Gray Henley was founded on a straightforward premise: that leadership development works best when it is grounded in evidence, designed with precision, and delivered by someone who can credibly occupy the room.
Practice Description
Gray Henley Learning and Development is a boutique leadership and talent advisory practice focused on a deliberately narrow set of problems — the leadership and capability challenges that have the most direct impact on how organizations perform.
That focus is intentional. It reflects a belief that a small number of things, done exceptionally well, produce better outcomes than a broad menu of services delivered at arm's length. Gray Henley works with a small number of clients at a time, which makes it possible to bring genuine senior attention to every engagement — not a team of associates working from a methodology, but a primary experienced practitioner who designs the solutions, facilitates the sessions, and stays accountable for the outcomes.
Gray Henley is also the authorized US reseller for Area9 Lyceum, bringing the Rhapsode™ adaptive learning platform to organizations across the United States. This partnership extends Gray Henley's capability beyond consulting and facilitation into learning technology — offering clients a platform with a proven track record of measurable proficiency outcomes across life sciences, healthcare, safety-critical industries, and professional services.
Gray Henley clients have included KPMG, Aon, BBC Studios, The Athletic, VICE Media, Brooklyn Nets, Los Angeles Clippers, and Valley National Bank.
If you are exploring a leadership development initiative, a learning systems challenge, or the Rhapsode™ platform — or know someone who might benefit — we welcome the conversation.
About Mike Kennedy
Mike Kennedy is the founder and principal consultant of Gray Henley Learning and Development. He brings more than 20 years of experience building enterprise leadership, performance, and talent systems in complex global organizations — and a practitioner's orientation to every engagement he takes on.
Before founding Gray Henley, Mike served as SVP and Global Head of Leadership and Management Development at IPG Mediabrands, where he built a global Learning and Development Center of Excellence supporting 4,500+ people managers across 100+ markets and 18,000+ employees. Prior to that, he served as AVP at the National Basketball Association, where he launched the organization's enterprise leadership development function from scratch — work that earned a Brandon Hall Gold Award and was featured in Chief Learning Officer magazine. Earlier in his career, he held learning and leadership development roles at KPMG and Tiffany & Co.
Mike holds a BA from Brown University and an MA in Counseling Psychology from Assumption University. His assessment and coaching credentials include Hogan Leadership Assessments, EQ-i 2.0 and EQ 360, Deeper Signals Core Drivers, the Rocket Model for Team Effectiveness, and a Certified Professional Coach credential.
His work has been featured in Chief Learning Officer and Forbes. He is a contributing author at Reworked, where he writes on AI transformation, change management, and the human side of organizational capability building. He speaks regularly at industry conferences including the CLO Symposium, iVentiv, and the Corporate Learning and Development Institute.
Mike is available for consulting engagements, executive facilitation, and fractional or interim leadership roles.
Values
Gray Henley’s work is guided by three principles:
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Empiricism
Solutions are designed in accordance with research-based practice and the best available evidence on human motivation, learning, and organizational behavior — not trends.
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Efficiency
Leadership development should respect the time of everyone it touches. Every session, every tool, every interaction should earn its place.
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Responsibility
Clients deserve an honest account of what a development initiative will and will not accomplish. Gray Henley does not oversell outcomes.
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