Clarke Murphy

Clarke Murphy is a leadership expert who advises many of the world’s leading companies and investors on leadership strategies that fuel profitable growth and value for all stakeholders.

He is a trusted advisor on issues of leadership effectiveness, sustainability, board formation, and succession. He has significant expertise helping boards include sustainable competencies and track record into multi-year CEO succession processes.

As the former CEO of Russell Reynolds Associates from 2011 to 2021, he spearheaded a purpose-driven approach to business and led the firm through its greatest period of growth. In his new WSJ-bestselling book, Sustainable Leadership: Lessons of Vision, Courage, and Grit from the CEOs Who Dared to Build a Better World, Clarke tells the stories of dynamic business executives who are using their position to solve the most complex social and economic challenges of our time.

Since 2021, Clarke has co-hosted the award-winning Redefiners podcast, interviewing courageous leaders who are redefining their organizations—and themselves—to deliver extraordinary results. He is a guest lecturer at Harvard, MIT, Stanford, and Darden business schools. His insights have also featured in Bloomberg, WSJ, The Economist, and Financial Times.

Clarke is a board member of Carnegie Hall and New York City Ballet and a Senior Fellow of the Mission Possible Partnership (MPP), advising MPP in their mission to share information among leaders of the seven hard-to-abate industries in reducing carbon.