It was at East Liverpool High School as president of the African-American Club that Dr. Jeanne Porter King came to appreciate Black History, and that knowledge of her ancestors helped to inspire her to succeed despite social barriers.
King often shares with her audiences that growing up in the Ohio Valley provided a commitment to diversity and inclusion. Because African-Americans were roughly 5 percent of the population, she learned early in life what it meant to acquire what W.E.B. DuBois termed "double consciousness," an awareness of the value of your own culture and an awareness of the value of the more dominant culture. She also recalls vividly how her own youth was shaped by her grandmother and aunts, strong Christian women who led the churches of her youth, First Apostolic Church of Midland, and Lee's Chapel African Methodist Church of Wellsville.
King, the daughter of Marjorie S. Porter of Midland and the late Henry Joseph Porter Sr., was first raised in Midland. The Porter family moved to East Liverpool when Jeanne was entering seventh grade. In high school she was president of the choir, as well as a member of the National Honor Society.
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Jeanne Porter King
King went on to receive both Bachelor and Master of Science degrees from the Ohio State University, and a Masters of Arts of Theological Studies with an emphasis on spiritual formation and leadership from the McCormick Theological Seminary in Chicago, Ill. She has also received her Doctor of Philosophy in Organizational Communications from Ohio University in Athens, Ohio.
In an age where women weren't encouraged to enter technical fields, King was encouraged by her father and her high school math teacher, Mr. Martin, to pursue engineering studies in college. King was among the first wave of women in the late 1970s that bombarded engineering schools, once the exclusive haven of men. Her industrial and systems engineering studies led to entrance into organizational consulting that ultimately led her to found a company called TransPorter Consulting Group, whose aim is to move people and systems to higher levels of effectiveness. Through this company, King has worked with clients from the United States, Latin America and Europe in the retail, manufacturing, telecommunications, financial services, healthcare, science and technology sectors, as well as with community, government and faith-based organizations.
King's areas of professional expertise include leadership development, especially for senior and aspiring women leaders, diversity and inclusion consulting and training, process facilitation, and communication coaching and training.
An educator at heart, King served first on the faculty of the DePaul University and North Park University in Chicago, where she taught Organizational, Small Group and Multi-Cultural Communication courses in the undergraduate and graduate programs. She has also had the privilege of serving as a visiting professor at the International School of Social Sciences Research in Tampere, Finland.
King presently serves as adjunct faculty at McCormick Theological Seminary and San Francisco Theological Seminary, where she teaches courses on pastoral leadership. She has recently become a member of the faculty of the Institute for Management Studies (IMS) where she facilitates workshops for executive women. King developed an award winning program for women leaders entitled, "Influence to Impact: Leveraging Interpersonal Power for Women Leaders."
King recalls the seeds for gender equality being firmly planted in her mind as she did the research for her senior class term paper on the Equal Rights Amendment. One of the highlights of King's speaking career was to be asked by the class of 2001, to give the commencement address for her Alma Mater, East Liverpool High School.
King is an author as well and has published monographs that explored the dynamics of leadership in the Gullah communities of the Sea Islands. She is also the author of "Leading Ladies: Transformative Biblical Images for Women's Leadership" and "Leading Lessons: Insights on Leadership from Women of the Bible," which challenge traditional notions of leadership that prevent men and women from making significant impact. She has published numerous articles on transformative leadership development.
King was recently married and now serves in Pastoral ministry with her husband, Dr. Carl E. King, senior pastor of the Christ Community Church in South Holland, Ill.
