Yen Ling Shek

Yen Ling Shek integrates research and best practices to provide data-driven and market-based insights to leading organizations.

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Based jointly in San Francisco and Los Angeles, Yen Ling partners with clients across industries to build forward-thinking, inclusive, and effective executive teams. She has a particular focus on assessing, developing, and advising organizations undergoing transformational change.

At Russell Reynolds Associates, her recent work includes organizational and leadership assessments, experiential leadership training, equitable search advisory, and CEO succession planning. Yen Ling also has over 20 years of experience in inclusive leadership professional matters.

She joined Russell Reynolds Associates from UCLA, where she was a residential life assistant director of research and adjunct faculty at California Lutheran University in the counselor education program. Previously, she worked at the Talent Advisory Board as a senior analytics and training consultant supporting inclusive leadership efforts. She began her career in community programming and leadership development at the Greenfield Intercultural Center and Pan-Asian American Community House at the University of Pennsylvania.

I enjoy learning how organizational culture, leadership dynamics and employees interact to create conditions for change. I see our work as a partnership in crafting strategies grounded in data and best practices.

Yen Ling holds a BA in Psychology from the University of Virginia, an MA in Counseling and Personnel Services from the University of Maryland College Park, and a PhD in Higher Education and Organizational Change from UCLA. She is a Trustee for the University of Virginia IDEA Fund where she serves as Secretary and member of the Governance and Nominations Committee.

Yen Ling has published a number of academic articles on inclusive leadership. She was the founder and is the former chair of the Asian and Asian Pacific American Alumni Network at the University of Virginia.