As Spencer Stuart’s global head of quality & market insights, Ina Kota has decades of experience leading global teams in economics, market research and communications, as well as advising C-suite executives and top government officials. She believes that deep, consultative listening is critical to serving clients distinctively. Ina and her team deliver insights on “the voice of the client” for the firm, synthesizing and reporting the findings from more than 2,000 interviews with clients around the world and a survey of thousands of candidates globally. Ina is a winner of the firm’s prestigious Lou Rieger Quality Award. She also represents Spencer Stuart on the Diversity Leadership Council of AESC.

Deep insight about clients and candidates

  • Prior to Spencer Stuart, Ina was a global economics leader at McKinsey & Company and a founding member of McKinsey’s Center for Managing Uncertainty in the wake of the 2008 global financial crisis, overseeing that firm’s monthly global economics outlook and the McKinsey Global Survey on Current Economic Conditions
  • Previously, she worked at the International Monetary Fund (IMF), where she served the IMF executive board following the 1997 Asian financial crisis and later as a communications officer from 2005-2007.
  • Ina began her career in 1995 as an aide to the Chairman and CEO of Bank of Montreal in Canada, where she gained firsthand knowledge about the challenges and opportunities for leaders at the highest levels.

She holds a bachelor’s degree in international relations and economics from the University of Toronto’s Trinity College and a master’s degree in economic policy and monetary theory from Columbia University. She also earned a diversity, equity and inclusion certificate, business administration and management, from Cornell University. A trained opera singer, Ina studied at The Juilliard School and performed as a soprano in North America, Latin America and Europe. Ina was vice chair of the board of directors of the Boys & Girls Club of Harlem.