Bernard (Bernie) Banks is a noted expert on the subjects of leadership and organizational change. Currently, he is the Associate Dean for Leadership Development and Inclusion and a Clinical Professor of Management at Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management. As an Associate Dean, Bernie is accountable for leader development integration across the school's global portfolio of programs. He is also accountable for the generation, integration, and implementation of Diversity/Equity/Inclusion initiatives for the institution.

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Bernie retired from the United States Army as a Brigadier General in 2016 after having successfully led West Point's Department of Behavioral Sciences & Leadership from 2012-2016. In addition to having studied leadership extensively, he has led multiple military units ranging in size from 10 to 3000+ people. In 1995, Bernie was selected from over 40,000 officers to receive the Army's top award for entry-level managers (General Douglas MacArthur Leadership Award). In 2006, the Apache Helicopter unit he was leading in South Korea was designated as the top Apache Helicopter unit globally in the U.S. Army's annual best aviation unit competition.

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A West Point graduate, Bernie is broadly educated. He holds graduate degrees from Northwestern, Columbia, and Harvard Universities. Additionally, he earned his Ph.D. in social-organizational psychology from Columbia University. Bernie's work has been published in a variety of outlets (e.g., Harvard Business Review, Military Psychology, New York Times). Furthermore, he has worked extensively with organizations across all sectors concerning their leader development efforts (e.g., Procter and Gamble, Mercedes Benz, General Electric, IBM, 7-Eleven, The US Forest Service, International Chiefs of Police).