Kathy Forbush Bus '11

Kathleen (Kathy) Forbush is the Executive Director for Talent Management at Johns Hopkins University. Johns Hopkins is a private research university organized into 10 divisions on campuses in Maryland and Washington, D.C., with international centers in Italy, China, and Singapore, and a total enrollment of 24,000 undergraduate and graduate students, and more than 19,000 employees.

In her current role, Forbush leads the learning and organization development functions for the first research university in the United States. She is responsible for the design, development, and implementation of a university-wide talent management strategy as well as the associated programs, policies, tools, and processes. She is a trusted advisor to the university’s senior leaders in the areas of strategic planning, organization assessment and design, change management, and executive coaching. Forbush serves as an ex officio member of the university’s Diversity Leadership Council and acts as an advisor to the Johns Hopkins University Staff Advisory Council.

Forbush is an experienced organization development and human resources professional who has spent over 25 years working in HR, Learning, and Organization Development roles with leaders and clients of various functional disciplines in diverse organizations and industries. These organizations include Boston Scientific (medical devices), Nabisco (consumer packaged goods), Verisign (information technology infrastructure), and Red Thread MA (office interiors and technology). Before re-joining Johns Hopkins University in 2015 in her current role, Forbush was the principal and owner of a consulting firm with clients in health care, information technology, and academia.

Forbush graduated from Le Moyne College’s Integral Honors Program with a bachelor’s degree in history and communications. She received a master’s degree in business administration, with a human resources concentration from the Whitman School of Management at Syracuse University, and a master’s degree in organization development and strategic human resources from the Carey Business School at Johns Hopkins University.

Kathy has been a guest multiple times on the Faculty Factory podcast talking about leadership development topics, and co-published an article on this topic in 2024 in the Journal of Healthcare Management.

Forbush has previously served as a member of the board of regents at Le Moyne from 2011 to 2017. She has been involved as a volunteer with the Office of Admission at Le Moyne since 2004. She has also volunteered to support strategic planning, admissions, and philanthropy at the Friends School of Baltimore.