Jennifer Vessels

Jennifer Vessels is a Silicon Valley CEO, transformation leader, and futurist who specialises in helping organisations turn technological disruption into sustainable competitive advantage. As founder of Next Step and the Executive Growth Alliance, she has led transformative growth initiatives for Adobe, Google, IKEA, Microsoft, and Novartis, adding $18 billion in market value through her strategic leadership. With a Master's in Occupational Psychology and over 25 years guiding Fortune 100 companies through AI integration and business model redesigns, Jennifer equips audiences with her battle-tested P.E.A.C.E. Framework, empowering leaders to move beyond fear, embrace emerging technologies, and drive measurable innovation with confidence and clarity.

After leading transformation initiatives that added $18 billion in market value across Adobe, Google, IKEA, Microsoft, and Novartis, Jennifer Vessels has spent over two decades inside the world's most complex organisational change projects, not observing from the sidelines but driving results from the centre. As CEO of Next Step since 1997, she has guided more than 500 companies globally through revenue growth, operational efficiency, and digital transformation, establishing herself as a trusted advisor to major corporations including Autodesk, Cisco, Genentech, Rabobank, and Schneider Electric. Her forthcoming book, Emergence: How Leaders Break Free from Outdated Thinking, distils the strategies the world's most successful companies deploy when traditional playbooks fail, offering leaders a blueprint for navigating uncharted territory with confidence.

Jennifer's credentials extend beyond consultancy into the creation of enduring professional communities and frameworks that reshape how executives approach uncertainty. She founded the Executive Growth Alliance, a global peer-to-peer network enabling senior leaders across Europe and the Americas to share innovation strategies and build future-readiness through collaborative learning. With an MBA from San Jose State University and a Master's in Occupational Psychology from the University of London, she combines academic rigour with commercial pragmatism, bridging Silicon Valley's hyper-agile ecosystem with the structured corporate environments of Europe and beyond. Her expertise spans technology, healthcare, and finance sectors, positioning her to translate the fail-fast methodologies of top technology innovators into actionable strategies for traditional industries. This cross-cultural fluency, paired with three decades of C-suite advisory work, allows her to address the specific challenges facing organisations grappling with artificial intelligence integration, business model redesigns, and the imperative to cultivate resilient, future-ready cultures.

Jennifer equips audiences with her battle-tested P.E.A.C.E. Framework, Purpose, Exploration, Action, Collaboration, and Empowerment, a practical roadmap designed to transform ambiguity into competitive advantage. Rather than leaving leaders paralysed by technological disruption, she provides concrete steps to embed psychological safety, empower employees to drive change from within, and turn uncertainty into measurable innovation outcomes. Her keynotes deliver Silicon Valley insider insights integrated with global business perspectives, ensuring every participant leaves with immediately applicable tools to navigate AI adoption, foster continuous innovation, and lead with strategic foresight. Whether addressing business conferences, executive retreats, or corporate events, Jennifer's energy, real-world experience, and proven methodologies inspire audiences to move beyond fear, embrace emerging technologies, and achieve transformative results that endure long after the event concludes.