Joseph Kools

Dr. Joseph Kools joined the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) in 2009. During his tenure, Joe has successfully led several FAA leadership development initiatives and special projects. In his current role as the Director of Executive and Organizational Development, he has led his teams to design and create innovative, award-winning development programs. By combining experiential and classroom learning, the knowledge participants gain seamlessly transfers to the operational context and becomes readily usable. Prior to this position, he served as both the Director (Acting) of the FAA’s corporate university – the FAA Leadership & Learning Institute (FLLI), and as the Program Manager of FAA’s Senior Leadership Development Program (SLDP). Under his guidance, the FAA transitioned from its legacy corporate university, the Center for Management Excellence and Leadership (CMEL) to FLLI—a more efficient and responsive learning services model. In addition, he redesigned the SLDP to better enhance the leadership abilities of FAA’s high potential senior managers by creating hands-on experiences for participants to collaborate and drive the FAA’s mission forward. Among his previous positions, Dr. Kools served as President of Jones Publishing, a general aviation and niche publishing firm serving aircraft owners and enthusiasts; Director of Leadership Development for an industry-leading insurance company, where he designed an agency-wide developmental program for senior leaders; and as Department Chair and Professor of leadership studies at the University of South Florida, during which time his department was cited as the top rated leadership program in the nation. Dr. Kools has also served in the US Army as a Commissioned Officer where he held many leadership positions from Platoon level through Battalion Command. He is a Senior Army Aviator, Ranger, Airborne and Air Assault-qualified, and is a rated commercial VFR and IFR helicopter pilot and general aviation pilot and enthusiast.