Cheryl
Leis, PhD, is an Ethics Advisor on the International
Ethics Advisory at The Boeing Company. She is located
at the Boeing Canada office in Winnipeg, Manitoba (Canada.)
Boeing has established the position of Ethics Advisors
as members of the Leadership Team of the site where they
are located, yet independent, in that the reporting relationship
is to the head office of the Ethics and Business Conduct
organization in Seattle, WA (USA). It is critical that
the ethics role remain objective, in order to ensure integrity
of the position. In addition to Leadership Team activities,
Dr. Leis’ work at Boeing includes working one-on-one
with employees at all levels of the company facing ethical
dilemmas, as well as facilitating the corporate ethics
program in Winnipeg. During 2005, she was a member of
the corporate-wide team that developed the mandatory ethics
training for all 153,000 Boeing employees around the world.
Ensuring effectiveness of the training at sites outside
the United States was a significant part of her task.
To tailor the training for the Winnipeg site, she oversaw
the production of an ethics video profiling Boeing employees
from Winnipeg. Her employment with Boeing began in June
2005.
Prior to accepting the position with Boeing, Dr. Leis
was an organizational consultant, whose work was grounded
in her critical and creative thinking skills and training,
as well as her ability to carefully discern the needs
of her clients in one-on-one and group settings. She worked
with leaders on the underlying issues that support (or
prevent) individual and organizational success as they
sought to lead effectively and with integrity, to take
their organizations through change. She focused on helping
clients understand the significance of thinking strategically,
moving through paradigm shifts in the midst of change,
defining values, purpose and goals, discerning the ethical
parameters under which they operate, and developing leadership
capacity.
Dr. Leis is energetic and articulate, an engaging public
speaker, and a creative facilitator. She is disciplined
and persevering, having completed both an MA (University
of St. Michael’s College) and Ph.D. (University
of Toronto) with honours, while being awarded top provincial
and national scholarships and research grants for her
research in Germany, in recognition of academic excellence.
Prior to graduate school, she trained and worked as
a professional actress and director and ran her own video
and theatre production company. Upon completion of her
Ph.D., she moved into the newly developing field of practical
philosophy, applying philosophical concepts and analytical
skills to real-world situations in both the for-profit
and not-for-profit sectors.
