Instructor, Pal’s Business Excellence Institute
Dr. Harley is considered to be an expert on leadership and service learning. Excellence through leadership, service and civic engagement are personal passions. She has written and presented many articles and papers on leadership and service learning topics.
Dr. Harley is a facilitator/mentor for the Franklin Covey organization – certified to teach the 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, 7 Habits for Managers, 4 Disciplines of Execution, Focus, and Leadership: Great Leaders, Great Teams, Great Results as well as many other content areas. She was one of the first to be certified to facilitate the new school leadership initiative called the “Leader in Me.” She serves on a publication board for a new textbook by the Covey organization. She also is certified through the Pew Foundation to teach Leadership Plenty, curricula frequently used in community leadership programs.
She is a lead instructor for Pal’s Business Excellence Institute (BEI). Pal’s BEI is a part of Pal’s Sudden Service and teaches proven world-class performance excellence and management practices to organizations all over the country. Pal’s Sudden Service is the 2001 Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award winner and twice the level 4 winner of the Tennessee Quality Award. Pal’s is considered by many in the industry as one of the best managed companies in the country.
For the last 20 years, Dr. Harley worked for East Tennessee State University as an administrator and currently serves as an Assistant Professor and Director of the Leadership Program in the Department of Human Development and Learning. Under her leadership, ETSU civic leadership programs have received national recognition many times over the last 20 years. Dr. Harley continues to mentor leaders of other university leadership, service and civic engagement programs. She served as part of the team that developed and teaches in the on-line master’s in strategic leadership for the state-wide Regents Degree Program of the Tennessee Board of Regents. This program is taken by graduate students all over the country. She is active in the community having served as a board leader for the Girl Scouts, Second Harvest Food Bank, local Senior Center, United Way, Chamber of Commerce, community youth leadership program, and regional economic development initiatives.
Deborah holds a doctorate in Educational Leadership and Policy Analysis from East Tennessee State University, a master’s in counseling and a bachelor’s in mathematics from the University of South Florida.