As CEO of SYPartners (SYP), Jessica leads business transformation fueled by humanity, creativity, and purpose—both for clients and for SYP.

Since joining in 2013, she’s been a partner and advisor to CEOs of organizations including AARP, Ageas, Airbnb, the Aspen Institute, Eileen Fisher, Hyatt, the Obama Foundation, Ralph Lauren, Starbucks, and UnitedHealthcare. She began her career in public policy, working with the City of New York, Ford Foundation, and think tanks.

Jessica is a frequent speaker on emergent leadership practices, creative audacity, and purpose-driven growth. Raised in rural New Hampshire by parents who were transcendental meditators, she now divides her time between New York City, Sintra (Portugal), and the many wonderful cities where SYPeas and our clients live and work. She serves on the board of urban strategy and design firm Gehl, is a senior advisor to Proto Collective and beta-i, and is an open-water swimmer—the colder the better. 

Recent media:

Aspen Ideas Festival 2023, Is purpose still powerful?
Fortune Brainstorm Design 2022: A declaration of interdependence
Emergent leadership: A conversation series on love, power, and leadership
House of Beautiful Business, Designing for structural love in organizations
LinkedIn, Building iconic companies of the future
Fortune, The design challenge of hybrid work
Liminal leadership: An exploration in six acts
House of Beautiful Business,The Human CEO
On the Way to New Work, #159 Podcast mit Jessica Orkin, President SYPartners New York
Press release, Announcing our new CEO, Jessica Orkin
Journal of Beautiful Business, Swept Away, So Close.
Psychology Today, Can We Please Stay in This Space a Bit Longer?
Forbes, President Of SYPartners Explains How Practicing Design Thinking Transforms Company Culture
Adobe 99U, How Deep Listening Can Help You Be More Creative
Quartz, The Way We Portray “Old People” is Hurting Them at Work