Fred Harburg

Fred Harburg is a Clinical Professor at Northwestern University, Kellogg School of Management, and the former Executive Director of the Kellogg Executive Leadership Institute. 

He provides many of the most respected Boards, CEOs, and C-Suite Teams with catalyzing research, growth guidance, and executive coaching. Fred served as the Chief Learning Officer and President of Motorola University, Chief Learning Officer at Williams Energy, and Senior Vice President for Leadership and Learning at Fidelity Investments. He began his career as a pilot. He was a faculty officer in the Department of Behavior Science and Leadership at the US Air Force Academy and a flight instructor for cadets, including some of the first female pilots in the US Air Force. 

Fred has lectured at MIT, Harvard Business School, Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, and many Fortune 500 companies. He is a senior fellow at PathNorth and was a board member of The Human Performance Institute. Fred’s grasp of leadership, organizational development, and performance, and his capacity to coach leaders to excellence, make him sought after as a keynote speaker, executive coach, writer, and consultant. He has written and lectured extensively on Leader as Coach, Purpose Driven Leadership, Executive Judgment, and Resilience for Thriving in Challenge. 

Fred, his wife, and their three children lived abroad for six years while his coaching and consulting work took him across Europe and Asia. 

Updated February 2026