The Center for Leadership Insight (CLI) exists to further Russell Reynolds Associates’ mission to improve the way the world is led. It forms the cornerstone of the firm’s analysis of evolving business issues and their leadership implications.
The CLI combines analysis of proprietary and secondary data assets with RRA’s unparalleled relationships with senior leaders around the world and the expertise of our consultants.
Our position and methodology enable us to bridge the gap between big picture trends and what they mean for the people that must lead their organizations through them.
Current research themes include sustainable leadership, generating advantage through technology, diversity, equity and inclusion, organizational culture, and the future of leadership.
Meet the team
Tom Handcock 
Tom leads the Center for Leadership Insight. In addition to the CLI’s overall agenda, he is responsible for the CLI’s future of leadership research stream, which focuses on the dynamics that shape effective leadership, and tracks how leadership profiles, behaviors, and expectations evolve.
In partnership with the United Nations Global Compact, Tom led a study of 55 pioneering leaders that have embedded sustainability into the core of their business strategies. The resulting Sustainable Leader model is a critical component of how RRA advises clients to think about senior executive placements and next-generation talent development.
Prior, Tom spent three years leading Russell Reynolds’ Global Knowledge Management function, which focuses on supporting our consultants with analysis about markets, industries, and clients.
Tom has deep expertise in social and organizational research and began his career as a quantitative researcher at CEB, now part of Gartner. He specialized in the talent management space, contributing to and leading numerous studies on labor market dynamics, learning and leadership development, and leadership effectiveness. During his 14 years at CEB and Gartner, Tom led various global research and advisory businesses and served as an advisor to key clients, as a keynote speaker, and as a facilitator of C-level roundtable discussions.
Tom holds a BSc in Sociology from the University of Bath and an MSc in Social Research Methods from Trinity College Dublin.
Jemi Crookes
Jemi is the Center for Leadership Insight’s primary research design, implementation and analytics expert. She leads large scale research projects that blend quantitative and qualitative methodologies. This includes leading the CLI’s annual Global Leadership Monitor, which tracks key threats to organizational health and leadership preparedness to face them, as well as indicators of confidence in leadership, and leaders' engagement and career aspirations.
Jemi also looks after the CLI’s diversity, equity and inclusion research stream and has been instrumental in developing RRA’s research and frameworks on DE&I operating models, equitable search, succession and retention practices.
She began her career as a research analyst at Affinnova, now Nielsen IQ, working on global projects and was based in both Chicago and Singapore. Prior to joining RRA, Jemi worked as a Senior Consultant on the Advisory team at Mintel in New York City. She specialized in leading market research studies for key clients in the areas of brand and channel strategy, customer and audience development, competitive intelligence, and product innovation. She is a gifted public speaker and facilitator of roundtable discussions.
Jemi received her BA, with honors, in Sociology and Psychology from Bryn Mawr College and a Master of Marketing Research from the Terry College of Business at the University of Georgia.
Leah Christianson
Leah (she/her) is the Center for Leadership Insight’s managing editor, providing editorial support across the firm’s thought leadership catalog, and curating and editing the Russell Reynolds Journal, our private quarterly publication for corporate directors and CEOs.
Additionally, Leah leads our research and content creation on organizational culture and the future of work.
Formerly, Leah was a member of RRA’s Consumer Technology practice, where she developed executive search strategy and assessed marketplace, product, fintech, and marketing talent. Prior to joining the firm, she taught writing courses and served as the editor-in-chief of Oxford Magazine. She began her career at a healthcare consultancy, where she specialized in knowledge management and strategic process improvement.
Leah received her BA in English and Political Science from UCLA, and an MFA in Creative Writing from Miami University.
Joy Tan
Joy looks after the CLI’s technology and innovation research stream, which focuses on understanding what differentiates the leaders and organizations who harness technology for sustained competitive advantage. This includes assessing the “digital mindset” and other leadership behaviors and cultural attributes that are necessary to drive transformative innovation. Joy also contributes to research across other themes, including the future of work.
Formerly, Joy was a Knowledge Consultant in the firm’s Healthcare sector, where she supported our market facing consultants in the development and implementation of their go-to-market strategy.
Prior to joining Russell Reynolds, Joy conducted clinical research at the University of Pennsylvania's medical centers and worked at the Clinton Health Access Initiative’s Malaria Elimination Team in South Africa.
Joy received her BA in Biological Basis of Behavior with a minor in English from the University of Pennsylvania, and her MPH in Epidemiology and Global Health from the Columbia Mailman School of Public Health.
Beth Hawley
Beth works on the Center for Leadership Insight’s big primary research projects applying her quantitative research and analytics expertise.
Beth also leads the CLI’s sustainability research stream, which focuses on how organizations can advance sustainability outcomes by developing sustainable leadership acumen within their leadership teams. Recent work includes a global survey of sustainability leaders that looks at their experience setting and enabling the sustainability agenda.
Beth is an industrial/organizational psychologist by training, and prior to joining Russell Reynolds, she spent 8 years working for small, mid and large-scale businesses both public and private, in a variety of industrial/organizational roles.
She specializes in organizational development and strategy, data analysis and statistics. She has also built and led executive trainings and designed large-scale performance feedback systems and trainings.
Beth received her BS with honors in Psychology from Westminster College, and her MA in Industrial Organizational Psychology from the Chicago School of Professional Psychology.