Change Maker

Jane is currently the Managing Director and Principal of NWN Corporation. Previously Jane was the Director of Research and an executive research fellow at the Accenture Institute for High Performance Business where focused efforts in the areas of change and innovation. She is currently pioneering the thought leadership around “wildly successful projects”.

Jane is an award-winning author, in particular for her writing on the banking and health care industries.  Her latest book Spiral Up: and Other Management Secrets Behind Wildly Successful Initiatives (2007) proposes a new way of managing, based on her study of more than 40 wildly successful projects. Financial Executive called it “…one of the best and most compelling business books of recent years”. Her 2004 book, Outsourcing for Radical Change is based on a major study by Accenture and in-depth interviews by Dr. Linder. This original, research-based book examines the entire process from a practical, real-world perspective. She has also won a National Science Foundation grant to research digital government.  A natural and compelling speaker, Jane is most sought after for her talks on: Paying the Personal Price for Performance, A Bold Approach to Enterprise Transformation; Innovation Breaks Out; and Control: Getting and Keeping It in Business Process Outsourcing.

Jane’s career is distinguished.  Prior to joining Accenture, she was a senior executive at Polaroid and spent over ten years implementing business processes and the associated information systems at several global manufacturing firms. She was also formerly a professor at the Harvard Business School, and was a scholar in residence at the Babson College School of Business.

Jane’s experience in line management and information systems, coupled with her command of leading edge research, enable her to provide practical guidance in change-intensive areas such as turn-arounds, post-merger integration, and outsourcing.