Katie Jacobs

Katie Jacobs is an award-winning business journalist and editor and a senior research fellow of The Conference Board. She is a well-regarded commentator on the world of work, HR and leadership and previously worked at the CIPD, where she built the body’s HR leader network from scratch, creating a strong peer community of chief people officers.

In her journalism career, she was previously editor of HR magazine, where she delivered brand extensions such as the HR Excellence Awards, the HR Most Influential ranking and the HR in the Boardroom CHRO development programme, as well as running the day-to-day editorial of the magazine. She has written about the world of work for magazines including People Management, Work and Management Today and newspapers including the Times and the Financial Times. She was also editor of Supply Management, the magazine of the Chartered Institute of Procurement and Supply.

Katie is the co-host of CIPD Work magazine’s popular What If podcast, which puts provocative business questions under the spotlight. She is the co-author of several influential CIPD reports including The Value of People Expertise on Corporate Boards and Responsible Business Through Crisis, a three-year landmark research project with Professor Veronica Hope Hailey exploring the impact of the pandemic on leadership. In her journalism and speaking work, she has interviewed everyone from comedians Katherine Ryan and Sue Perkins (in front of large live audiences), to FTSE100 CEOs and board chairs, as well as countless CPOs, academics and HR thought leaders.