Jennifer Vessels

Jennifer Vessels is an internationally acclaimed transformation strategist and futurist who has spent over 30 years helping companies like Adobe, Google, IKEA, and Novartis navigate disruption and emerge stronger. As the CEO of Next Step and the founder of the Executive Growth Alliance, Jennifer has guided countless leaders through the maze of digital transformation, culture change, and now AI adoption. Her approach combines Silicon Valley boldness with a human touch: she often says “business as usual is obsolete” and sees disruption as an opportunity to inspire teams toward new ways of thinking and working. Jennifer is known for her P.E.A.C.E. Framework – standing for Purpose, Exploration, Action, Collaboration, Empowerment – which provides leaders a structured yet flexible roadmap to drive change with their people at the center.

In Jennifer’s career as a consultant and executive coach, she has repeatedly proven that culture and innovation go hand in hand. In her talks, she shares vivid stories of facilitating “aha” moments in boardrooms: for example, how she helped a global tech company’s executives embrace a growth mindset by reframing failures as learning experiments (a key tenet of her framework). Jennifer also leverages her anthropological insights – she’s adept at reading organizational culture and identifying the unspoken fears or resistance that often hinder change. By addressing these openly, she cultivates an environment of trust where experimentation thrives. A testament to her impact is the array of accolades her client organizations have earned: under her guidance, several have won “Best Place to Work” awards and innovation prizes. Her work has resulted in multiple “Best Places to Work” recognitions and measurable performance improvements for the organizations she advises.

As a keynote speaker, Jennifer Vessels is energetic, down-to-earth, and highly interactive. Whether on stage at an innovation summit or a leadership offsite (she’s spoken at the United Nations and TEDx, among other venues), she has a knack for making large audiences feel personally connected. She often poses reflective questions, prompting leaders to consider, “Are you clinging to old success formulas that no longer work?” or “How are you equipping your team for a future that’s different from today?” With her warm storytelling style, she takes audiences on a journey – perhaps describing how LEGO’s Future Lab (where one of her case studies comes from) learned to iterate rapidly, or how a Scandinavian bank she advised built an “innovation portfolio” to explore fintech opportunities. By the end of her sessions, it’s common for the crowd to feel not just informed, but genuinely activated – ready to take bold steps and “experiment with purpose,” as Jennifer puts it.