Speaker's Bio

Rob Cross is a professor of management at the University of Virginia and Research Director of The Network Roundtable, a consortium of 75 organizations sponsoring research on network applications to critical management issues. His research focuses on how relationships and informal networks in organizations can be analyzed and improved to promote competitive advantage, innovation, customer retention and profitability, leadership effectiveness, talent management and quality of work life.

Rob has worked directly with more than 200 strategically important networks across over 120 well-known organizations in consulting, pharmaceuticals, software, electronics and computer manufacturers, consumer products, financial services, petroleum, heavy equipment manufacturing, chemicals, and government. Ideas emerging from his research have resulted in two books, four book chapters and 23 articles, several of which have won awards. In addition to top scholarly outlets, his work has been repeatedly published in Harvard Business Review, Sloan Management Review, California Management Review, Academy of Management Executive and Organizational Dynamics. His most recent book, The Hidden Power of Social Networks: Understanding How Work Really Gets Done in Organizations (Harvard Business School Press), has been featured in venues such as Business Week, Fortune, The Financial Times, Time Magazine, The Wall Street Journal, CIO, Inc and Fast Company.