Barry VanderKelen

Lecturer

Contact Information

Email: bvanderk@calpoly.edu
Phone: 805-756-0819

Barry VanderKelen is a Lecturer in Management.

Barry has a PhD from the University of California, Los Angeles. His research concentration was the interdependence of the higher education and business communities. He published papers on the cost effectiveness of various education-delivery mechanisms, and a book chapter on changes in community college curriculum that included work preparedness trends. He also presented research findings on strategic corporate philanthropy, corporate social responsibility, and the history of corporate philanthropy.

For more than six years he was a business columnist for the San Luis Obispo Tribune newspaper, a McClatchy newspaper. Various columns were reprinted in seven states and some columns focusing on ethics have been included in readers for business courses at a college in Hawaii and a college in Oregon.

During his career, Barry started two successful businesses, one is a real estate services firm and the other is a firm that provides trust administration, trust services and complex financial transaction facilitation. While the manager of a business unit in a large organization, he led a 470% growth in sustainable income while increasing expenses approximately 10%.

In addition to Cal Poly, Barry has taught Management of Nonprofit Organizations at Loyola Marymount University, and Philanthropy: The Economic and Cultural Context of Philanthropy in the United States at Saint Mary’s College of California.

Barry has served as Chair of the League of California Community Foundations, and the Planned Giving Council of the Central Coast. He has served as a Board member of the San Luis Obispo Chamber of Commerce, as well as several nonprofits. He is a graduate of Leadership SLO, Class 17. Barry was inducted as an Honorary Member of the Golden Key International Honour Society at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo in 2010.

In 2009 he was named a Fellow of the Center for Social Innovation at the Stanford Graduate School of Business.