Kiera Penpeci

About Kiera:

Kiera Penpeci is a Linkage Affiliate Consultant and an organizational and leadership psychologist with experience in academic institutions and nonprofit and high-tech organizations. Kiera is passionate about helping leaders enact the strategies and visions for their teams using Organizational Development (OD) principles, as well as using the power of community and her research on emotional labor and its connection to mindfulness and belonging to help organizations foster inclusion of employees from all walks of life. The focus of her work is in developing diversifying organizations to improve the quality of their practices to increase this sense of belonging, and to prime them to operate with DEI in mind. 

In her work, Kiera emphasizes acknowledgment of mental health as vital to employee success and has been celebrated for her ability to apply theory to practice, starting with data-driven insights and creating holistic interventions to remove barriers to employee success and belonging. She considers herself a mental health advocate, and leads by example by talking openly about mental illness, advocating for self-healing and clinical therapy. She believes mental wellness is a misunderstood subject in relation to organizational health and DEI, and her mission is to address that gap. 

As a facilitator, she’s able to relate to participants in an authentic way. She does not lead as “the expert”; instead, she leaves her credentials at the door—allowing her to connect with participants in a way that centers their ideas and perspectives so that they can engage with the learning more intuitively. 

Background & Experience:

Kiera is also a Principal Consultant at Primed OD, and a Senior Consultant at IBIS Consulting Group, where she is responsible for organizational assessments, learning curriculum and content development, DE&I and racial equity leadership, and board advisory. Prior to these roles, she was a DE&I Business Partner at Drift, where she led and managed diversity recruiting strategy, Learning & Development, thought leadership, and leadership coaching. Previously, she was an HR Business Partner for Sonos and an HR Generalist for Horizons for Homeless Children in Roxbury, MA. 

In addition to her consulting work, Kiera advocates for opportunities for womxn at the intersection of gender, sexuality and race, and she has served on the advisory board at Girls in Tech. She commits to spreading awareness on DE&I topics at people-centered panels and speaking engagements, and currently serves as a DEI Council Co-Chair of the Wily Network and as a board member of TechTogether. 

Education & Training:

Kiera earned a BS in Psychology at University of Massachusetts Boston, and an MA in Organizational Development and a PsyD in Organizational and Leadership Psychology from William James College, Newton, MA. Additionally, she is a certified yoga instructor.