Meryle Mahrer Kaplan
Meryle Mahrer Kaplan, Ph.D.
Vice President, Advisory Services
mkaplan@catalyst.org
Meryle Mahrer Kaplan, Ph.D., leads Advisory Services, which provides strategic consultation and analytical support to Catalyst member companies interested in promoting diversity and inclusion and advancing women, and she is an architect of the department’s signature services. She serves as a trusted advisor and thought partner to many organizations, working closely with highly sophisticated members and those seeking to jumpstart diversity and inclusion efforts. Dr. Kaplan has more than 20 years of experience working with organizations, assessing their work environments, developing effective strategies to enhance workplace diversity and inclusion, and designing and implementing customized solutions. In addition, she is an expert on the process of making change and is experienced in leading initiatives with multiple stakeholders.
Dr. Kaplan is an author of The Catalyst Guide to Employee Resource Groups and the Making Change: Beyond Flexibility series. She has played a leadership role in several Catalyst activities, including the design of the Strategic Planning Sessions and Work and Life Effectiveness Strategy sessions. Dr. Kaplan is also an active participant in Catalyst’s global activities, diverse women, and women of color initiatives. She is a frequent speaker and workshop leader in the United States, Europe, and Japan on the benefits of diversity and inclusion, strategy development, values, and building networks and alliances across groups. Dr. Kaplan serves on a number of Catalyst member stakeholder advisory groups and is on the Boards of Advisors of Springboard Consulting LLC and Take Our Daughters and Sons to Work.
Dr. Kaplan received her B.A. in Psychology from Douglass College, her M.A. in Anthropology from the University of Connecticut, and her Ph.D. in Developmental Psychology from Columbia University, where she taught graduate classes in the psychology of women. She is the recipient of a Woodrow Wilson Research Grant in Women’s Studies, editor of Mothers’ Images of Motherhood, and co-editor of Representations of Motherhood, an anthology published by Yale University Press. Dr. Kaplan is married and the mother of a son in graduate school.