Kate Adams is a leadership advisor, author and non-executive director who works with CEOs, executive teams and boards on leadership, strategy, culture and accountability. Her recent work focuses particularly on how leaders navigate increasing scrutiny and changing expectations from employees, customers, investors and wider society.

Kate has more than 25 years of experience spanning business, consulting and the non-profit sector in the UK and US. She began her career in management consulting, advising major organisations across sectors including financial services, energy, pharmaceuticals and media on leadership, organisational performance and change. She has subsequently held senior leadership roles at organisations including Comic Relief, Nesta, Tech Nation, the Forward Institute and Conscious Capitalism, working at the intersection of business, leadership and social impact.

She is the author of Accountability Under Fire: How society is demanding more from business and what great leaders are doing about it, published in 2026, which explores how the role of the CEO and board is changing as organisations face greater scrutiny and more complex stakeholder expectations. She is also co-host of the Seat for Society podcast, which explores the responsibilities organisations have beyond their walls, and how leaders acknowledge the parts of society they impact when making decisions.

Kate is a Non-Executive Director of ParalympicsGB, where she chairs the Social Impact Committee. She previously served for eight years as Chair of the charity Missing People. Kate is also an alumna of King’s College London where she completed an MSc in Human Resource Management and Organisational Analysis in her early career.