Meryle Mahrer Kaplan, PhD

Meryle Mahrer Kaplan, PhD, retired from Catalyst at the end of 2016. During her time with Catalyst, she lead activities that focused externally—particularly on Catalyst Supporters—and internally—on Catalyst as an organization. She lead Global Member Services (GMS), which draws from Catalyst’s full knowledge base to foster supporter impact through activities including Consulting Services, Vital Signs, and Speakers Bureau. She also lead the CEO Summit franchise where she shaped dialogues that engaged senior executives within and across companies. Dr. Kaplan also had executive leadership responsibility for Catalyst’s talent and culture. She worked closely with HR leadership and contributed insights and practices to ensure Catalyst’s status as a premier workplace.

Dr. Kaplan has more than 20 years of experience working with large organizations and she served as a trusted advisor and thought partner to highly sophisticated supporters and to those seeking to jumpstart diversity and inclusion efforts. She is an author of The Catalyst Guide to Employee Resource Groups and the Making Change: Beyond Flexibility series. She has been involved in Catalyst’s global activities and diverse women initiatives. She was a frequent speaker and served on a number of Catalyst Supporter stakeholder advisory groups focused on diversity and sustainability and on nonprofit boards.

Dr. Kaplan received her BA in Psychology from Douglass College, her MA in Anthropology from the University of Connecticut, and her PhD in Developmental Psychology from Columbia University, where she taught graduate courses in the psychology of women. She is the recipient of a Woodrow Wilson Research Grant in Women’s Studies, author of Mothers’ Images of Motherhood (Routledge) and co-editor of Representations of Motherhood, an anthology published by Yale University Press.