Member since May 2026
Jennifer Vessels is global transformation leader who delivers results for Fortune 100 companies. Her keynotes are from the front lines – adding $18 b market value for Adobe, delivering $100m profits Cisco. Jennifer doesn’t just talk about transformation—she lives it with Google, IKEA, Microsoft, Novartis+
For over two decades, as CEO Next Step Jennifer has ignited change across Silicon Valley, EMEA, and Asia, reshaping business models, overcoming fear to amplify people with AI and redefining leadership. She delivers real results 300% ROI on AI adoption, 250% revenue growth for Mitel. Her keynotes inspire and prepare teams to embrace AI and navigate through change based on real-world success stories.
Audiences leave equipped to take action with P.E.A.C.E. (Purpose, Exploration, Action, Collaboration, Empowerment).
“Jennifer is ‘the real thing’ - translating Silicon Valley innovation into executable approaches we can use immediately to increase profits” Jon Samuelson, PWC
Unlike speakers who rely on research, Jennifer shares the lessons learned while delivering millions to the bottom line for companies in all industries from Silicon Valley, US to Europe and Asia.
Jennifer’s holds an MBA and INSEAD Board Certification. Her work has been featured in Forbes, Fortune, and Business Week prior to launch of her upcoming book “Emergence- Navigating Change when Maps Disappear” WIley ’26.
My purpose is to have an impact on society as the Industrial Age crumbles. Through sharing 2+ decades hard-won experience growing and transforming worlds-largest companies from Silicon Valley, across US, Asia, LATAM and Europe, I am able to empower global leaders and their teams to embrace change and navigate through uncertainty with P.E.A.C.E. This practical approach for thriving with change through Purpose, Exploration, Action, Collaboration, Empowerment was developed and stress-tested through hundreds of transformations globally.
Imagine you've just been awarded your dream job, full responsibility for a great product line, fabulous team, reputation for success. When suddenly everything changes, new technology is released from a competitor, customers threaten to leave, economy shifts, markets collapse.
Where do you turn? This is a real issue faced by many leaders today, possibly some of you, as an innovator from Silicon Valley, I see this as an opportunity, an opportunity to take a step back from the expectations and build something new, think differently, break free from outdated thinking. Let me give you an example.
One of my clients, Shantanu Naran, was always known as that creative, curious, innovative person trying something different. He ultimately went through UC Berkeley, started with Apple, quickly moved up the ranks from software engineer to IT director to leading a product line, and then was offered a role at Adobe, perfect for someone loving creativity. He climbed to the ranks there and was awarded his dream job, CEO of Adobe, when suddenly everything shifted, iPhones, mobile tablets, new technologies, new ways of operating, customers were not interested in enterprise software, and hence revenue plummeted, and the board was adamant. Just simply do something, offer specials, offer discounts, coerce people to buy, hire a new sales team, but Shantanu knew that there was a better way.
He took a step back and literally went for a walk, asking himself, What are we really trying to achieve here? And he gained clarity of the mission, the ultimate purpose for Adobe. It wasn't to sell software, it was to enable creativity for all. So he went back into his office, and he said, "I've seen the light. Our purpose is to empower creativity. We don't have to do this through software sales. Now, of course, he was asked a lot of questions. Well, how are we going to achieve that? We're going to go off and we're going to explore every executive here is going to go meet with customers and ask them what they need, and when we find something that seems feasible, we'll act quickly. Within a week, we'll design new features, and we'll roll them out, and we'll collaborate with customers to see how they're using them, and then based on that we will learn, and ultimately we'll be in a position to empower others to really drive change
That peace process, purpose exploration action collaboration and empowerment ultimately paid off, and over the next 10 years Adobe's stock price revenue and value increased by over 500% Change happened. happens, embrace it. Today is an opportunity to think differently, break free, and create success. And then he went on to build something great. Everything is possible the moment you break free and embrace the future.
After building international business for UB Networks (Nokia), Tandberg (Cisco) across US, Asia and Europe, Jennifer founded Next Step in her ‘homeland’ Silicon Valley. For the past two decades, the firm has driven growth of AirBnB, Google, Linked IN, NVIDIA and hundreds scaleups.
Based on Jennifer’s leadership of Adobe’s pivot from software sales to digital services delivering market growth from $16 billion to over $250 billion, she and Next Step been chosen to accelerate change, business shifts and AI adoption for Barloworld, Novartis, Van Ameyde and many others.
As a Silicon Valley veteran living in Europe, Jennifer translates innovation and ‘big tech’ mindsets into executable approaches which can be used by global enterprises navigating disruption. She is not a researcher but an active practitioner who shares her stress-tested approach for future-readiness with P.E.A.C.E. (Purpose, Exploration, Action, Collaboration, Empowerment).
Jennifer’s upcoming book, Emergence: How Leaders Break Free from Outdated Thinking (Wiley, October 2026) shows that the leaders who thrive are not those who know the most, but those who move decisively when others are paralyzed.
Imagine you've just been awarded your dream job, full responsibility for a great product line, fabulous team, reputation for success. When suddenly everything changes, new technology is released from a competitor, customers threaten to leave, economy shifts, markets collapse.
Where do you turn? This is a real issue faced by many leaders today, possibly some of you, as an innovator from Silicon Valley, I see this as an opportunity, an opportunity to take a step back from the expectations and build something new, think differently, break free from outdated thinking. Let me give you an example.
One of my clients, Shantanu Naran, was always known as that creative, curious, innovative person trying something different. He ultimately went through UC Berkeley, started with Apple, quickly moved up the ranks from software engineer to IT director to leading a product line, and then was offered a role at Adobe, perfect for someone loving creativity. He climbed to the ranks there and was awarded his dream job, CEO of Adobe, when suddenly everything shifted, iPhones, mobile tablets, new technologies, new ways of operating, customers were not interested in enterprise software, and hence revenue plummeted, and the board was adamant. Just simply do something, offer specials, offer discounts, coerce people to buy, hire a new sales team, but Shantanu knew that there was a better way.
He took a step back and literally went for a walk, asking himself, What are we really trying to achieve here? And he gained clarity of the mission, the ultimate purpose for Adobe. It wasn't to sell software, it was to enable creativity for all. So he went back into his office, and he said, "I've seen the light. Our purpose is to empower creativity. We don't have to do this through software sales. Now, of course, he was asked a lot of questions. Well, how are we going to achieve that? We're going to go off and we're going to explore every executive here is going to go meet with customers and ask them what they need, and when we find something that seems feasible, we'll act quickly. Within a week, we'll design new features, and we'll roll them out, and we'll collaborate with customers to see how they're using them, and then based on that we will learn, and ultimately we'll be in a position to empower others to really drive change
That peace process, purpose exploration action collaboration and empowerment ultimately paid off, and over the next 10 years Adobe's stock price revenue and value increased by over 500% Change happened. happens, embrace it. Today is an opportunity to think differently, break free, and create success. And then he went on to build something great. Everything is possible the moment you break free and embrace the future.
After building international business for UB Networks (Nokia), Tandberg (Cisco) across US, Asia and Europe, Jennifer founded Next Step in her ‘homeland’ Silicon Valley. For the past two decades, the firm has driven growth of AirBnB, Google, Linked IN, NVIDIA and hundreds scaleups.
Based on Jennifer’s leadership of Adobe’s pivot from software sales to digital services delivering market growth from $16 billion to over $250 billion, she and Next Step been chosen to accelerate change, business shifts and AI adoption for Barloworld, Novartis, Van Ameyde and many others.
As a Silicon Valley veteran living in Europe, Jennifer translates innovation and ‘big tech’ mindsets into executable approaches which can be used by global enterprises navigating disruption. She is not a researcher but an active practitioner who shares her stress-tested approach for future-readiness with P.E.A.C.E. (Purpose, Exploration, Action, Collaboration, Empowerment).
Jennifer’s upcoming book, Emergence: How Leaders Break Free from Outdated Thinking (Wiley, October 2026) shows that the leaders who thrive are not those who know the most, but those who move decisively when others are paralyzed.
