Kelly (Kleinkort) Montes
Executive Director, US
With over two decades of leadership experience, Kelly has worked with Fortune 500 companies, leading CEOs, foreign governments, and institutions of higher education to develop inclusive workplaces, global competency, and conduct research for connection across peoples and cultures. The underpinning of her work has been connecting across differences, whether via her time and work in Inner Mongolia, China, while hosting heads of state for diplomatic dialogue, or training executives on how to be inclusive leaders.
Kelly currently oversees the largest segment for the Catalyst portfolio–the U.S. Her regionally based team serves as thought partners for nearly 300 U.S. supporter organizations, imbedding research, tools, and solutions to build inclusive workplaces from the frontline to the C-Suite. Kelly frequently speaks on inclusive leadership, empathy, ERG best practices, sponsorship, and allyship; during her time with Catalyst, she has delivered over 100 speaking engagements.
Kelly is a Fulbright Scholar as well as a Young Sinologist, a fellowship awarded by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. She is a champion for fostering inclusion and cultural understanding and believes both the challenges and solutions for the 21st century require courageous conversations, curiosity and intentional bridge building across cultures and peoples.