Elisabeth Kelan

Elisabeth Kelan is a professor of Leadership and Organization at Essex Business School, University of Essex. Her research focuses on women in leadership, men as change agents for gender equality, generations at work, and diversity, inclusion and belonging. Her new research explores the future of work, digitalization, and gender (Leverhulme Trust Major Research Fellowship [MRF-2019-069]).

Elisabeth has published three books: “Gender and Corporate Boards: The Route to a Seat at the Table,” “Rising Stars: Developing Millennial Women as Leaders,” and “Performing Gender,” and numerous peer-reviewed articles in leading academic journals such as British Journal of Management, Human Relations, Academy of Management Learning and Education, Journal of Business Ethics, and Management Learning. She is an associate editor of the journal, Gender, Work and Organization, and edits the “Routledge Studies in Gender and Organizations” book series.

Her research is regularly featured in Financial Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Telegraph, and HR Magazine. The Times featured her as one of the management thinkers to watch. Elisabeth has won various practitioner and academic awards for her research such as the Academy of Management Gender and Diversity in Organizations Faculty Transnational Research Award (2016) and the award for the Most Influential Leadership Research by the Leadership Awards (2016). She is regularly providing thought-leadership and consulting to businesses and international organizations.

Elisabeth works globally. She has advised businesses such as Accenture, General Electric, Goldman Sachs, Google, KPMG, Linklaters, Johnson & Johnson, Ooredoo and PwC; and international organizations such as the Council of Europe, CERN, the European Central Bank, the European Parliament, the United Nations Systems Staff College, United Nations Women, the United Nations Global Compact, and the International Labor Organization.

Elisabeth was a British Academy Mid-Career Fellow and was a Dahlem International Network Professor for Gender Studies at Freie Universität Berlin. She held appointments at London Business School, the London School of Economics and Political Science, King’s College London, Cranfield School of Management, and Zurich University. She earned her PhD from the London School of Economics and Political Science.