Dr. Kathryn E. Keeton serves as the Senior Executive Director of the Center for Professional Excellence at UTSA’s Alvarez College of Business and a Professor of Practice in the Department of Management, overseeing the Executive MBA Program and all Executive Education offered by the College. Dr. Keeton is also the CEO and co-Founder of Minerva Work Solutions. As an Industrial-Organizational Psychologist, Dr. Keeton has worked in a variety of industries including healthcare, oil and gas, aviation, and aerospace. Keeton is a Licensed Organizational Psychologist and her specialties include executive coaching, leadership and team training, employee selection and engagement, organizational development, and innovation and entrepreneurship. Recognized in 2017 as one of the San Antonio Business Journal’s Women Leadership Awardees and in 2020 as one of its 40 Under 40 Awardees, Keeton is a successful entrepreneur and leader within the San Antonio community who prioritizes giving back through her board service and involvement in non-profit organizations. She has authored and co-authored research publications on topics related to innovation, team development, employee engagement and leadership training. Keeton is a member of the Society for Industrial Organizational Psychologists (SIOP), and the American Psychological Association (APA). What is an Industrial-Organizational Psychologist you say? I-O Psychology focuses on helping employees and organizations achieve ‘optimal performance’ in a variety of work contexts in a systematic way (please note that this systematic way entails relying on an impressive research evidence base that provides a prescriptive way of doing so!). As an I-O Psychologist, I apply psychology to things like improving employee performance, teamwork, the quality of customer and patient communications, marketing products and services, retaining high performers, developing leaders and employees through coaching, designing and sustaining safe work environments, and establishing effective process improvement programs just to name a few. I-O Psychologists have the knowledge and ability to disrupt ineffective employee and organizational practices and make a measurable and positive impact and I feel privileged to be qualified to take part in such a fantastic field.