Ann Hiatt

Ann Hiatt is a bestselling author and leadership strategist who specialises in executive performance, strategic decision-making, and building high-impact teams from the C-suite. She spent 15 years as Executive Business Partner to Jeff Bezos at Amazon and Chief of Staff to Eric Schmidt at Google, where she became the first person to hold that role and mastered the art of scaling organisations, calculated risk-taking, and operational excellence. Now based in Europe, Ann consults with Fortune 100 CEOs and venture capital firms whilst teaching at Harbour.Space Institute of Technology. Her sessions equip leaders and their teams with practical frameworks for bold decision-making, organisational agility, and unlocking performance under pressure.

For 15 years, Ann Hiatt held a front-row seat to some of the most consequential business decisions of the digital age, serving as Executive Business Partner to Jeff Bezos at Amazon and later as Chief of Staff to Eric Schmidt at Google, where she became the first person ever to hold that role. Between 2002 and 2018, she absorbed the principles of scaling, calculated risk-taking, and innovation whilst operating at the highest levels of two companies that redefined entire industries. Her journey took an unconventional turn when she left Amazon to pursue a PhD in international studies at UC Berkeley, only to be recruited mid-programme by Google, where she would spend the next 12 years mastering leadership, policy, communications, and operational systems from the C-suite. That unique vantage point, combined with her decision to relocate from Silicon Valley to Europe in 2018, has shaped her into one of the most sought-after voices on executive performance and organisational agility.

Ann's credibility extends well beyond her Silicon Valley pedigree. She now consults with Fortune and FTSE 100 CEOs and their leadership teams across the globe, advising on strategic decision-making, building high-impact teams, and navigating the pressures of scaling at speed. She partners with venture capital firms to identify and develop portfolio CEOs, applying the lessons she learned working alongside Bezos and Schmidt to leaders facing similar inflection points. Her bestselling book, *Bet On Yourself*, published by HarperCollins in 2021, distils years of hard-won insight into a practical guide for professionals ready to take bold career risks. Ann has contributed thought leadership to Harvard Business Review, Fast Company, and CNBC, and her expertise has been featured in The New York Times, The Financial Times, and Forbes. She also teaches at Harbour.Space Institute of Technology, where she shares frameworks honed in the world's most demanding boardrooms with the next generation of digital leaders.

Ann's sessions equip audiences with immediately applicable tools for decision-making under pressure, operational excellence, and unlocking performance in fast-moving environments. Leaders leave with clarity on how to build teams that scale, take calculated risks with confidence, and create systems that sustain growth without sacrificing agility. Her approach is grounded in real-world experience rather than theory, offering practical strategies drawn from her years navigating ambiguity, managing complexity, and executing at the executive level. Whether addressing C-suite executives, emerging leaders, or entrepreneurial teams, Ann delivers lasting impact by helping organisations move from aspiration to action, empowering them to bet on themselves and lead with conviction.