Chairman of the Board
APQC
Considered one of the world’s leading experts in using knowledge to drive productivity and competitiveness, Chairman Dr. Carla O'Dell leads the Board of Directors in it governance and oversight responsibilities for APQC. Often dubbed "a practical visionary," she plays a strong role in APQC's game-changing research daily. She works to inspire the next generation of ideas, research, and people so that APQC remains true to it's mission: to research and embrace advances that make us more productive and enrich our work life.
Over her 40-year career with APQC, Carla has launched many of APQC’s signature research areas and tools. In 1995, under her direction, APQC launched its first knowledge management (KM) best practices consortium. Since then, APQC has worked with more than 500 organizations and produced the world’s largest body of actionable best practices in designing and implementing KM strategies, and measuring the impact of KM.
Carla is also an active author, contributor to APQC’s knowledge management blog, and frequent interviewee for national and industry press. Her popular Big Thinkers, Big Ideas interview series captures new insights on learning, knowledge, innovation, and leadership from some of the top business minds. She and APQC’s chairman, C. Jackson Grayson, co-authored the best-selling book, If Only We Knew What We Know: The Transfer of Internal Knowledge and Best Practice. She and APQC's Cindy Hubert have received rave reviews for their book, The New Edge in Knowledge: How Knowledge Management Is Changing the Way We Do Business.
She was the executive champion for the formation of APQC’s Open Standards Benchmarking® database, which standardized the processes and measurements that global organizations use to benchmark and improve performance. This data allows organizations to compare their own performance against peer groups and across their industries. More than 12,000 organizations worldwide have participated to date.
Previously, Carla served as APQC’s CEO from 2012 to 2018, president from 1994-2012, and in leadership roles since joining in 1978.
Thursday, April 20, 2023
9:25 AM – 10:15 AM US CDT