Consultant, Head of Executive Bench
Jessica Foster is a senior partner and the head of Executive Bench, a service that empowers companies to create compelling and robust leadership pipelines through unbiased, data-driven insights. The core mission of the practice is to help organizations become better stewards of their talent by reshaping succession conversations, redefining potential, and modernizing their models of leadership.
With deep roots at RHR, Jessica led assessment and development prior to standing up Executive Bench, and her vision and expertise serve as the guiding hand shaping the practice’s future. She has built a team of talented professionals whose diverse skills and stories weave together to create a tapestry of game-changing innovation and impact. Jessica herself comes from a background in academia, having worked as a professor of industrial and organizational psychology at Purdue University before transitioning to consulting.
At work, whether coaching an individual executive or envisioning new possibilities with her team, Jessica’s ultimate motivation is to create inspiring, progressive, and challenging paths to great leadership. Outside of work, she is a wife, mother, daughter, and sister who enjoys the simple pleasures of her family, friends, and community.
CONTACT• Rice University
PhD, Industrial and Organizational Psychology
• Davidson College
BS, Psychology
As we evolve our leadership and succession practices to align with our growth agenda, RHR has been a trusted partner in bringing objective data and insights on our talent to better shape our future.
Tapaswee Chandele, Global Head, Talent and Development
Succession planning done right builds internal bench strength for smooth leadership transitions. RHR provides a second set of eyes on our top talent, and helps us focus their development to maximize their potential.
Anonymous, Chief Human Resources Officer
Working with the team from RHR was a pleasure. They were able to enhance and complement our programming and accelerate the growth and development of our employees.
Joseph Hirt, Director, Leadership Development
I have worked with the RHR International team for over four years across two different companies, and I have seen the impact of our partnership manifested through improved leadership, heightened levels of candor and awareness, and more thoughtful and informed succession decisions. Since the early days of our partnership, they have consistently modeled an intent to help leaders be “the best versions of themselves” by leveraging rigorous assessment data that in turn has led to powerful conversations and, more importantly, behavior change.
Stacey Panayiotou, Executive Vice President, Human Resources
The rigor with which our talent has been assessed by the RHR team offers us an objective foundation on which we can support our leaders in strengthening and building their leadership competence. As a result of our partnership with RHR, our leaders will be better prepared, personally and professionally, to tackle the opportunities and challenges ahead.
Jeff Lindeman, Group Director, Operations