You're In Charge, Now What?

Jim Citrin

Jim Citrin is a member of Spencer Stuart’s global Technology, Communications & Media and Board Services practices. He is also a member of the firm’s worldwide board of directors. In his ten years at Spencer Stuart, he has completed over 260 executive and board searches. Notable placements include the CEOs and/or presidents of: Motorola, Yahoo, America Online, Vodafone, Kodak, Reader’s Digest, Primedia, The Financial Times, L.L. Bean, TV-Guide, HotJobs, Ziff-Davis, Kinko’s, Six Continents, Hotels & Resorts, Westin Hotels & Resorts and Outward Bound. He has also advised the governments of Mexico and the European Union on achieving success in today’s technology-driven economy.

Jim is co-author of the national best-selling book, The 5 Patterns of Extraordinary Careers (Crown Business, August 2003) and appeared with Lou Dobbs on a CNN Special Series on Extraordinary Careers (based on the book). He is also the author of Zoom: How 12 Exceptional Companies are Navigating the Road to the Next Economy (Doubleday, January 2002) and co-author of the best-selling book, Lessons from the Top: The Search for America’s Best Business Leaders (Doubleday, August 1999), which was released in seven languages. He has been widely published on the areas of leadership, career success and corporate governance in The New York Times, Directors & Boards, and Strategy and Business, and has also been interviewed on these topics by NBC, CBS, ABC, CNBC, CNN, NPR, USA Radio Network, Business Week, Fortune Magazine, and The Wall Street Journal, among others. Jim also wrote the popular column, “Talent Monger,” for Time Inc.’s Business 2.0 magazine, which covered talent, organization and recruitment issues. He currently serves as a member of the Business 2.0 editorial advisory board.

Prior to joining Spencer Stuart in 1994, Jim was director of corporate planning at The Reader’s Digest Association. Before that, he spent five years with McKinsey & Company in the U.S. and France serving as a senior engagement manager. Earlier, he was an associate with Goldman, Sachs & Company, and spent three years as a financial analyst with Morgan, Stanley & Co.

A 1981 graduate of Vassar College Phi Beta Kappa with a B.A. in economics, Jim serves as a member of the Vassar board of trustees. He earned an M.B.A. from the Harvard Business School, graduating with distinction in 1986.

Jim is a board member of the Harvard Business School Club of New York and also on the advisory board of Maveron Equity Partners.