Kelly Lockwood Primus, Chief Executive Officer of Leading NOW, is a business culture & leadership expert, advising and guiding clients on strategies to achieve successful talent outcomes for their organizations. With her bold vision and innovative approach, Kelly is reshaping leadership education programs utilizing her decades of business experience, and combining it with groundbreaking research, global insights, and a strategic focus on talent development.
Prior to being appointed CEO of Leading NOW in 2020, Kelly was CEO & President of its Leading Women brand, joining that organization in 2013.
Kelly’s entry into leadership consulting came when appointed to the executive team for WFF, a national non-profit women’s leadership organization. As Vice President, Marketing & Communications, Kelly was instrumental in returning the organization to prominence in the foodservice industry as the authority for women’s leadership development, and drove participation in the organization’s live and virtual events to “sell-out” status.
Immediately prior to working within women’s leadership development organizations, Kelly was a member of the executive team at Primo Water, a publicly held, North Carolina based CPG company, in the role of Vice President, Marketing & Communications. Recruited pre-IPO, Kelly was challenged with articulating the brand promise, creating the brand communication strategy and instituting integrated marketing campaigns to drive retailer and consumer brand preference. Within less than a year, the organization went public, had acquired multiple new retail partners including Walmart, and the company’s products were featured in leading trade publications as a product category to watch.
While a resident in North Carolina, Kelly was a mentor to students at the Wake Forest University Graduate Women in Business Program, a panelist at their Women in Leadership Conference and a judge at the Wake Forest University Schools of Business Annual Marketing Summit MBA Case Competition.
Over the course of her corporate career Kelly held leadership roles in marketing & communications working on brands that included Bionaire, Conair, Cuisinart, Honeywell, and many others. While at the $700M private-equity owned (Berkshire Partners) consumer products company, The Holmes Group, Inc. (acquired by Jarden Corporation), Kelly’s career trajectory culminated in being appointed to the role of Corporate Vice President and General Manager of a Division Business Unit.
A graduate of the University of Rhode Island, Kelly also participated in Executive Leadership Programs at Boston College and Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management. Named “Most Influential Woman Business Leader” in 2024, Kelly is a sought-after Keynote Speaker, Forbes contributor, and a member of the Harvard Business Review Advisory Council.
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