James E. Donohue has over two decades of consulting experience in all aspects of workforce strategy and design, mergers and acquisitions, leadership and employee engagement. As a member of Spencer Stuart’s Leadership Advisory Services, his professional passion is helping leaders and teams improve business results by unlocking their leadership capabilities. From large-scale organizational transformation and leadership development initiatives to personalized executive team and individual coaching, James links people strategies to corporate strategies. He has led and advised global teams and leaders for years and brings a pragmatic, solution-focused approach to the work.

Expert in leadership assessment and development, executive coaching and top team effectiveness

  • James has designed, implemented and led over 20 large-scale leadership assessment and development programs for global clients that have enhanced their business performance and talent outcomes.
  • James has successfully designed and completed leadership coaching engagements with over 40 executives in recent years, covering a wide range of markets and sectors including industrials, financial services and consumer products — focused largely on improving team as well as individual leader performance.
  • He is a contributing author to the recent leadership book Age of Agility: Building Agile Leaders and Organizations.
  • Earlier in his career, James was a senior manager at a global management consulting firm, where he focused on organization design, talent management and HR technology.

James earned a B.A. in economics and religion from St. Olaf College and an M.B.A. from the J. L. Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University. He has served as a frequent guest lecturer at local and national organizations and higher education institutions. James is certified in several leading assessment instruments and methods, including Hogan, Ravens, ADEPT-15, SOVA PQ, LSI and DISC and is a qualified trainer and certified coach of Marshall Goldsmith’s executive coaching methodology.

Practice Areas