Gena Cox · PhD

Dr. Gena Cox is an industrial-organizational psychologist, executive coach, and global thought leader with an applied career spanning over 30 years. She translates scientific insights into practical actions that help executives lead with respect, build inclusive cultures, and enhance the employee experience. Her work has influenced the careers of hundreds of leaders and indirectly improved the daily lives of over three million employees in more than 50 Fortune 500 and Global 500 organizations, including Mastercard, JPMorgan Chase, American Express, Prudential Financial, Hitachi, and UnitedHealth Group.

Gena’s career path has been shaped by both professional rigor and personal experience. As an immigrant and working parent, she experienced the tension between family responsibilities and corporate demands, which deepened her empathy for others and inspired her to create a portfolio career. She combined corporate roles, consulting, and entrepreneurship to provide her clients with unique insider and outsider perspectives on organizational life. When police officers killed Breonna Taylor in 2020, Gena committed herself to ensuring that respect is recognized as the foundation of effective leadership and organizational success. This conviction defines her life’s mission.

Her signature contribution is the Respect Ethos™ framework, which underpins her award-winning book, Leading Inclusion: Drive Change Your Employees Can See and Feel (Page Two, 2022). The book, which received a Starred Review from Library Journal and won the Foreword Indies Gold Award for Business & Economics, has sold over 3,200 copies—exceeding average lifetime sales for nonfiction titles. The book has been adopted in corporate executive programs, MBA curricula, and shared in prestigious executive education programs such as the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association (SIFMA) Securities Industry Institute, held annually at the Wharton School of Business. The framework has been implemented in several large organizations. A client hospital reported that it reduced nurse turnover by seven percentage points in 12 months, saving approximately 1 million dollars in hiring costs, while boosting engagement (+3 pts) and patient satisfaction (+4 pts). When implemented at a cybersecurity technology company, the Respect Ethos™ framework helped the company diversify its workforce and its leadership ranks, and normalized respectful, inclusive interactions across the enterprise.

Gena is also recognized as a Thinkers50 Global Top 50 Coach (2024, inaugural class). She has coached over 150 senior leaders, including succession candidates for the C-suite; more than 100 have advanced to C-suite roles, ~20 to corporate board directorships, and two to S&P 500 CEO roles.

Her thought leadership is published in Forbes.com and various media outlets, including Harvard Business Review, Fortune, Fast Company, and Time, reaching a potential audience of millions. She is a sought-after keynote speaker and moderator, addressing topics from leadership in the AI era to the future of workplace inclusion. Gena has served SIOP through leadership roles on the Awards Committee, the Leading Edge Consortium, and current leadership of the SIOP DEI White Paper Task Force. She is a member of the SIOP Professional Practice Series (PPS) Editorial Board and contributed chapters to SIOP PPS volumes on leadership and employee experience. In 2023, APA appointed her to the Committee for the Advancement of General and Applied Psychology (CAGAP), and she moderated the APA Science Summit on Technology and the Workplace at the 2025 National Convention.

Mentorship is a constant in Gena’s career. She has guided more than 30 professionals, including pioneering women of color who have advanced to senior leadership and board roles. She has also served as a mentor in the SIOP and Blacks in I-O Psychology (BIOP) programs. Beyond her profession, Gena has been actively involved in her community, serving on committees for the St. Petersburg Chamber of Commerce and as a guardian ad litem for children in foster care.

Dr. Cox earned her Ph.D. in Industrial-Organizational Psychology from the University of South Florida.