Jennifer McCollum
Jennifer McCollum is CEO of Linkage, a SHRM company, where she oversees the strategic direction and global operations of this leadership development firm. With a mission to “Change the Face of Leadership,” Linkage has dedicated more than 35 years to improving leadership effectiveness and equity in hundreds of organizations globally. Linkage provides assessments, training, coaching, consulting and conferences, with solutions designed to Accelerate Purposeful Leaders; Advance Women Leaders; and Create Inclusive Organizations.
Jennifer is an acclaimed speaker, consultant, coach, and author, with two decades of experience leading and building businesses in the leadership space. Her expertise includes how to close the gap to gender equity; why the most effective leaders are inclusive leaders; and how to demystify inclusion for leaders and organizations. She has delivered workshops, keynotes, webinars, and podcasts to thousands of leaders globally on live and virtual stages, including every national and global SHRM conference, several SHRM state & local chapters, Linkage's Women in Leadership Institute, and Oracle's CloudWorld. She has also appeared on Scott Miller's C-suite Conversations and On Leadership podcasts, along with Chester Elton's "Leading with Gratitude" LinkedIn Live, Candy O'Terry's "The Story Behind Her Success" and Mark Thompson's Chief Executive Summit Show.
Jennifer is the author of the book In Her Own Voice: A Woman’s Rise to CEO: Overcoming Hurdles to Change the Face of Leadership, as well as a contributing author to Leadership in a Time of Crisis and The Freedom of Constraints, and has been published in Psychology Today, Corporate Magazine,The Wall Street Journal, Fast Company, CEO Refresher, and Real Leaders. She is also a member of the Marshall Goldsmith 100 Coaches.
Jennifer has 20 years of experience building and leading businesses in the leadership space. Prior to Linkage, Jennifer spent a decade growing businesses within Korn Ferry and Corporate Executive Board (CEB), now Gartner. At CEB, she led product management within the leadership division, driving innovative solutions that helped organizations select, develop and place leaders at all levels. She also ran CEB’s Leadership Academies business, which developed more than 30,000 professionals in 2,100 companies throughout 50 countries and grew revenue at a 97 percent combined annual growth rate across five years.
Previously, Jennifer served as CEO of IntraVision, a leadership consultancy she founded and grew over the course of eight years. She worked with public companies, start-ups, associations and nonprofits. Her passion is creating vision, executing strategy and managing cohesive teams toward aspirational goals, with a special focus on supporting women in leadership roles.
Jennifer has a master’s degree in communications from the University of Stirling in Stirling, Scotland, and an undergraduate degree in psychology and communications from Wake Forest University. She is an avid tennis player and skier, and lives in the Washington, D.C., area with her husband and three children.