Nadya Zhexembayeva

Nadya Zhexembayeva is an author, educator and business owner. Nadya has written two and contributed to three books about business, strategy, and sustainability. In 2009, Nadya co-authored the concept of "embedded sustainability", and in 2015 introduced the term "Chief Reinvention Officer".

Zhexembayeva grew up in Almaty, Kazakhstan (then part of the Soviet Union), at the time she claims the country was "going through immense deterioration". While still at high school, Nadya started her business career selling insurance and later worked as a trainer at Association of Young Leaders, then went on to earn a Freedom Support Act scholarship that allowed her to complete two Bachelor of Arts degrees in Management and then Psychology from Hartwick College, where she was named a Faculty Scholar and John Christopher Hartwick Scholar - "the highest honor the College can confer upon a student". In 2008, Nadya obtained her Doctor of Philosophy degree from Case Western Reserve University, where she served as associate director of the Center for Business as an Agent of World Benefit at Weatherhead School of Management, where as of 2016, she continues to serve on the Board of Advisors.

Nadya Zhexembayeva served as the Coca-Cola Chaired Professor of Sustainable Development at IEDC-Bled School of Management, an executive education center based in the Slovene Alps, where, as of 2016, she continues to teach courses in leadership, strategy, change management, design thinking, and sustainability. In addition to IEDC, Nadya has taught in other business schools, including CEDEP (France) and IPADE Business School (Mexico).

As a speaker, Nadya has shared her insights with audiences worldwide through keynotes, panel presentations, and workshops. She has delivered three TEDx talks in Austria, Slovenia and the US.

In 2007, Nadya co-founded WE EXIST Reinvention Agency. Based on Zhexembayeva's work with the Coca-Cola Company, ENRC Plc, IBM, CISCO, Erste Bank, Henkel, Knauf Insulation, Vienna Insurance Group on reinventing products, processes, and leadership practices In Ventures magazine called Nadya ‘The Reinvention Guru’, while TEDx Navasink named her ‘The Queen of Reinvention.’

Nadya Zhexembayeva has written two books and contributed to three others that focus on strategy, innovation, and sustainability.

Author:

• Overfished Ocean Strategy: Powering Up Innovation for a Resource-Deprived World (2014)
• Embedded Sustainability: The Next Big Competitive Advantage (2011)

Chapter contributor:

• Practicing Organization Development: Leading Transformation and Change (2015)
• Positive Design and Appreciative Construction: From Sustainable Development to Sustainable Value (2010) (Full citation: Nadya Zhexembayeva (2010), A whole new value: Driving innovation, sustainability, and prosperity through appreciative inquiry, in Tojo Thatchenkery, David L. Cooperrider, Michel Avital (ed.) Positive Design and Appreciative Construction: From Sustainable Development to Sustainable Value (Advances in Appreciative Inquiry, Volume 3) Emerald Group Publishing Limited, pp. 77 – 96)
• Handbook of Transformative Cooperation: New Designs and Dynamics (2007)

• "Overfished Ocean Strategy". Stanford Social Innovation Review. August 2014. 
• "Overfished Ocean Strategy: Powering Up Innovation for a Resource-Deprived World". The European Financial Review. July 2014. 
• "Embedded Sustainability: A Strategy for Market Leaders". The European Financial Review. April 2011. 
• "Developing the Global Leaders of Tomorrow" (PDF). UN PRME Report. 2008. 

• "Conversation with Nadya Zhexembayeva on reinvention, sustainability and strategy". Ambitious Radio Podcast. August 2016. 
• "Conversation with Nadya Zhexembayeva on scarcity and resource intelligence". Revolutionary Provocateur Podcast. April 2015. 
• "Nadya Zhexembayeva on Innovation in a Resource-Deprived World". Triple Pundit. October 2014. 
• "Innovation for Positive Sustainable Development". Positivity Strategist Podcast. December 2014. 
• "Overfished Ocean Strategy by Nadya Zhexembayeva". The Entrepreneurs Library with Wade Danielson. September 2014.