Rothwell & Associates Korea.

This biosketch lists Rothwell’s work experience, education and certifications, awards, and recent publications.

Work Experience

As a consultant, William J. Rothwell has worked with over fifty multinational companies and countless governments and nonprofits. In addition to the three consulting companies he founded, he also founded three small businesses in State College, PA (a vacation rental home company employing three people; a personal care home for the elderly licensed for fifty beds employing twenty-seven people; and an eighteen-unit motel employing nine people).

As a Distinguished Professor at Penn State University, University Park, where he has taught for 31 years, he is co-Professor-in-Charge of an online and onsite academic program that offers a master’s degree in Organization Development and Talent Development (see https://www.worldcampus.psu.edu/degrees-and-certificates/penn-state-online-organization-development-and-change-masters-degree) and a Ph.D. in Workforce Education and Development with an emphasis in Talent Development/Organization Development (see https://ed.psu.edu/workforce-education-and-development-doctoral-degree).

Before joining Penn State in 1993, he had nearly 20 years of executive-level work experience in human resources, talent development, and Organization Development leadership in government (the Illinois Office of the Auditor General) and in business (Franklin Life Insurance Co., a wholly-owned subsidiary of American Brands, a multinational company, #48 on the Fortune 500 list). With a combined total of fifty years of work experience in HR, OD, and Talent Development, he has published 161 books in the Human Resources and workforce development fields and has delivered over 1,600 professional presentations in 15 nations over a 30 year period.

Education and Certifications

Rothwell earned his Ph.D. from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign with a specialization in Human Resource Development in 1985; he was given an Honorary DBA in 2022 by Alliance International University; he was awarded the Master of Arts in Business Administration (MABA-same thing as an MBA) with a specialization in Human Resource Management by the University of Illinois at Springfield in 1982; he was awarded the M.A. in English Literature from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 1978; and, in 1974 he earned the Bachelors of Arts in English with High Honors and Department Honors from Illinois State University. Additionally, he completed all courses for the Ph.D. in English in 1979, completed a thesis acceptable to the advisor for a Master’s degree in Education from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 1981, and completed a thesis in Organization Development from Sangamon State University in 1980. He has achieved professional certification in Human Resources as a Senior Professional in Human Resources (SPHR, lifetime certified), was named a Senior Certified Professional by the Society of Human Resource Management (SHRM-SCP), was named a Registered Organization Development Consultant (RODC) based on passing a test and receiving observation from another RODC, and passed 10 graduate courses in insurance to be named a Fellow of the Life Management Institute (FLMI).

Awards

Rothwell was given a special award in 1998 from the American Society for Training and Development for his leadership on ASTD Models for Human Performance Improvement; in 2004 he was awarded the Best Book Award from the Academy of Human Resource Development for The Strategic Development of Talent; in 2004 he was given Penn State University’s Graduate Faculty Teaching Award (only one per year is given on Penn State’s twenty-four campuses); in 2011 he was given the Association for Talent Development’s (ATD) Distinguished Contribution to Workplace Learning and Performance Award and also the UNICEF and Kiwanis International’s Walter Zeller Medal (Award) for International Service; in 2013 he was again honored by ATD because he was named a Certified Professional in Learning and Performance (CPLP) Fellow, which has since been upgraded to Certified Professional in Talent Development (CPTD); in 2016 he was given the Distinguished Researcher Award by the College of Education at Penn State; in 2022 he was named a Distinguished Professor at Penn State, given the Organization Development Network’s Lifetime Achievement Award and also earned Penn State University’s highest award for international work; and in 2023 he was inducted into the International Adult and Continuing Education Hall of Fame. He has conducted training about training, Organization Development, Talent Development, coaching, and much more on every continent except Antarctica and has taught in universities globally—including eighty-three trips to China, twenty-five trips to Malaysia, and thirty-two trips to Singapore. While at Penn State he has chaired over 120 Ph.D. committees, and globally he has served on Ph.D. committees in England, China, Australia, and the United Arab Emirates. In 2024 he was notified that he will be one of the 1.5 million special people in the U.S. listed in Marquis’ Who’s Who in America 2025.

Recent Publications

His recent books since 2020 include Accelerated Action Learning (2024), Building an Organizational Coaching Culture (2024), Mastering the Art of Process Consultation and Virtual Group Coaching Simulation (2023); Successful Supervisory Leadership (2023); Effective Succession Planning, 5th ed (2023); Transformational Coaching (2023); Succession Planning for Small and Family Businesses (2022); High-Performance Coaching for Managers (2022); Rethinking Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (2022); Organization Development (OD) Interventions: Executing Effective Organizational Change (2021); Virtual Coaching to Improve Group Relationships (2021); The Essential HR Guide for Small Business and Start Ups (2020); Increasing Learning and Development’s Impact Through Accreditation (2020); Adult Learning Basics, 2nd ed. (2020); and, Workforce Development: Guidelines for Community College Professionals, 2nd ed. (2020).