Building an effective Extension advisory leadership system is essential for Cooperative Extension to ensure the existence and relevance of university outreach programs to meet community needs. The purpose of this study has been to explore characteristics and motivational factors of effective Extension advisory leaders for identifying, motivating, recruiting, retaining, and training effective Extension advisory leaders. The research methodology utilized by the researcher was the Delphi technique. This study utilized input from a selected panel of experts: 20 State Advisory Council members and 20 County Extension Directors from the North Carolina Cooperative Extension Service. Three rounds of the study were utilized to reach consensus. In round one, State Advisory Council members generated 258 responses and County Extension Directors generated 531 responses to questions asked of each group. The responses were placed into like categories. There were 46 like categories for State Advisory Council members and 57 like categories for County Extension Directors. In round two, panel experts were asked to rate the listed categories on a five-point Likert scale with one being not important and five being extremely important. The responses from round two were placed in order based on mean and standard deviation for each of the questions. For round three, expert panel members were asked to rank categories in relative order of importance. The rankings resulted in prioritization of categories for identifying, motivating, recruiting, retaining, and training effective Extension advisory leaders. The top ranking for characteristics of an effective Extension advisory leader as prioritized by County Extension Directors was "involved, respected, and connected to the community." State Advisory Council members ranked "desire to serve others and improve the community" and County Extension Directors ranked "positive attitudes and interests about Cooperative Extension" as the highest motivational factors of effective advisory leaders. State Advisory Council members ranked "look for effective leaders with desirable skills for Cooperative Extension" and County Extension Directors ranked "ask Cooperative Extension staff for recommendations" as the best ways to recruit effective advisory leaders. The top ranking for both groups (County Extension Directors and State Advisory Council members) for the best way to retain effective advisory leaders was "provide meaningful engagement opportunities for volunteer service." Regarding the highest priority training need for effective advisory leaders, State Advisory Council members identified "advocacy skills" and County Extension Directors identified "orientation for volunteer leadership and role clarification." These findings can benefit those working with Extension advisory leaders to strengthen the advisory leadership system. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]