WILLIAM ROTHWELL, Ph.D., SPHR, is a widely recognized international authority on succession planning and human resource issues. Rothwell is Professor of Workforce Education and Development at The Pennsylvania State University, one of the highest ranked graduate programs in Human Resource Development in the U.S. In addition, he is President of Rothwell & Associates, Inc., a private consulting firm specializing in all facets of succession planning, management, and related human resource issues.
A training and development professional since 1979, Rothwell has consulted to more than 30 multinational corporations. He has worked throughout the Middle East and Asia; for example, he has done extensive work with Motorola University, China in delivering training to their workforce. Well-known for his high-profile work in succession management, he is a frequent speaker at conferences and seminars around the world. He is author of more than sixty books including Effective Succession Planning (AMACOM, 2005); HR Transformation (with Robert K. Prescott and Maria W. Taylor; Davies-Black, 2008); and Working Longer: New Strategies for Managing, Training, and Retaining Older Employees (with H. Sterns, D. Spokus, and J. Reaser; AMACOM, 2008).
Rothwell is a featured thought leader in Linkage's Best Practices in Succession Management program and an exclusive partner of the new Today's HR: Designs for a Strategic Partnership program. He is also a frequent speaker at Linkage's Best of Organizational Development Summit and served as the Chair of the 2008 Best of Talent Management Summit.