William Pelster Biography

William (Bill) Pelster

Co-Founder Josh Bersin Academy

Mr. Pelster is currently the co-founder of Josh Bersin Academy helping to elevate the HR profession by providing future focused professional development, curated resources and linking the global community of 15 million HR professionals. Bersin academy at www.bersinacademy.com is the leading platform for HR professionals designed to enable and accelerate HR transformations.

Previously, Mr. Pelster is a retired Principal in Deloitte and former US Consulting Board member with over 25 years of industry and consulting experience focused on learning, leadership and integrated talent management. He has developed and deployed talent solutions for top 50 companies globally in financial services, life sciences and consumer products.

Mr. Pelster is also a pioneer within large professional services firms with key roles including the buildout of a large Human Capital practice in India, international deployment to build a Human Capital practice in Germany, creation of the learning and leadership practice within a “Big Four”, Chief Learning Officer for Deloitte and the acquisition of Bersin and Associates; Deloitte’s first move into a products and subscription business.

Mr. Pelster also led the stand-up and integration of the Deloitte India consulting practice. He was also the senior partner who led the acquisition of Bersin & Associates creating the Bersin by Deloitte research and products practice.

He has contributed or authored key talent research pieces to include Talent 2020, Human Capital Trends (2013-2017), and The Leadership Premium. He is a well noted speaker with keynote engagements at the Wharton Leadership Conference, MASIE Conference, I4CP research and other large venues to include CLO magazine, Wall Street Journal, SHRM, Harvard Business Review and Forbes.com. In his previous role as Deloitte’s Chief Learning Officer, he was responsible for the total development experience of professionals to include learning, leadership, high-potentials, and career/life fit. He designed and led the move of Deloitte to a single, integrated learning platform. Additionally, he was a key architect of Deloitte University; Deloitte’s $300m learning facility outside of Dallas and the satellite facilities in Belgium, India, Canada and Singapore.