Elizabeth K. Briody, Ph.D.
Elizabeth K. Briody founded Cultural Keys LLC in 2009. She thoroughly enjoys the challenges in helping clients understand their culture and in figuring out ways to make it more effective. Her projects have spanned many industries including health care, aerospace, aging, consumer products, insurance, pet foods, and research institutions, among others. She is as comfortable working in large, globally distributed firms, as she is in small non-profit organizations. In 2015, Briody and her colleagues at Purdue University won a five-year National Science Foundation RED grant to “revolutionize engineering departments” and the ways in which engineering is taught.
Prior to establishing Cultural Keys, she worked over two decades at General Motors R&D, most recently as Technical Fellow. She managed multiple cross-functional teams and led research and change-management projects on high-impact issues including GM’s relationships with strategic partners. Her projects ranged from the effects of downsizing and restructurings on employees, to decision-making and governance issues on global vehicle programs, to implementing the “ideal culture” in GM’s U.S. manufacturing plants.
Briody is co-author of three recent books including The Cultural Dimension of Global Business (link), written to make culture understandable, visible, and useful to business people; the 8th edition will be out early in 2017. Her work is documented in award-winning publications and videos. She has been featured in Fast Company, The New York Times, The Washington Post, Working Women, and other news media.
Briody is completing a three-year term on the Executive Board of the American Anthropological Association and is Past President of the National Association for the Practice of Anthropology. She co-edits the Journal of Business Anthropology.
Briody holds a Ph.D. in Anthropology from The University of Texas at Austin. She passed the French baccalauréat, mention bien and speaks Spanish.