Do you know the 10 early warning signs? Patrick Sanaghan, Kathleen Gaval, Steve Riccio, and Steve Titus review the early signs of a derailing president in this paper informed by decades of experience from university presidents and professionals who work closely with them. Presidential derailments (defined by Stephen Trachtenberg as an exit in less than […]

Steven E. Titus, J.D., Ph.D.
Dr. Steven E. Titus is a Presidential and Executive Coach and Senior Fellow at Creighton University in Omaha, NE. Additionally, Steve is President Emeritus of Iowa Wesleyan University. Called to companion leaders on the leadership journey, Steve holds a particular concern for the interiority of leaders exercising leadership. A seasoned higher education executive, Steve previously served as the 13th president of Midland University and has held executive roles at Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota, Pacific Lutheran University, and Gustavus Adolphus College. He currently is on sabbatical as Senior Fellow and Special Assistant at Creighton University in Omaha, NE.
Steve is co-creator and former co-director of the Thrivent Fellows Program (now LECNA Fellows), a national executive development program designed to identify and equip candidates of promise for executive roles in Lutheran higher education. Steve served in the U.S. Army as an officer and attorney in various legal roles from 1990-19995 and as a tenured professor of leadership studies and organizational behavior at Southwest Minnesota State University (SMSU) in Marshall, MN.
Steve holds a BS in business administration from Southwest Minnesota State University, a JD from Marquette University Law School, the PhD in higher education and strategic leadership from the University of Virginia, where he was a Governor’s Fellow, and the certificate in Jesuit Studies from Boston College. He holds a diploma from the U.S. Army Judge Advocate General’s School and certificates from the Advanced Leadership Education Program at the Kennedy School of Government and the Institute for Educational Management at the Graduate School of Education at Harvard University. Steve is a certified practitioner of The Leadership Circle, a Gallup-Certified Strengths Coach, a professionally certified executive coach through the Center for Executive Coaching and The Coaches Training Institute, and a trained spiritual director.