Elisabeth Kelan

Elisabeth Kelan is a German-British academic, executive, researcher, and writer whose work focuses on gender, leadership, and organizational life. Kelan serves as Professor of Leadership and Organisation at King's Business School, is a Fellow of the Digital Futures Institute, and is affiliated with the King's Institute for Artificial Intelligence at King's College London. She completed her PhD at the London School of Economics and Political Science.

Kelan's research addresses gender in high-tech professions and MBA education, generational changes in the workplace, organizational identity and culture, the impact of stereotypes and inequality, leadership development, gender and generational diversity, and organizational policy and corporate responsibility. She introduced the concept of gender fatigue, which describes the challenges organizations face in addressing gender discrimination despite acknowledging its presence. Her research has informed strategies to engage men as change agents for gender equality, develop women as leaders, and foster generational awareness in the workplace.

Kelan is the author of five books on inclusion, gender, and organizational dynamics. Her works include "Men Stepping Forward," which examines men as change agents, and "Patterns of Inclusion: How Gender Matters for Automation, Artificial Intelligence and the Future of Work." Earlier publications such as "Rising Stars: Developing Millennial Women as Leaders" and "Performing Gender at Work" have contributed to discussions on gender and leadership. "Men Stepping Forward" received the Management Publication of the Year Award from the Chartered Management Institute, the British Academy of Management, and the Chartered Association of Business Schools.

Kelan has held fellowships and visiting appointments, including a British Academy Mid-Career Fellowship and the Dahlem International Network Professorship for Gender Studies at Freie Universität Berlin. She also holds a Leverhulme Trust Major Research Fellowship focused on gender, inclusion, and digitalization in the future of work. Human Resources Magazine named her one of the Most Influential Thinkers, and The Times recognized her as an up-and-coming management thinker.

Kelan has advised and spoken for organizations such as Accenture, Google, Goldman Sachs, PwC, Johnson & Johnson, L'Oréal, Airbus, and global law firms including Linklaters and Clifford Chance. She has also worked with supranational bodies such as the United Nations, the European Central Bank, and the OECD. Kelan sits on the advisory boards of the Women's Empowerment Principles, a partnership initiative of UN Women and the UN Global Compact. Her research has been featured in Financial Times, The Wall Street Journal, and The Economist, and she is a frequent keynote speaker on gender, leadership, and organizational change.