Meet Jen Sturman

When Jen Sturman joined ghSMART in 2016, she wasn’t following a neat, pre‑plotted career path. She laughed that one of her early development themes on joining the firm was that she hadn’t always been “so intentional” about her career – a piece of feedback from her assessment that felt familiar. Ten years later, that same openness has become part of her story: a willingness to learn, adapt, and keep moving toward work that feels meaningful.

Before ghSMART, Jen’s career spanned strategy, corporate development, and business building – from Goldman Sachs and McKinsey & Company to Time Warner and Amazon, with a stint at her family’s business along the way. Her CV also lists her as a novelist, a reminder that her path has always had range.

A Pivot Sparked by a Conversation

In 2015, Jen had been working at Amazon for three years and was starting to think about what came next. The nudge came at a McKinsey alumni party, where she ran into Sapna Werner, a longtime friend from her McKinsey days. Another friend joined the conversation and, hearing where Sapna worked, reacted with immediate enthusiasm: “We love ghSMART!” Jen realized she didn’t actually know what the firm did beyond a vague sense that it sat somewhere in “human capital.” And she was curious.

That curiosity turned into a coffee, more conversations, and eventually a trip to Atlanta. Jen found herself across from Randy Street in a conference room, telling him the story of her life. A couple of weeks later, he called with a message that was both direct and clarifying: ghSMART thought she could do the job – they just weren’t sure she would like it.

So, Randy tested it. He shared a sanitized case and asked her to form a point of view: What is this person good at? Where are the risks? Would you hire them for the role? At the end of their discussion, he asked the decisive question: did she enjoy it?

Jen’s answer came quickly: yes! As she described, “I have been a mystery lover pretty much since I learned my ABCs. In crime fiction, characters are inextricable from plot. Characters’ motivations, their strengths, and their weaknesses drive their actions. To crack the case, you need to figure out what makes a character tick, and searching for clues and sorting out what’s meaningful from the red herrings was what I did for fun. And here was a job where I could get paid for it!”

Learning the Work and the People

When Jen arrived, one thing surprised her almost immediately: how much she genuinely liked the people – colleagues and clients alike. She described being “blown away” by it and noted that this work lets you see leaders in a deeper, more authentic way than many other business contexts.

She was just as candid about the learning curve. Her first six to nine months were hard, particularly during assessments, when she was sitting across from leaders being evaluated for client decisions. She remembered feeling frustrated and inept, and struggling to get good data from candidates (a colleague once texted her during an assessment to say she sounded “sort of angry.”).

What changed wasn’t a single breakthrough, but repetition. With time and practice, she grew more comfortable with the work and how to navigate it. There was also a human layer. Jen shared that starting something new later in a career can feel disorienting: you’re used to feeling capable, and suddenly you don’t. At one point early on, she remembers saying she just wanted to “feel competent again.”

Still, she didn’t question whether leadership advisory was right for her. Even when it was challenging, she found it genuinely interesting – “it’s problem‑solving, but with people,” she said, which made it “especially fun.”

Two Kinds of Impact

Today, Jen describes her portfolio as roughly half evaluative and half developmental work. On the evaluative side, she spoke about helping private equity clients choose CEOs for portfolio companies – huge decisions with real consequences. She values the richness of those conversations: naming risks and upside and helping clients think through what they’re willing to tolerate and how they can help new executives succeed. On the developmental side, the rewards can be immediate. She described moments where a leader had told her, “You really helped me. Thank you,” or had shared that they felt genuinely seen and understood.

Across both, Jen’s craft has evolved alongside her confidence. Early on, for example, she felt she needed to “stick to the script.” Now, she is more assured and can flex in the moment – which makes the experience easier for everyone on both sides of the table (or the screen). Confidence, she reflected, unlocks everything else.

Work Worth Doing...

When asked what has kept her at ghSMART for more than a decade, Jen returned to a simple idea: work worth doing. She pointed to a quote attributed to Teddy Roosevelt – “Far and away the best prize that life has to offer is the chance to work hard at work worth doing” – and said it captures how she feels about her experience here. The work has always felt meaningful, and she doesn’t expect that to change.

That purpose is paired with community. Over time, colleagues became close friends. She talked about looking forward to seeing people and learning more about teammates she doesn’t always work with day to day, especially in moments that create space for reflection and shared learning.

She also called the firm’s freedom and flexibility “unbeatable,” sharing that it took her time to fully exercise it. But once she did, it changed how she could design her days and her life.

...and People Worth Staying For

When Jen reflected on moments that shaped her decade, she pointed to colleagues who helped her build confidence and skill, particularly early on. She spoke with deep gratitude about Maria Blair and Thor Mann, who were “super, super patient in hauling me up the learning curve,” and Heidi Smith, who has “talked me down off so many ledges.” She recalled her first coaching engagement, when she had never coached before, and how Karen Welt Steeves “held my hand the entire time,” bringing both support and humor to the experience.  

She also shared a story about returning to a client relationship that had once been difficult. When the opportunity resurfaced years later, Jen wanted to be “completely bulletproof” and leaned on a trusted colleague to pressure‑test her thinking. What stood out wasn’t perfection, but how mentorship and craft can turn uncertainty into clearer insight, sometimes in just a couple of sentences.

Looking ahead

When asked about the next chapter, Jen didn’t offer a rigid five‑year plan. Over a long, not straight‑lined career, she’s learned there’s only so much you can control, and that planning only goes so far. What she does want is grounded: to keep learning, keep getting better, and keep contributing in ways that matter.

Ten years in, Jen has built something that’s both personal and professional: a craft she continues to sharpen, relationships that have become true friendships, and a decade of work that she believes is still worth doing.

Learn more about Jen here.