Kevin Groves

Dr. Kevin S. Groves, Ph.D., is Professor of Management at Pepperdine Graziadio Business School and President of Groves Consulting Group, LLC. The consultancy supports businesses, non-profit organizations, and government agencies with leadership training, succession planning, and organization development solutions, including 360-degree assessment tools, leadership development program design, succession planning systems, executive team development, and strategic planning facilitation. Supporting clients across multiple industry sectors, the firm focuses on developing evidence-based solutions anchored by rigorous research. A sample of the firm’s recent clients includes Keck Medicine of USC, Fox Entertainment Group, IngramMicro, Allison+Partners, Laserfiche, Witt/Kieffer, Kaiser Permanente, The Boeing Company, Daimler Trucks North America, Jollibee Foods Corporation, and Sutter Health.

Dr. Groves teaches a range of courses across the Graziadio School’s doctoral, master’s, and executive education programs, including the Executive Doctorate of Business Administration, Full-time MBA, Part-Time MBA (on-ground and online), and MS in Human Resources. He also designs custom Executive Education programs and courses for clients across industries. His primary courses include executive leadership competencies, organization design and strategic alignment, talent management, and organization development. Prior to his academic career, Dr. Groves was a management consultant in the Strategy & Organization practice at Towers Perrin (now Willis Towers Watson). An active leadership and executive development scholar, Dr. Groves’ research focuses on the ROI of talent management, succession planning, and executive development practices across industries. He conducts national benchmarking studies, including the semi-annual Talent Management Survey, intensive case studies, and quantitative assessments. His research has been published in a range of high-quality journals, including Journal of Management, Academy of Management Learning & Education, Organizational Dynamics, Group & Organization Management, Journal of Business Ethics, Journal of Small Business Management, Journal of Management Education, and many others. Dr. Groves’ recently published book (Winning Strategies: Building a Sustainable Leadership Pipeline through Talent Management & Succession Planning) offers executive teams, boards, consultants, and HR/OD professionals a practical framework and set of succession planning and talent management best practices.