Awards

O'Neill School of Public & Environmental Affairs Distinguished Alumni Awards - 2013

About Brian G. Clarke

Although Brian G. Clarke was not born a Hoosier, he was raised one. Growing up in Columbus, Indiana, Clarke was exposed early on to Indiana University. His father bought the family season football tickets in the fall of 1968 �" the same year IU went to the Rose Bowl �" and his older brother attended IU; there was no question that Clarke would follow.

A 2013 Distinguished Alumni Award recipient, today Clarke runs a business of people, as a founding member and managing partner of Kensington International, an executive search, outplacement, and leadership development firm. He started the business in 1989 with three other partners, one of whom he met while attending graduate school at Northwestern's Kellogg School of Management. His success in this endeavor led BusinessWeek.com to include him on its list of "The World's Most Influential Headhunters."

Among the organizations Clarke serves as a board member are the Job Search Television Network, Agilium World-wide/ World Search Group, and the Chicago Theological Seminary.

Clarke pursued a career in human resources and labor relations because he saw himself as "a people person as much as anything." He has held positions at Quaker Oats, first as a supervisor of labor relations, then as director of corporate training and recruitment, and at First National Bank of Chicago, where, within a year of joining the bank as a human resources professional, he was presented with the opportunity to serve in a line/operation's position that ultimately resulted in his serving as the vice president of the bank's Global Industries Division within its Service Products Group.

At IU, Clarke took advantage of opportunities to hone his leadership skills in his fraternity, Phi Kappa Psi, and in the Indiana University Student Association (IUSA). These experiences built his confidence in leadership roles and his ability to articulate his positions on a variety of issues. His run in campus politics took him all the way to student body president in 1977�"1978.

Between his involvement in IUSA and his course work in SPEA, Clarke says he "developed an overall desire to be aware of what's going on in the world and in our communities," which prompted him "to keep a finger on the pulse of politics, which is in large part what SPEA brought to the table for me."

Over the years, Clarke has developed a sophisticated skillset for quickly and accurately selecting and assessing talent for his client companies, the foundation of which was laid at IU. "All the things I did at school in terms of interfacing with other students and groups positioned me to be comfortable at being out front, consulting, selling, and influencing others."