Margaret J Weber, Ph.D.
Margaret Weber is the Founder of Influencing Voices, an organization committed to empowering women for personal and professional excellence through storytelling, mentoring, and leadership development. With a lifelong career in higher education, Margaret has worked closely with hundreds of women, helping them navigate their careers and balance work and life responsibilities. Her dedication to fostering women’s voices stems from both her professional experience and her understanding of the importance of mentorship, support, and advocacy for women at every stage of their careers.
Throughout her academic career, Margaret broke ground in leadership at a time when few women held positions as deans, associate deans, or senior administrators. She began mentoring graduate students on their theses and dissertations, learning from them the critical role of support and guidance in professional growth. Together with her doctoral students, she conducted a leadership research project that included interviews with over 900 women leaders worldwide. Margaret credits much of her development to her own mentor, a dean under whom she served as associate dean, and she later became a dean herself. Even after retiring 12 years ago, she continues to share her expertise and passion for leadership as Program Director for the Center for Women, Faith, and Leadership, a global organization supporting women of multiple faiths.
In her current role, Margaret provides training, mentorship, and advocacy to women leaders who often work with vulnerable and marginalized populations. She champions initiatives that strengthen leadership skills, amplify women’s voices, and advance equity in organizations around the world. Her work, both past and present, reflects a lifelong commitment to empowering women, promoting leadership development, and ensuring that women have the support and opportunities necessary to thrive professionally, personally, and globally.
• University of Missouri-Columbia - PhD
• Shelter in a Storm (homeless services)
• Homeless mission work in California
• Union Rescue Mission - Los Angeles
What do you attribute your success to?
I attribute my success to good mentors over time, both men and women, and the support of my husband. I think my curiosity has been really important because I'm still doing some writing. I've just written a blog on resilience that will be posted in a couple days. I think that curiosity that I want to keep learning is key. I do love to travel too. My travel more recently has been in Africa and the Middle East. I think all of that keeps me really curious and younger than my years, and it just brings me a lot of joy.
What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
The study of nonlinear, deterministic systems that are highly sensitive to initial conditions, making long-term prediction impossible despite following precise rules.