Agile Leadership for Global Educators:
Meet Your Facilitators
Elsa Maxwell Bourdon, Ph.D. is a global educator, interculturalist, and scholar-practitioner with over 20 years of experience in higher education. She currently serves as Director of Academic Partnerships at CulturaGo, where she combines her passion for intercultural development, career readiness, and assessment. She is also the founder of Shift Intercultural, an organization that creates customized tools, trainings, and curricula to support institutions in their internationalization efforts.
From 2004 to 2017, Elsa held several leadership roles at CIEE, including Assistant Resident Director in Chile and Academic Director of Intercultural Learning. Throughout her career, she has led diverse teams across the U.S. and internationally, and has coached hundreds of professionals using the Intercultural Development Inventory (IDI) to build awareness of the often-invisible cultural differences that shape our everyday work interactions.
Elsa holds a doctorate and master’s degree from the Universidad de Chile and is a Qualified Administrator of the IDI since 2013. After 16 years in Chile, she now resides in Salt Lake City, Utah.
Sarah E. Spencer, M.A., is a seasoned coach and leadership strategist with decades of experience in international education. She helps higher education and non-profit professionals navigate complex workplace dynamics, advance their careers, and strengthen intercultural and organizational effectiveness.
With extensive experience in management and team leadership, Sarah brings deep insight into the challenges of global education and the evolving demands of the modern workplace. She designs customized coaching and leadership development programs that help individuals and teams perform at their best.
A trained International Coaching Federation coach and Qualified Administrator of the Intercultural Development Inventory (IDI), Sarah combines practical experience with evidence-based tools to foster growth and impact. She is based in St. Paul, Minnesota.