
Charismatic, insightful, and intellectually agile, she influences behavior, challenges preconceptions, and aligns leaders in demanding situations. As a coach, consultant, and speaker, she addresses important subjects including transformational leadership, emotional intelligence, strategic communication, corporate culture and diversity, and enlightened use of power and influence.
Dr. Osborne is recognized as a global authority in leadership and communication. She is a 2023 inductee to the Adult and Continuing Education Hall of Fame and a 2019 winner of the Academy of Human Resource Development’s Bierema Award, honoring scholars and HRD professionals who actively challenge field and industry norms while advancing important social justice perspectives and principles. She was an invited speaker at the NATO Strategic Communication Centre of Excellence in Riga, Latvia in 2016 where she spoke to military and diplomatic leaders from NATO partner nations about how best practices from commercial sector can be applied in military and diplomatic missions.
Grounded in the leading research in the field, Dr. Osborne held a prestigious endowed chair on the faculty of the Brian Lamb School of Communication at Purdue University and on the faculty of the University of Georgia’s College of Education where she taught graduate-level courses in leadership and organizational development. Previously, she was the director of the Center for Leadership Development at the Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center in Monterey, California. As one of the top civilians in the dynamic and extremely multicultural environment of the U.S. Defense Department’s premier school for culturally based foreign language education, she provided organizational analyses, strategic planning, and guidance around issues of leader and organizational development.
Overseas, she served as the Chief Strategic Communication Advisor in Kabul, Afghanistan at the end of Operation Enduring Freedom. In this role, she was the highest-ranking civilian communication advisor to the Afghan National Security Forces at the end of the longest NATO mission in history. She also was a Fulbright Scholar in Myanmar (Southeast Asia) at the Ministry of Social Welfare, Relief and Resettlement in 2018, and she worked as an international consultant to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe Mission in Kosovo in 2017. She has also taught programs for the University of Georgia in New Zealand and Costa Rica.
Kim earned her Ph.D. in adult education and an interdisciplinary graduate certificate in qualitative research methods from the University of Georgia. She has a master’s degree in communications management from the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Southern California and a bachelor’s degree in psychology with a cognate in management studies from Kalamazoo College. She is an International Coaching Federation Professional Certified Coach.
kim@drkimosborne.com | https://www.drkimosborne.com | https://www.linkedin.com/in/kimosborne/