Joanna Starek

As a senior partner and chief commercial officer, Joanna Starek oversees RHR International’s products and services, marketing, and sales. Responsible for RHR’s innovation pipeline, she continually scans the broader business environment to ensure RHR’s market solutions meet client needs. In addition, she leads efforts to share the firm’s broad and deep leadership-development knowledge through RHR’s podcast, Movers & Shapers, blog posts, and more. Prior to her role as chief commercial officer, Joanna honed her skills as a top CEO, executive team, and board consultant to Fortune 100 companies and beyond.

A trained sports and performance psychologist with deep-rooted business expertise, Joanna has decades of experience guiding CEOs toward their fullest potential under high-pressure scenarios. She brings a pragmatic performance orientation to her work and is especially skilled at working with CEOs as they scale their companies, manage complex transitions, and navigate the high-wire act of leading from the C-suite.

Joanna’s career began as a faculty member at the University of Colorado Boulder, where her research on self-deception in athletes was nationally recognized and featured on NPR’s Radiolab. Fascinated by the social and emotional factors that contribute to elite performance, Joanna joined RHR and turned her attention to the performance of leaders in multibillion-dollar companies. She spent the next 18 years coaching leaders and teams, using those experiences to identify the key navigation challenges faced by leaders in high-stakes environments. Joanna then pioneered the firm’s expansion into Silicon Valley, identifying a key market opportunity with hypergrowth companies and leaders who are shaping the future.

Joanna values being a champion for others and is driven by her ultimate desire to make a profound impact in people’s lives. She is purpose driven and highly committed to helping leaders build diverse and inclusive workplaces in which all people can thrive.

Joanna grew up in Chapel Hill, North Carolina and received a bachelor’s degree from Colgate University, a master’s degree from the University of Colorado Boulder, and a PhD from Colorado State University. When not working, Joanna spends as much time as possible traveling, hiking, biking, kayaking, and enjoying the outdoors with friends and family.