Xobin's Top 50 I/O Psychologists 2026: The Minds Behind the Science of Work
Why are some teams smarter than the smartest person in them? Who decides whether an AI hiring tool is actually fair? And what keeps a global technical certification valid and reliable?
Industrial-organizational (I/O) psychologists spend their careers on questions like these. Xobin's Top 50 I/O Psychologists 2026 honors leaders who apply the science of behavior to hiring, assessment, leadership, and workplace culture. From professors and chief scientists to people analytics leaders and consultants, they show that rigorous research and practical impact belong together. Meet them below.
What is Xobin's Top 50 I/O Psychologists 2026 list?
Xobin's Top 50 I/O Psychologists 2026 spotlights the scientists and practitioners who apply psychological research to work. Xobin is an AI-powered talent acquisition and talent management platform that offers psychometric testing and assessment tools, so the science of measuring people fairly sits close to its own work. This list is its way of recognizing those who advance it.
In 2026, the awards program grew to three parallel lists:
Top 50 Talent Acquisition Leaders
Top 50 Learning and Development Leaders
Top 50 I/O Psychologists.
To meet the leaders on the other two lists, visit the Xobin HR Awards 2026 page.
Why does Xobin celebrate I/O psychologists?
Xobin works with HR, talent acquisition, learning and development, and people professionals, and it relies on the research that makes hiring and assessment fair, valid, and useful. Recognizing I/O psychologists brings visibility to the people behind that evidence. The program aims to:
Honor outstanding work across the HR and psychology communities
Give contributions that often happen behind the scenes a wider audience
Surface the emerging research and practices shaping the future of work
Deepen Xobin's relationships with HR and talent professionals
Encourage knowledge sharing between scientists and practitioners
How were the I/O psychologists selected?
Xobin's leadership team acted as the evaluation panel. Every nomination was assessed against the same published criteria, informed by industry recommendations, open submissions, and in-house research. Here is how the cycle ran:
Nominations: peers, colleagues, and the psychologists themselves submitted through the official form, and self-nominations counted equally.
Close of nominations: the window ended on 24 October 2026, with no late entries.
Evaluation: from 24 to 30 October, the panel read each submission in full.
Announcement: The Top 50 lists for all three categories were released on 31 October 2026.
The panel weighed four criteria:
Years of experience: the depth of professional expertise built over a career
Exceptional achievement: accomplishments, innovations, or initiatives that demonstrate excellence
Workplace impact: real programs and policies that shaped employees, practices, or culture
Community contribution: mentorship, thought leadership, research, or teaching that benefits the wider field
Seniority alone did not settle the outcome. The panel considered each nominee's overall contribution. There was no fee at any stage and no paid or sponsored placement.
Who are the Top 50 I/O Psychologists in 2026?
These are the 50 honorees recognized this year.
Skim the quick list for the full lineup and each honoree's area of focus, then read the profiles below.
Note: Each profile has been compiled from the data filled during nominations, LinkedIn profiles, and other publicly available data. If there is anything you would like us to correct or update, please feel free to reach out to nikita.saini@xobin.com and we would be happy to update.
| I/O Psychologist | Area of Focus | Country |
|---|---|---|
| Jana Fallon, Ph.D., Principal Consultant, BridgeTalent Advisory | Applied I/O Psychology | United States |
| Saswati Barat, Founder & CEO, AIOU | Applied I/O Psychology | India |
| William C. Rawe, Ph.D., Founder & Principal Consultant, William C. Rawe Consulting | Applied I/O Psychology | United States |
| Dr. S. Steven Whitaker, I/O Psychologist & Professor, DrSSW | Applied I/O Psychology | United States |
| Nishigandha Nawathe, Founder, Head I/O Psychologist, Amaya Insights and Amaya EDU | Applied I/O Psychology | India |
| Punarnava Sharma, Deputy Manager, Zonal HR Lead (North Zone), PB Partners (Policybazaar) | Applied I/O Psychology | India |
| Srayasi Ghosh, Founder & Chief Solutions Officer, People Engine Solutions LLP | Applied I/O Psychology | India |
| Neetika Chhabria, Well-being and Resiliency Lead, Teleperformance | Applied I/O Psychology | UAE |
| Mangaiyarkarasi Babuji, Corporate Psychologist & Wellness Coach, Cittaa Health Ventures | Applied I/O Psychology | India |
| Dr. Martha Grajdek, I/O Psychologist, Author & Podcast Host | Applied I/O Psychology | United States |
| Jessie Thompson, Ph.D., Manager, People Analytics & Associate Insights, Burlington Stores | Applied I/O Psychology | United States |
| Sonia Makki, I-O Psychologist & Organizational Development Leader, Power Design | Applied I/O Psychology | United States |
| Dr. Laura Hambley Lovett, Organizational Psychologist, Keynote Speaker & Adjunct Professor, University of Calgary | Applied I/O Psychology | Canada |
| Stan Silverman, Dean and Professor Emeritus, The University of Akron | Applied I/O Psychology | United States |
| Mark Smith, Ph.D., Principal Consultant, A Better Choice Hire | Applied I/O Psychology | United States |
| Rob McKenna, PhD, Founder & CEO, WiLD Leaders Inc. | Applied I/O Psychology | United States |
| Dr. Janice Gassam Asare, Founder, BWG Business Solutions | Applied I/O Psychology | United States |
| Lara Atallah, Organizational Psychologist & Executive Coach | Applied I/O Psychology | Egypt |
| Eliza Hatoum, Organizational Psychologist & Founder, Integrative Psychology & Coaching | Applied I/O Psychology | UAE |
| Kerry Gird, Leadership Coach & Fractional TA, Bousala Coaching | Applied I/O Psychology | UAE |
| Kelsey Huffines, Principal, Global Site Experience Programs, Workday | Applied I/O Psychology | United States |
| Autumn D. Krauss, Ph.D., Chief Scientist, Future of Work Research Lab, SAP SuccessFactors | Applied I/O Psychology | United States |
| Eric M. Dunleavy, Ph.D., Vice President, Employment and Litigation Services, DCI Consulting Group | Applied I/O Psychology | United States |
| Latiya Robinson, Ph.D., Adjunct Instructor of Psychology, University of West Florida | Applied I/O Psychology | United States |
| Jessica Strayer, PhD, Founder and Senior I/O Psychologist, Kairos Global Organizational Consulting | Applied I/O Psychology | United States |
| Alexander Nassrelgrgawi, Ph.D., Gilbane Building Company | People Analytics & Workforce Data | United States |
| Donovan Parish, VP of Human Resources, GRT Financial | People Analytics & Workforce Data | United States |
| Usha Gunasegaran, HR Director, Speedcast | People Analytics & Workforce Data | Malaysia |
| Stephanie Murphy, Ph.D., VP Culture and Experience, UnitedHealth Group | People Analytics & Workforce Data | United States |
| Tunji Oki, Ph.D., Senior Talent Analytics Manager, Netflix | People Analytics & Workforce Data | United States |
| Bobby Melloy, PhD, I/O Psychologist & HR Leader | People Analytics & Workforce Data | United States |
| Candace Y. Washington, Ph.D., Associate Director, People Analytics and Workforce Planning, The New York Public Library | People Analytics & Workforce Data | United States |
| Alexis Fink, Ph.D., Founder, Propeller Insights | People Analytics & Workforce Data | United States |
| Dr. Laura Pineault, Principal Data Scientist, McKinsey & Company | People Analytics & Workforce Data | United States |
| Dr. Chhavi Mittal Goyal, Lead, Psychometrics, ConveGenius Insights | AI-Driven Assessment & Validity | India |
| Jeffrey M. Stanton, Ph.D., Professor, Syracuse University | AI-Driven Assessment & Validity | United States |
| Richard N. Landers, Ph.D., John P. Campbell Distinguished Professor of I-O Psychology, University of Minnesota; President, SIOP | AI-Driven Assessment & Validity | United States |
| Liberty Munson, Ph.D., Director of Psychometrics, Microsoft | AI-Driven Assessment & Validity | United States |
| Dr. James Hsiao, Head of Research & Development, City of Los Angeles | AI-Driven Assessment & Validity | United States |
| Ibidun (Ibi) Layi-Ojo, Chief Assessment Officer, Surpass Assessment | AI-Driven Assessment & Validity | United States |
| Larry L. Williams, Ph.D., Psychology Professor, Keiser University | Academic & Research Excellence | United States |
| Paula C., I/O Psychologist & Talent Management Consultant | Academic & Research Excellence | United States |
| Anita Williams Woolley, Ph.D., Professor of Organizational Behavior and Theory, Carnegie Mellon University | Academic & Research Excellence | United States |
| Herman Aguinis, Ph.D., Avram Tucker Distinguished Scholar & Professor of Management, The George Washington University School of Business | Academic & Research Excellence | United States |
| Marylène Gagné, Ph.D., Professor, Future of Work Institute and Curtin University | Academic & Research Excellence | Australia |
| Adam Grant, Ph.D., Author and Organizational Psychologist, The Wharton School | Academic & Research Excellence | United States |
| Amy C. Edmondson, Ph.D., Novartis Professor of Leadership and Management, Harvard Business School | Academic & Research Excellence | United States |
| Rahena Somdat, Organizational Development Practitioner & Doctoral Researcher, Citi | Emerging I/O Psychology | United States |
| Amrita Kapoor Bedi, Sr. Manager, Corporate HR, IDS Infotech Limited | Emerging I/O Psychology | India |
| Dr. Maya Shankar, Cognitive Scientist, Author & Host of A Slight Change of Plans | Emerging I/O Psychology | United States |
Jana Fallon, Ph.D.
Principal Consultant, BridgeTalent Advisory · United States · LinkedIn
A global HR leader with 20+ years at some of the world's largest financial services companies, Jana has led HR teams of up to 400+ professionals, aligning talent strategy, workforce planning and AI enablement with business strategy.
Impact: Helped lead a major enterprise transformation that redesigned roles, decision rights and leadership assessment for an AI-enabled future. By connecting strategy, organization design, talent and technology, she guided thousands of employees through change while building the capabilities the business needs next.
Publications & credentials: Ph.D., Industrial-Organizational Psychology; World 50 Next Leader Executive Education Program (2025); Certified Executive Coach, Marshall Goldsmith Stakeholder Centered Coaching; Adaptive Leadership, Harvard Kennedy School Executive Education; Hogan Assessment Certified; frequent SIOP presenter and panelist on talent strategy, assessment, leadership and the future of HR.
Saswati Barat
Founder & CEO, AIOU · India · LinkedIn
An industrial psychologist and organizational behavior expert with 14+ years of experience, Saswati advises clients from Fortune 100 companies to startups across global, local, public and private sectors, now expanding into UN SDGs and Future of Work projects.
Impact: Saswati builds research-led psychometric assessments measuring behavior, learning, intelligence and stress, and applies them to leadership hiring, competency mapping and development planning. Current work spans research on gender bias in AI and workplace mental health and wellbeing initiatives.
Publications & credentials: 14+ years in talent assessment, organizational development and L&D; specialist in R&D psychometric assessments, competency frameworks, and OB/OD consulting.
William C. Rawe, Ph.D.
Founder & Principal Consultant, William C. Rawe Consulting · United States · LinkedIn
William treats leadership gaps as complexity gaps, not skill gaps: leaders promoted into roles that demand more than they have developmentally grown into. Built from doctoral research and tested in real leadership roles, this thesis shapes every engagement.
Impact: Creator of the Rawe Adaptive Leadership Framework (RALF) and the Turnover Diagnostic, a causal attribution service that uses an organization's own separation data to separate turnover a policy change can fix from turnover only leadership development can fix. The work spans multifamily, senior living, hospitality and other operator-heavy sectors.
Publications & credentials: Ph.D., Industrial & Organizational Psychology, Grand Canyon University; MBA; SHRM-SCP; U.S. Marine Corps veteran; Rawe, W. C. (2026), "Unlocking Online Potential: Constructive Development for Student Success," in Psychology, Ethics, and AI in Online Higher Education (IGI Global); Rawe, W. C. (2024), doctoral dissertation "Reimagining the Policies, Practices, and Purposes for Leadership Development Programs," Grand Canyon University.
Dr. S. Steven Whitaker
I/O Psychologist & Professor, DrSSW · United States · LinkedIn
An I/O psychologist and professor, Dr. Whitaker researches how technology is reshaping work and whether I/O theory must evolve with it. His work spans light and dark triad leadership, psychological safety, and expert witness testimony on workplace harassment and discrimination.
Impact: Authored Psychological Safety At Work (2026) with companion workbooks for organizations and graduate educators, turning research on trust, learning and performance into practical tools. He also advises organizations on assessment design, research methodology and workplace investigations.
Publications & credentials: Ph.D. Psychology, specializing in I/O Psychology with a concentration in Consultation Psychology; author of Psychological Safety At Work and two companion workbooks (2026); co-author, "Quantitative Analysis of Workplace Bullying and Burnout Among Employees in Higher Education," Review of Business Research (2023); published thought leadership on toxic leadership, the Dark Triad, burnout and AI at work.
Nishigandha Nawathe
Founder, Head I/O Psychologist, Amaya Insights and Amaya EDU · India · LinkedIn
Nishigandha goes beneath surface-level motivation to the behavior, psychology and systems that drive measurable results. As a business psychologist leading three ventures, Nishigandha designs work cultures, wellness programs and training that change how people actually perform.
Impact: Over 14 years, Nishigandha has delivered 50+ customized workshops and behavioural interventions linked to performance, retention and work culture. Through I/O Psychologist Near Me and Amaya E.D.U., Nishigandha also builds the next generation of I/O talent, with award recognition and guest lectures for aspiring psychologists.
Publications & credentials: MSc, Industrial & Organizational Psychology, Amity University Mumbai; Certified Performance Coach; developer of psychology-based assessments and learning programs on employability and performance; published thought leadership on workplace psychology, leadership and wellbeing.
Punarnava Sharma
Deputy Manager, Zonal HR Lead (North Zone), PB Partners (Policybazaar) · India · LinkedIn
Punarnava is an Organizational Psychologist working at the intersection of people, performance and purpose. In close to four years across Corporate and Regional HR, Punarnava has shown how behavioural science, data and AI can deliver measurable business outcomes at scale.
Impact: Led a behaviour-first, AI-enabled transformation for a large field sales insurance workforce. AI-driven risk insights cut quality attrition by 30 to 40% and improved early interventions by 15 to 20%. Behavioural nudges lifted frontline productivity by 35 to 40%, and chatbot-led HR support reached 95% adoption.
Publications & credentials: Research on mothers returning to work postpartum.
Srayasi Ghosh
Founder & Chief Solutions Officer, People Engine Solutions LLP · India · LinkedIn
Srayasi built an I/O psychology practice in a market still discovering the field. Drawing on a background in global logistics, supply chain and HR consulting, Srayasi turns behavioural science into practical, evidence-based people solutions for SMEs and startups.
Impact: As Founder of People Engine, Srayasi leads a team that delivers people-first solutions across talent management, leadership development, employee engagement and mental wellness. The practice has moved from explaining why I/O psychology matters to proving its impact, one client at a time.
Publications & credentials: Master's in Applied Psychology (Organizational & Environmental specialization); certified in NLP; certified in Meditative Art Therapy.
Neetika Chhabria
Well-being and Resiliency Lead, Teleperformance · UAE · LinkedIn
With 15+ years across India and the MENA region, Neetika builds psychological safety and resilience in the demanding world of trust and safety, designing mental health frameworks that align employee well-being with organizational goals.
Impact: Created the Wellness and Resiliency Academy, embedding mental health frameworks and resilience-building into teams working in trust and safety. The result is psychologically safe, high-performing work environments in one of the industry's toughest settings.
Publications & credentials: Master's in Psychology; Registered Medical Practitioner (RMP); Certified Clinical Hypnotherapist (C.Ht).
Mangaiyarkarasi Babuji
Corporate Psychologist & Wellness Coach, Cittaa Health Ventures · India · LinkedIn
Mangaiyarkarasi brings mental health support to people in high-pressure roles who rarely get room to talk, from corporate teams to police personnel. Blending applied psychology, art therapy and graphology, the work makes wellbeing a stigma-free workplace conversation.
Impact: Mangaiyarkarasi has supported 2,500+ students, parents, teachers and employees through 250+ sessions. At Genpact, the work included designing workplace mental health programs spanning counselling, emotional resilience, EAP services and suicide-prevention support, which earned the Best Wellness Coach Award (2025).
Publications & credentials: M.Sc. Applied Psychology, PG Diploma in Guidance & Counselling, B.Sc. Psychology; certified in CBT for children and adolescents, career coaching and remedial teaching; member of APA and BCPA; 5+ research papers presented at national conferences, on aggression among police and sales workers, internet addiction and emotional intelligence, and caregiver distress; Best Wellness Coach Award, Genpact (2025); Best Creativist Award, TVS School (2022); book on art therapy for expectant mothers (in progress).
Dr. Martha Grajdek
I/O Psychologist, Author & Podcast Host · United States · LinkedIn
Dr. Martha Grajdek brings workplace psychology to people beyond the HR function. Through her long-running Workplace Psychology podcast, now past 300 episodes, she turns I/O research on stress, burnout and careers into guidance professionals can act on.
Impact: Author of The Stress Solution: Your Blueprint for Stress Management Mastery, a practical framework for managing stress at work. She extends that mission through her YouTube channel, Stress-Free With Dr G, and recurring expert panels on workforce analytics, adaptive leadership and ethics in AI.
Publications & credentials: PhD, Industrial & Organizational Psychology; MBA; Bachelor's in Psychology; author, The Stress Solution: Your Blueprint for Stress Management Mastery; host, Workplace Psychology with Dr. Martha Grajdek (4.5-star rating across 31 listener reviews).
Jessie Thompson, Ph.D.
Manager, People Analytics & Associate Insights, Burlington Stores · United States · LinkedIn
With 15+ years of cross-functional experience and 8+ years in employee listening, Jessie turns employee insight into business strategy. Jessie designs and scales listening programs that strengthen culture, elevate employee experience and drive organizational effectiveness.
Impact: Built Burlington's Associate Listening Strategy, giving leaders a clear view of how work feels for 90,000+ associates nationwide. The resulting insights inform decisions on engagement, culture and accountability across a complex, high-growth organization.
Publications & credentials: Ph.D.; 8+ years specializing in employee listening, organizational insights and engagement strategy.
Sonia Makki
I-O Psychologist & Organizational Development Leader, Power Design · United States · LinkedIn
Leading enterprise talent strategy at Power Design, Sonia aligns leadership capability with business goals. A master's in I-O Psychology, ongoing PhD studies and a Future of Work contribution at NASA ground a research-driven approach to workforce decisions.
Impact: Built the foundation for Power Design's first formal succession planning process, bringing structure to how leadership talent, readiness and pipeline gaps are assessed. Also led an enterprise SWOT analysis that consolidated insights from about 25 divisions into a single executive view.
Publications & credentials: Master's, Industrial-Organizational Psychology; PhD studies (in progress), Business/Managerial Economics; contributor, Future of Work initiative, NASA; co-author, "Ethical Sustainability in Organizational Decision-Making" (Springer Nature, 2026).
Dr. Laura Hambley Lovett
Organizational Psychologist, Keynote Speaker & Adjunct Professor, University of Calgary · Canada · LinkedIn
For 25 years, Dr. Laura Hambley Lovett has used organizational psychology to build workplaces where people thrive, not just survive. Founder of five practices, she researches toxic leadership at the University of Calgary and brings it to keynote stages.
Impact: Her toxic leadership research became the international bestseller I Wish I'd Quit Sooner: Practical Strategies for Navigating and Escaping a Toxic Boss (2026). Her teams have supported thousands of individuals and hundreds of organizations, and her podcast, Where Work Meets Life™, ranks in the top 5% of career podcasts globally.
Publications & credentials: Ph.D., I/O Psychology, University of Calgary; Registered Psychologist, Alberta; Adjunct Professor, University of Calgary; author, I Wish I'd Quit Sooner (2026); host, Where Work Meets Life™.
Stan Silverman
Dean and Professor Emeritus, The University of Akron · United States · LinkedIn
Stan helped build the field itself, chairing SIOP's first three annual conferences. He pioneered research on workplace arrogance, and across five decades he has bridged academia and consulting, advising leaders at Fortune 500 companies.
Impact: Stan co-developed the Workplace Arrogance Scale (WARS), a tool to identify arrogant managers before they damage teams. Its findings link arrogance to lower performance, intelligence and self-esteem. As Dean, he also built an early college high school with Akron Public Schools, now a state-recognized School of Promise.
Publications & credentials: Working Scared: Blueprints for Employees and Leaders to Succeed During Turbulent Times (with Kenneth N. Wexley and David H. Wexley), released May 2026; "Arrogance: A Formula for Leadership Failure," The Industrial-Organizational Psychologist (July 2012); 50-year SIOP member; named the #1 most influential living I/O psychologist by Human Resources MBA; featured on NBC's Today Show; B.S. Psychology, The Ohio State University; M.A. I/O Psychology, Middle Tennessee State University.
Mark Smith, Ph.D.
Principal Consultant, A Better Choice Hire · United States · LinkedIn
Mark brings over two decades of I-O psychology to one question: how to hire better. As Principal Consultant at A Better Choice Hire, he champions skills-first hiring, pairing scientific rigor in candidate assessment with practical guidance managers can apply.
Impact: Mark authored the best-selling A Better Choice: The Manager's Guide to Skills-First Hiring, which puts assessment science directly in hiring managers' hands. He has also strengthened the I-O community as President, Treasurer and Board Member of the Houston Association for I-O Psychology.
Publications & credentials: M.A. and Ph.D., Industrial-Organizational Psychology, University of South Florida; author, A Better Choice: The Manager's Guide to Skills-First Hiring; member, SIOP; named one of the Top 50 HR Professionals and Leaders of 2024; Advisory Board, Xobin.
Rob McKenna, PhD
Founder & CEO, WiLD Leaders Inc. · United States · LinkedIn
Named among the 30 most influential I-O psychologists and featured in Forbes, Rob founded WiLD Leaders to put leadership science to work. Decades of research on leading under pressure are now practical tools that help leaders build trust, performance and wellbeing.
Impact: Created the WiLD Toolkit, a system for developing whole leaders through 10 personalized assessments, and has advised clients including Boeing, Microsoft, Heineken, Alaska Airlines and Children's Hospital. He also founded The WiLD Foundation, a not-for-profit building leadership capacity among underserved leaders worldwide.
Publications & credentials: PhD; chaired Seattle Pacific University's I-O Psychology program until 2020, after 25 years at SPU; author, Whole Leaders, Wild Trust: The Courageous Path to Personal, Relational, and Organizational Change (John Wiley & Sons, January 2026); author, Composed: The Heart and Science of Leading Under Pressure (Dust Jacket Media, 2017); TEDx speaker.
Dr. Janice Gassam Asare
Founder, BWG Business Solutions · United States · LinkedIn
Janice is LinkedIn's #1 Top Voice in Equity and a Columbia University adjunct assistant professor. Drawing on her PhD research on hiring bias, she helps organizations uncover hidden barriers and build fair, trusted workplaces in an increasingly automated world.
Impact: She founded the award-winning BWG Business Solutions, partnering with Google, Amazon, PBS, Yale and H&M on research-based interventions that rebuild trust and belonging. Her 500+ Forbes articles, TEDx talks and The Dirty Diversity Podcast carry that work to a global audience.
Publications & credentials: Ph.D. (research on hiring bias); author of three Amazon bestsellers: Dirty Diversity, The Pink Elephant, and Decentering Whiteness in the Workplace; new book Rise and Resist (2026); 500+ Forbes articles; TEDx speaker; 10+ years of university teaching in New York and Connecticut.
Lara Atallah
Organizational Psychologist & Executive Coach · Egypt · LinkedIn
Lara blends organizational psychology with executive coaching, bringing 3,000+ transformational coaching hours across Egypt, Europe and MENA. An ICF-credentialed coach, Hogan Certified Assessor and ICF award judge, she helps leaders extend their limits and lead with self-trust.
Impact: As a Board Member of ICF Egypt (2016 to 2019), Lara helped the chapter earn three consecutive Global Chapter Recognition Awards and was twice invited to speak at the ICF Global Leaders Forum in Ireland and the USA. Over 10+ years, she has guided leaders and organizations through leadership development, wellbeing and change.
Publications & credentials: Master's in Business Psychology, University of East London; Professional Certified Coach (PCC), ICF, specializing in Executive, Leadership & Wellness Coaching; ICF Mentor Coach; Hogan Certified Assessor; Enneagram Accredited Professional; Judge, ICF Circle of Distinction Award.
Eliza Hatoum
Organizational Psychologist & Founder, Integrative Psychology & Coaching · UAE · LinkedIn
Eliza helps CEOs resolve the friction that growth creates: misaligned teams, unclear leadership expectations and slipping engagement. By pairing organizational psychology with CBT expertise, Eliza turns behavioral insight into structured action that strengthens execution.
Impact: Partners with CEOs, HR leaders and leadership teams to resolve misalignment, team dysfunction and communication breakdowns, driving measurable shifts in leadership behavior and team performance. Brings 7+ years of U.S.-based training and experience to organizations across the GCC.
Publications & credentials: Organizational Psychologist; Certified Cognitive Behavioral Therapist; Founder, Integrative Psychology & Coaching.
Kerry Gird
Leadership Coach & Fractional TA, Bousala Coaching · UAE · LinkedIn
Kerry helps high performers outgrow the very strengths that got them promoted. With 18 years in talent acquisition across four regions and training in coaching psychology, Kerry spots the patterns leaders miss, especially when the leader is still the system.
Impact: Coaches leaders from manager to VP level and advises scale-up founders on hiring, team design and org structure for growth. Kerry previously spent 6.5 years scaling sales teams at Gartner, and now helps founders get ahead of hiring decisions where a wrong hire can cost 1.5 to 2x annual salary.
Publications & credentials: MSc, Business Coaching Psychology, Heriot-Watt University; ICF Accredited Coach; 18 years in talent acquisition across the GCC, India, the UK and South Africa.
Kelsey Huffines
Principal, Global Site Experience Programs, Workday · United States · LinkedIn
Kelsey brings I/O psychology into the core of people operations, designing programs that shape how employees are managed, developed and supported. Kelsey now applies that lens at Workday, focusing on how AI and people work come together.
Impact: As Senior Program Manager, People Operations at Fullstory, Kelsey implemented a refreshed performance management process and developed manager training initiatives, building the foundations of how the company managed and grew its people.
Publications & credentials: Master's in Industrial and Organizational Psychology; Bachelor's in International Affairs and Public Relations, University of Georgia.
Autumn D. Krauss, Ph.D.
Chief Scientist, Future of Work Research Lab, SAP SuccessFactors · United States · LinkedIn
Autumn leads SAP SuccessFactors' Future of Work Research Lab, where her research shapes HR technology for organizations worldwide. A true scientist-practitioner, she has spent 20+ years turning evidence on culture, well-being and AI at work into business strategy.
Impact: Her team's research on employee experience, people management, AI and the CHRO's role directly informs SAP SuccessFactors' product strategy. Earlier, as Chief Scientist at a global consulting firm, she led large-scale culture transformations to improve employee health, safety and well-being.
Publications & credentials: Ph.D., I/O Psychology (Occupational Health Psychology specialization), Colorado State University; Early Career Achievement Award, American Psychological Association; applied research funded by the CDC, NIOSH and SHRM Foundation; External Advisory Committee, NIOSH Total Worker Health Center of Excellence, University of Colorado.
Eric M. Dunleavy, Ph.D.
Vice President, Employment and Litigation Services, DCI Consulting Group · United States · LinkedIn
Eric is a leading authority on fair, legally defensible employment decisions. A SIOP Fellow and the first recipient of SIOP's Distinguished Early Career Contributions Award (Practice), he brings I/O science to high-stakes hiring, pay and litigation.
Impact: Eric leads a division of I/O psychologists and labor economists that has delivered hundreds of high-stakes projects on hiring, promotion and pay. He testified before the EEOC on big data in employment and was one of 11 I/O psychologists selected to revise the SIOP Principles.
Publications & credentials: Ph.D. and M.A., I/O Psychology, University of Houston; co-editor, Adverse Impact Analysis: Understanding Data, Statistics and Risk (Taylor & Francis, 2017); SIOP Fellow (2015); former adjunct faculty, George Mason University and UMBC; faculty, Institute for Workplace Equality.
Latiya Robinson, Ph.D.
Adjunct Instructor of Psychology, University of West Florida · United States · LinkedIn
Latiya pairs operational rigor with behavioral science. Nearly a decade in regulated financial operations at Navy Federal shapes how Latiya approaches talent development, leadership education and assessment, with a focus on clarity, fairness and ethical growth.
Impact: At the University of West Florida, Latiya designs I/O psychology curriculum from the ground up and leads student cohorts through applied learning in leadership readiness, motivation and performance. Through Academic I/O, Latiya contributes to leadership assessment initiatives, training frameworks and consulting projects that strengthen engagement and retention.
Publications & credentials: Ph.D.; nearly 10 years in compliance and quality standards at Navy Federal; Adjunct Instructor, I/O Psychology, University of West Florida.
Jessica Strayer, PhD
Founder and Senior I/O Psychologist, Kairos Global Organizational Consulting · United States · LinkedIn
An I/O psychologist for more than 20 years, Jessica was endorsed by The British Academy as Exceptional Global Talent (2025). Blending research, assessment and executive coaching, Jessica helps leaders turn evidence-based practice into lasting organizational transformation.
Impact: Has trained, coached and taught more than 10,000 people and held multiple enterprise-wide roles. In those roles, Jessica has advised leadership on change, workforce planning and competency modeling to align human capital strategy with business goals. Jessica is also a keynote speaker on leadership and culture.
Publications & credentials: PhD; endorsed as Exceptional Global Talent in I/O Psychology by The British Academy (2025), through peer review; 20+ years in I/O psychology; Deep Presencing & Performance Coach.
Alexander Nassrelgrgawi, Ph.D.
Gilbane Building Company · United States · LinkedIn
Alexander turns people data into executive decisions. With a Ph.D. in I/O psychology, he built Gilbane's employee research and analytics function from the ground up, and his work spans workforce analytics, learning science and data-driven design.
Impact: Alexander built Gilbane's people analytics into a strategic function that leaders use regularly to make decisions. Its core tools are strategic workforce planning, employee engagement research and attrition prediction modeling, which together help the business anticipate talent risks before they surface.
Publications & credentials: Ph.D., Industrial-Organizational Psychology, with 5 publications; "Self-Regulatory Strategies in Self-Directed Learning," Applied Psychology Journal (2022); UXPA Amsterdam 2025, "Quantitative User Personas: Bridging Data and Design"; LEAP Talent Development 2024, "Executive Buy-In for L&D and I&B Initiatives" (2 symposia); SIOP 2021, "Post-Covid Employee Experience Innovations."
Donovan Parish
VP of Human Resources, GRT Financial · United States · LinkedIn
Donovan learned the business before HR, rising through grocery retail operations to People Leader. Across twenty years and seven industries, Donovan builds the systems, leadership pipelines and data-driven workforce decisions that let organizations grow and perform.
Impact: Scaled HR infrastructure as a workforce grew from about 250 to 2,200 employees, building HR functions from scratch, integrating acquired teams and navigating joint ventures. Today Donovan helps executives use workforce data to make staffing, investment and accountability decisions.
Publications & credentials: 20 years of HR leadership across retail, biotech, edtech, gaming, hospitality, financial services and legal services; MSHRM, SPHR, SHRM-SCP, GPHR, PHRca; writes on HR leadership, including "Feedback You Can't Act On Isn't Feedback" (The Practitioner Files).
Usha Gunasegaran
HR Director, Speedcast · Malaysia · LinkedIn
Usha brings 20+ years of HR leadership across Asia Pacific, spanning retail, startups, government-linked corporations, elevators and telecommunications. She aligns people strategy with business goals, building high-performing, collaborative organisations across complex HR landscapes.
Impact: Usha leads people strategy, organisational transformation, talent and employee experience across APAC. As a speaker, panellist and published voice in the HR community, she connects strategic HR thinking with the realities of diverse Asian markets.
Publications & credentials: Master's in Human Resource Management; Bachelor's in Business Administration; published article, ETHR SEA.
Stephanie Murphy, Ph.D.
VP Culture and Experience, UnitedHealth Group · United States · LinkedIn
Stephanie is an internationally recognized people analytics leader and founder of the Society for People Analytics. With 13+ years in organizational consulting, she combines proven science, storytelling and data-driven decision-making to transform organizations and motivate their people.
Impact: Stephanie leads culture and experience for UnitedHealth Group's 400,000 employees, turning large-scale listening, analysis and action into a better work experience. By founding the Society for People Analytics, she helped build a dedicated professional home for the field.
Publications & credentials: Ph.D. with 13+ years in internal and external organizational consulting; MBA instructor in People Analytics and Diversity & Inclusion; serves on several professional boards and committees; featured in industry publications, webinars and podcasts.
Tunji Oki, Ph.D.
Senior Talent Analytics Manager, Netflix · United States · LinkedIn
Dr. Tunji Oki brings the rigor of test development and validation to people analytics at scale. From advising Fortune 100 companies on selection to leading equity and employee voice research at Google, he now shapes how Netflix hires.
Impact: He leads Netflix's talent acquisition analytics team, using data and insight to sharpen how the company hires. At Google, he led research teams on hiring equity, lifecycle equity and employee sentiment, turning complex people challenges into measurable impact for employees and the business.
Publications & credentials: Ph.D., Industrial-Organizational Psychology, University of Houston; former Senior People Analytics Manager, Google; former Consultant, Applied Psychological Techniques, specializing in job analysis, employee selection, test development and validation, and legal issues for Fortune 100 clients.
Bobby Melloy, PhD
I/O Psychologist & HR Leader · United States · LinkedIn
Bobby proves rigorous science and commercial growth go hand in hand. With 15+ publications, people analytics experience at Google and clients like Johnson & Johnson, Nasdaq and Toyota, Bobby is a regular voice in Bloomberg and Fast Company.
Impact: Bobby leads Culture Amp's North American go-to-market consulting function. There he scaled regional revenue by 300% and led a $45M advisory portfolio that overhauled enterprise performance and continuous listening frameworks. He also teaches graduate courses in AI, digital transformation and leadership.
Publications & credentials: 15+ peer-reviewed publications, including Journal of Management (in press) on emotion regulation during hostile interactions; Journal of Occupational Health Psychology (2017, 2019) on emotional labor; Research in Organizational Behavior (2018) on pride displays in organizations; and Journal of Applied Social Psychology (2024) on gender disparities in the competence-warmth tradeoff.
Candace Y. Washington, Ph.D.
Associate Director, People Analytics and Workforce Planning, The New York Public Library · United States · LinkedIn
Candace builds People Analytics as a strategic function, not a reporting desk. Grounded in I/O psychology, she turns workforce data into evidence leaders trust, moving The New York Public Library from reactive reporting to proactive, human-centered people decisions.
Impact: Led the RFP and full-cycle implementation of the library's People Analytics platform, defining the metrics, data standards and quality checks that turned workforce data into a strategic asset. She also connects employee listening with organizational data to shape workforce planning, talent strategy and employee experience.
Publications & credentials: Ph.D., Adler University (2025); dissertation, "Exploring Burnout and Intersectionality: A Phenomenological Study of Black Women in HR Leadership," ProQuest Dissertations & Theses (2025).
Alexis Fink, Ph.D.
Founder, Propeller Insights · United States · LinkedIn
Alexis is a defining voice in people analytics. After 20+ years leading people analytics and workforce strategy at Microsoft, Intel and Meta, the past SIOP President and Fellow now shapes how organizations use data and AI to reinvent work.
Impact: Former leader at Meta, Microsoft and Intel, most recently as VP of People Analytics & Workforce Strategy at Meta. As SIOP President, she co-authored the white paper "The World of HR Is Changing Rapidly: I-O Psychology Can Help," and today she is Founder of Propeller Insights and Co-Founder of the Data Driven HR Academy, and runs the People Analytics Board for i4cp.
Publications & credentials: PhD in Industrial-Organizational Psychology, Old Dominion University; Fellow of SIOP and past president of SIOP; Investing in People: Financial Impact of Human Resource Initiatives, Third Edition (SHRM, 2019), with John W. Boudreau and Wayne F. Cascio; Employee Surveys and Sensing: Challenges and Opportunities (Oxford University Press, 2020), co-edited with William H. Macey; chapter, "Are OD and analytics twins separated at birth? Towards an integrated framework," with Alec Levenson and Maura Stevenson, in Research in Organizational Change and Development, Vol. 29.
Dr. Laura Pineault
Principal Data Scientist, McKinsey & Company · United States · LinkedIn
Laura brings rigorous I/O science to how organizations measure and develop their people. Her validated single-item measures help researchers capture workplace constructs with shorter, more efficient surveys, and she now turns behavioral data into talent and culture strategy at McKinsey.
Impact: At McKinsey, Laura helps companies strengthen and transform their culture and talent management through evidence-based solutions. She has co-authored firm research on AI readiness, workforce flexibility and capability building.
Publications & credentials: Ph.D., I-O Psychology, Wayne State University; "Normalizing the Use of Single-Item Measures," Journal of Business and Psychology (2022); SSHRC Doctoral Award, Government of Canada; former SIOP Education & Training Committee student representative and TIP columnist.
Dr. Chhavi Mittal Goyal
Lead, Psychometrics, ConveGenius Insights · India · LinkedIn
Dr. Chhavi Mittal Goyal is a psychometrician who pairs rigorous test development with generative AI. With a PhD in Psychology and 5+ years in psychometric research, Chhavi builds assessments that are both innovative and scientifically sound.
Impact: Built an AI-powered, image-based personality and interest assessment that drives career counselling through an AI bot at ConveGenius. Also developed a BPS-certified personality assessment for Mercer | Mettl, meeting one of the field's most rigorous psychometric standards.
Publications & credentials: PhD, Psychology; UGC Junior Research Fellow; selected for the Emerging Psychologist Program, ICP 2020; Babu, N. & Goyal, C. M. (2022), "Peer relations in adolescence," Springer Handbook of Health and Well-being; Mittal, C. & Babu, N. (2020), "Exploring victimization due to school bullying among adolescents," Journal of the Indian Academy of Applied Psychology; Mittal, C. & Babu, N. (2017), "Explicating the bullying process in early adolescence," Indian Journal of Psychology & Education.
Jeffrey M. Stanton, Ph.D.
Professor, Syracuse University · United States · LinkedIn
A SIOP Fellow credited with expanding I/O psychology beyond its traditional boundaries, Jeffrey bridges psychometrics, data science and information studies. His work spans employee surveys, measurement development and cybersecurity behavior, and now extends to AI-assisted scale evaluation.
Impact: Over 25 years at Syracuse University, Jeffrey rose from assistant professor to Interim Dean of the iSchool and Associate Provost for Academic Affairs, and was selected as a National Science Foundation program director in 2024. His textbooks, including the open-source Introduction to Data Science, have shaped how a generation learns to reason with data.
Publications & credentials: Ph.D., University of Connecticut (1997); Fellow, SIOP (2019); NSF CAREER Award; ACE Fellow (2012 to 2013); books include Reasoning with Data (Guilford, 2017), The Visible Employee, and Information Nation; peer-reviewed work in Journal of Applied Psychology and Personnel Psychology; "Evaluating Item Content and Scale Characteristics Using a Pretrained Neural Network Model," Survey Research Methods (2024).
Richard N. Landers, Ph.D.
John P. Campbell Distinguished Professor of I-O Psychology, University of Minnesota, and President, SIOP · United States · LinkedIn
A rare I-O psychologist who also writes code, Richard sits where psychometric science meets AI. He leads the field's thinking on how games, gamification, machine learning and virtual reality can improve assessment, selection and learning, and does it with scientific rigor.
Impact: Through Landers Workforce Science LLC, he audits AI-powered hiring, promotion and training systems, holding algorithms to psychological standards. He now leads SIOP, the 10,000-member professional body for I-O psychologists, with a focus on uniting scientists and practitioners across the field.
Publications & credentials: Ph.D., I-O Psychology, University of Minnesota; Fellow of SIOP, APA and APS; author, Research Methods for Industrial and Organizational Psychology: Science and Practice (Routledge); published in Journal of Applied Psychology, American Psychologist and Psychological Methods; Associate Editor, International Journal of Selection and Assessment; Scientific Advisory Board, Aon; Director, TNTLAB.
Liberty Munson, Ph.D.
Director of Psychometrics, Microsoft · United States · LinkedIn
As Director of Psychometrics, Liberty has shaped how Microsoft validates technical skills since 2007. She is a leading voice on using technology and AI to rethink how skills are measured, from new item types to open-book exams.
Impact: She is responsible for making sure the assessments in the Microsoft Technical Certification program are valid and reliable measures of the skills they are meant to evaluate. In August 2023, she announced Microsoft's shift to open-book certification exams, a move that brought exams closer to how professionals actually work.
Publications & credentials: BS in Psychology, Iowa State University; MA and PhD in I/O Psychology, with minors in Quantitative Psychology and HR Management, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; eAssessment Association Practitioner of the Year (2024) and the Institute for Credentialing Excellence's Credentialing Industry Leadership Award (2025); SIOP Executive Board member, Vice Chair of the IT Certification Council, and Credential Engine board member; co-author, "High Level Strategic Approaches for Conducting Big Data Studies in Assessment," in Data Analytics and Psychometrics; closing keynote speaker, Innovations in Testing 2026.
Dr. James Hsiao
Head of Research & Development, City of Los Angeles · United States · LinkedIn
James has spent over a decade building hiring and promotional assessment systems that are psychometrically precise, legally defensible and fair. Grounded in research on prejudice and bias, he sets the standard for equitable public sector selection.
Impact: Co-founded and leads the City of Los Angeles R&D team, applying I/O psychology to make public sector hiring more efficient and position the City as an industry leader. He studies emerging trends like employee AI readiness and partners with other major cities on shared hiring challenges.
Publications & credentials: Ph.D., Industrial-Organizational Psychology; Master's in Experimental Psychology; published research on fairness in testing, workforce diversity and the predictive validity of selection systems.
Ibidun (Ibi) Layi-Ojo
Chief Assessment Officer, Surpass Assessment · United States · LinkedIn
Ibi turns complex psychometric and assessment concepts into strategies organizations can act on. As Chief Assessment Officer at Surpass Assessment, she helps organizations navigate the changing landscape of certification, licensure and workforce credentialing.
Impact: Across 15+ years in senior leadership at Surpass Assessment, CFP Board and Prometric, Ibi has led high-stakes examination programs and driven assessment innovation on a global scale. She champions quality, accessibility and candidate-centered testing, and mentors the next generation of credentialing leaders.
Publications & credentials: 15+ years of executive leadership in assessment and credentialing; industry speaker, mentor and volunteer leader in the credentialing profession.
Larry L. Williams, Ph.D.
Psychology Professor, Keiser University · United States · LinkedIn
Larry pairs a 20-year military leadership career with I/O research on workplace bullying and burnout. Using validated instruments such as the NAQ-R and MBI-ES, the work shows how toxic environments drain higher education employees and how organizations can respond.
Impact: Published quantitative research linking workplace bullying to emotional exhaustion and reduced professional accomplishment in higher education, strengthening the case for prevention and intervention. Now developing and validating the Workplace Digital Assessment Survey (WDAS) to measure key dimensions of the digital workplace.
Publications & credentials: Ph.D. and M.S., I/O Psychology; published researcher on workplace bullying and burnout in higher education; developer of the Workplace Digital Assessment Survey (WDAS); 20-year military veteran.
Paula C.
I/O Psychologist & Talent Management Consultant · United States · LinkedIn
A consultant with a Ph.D. in I/O Psychology, Paula brings scientific rigor to high-stakes selection, especially surgical residency. Paula's work spans job analysis, competency modeling, assessment validation and interviewer training, turning research into fairer, more predictive talent decisions.
Impact: Paula's proudest work, "It Takes a Village: Enhancing Realism in High-Stakes Assessments Through the Inclusion of Community Voices," brings community perspectives into assessment design for greater realism. Paula's published research also shows that situational judgment tests can predict surgical resident performance.
Publications & credentials: Ph.D., Industrial-Organizational Psychology; "Predicting Surgical Resident Performance with Situational Judgment Tests," Academic Medicine (2024); "Maximizing Standardization While Ensuring Equity," Journal of Surgical Education (2023); "Dissecting a Department of Surgery," The American Journal of Surgery (2021); presenter at SIOP, Surgical Education Week and the APDS Annual Meeting.
Anita Williams Woolley, Ph.D.
Professor of Organizational Behavior and Theory, Carnegie Mellon University · United States · LinkedIn
Anita pioneered the science of collective intelligence, showing that a team's performance depends less on individual brilliance than on how members collaborate. Her landmark 2010 Science paper has since been cited in thousands of publications.
Impact: As PI of the CI-Lab@CMU, she leads DARPA- and NSF-funded research on how AI can strengthen human collaboration. This includes a $2.8 million DARPA grant studying team collective intelligence and theory of mind in human-machine interaction. She also served as Associate Dean of Research at Tepper (2022 to 2024).
Publications & credentials: Ph.D., Organizational Behavior, Harvard University; "Evidence for a Collective Intelligence Factor in the Performance of Human Groups" (Science, 2010); published in Science, PNAS and top management and applied psychology journals; Senior Editor, Organization Science; Founding Associate Editor, ACM journal Collective Intelligence; affiliated faculty, MIT Center for Collective Intelligence.
Herman Aguinis, Ph.D.
Avram Tucker Distinguished Scholar & Professor of Management, The George Washington University School of Business · United States · LinkedIn
Herman has ranked among the world's top 1% most impactful Economics and Business researchers for eight consecutive years. A former President of the Academy of Management, he bridges behavioral science and data science in talent management research.
Impact: Author of 13 books, including Performance Management, now in its 5th edition and translated into Chinese, Arabic and Persian, and Applied Psychology in Talent Management with W.F. Cascio. His roughly 240 journal articles have earned about 80,000 Google Scholar citations. He has also advised organizations such as the United Nations, AT&T and Accenture.
Publications & credentials: Ph.D., Industrial and Organizational Psychology, University at Albany, SUNY; Fellow of AOM, SIOP, APA and APS; former Editor-in-Chief, Organizational Research Methods; AOM Research Methods Division Distinguished Career Award; career awards from SIOP and SHRM; The PhD Project Hall of Fame.
Marylène Gagné, Ph.D.
Professor, Future of Work Institute and Curtin University · Australia · LinkedIn
Marylène is a leading authority on work motivation. Her research shows how organisational structures, cultures, rewards and management shape people's motivation, and how that motivation drives performance and wellbeing. Her work has been cited more than 15,000 times.
Impact: She created a popular psychometric instrument for assessing work motivation, now translated into more than 20 languages. Her research has also shaped organisational interventions such as managerial leadership training, motivational work design, and compensation and recognition systems.
Publications & credentials: Ph.D., University of Rochester; editor, Oxford Handbook of Work Engagement, Motivation and Self-Determination Theory; Fellow of the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology and the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia; associate editor for Motivation Science and Motivation and Emotion; member of the Australian Research Council's College of Experts; recipient of an APA Dissertation Award and a Canadian Psychological Association New Researcher Award; published in the Journal of Management, Journal of Organizational Behavior, European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology, and Journal of Business and Psychology.
Adam Grant, Ph.D.
Author and Organizational Psychologist, The Wharton School · United States · LinkedIn
Adam has taken organizational psychology from the journal page to the global mainstream. As Wharton's youngest tenured professor and its top-rated teacher for seven straight years, he has made research on motivation, generosity and rethinking essential reading for leaders.
Impact: Adam's research on work motivation, giving behavior, meaningful work and leadership has shaped how organizations think about engagement and collaboration. He brings it to millions through bestselling books and the TED podcast WorkLife, and co-directs Wharton People Analytics.
Publications & credentials: Ph.D. and M.S., Organizational Psychology, University of Michigan; B.A., Harvard (magna cum laude); bestselling books include Give and Take, Originals, Option B (with Sheryl Sandberg), Think Again, and Hidden Potential; new book Vibe: The Secrets of Strong Connections in a Lonely World (Penguin, October 2026); SIOP Distinguished Early Career Contributions Award and Academy of Management Cummings Scholarly Achievement Award (2011); named one of the world's 10 most influential management thinkers (Thinkers50).
Amy C. Edmondson, Ph.D.
Novartis Professor of Leadership and Management, Harvard Business School · United States · LinkedIn
Amy pioneered the science of psychological safety at work, an idea that has sparked research across management, healthcare and education. Ranked #1 on Thinkers50 in 2021 and 2023, she is among the world's most influential management thinkers.
Impact: The Fearless Organization (2019) won the Thinkers50 Breakthrough Idea Award and has been translated into 15 languages. Her follow-up, Right Kind of Wrong (2023), offers a framework for failing well and won the FT and Schroders Business Book of the Year.
Publications & credentials: Ph.D. in Organizational Behavior, A.M. in Psychology and A.B. in Engineering & Design, all from Harvard; 70 scholarly articles and eight books; inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (2024); Thinkers50 #2 (2025).
Rahena Somdat
Organizational Development Practitioner & Doctoral Researcher, Citi · United States · LinkedIn
Rahena moves I/O psychology from theory into execution. In enterprise-scale, highly regulated environments, Rahena has led organizational design, workforce planning and change initiatives affecting thousands of employees, partnering with senior leaders to turn strategy into results.
Impact: At Citi's Finance Division, Rahena designed a centralized intake and governance process that cut cycle time from months to weeks. Rahena also built executive reporting through a Smartsheet-to-Appian migration and Tableau dashboards, and served as the director's proxy across concurrent transformation workstreams.
Publications & credentials: M.A., Industrial-Organizational Psychology, Iona University; Doctor of Business Administration (in progress), Organizational Leadership & Development, Capella University, researching digital transformation in U.S. health care; Foundations of Organizational Design, Cornell University; change management (ADKAR), organizational effectiveness, and workforce analytics; published author in Influential Women, with "The Power of One Yes" and "Give Time Time."
Amrita Kapoor Bedi
Sr. Manager, Corporate HR, IDS Infotech Limited · India · LinkedIn
Amrita brings 15+ years of HR leadership to the human side of organizational effectiveness. Her strength is turning employee needs into structured, sustainable programs across employee relations, recognition, engagement and wellbeing, all backed by ISMS/QMS-aligned HR policy.
Impact: Built an employee-focused HR ecosystem where people feel heard, valued and recognized, through engagement, recognition, wellness and communication programs aligned with leadership priorities. She is known as a trusted partner who balances employee needs with business goals.
Publications & credentials: 15+ years in HR; expertise in employee relations, grievance redressal, rewards and recognition, training and development, HR policy (ISMS/QMS), and employer branding.
Dr. Maya Shankar
Cognitive Scientist, Author & Host of A Slight Change of Plans · United States · LinkedIn
Maya founded and chaired the White House Behavioral Science Team, using research on human behavior to improve public policy. A former Juilliard violinist turned cognitive scientist, she now studies how people navigate change and reinvent themselves.
Impact: She served as a senior policy advisor in the Obama White House and was appointed the first behavioral science advisor to the United Nations. She went on to lead behavioral science teams at Google, and her podcast was named Apple's Best Show of the Year 2021.
Publications & credentials: Ph.D. in cognitive psychology, Oxford (Rhodes Scholar); postdoctoral fellowship in cognitive neuroscience, Stanford; B.A., Yale; author, The Other Side of Change; Ambie Award for Best Personal Growth Podcast (2023); Webby nomination for Best Podcast Host (2022).
What do these I/O psychologists reveal about the science of work in 2026?
Five patterns run through the 50 profiles.
People analytics has become a boardroom function.
Stephanie Murphy leads culture and experience for UnitedHealth Group's 400,000 employees and founded the Society for People Analytics. Tunji Oki leads talent acquisition analytics at Netflix after leading hiring-equity research at Google, and Alexis Fink spent 20+ years leading people analytics and workforce strategy at Microsoft, Intel, and Meta. Closer to the ground, Jessie Thompson built a listening strategy for 90,000+ Burlington associates, and Alexander Nassrelgrgawi's attrition prediction models help Gilbane anticipate talent risks before they surface.
AI is being held to psychological standards.
Richard Landers audits AI-powered hiring, promotion, and training systems through Landers Workforce Science, holding algorithms to the same standards as any other assessment. Dr. Chhavi Mittal Goyal builds AI-powered assessments with psychometric rigor, Jeffrey Stanton's work now extends to AI-assisted scale evaluation, and Dr. James Hsiao studies employee AI readiness for the City of Los Angeles. Anita Williams Woolley leads DARPA- and NSF-funded research on how AI can strengthen human collaboration.
Fair, defensible selection is the baseline.
Eric Dunleavy testified before the EEOC on big data in employment and helped revise the SIOP Principles. Dr. James Hsiao builds hiring and promotional assessments that are psychometrically precise, legally defensible, and fair. Paula C. has shown that situational judgment tests can predict surgical resident performance, Mark Smith champions skills-first hiring for managers, and Liberty Munson's work keeps Microsoft's technical certifications valid and reliable.
Psychological safety, toxic leadership, and wellbeing research is moving into practice.
Amy Edmondson's research launched the study of psychological safety at work, and Steven Whitaker's Psychological Safety at Work (2026) arrives with workbooks for organizations and graduate educators. Larry Williams links workplace bullying to emotional exhaustion in higher education, Laura Hambley Lovett turned toxic leadership research into the bestseller I Wish I'd Quit Sooner, and Stan Silverman co-developed the Workplace Arrogance Scale. Neetika Chhabria built the Wellness and Resiliency Academy for teams working in trust and safety.
I/O science is reaching mainstream audiences.
Adam Grant brings organizational psychology to millions through bestselling books and the TED podcast WorkLife. Martha Grajdek's Workplace Psychology podcast has past 300 episodes, Janice Gassam Asare has written 500+ Forbes articles, and Maya Shankar's podcast was named Apple's Best Show of the Year 2021. Rob McKenna's WiLD Toolkit turns leadership science into practical assessments for leaders.
Who sat on the evaluation panel?
Members of the Xobin leadership team reviewed this year's nominations:
Guru Prakash Sivabalan, Xobin
Amrit, Xobin
Shriram Iyer
What do the honorees receive?
Every I/O psychologist on the list is recognized in four ways:
A lasting certificate page: a Xobin page carrying name, role, category, and citation, which can be downloaded, linked from LinkedIn, or placed in a portfolio. The link does not expire.
A LinkedIn announcement: Xobin names and tags each honoree on its LinkedIn page, making the recognition easy to reshare.
A profile in this round-up: each honoree is introduced with their role and the work behind the recognition.
A path to Xobin Talks: selected honorees are invited onto the podcast to share their research and experience with HR professionals.
How can you be part of the next list?
The Xobin HR Awards come around every year, and the 2026 series builds on six years of recognition. It costs nothing to nominate, and self-nominations are encouraged. To revisit earlier editions, start at the Xobin HR Awards hub or open one of these past lists:
Once nominations reopen, put yourself or a colleague forward. Following Xobin on LinkedIn and subscribing to the newsletter is the easiest way to hear first.
Join the Xobin HR community
Great workplace science travels further when researchers and practitioners talk to each other. The Xobin HR community brings together talent acquisition, learning and development, and I/O psychology professionals, with conversations from Xobin Talks and early notice of next year's nominations.
