Anna-Carin Fernström

About Anna-Carin Fernström

I’m a human-centered leadership and change strategist with a doctorate in organizational leadership and more than two decades of experience guiding transformation across Fortune 500 and mission-driven organizations. Born and raised in Sweden, I bring a global perspective to people, process, and technology, along with leadership, culture, and transformation.My path began in culture and media studies, where I developed a deep appreciation for how people make meaning and drive change. I then transitioned into software engineering, progressed through program and portfolio management, and ultimately found my purpose in enterprise leadership development, cultural transformation, and agile strategy. This trajectory allows me to move fluidly between strategic vision and real-world execution, connecting behavioral insight with organizational outcomes.Today, I help leaders and organizations thrive in the AI era by integrating systems thinking, agile principles, and behavioral science to enable meaningful, sustainable change. My work focuses on the complex dynamics of leadership - how strategy, culture, and human systems intersect to unlock growth, resilience, and impact.At Centric Consulting, I’ve advised C-suite leaders, supported enterprise-wide transformations, coached leadership cohorts, designed agile learning programs, and contributed thought leadership at the intersection of leadership, change, and technology.Whether I’m working with an executive team, facilitating culture alignment, or exploring how AI is reshaping the future of leadership, I stay focused on this question:How do we design organizations where people and strategy thrive together, where clarity, trust, and purpose power both performance and possibility?

Experience

1. Manager - Sr Agile Strategist

   Centric Consulting

   Nov 2020 — Present · US

   Agile Transformation and Coaching: Draw on my extensive technology background and blend it with project/program management and Organizational Change Management (OCM) knowledge to guide agile transformations for global clients. Focus on leadership alignment, cultural readiness, and sustainable agility, supporting scale-up of agile practices for organizations like McDonald’s and Scrum Masters, foster Communities of Practice (CoPs), and provide strategic advisory services to align business and IT goals.Thought Leadership: Explored the intersection of agile and OCM in transformation initiatives through articles such as The Intersection of Agile and Change Management. Authored content and presented strategies that positioned Centric as a thought leader in agile and organizational change management. Consider adding links to your published articles/blogs in the Featured section of your LinkedIn profile rather than in the Experience section for better visibility and presentation.Practice Development: Partnered with internal stakeholders to explore strategies for aligning organizational culture with agile transformations. While progress was made, this initiative is ongoing and represents an area for future focus.Centric Leadership Program (CLP): Serve on the subcommittee for Centric’s NextCen leadership development program, contributing to program direction and mentoring emerging leaders. Delivered customized OCM training to NextGen candidates and new hires, enhancing curriculum quality and improving their readiness for client engagements. Conduct interviews for NextCen candidates, ensuring alignment with Centric’s values and leadership goals.

Education

• George Mason University

  Masters of Science, Technology Management

• University of Phoenix

  Doctor, Management in Organizational Leadership

  2010 — 2019

• Karlstad University

  Bachelor of Arts - BA, Media and Cultural Studies

  1982 — 1986

Skills

• IT Strategy
• Coaching
• Management Consulting
• Project Planning
• Software Development
• Scrum
• Telecommunications
• Enterprise Architecture
• Business Transformation
• Data Center
• Integration
• Project Portfolio Management
• Visio
• Program Management
• Cross-Functional Team Leadership
• Ms Project
• Agile Project Management
• Strategy
• IT Management
• Software Project Management
• Crm
• Itil
• Resource Management
• Change Management
• Software Documentation
• Sdlc
• Solution Architecture
• Requirements Analysis
• Cloud Computing
• Team Leadership
• Vendor Management
• Sharepoint
• Training
• Project Management
• Business Intelligence
• Agile Methodologies
• Management
• Team Building
• Training Delivery
• Requirements Gathering