Hassan Akmal is an American career and life mastery consultant, author, professor, thought leader, philanthropist, and former professional tennis player and athlete ambassador to the United States. He is best known for his Amazon best-selling book—How to be a Career Mastermind™: Discover 7 “YOU Matter” Lenses for a Life of Purpose, Impact, and Meaningful Work. He is the host of the UC San Diego Career Podcast (CP), Designing Your Career and Life. Akmal is very passionate about giving back and led global efforts in humanitarian work dedicated to Forced Migration and Health early on in his career.

Akmal has been a senior leader in career services for over fifteen years and in higher education for nearly 30 years. Akmal became the inaugural executive director of industry relations and career strategies at Columbia University in 2017 and founded the award-winning Career Design Lab. In 2018, he served on the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE) “Future of We” — Advisory Committee and served as a senior advisor to Graduway (now Gravyty), a prominent and top 10 global EdTech startup. He wrote the foreword for the book, Career Revolution: A Design Thinking Approach to Career Development in a Post-Pandemic World, authored by Graduway’s CEO, Daniel Cohen. In April 2019, he delivered the keynote address on the “Future of Career Services” at the Global Leaders’ Summit hosted at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). He also serves on several other prominent boards internationally.

In December 2019, Akmal was selected as a speaker for Columbia University’s TEDx RE-VISION, RE-FOCUS-themed event that took place on March 27, 2021. His TEDx Talk was released in May 2021 and has already received over 1.6 million views.

Before his current role, Akmal served as the inaugural executive director of the UCLA Career Center. He led an ambitious re-imagination of career services culminating in a large-scale renovation. In September 2021, he became the Executive Director of Career and Professional Development at UC San Diego where he is currently leading a multiyear reimagination of the career center. He is also the host of the UC San Diego Career Podcast (CP), Designing Your Career and Life.

His most recent book, published in May 2023, is entitled, The Interior Design of Your Career and Life™. He also published a children’s version, You Are the Artist of Your Life: The Interior Design of Your Future.

An international lecturer and subject matter expert on workplace culture, Ellen is also the author of the Amazon Best Seller, The Civility Project: How to build a culture of reverence to improve wellness, productivity, and profit.

Ellen and her associates provide solutions to the most prominent stressors on organizations: bullying, disrespect and disregard contributing to ‘The Great Resignation”. EJB’s solution: Support executive leaders clarifying their beliefs about expected employee’s behavior; solidify those beliefs into policy; facilitate education and awareness sessions; support HR developing inclusive language on job postings; provide Inclusive Leadership Coaching; and aid in formation of a Cultural/Diversity Committee.
Result: A sustained respectful, inclusive workplace experiencing decreased turnover, productive conflict management and increased attraction to high talent.

As Executive Coach, Ellen supports C-suite executives and executive directors to their professional goals. Those who coach with Ellen report improved focus, influence, capacity, work/life balance and results.