James Holtje

Adjunct Professor of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University

Jim Holtje has been in the speechwriting, corporate communications, and adjunct teaching arenas in the U.S. and overseas for more than 30 years. His experience includes speechwriting for the CEOs of IBM, Siemens AG in Germany, Siemens USA, The McGraw-Hill Companies, consulting firm RGP as well as the head of emerging payments at MasterCard International and UNESCO’s Director General. He has been teaching speechwriting and public speaking at Columbia University’s School of International & Public Affairs (SIPA) since 2016 and won SIPA’s 2019 Outstanding Teaching Award as well as several SIPA Annual Top Five awards, among other honors. During the past eight years, he’s taught speechwriting and public speaking to more than 300 students from over 40 countries around the world. His adjunct teaching career also includes teaching corporate communications and public relations writing at New York University’s Stern School of Business as well as NYU’s School of Professional Studies. He additionally coaches Japanese executives and government officials at Columbia University Business School’s Center on Japanese Economy and Business (CJEB). In 2023, Holtje founded Speak Up International, LLC, a New York City-based consultancy specializing in communication coaching for non-native English speakers. The firm is currently working with the Director General of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO); Mexican presidential candidate Xóchitl Gálvez; as well as Yancy Forums, a professional development network working with physicians at Yale. A frequent lecturer on speechwriting and speech delivery, he mostly recently led an international workshop at the European Speechwriter Network’s spring conference at Oxford University in the UK as well as the organization’s fall conference in The Hague (Netherlands) where he additionally delivered the conference’s closing keynote address, available on Apple podcasts. Holtje had previously served as a full-time speechwriter to a Managing Board member of Siemens AG and CEO of the company’s Digital Industries business. It was his second time working for the engineering multinational. He previously worked nearly a decade at Siemens as a speechwriter in New York as well as at the company’s global headquarters. His three-year overseas delegation in Munich included writing the global Chairman’s English-language speeches, Op-Eds, Letters to Shareholders, and other executive communications. Before returning to Siemens in 2021, Holtje headed corporate communication, public relations, and thought leadership at RGP, a management consulting firm spin-off of Deloitte Consulting servicing 86 of the Fortune 100. Holtje also previously served as a speechwriter to the Chairman & CEO of IBM writing numerous internal and external speeches, video scripts, and other communications. He later headed the Writing Center of Excellence at IBM’s Global Technology Services— the world’s largest IT infrastructure provider. Prior to IBM, he served as the speechwriter to the head of emerging payments at MasterCard and served as The McGraw-Hill Company’s Director of Public Affairs & Speechwriting where his primary responsibilities included speechwriting and executive communications for the CEO. Prior to entering corporate communications, Holtje worked at several public relations agencies and consultancies, including Brouillard Communications as well as Cohn & Wolfe where he handled various Fortune 500 accounts, including: Chrysler, DaimlerChrysler, Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu, Deutsche Post, Eli Lilly, Walmart, and others. The author of six publications—including The Power of Storytelling: Captivate, Convince or Convert Any Business Audience Using Stories from Top CEOs, published by Penguin Prentice Hall and Divided It Stands: Can the United Nations Work? for Turner Publishing—he’s currently drafting his seventh book: Speak Your Way to the Top: How Classical Rhetoric Can Advance Your Modern Career. Holtje earned a Bachelor of Arts in political science and German literature from New York University (NYU) and a Master of International Affairs (MIA) from Columbia’s School of International & Public Affairs (SIPA). During his SIPA studies, he interned at the Office of the United Nations Secretary General at UN Headquarters as well as at the United States Council for International Business (USCIB)—both in New York City. Holtje is fluent in German and speaks basic French, Italian, Spanish and studied Latin.