Kemal M. Atkins, Ed.D.

Dr. Kemal Atkins is the principal and founder of Kemal M. Atkins Consulting, LLC. Kemal M. Atkins Consulting is a dynamic consulting and coaching firm dedicated to helping leaders and organizations unlock the full potential of their people. Specializing in talent optimization and leadership development at every level, the firm offers comprehensive solutions, including strategic advising, training, facilitation, and research. With a focus on addressing the most pressing leadership challenges, Kemal M. Atkins Consulting has worked with colleges, universities, non-profits, and executive leaders across business and government sectors. Through tailored approaches, the firm empowers organizations to build strong, effective leadership that drives lasting success.

Atkins is an experienced higher education leader and is also a senior consultant at the Association of Governing Boards (AGB) Consulting. He has more than 25 years of institutional leadership experience and is an authority on enrollment management, student success, higher education governance, organizational and leadership development, strategic planning, and crisis management. His consulting work focuses on institutional strategy and transformation practices such as business model innovation, revenue growth, change management, and crisis leadership and recovery. Atkins takes his professional experience and scholarly work into the classroom as an adjunct associate professor of educational leadership at Delaware State University.

Dr. Atkins has held vice president positions at Keene State College and Delaware State University. He has also held administrative positions at East Carolina University, the University of North Carolina System Office, Appalachian State University and is the founding director of ThinkCOLLEGE, a college access program of Communities In Schools, Charlotte-Mecklenburg.

In these roles, Dr. Atkins formed and led high-performing teams; leveraged institional strengths to improve institutional effectiveness and equitable student outcomes; increased revenue through strategic enrollment growth, fundraising, and entrepreneurship; developed and executed college-wide academic and student success initiatives; and championed diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives.

Dr. Atkins currently serves on the Board of Directors of San Francisco Bay University and Family Forward Virginia. His also the immediate past president of the Short Rotary Club and a member of Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity, Inc.

Dr. Atkins earned his BA and MA degrees in English from Appalachian State University, and his EdD in educational leadership from Delaware State University. He earned his Executive Coaching Certification from the Center for Executive Coaching. Atkins is also an alumnus of the American Academic Leadership Institute’s Executive Leadership Academy, Gavin de Becker & Associates’ Advanced Threat Assessment and Management Institute and the North Carolina Education Policy Fellowship Program (EPFP).