Jeff Sonnenfeld
Jeffrey Sonnenfeld is the Senior Associate Dean for Leadership Studies at the Yale School of Management, where he has taught since 1999. Under his leadership, Yale executive programs have grown from 100 executives a year to 2,000. A frequent speaker before executive audiences, his research, publications, and consulting activities reflect a continued interest in chief executive succession, board governance, corporate culture, and strategic change. Sonnenfeld is the first scholar to ring the Opening Bell of both the New York Stock Exchange and the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, having done so at least 10 times.
Jeff Sonnenfeld Professional Experience / Academic History
Professional Experience
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Senior Associate Dean for Leadership Studies and Lester Crown Professor in the Practice of Management
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Professor
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Associate Professor
Academic History
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DBA in Organizational Behavior Studies
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MBA in General Management
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AB in Psychology and Social Relations, Magna Cum Laude
AWARDS AND RECOGNITIONS
- Sonnenfeld has won numerous national awards for scholarly research and teaching.
- Named by Businessweek as one of the world’s “ten most influential Businessweek as school professors.”
- Named as one of the “100 most influential figures in corporate governance” by Directorship.
- Earned the 2018 Ellis Island Medal of Honor from the Ellis Island Foundation.
- The first John Whitehead Faculty Fellow at Harvard University
- Outstanding Educator Awards at Yale, Emory, and the American Society for Training and Development.
- Recipient of the Irwin Award for Social Research in Industry
- Recipient of the AT&T′s Hawthorne Fellowship for Social Research in Industry
- Recipient of the John P. Whitehead Faculty Fellowship
CURRENT APPOINTMENTS
- Founder and President of the Yale Chief Executive Leadership Institute
- Lester Crown Professor in the Practice of Management
- Trustee of the Committee on Economic Development
- Member of the National Commission on College and University Governance
- Board Member of Lennar
- Board Member of IEX Investors Exchange
- Board Member of Atlas Merchant Capital
MEDIA AND PUBLICATIONS
- Sonnenfeld has published at least 8 books and over 200 scholarly articles in the areas of:
- chief executive leadership;
- corporate governance;
- CEO succession;
- executive careers; and
- the management of corporate social performance.
- A frequent speaker before executive audiences, he has appeared often on all the major U.S. TV networks, including:
- CBS (60 Minutes)
- NBC (Today)
- ABC (Nightline and Good Morning America)
- He is a frequently cited management expert in the global media.
- He is a regular commentator on Fortune, CNBC, NPR’s Marketplace, and PBS’s Nightly Business Report.
- He is a columnist for Fortune Magazine and Chief Executive Magazine.
- He has been featured in the leading academic journals in management and in publications as The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Financial Times, and The Economist.
OTHERS
- Sonnenfeld has served on ten scholarly journal editorial boards.
- He was the founding faculty sponsor of the Harvard Radcliffe Women’s Leadership Forum.
- He was a co-developer of the Harvard College Core Curriculum and chaired committees on admissions, placement, and faculty recruiting.
- He served as a full tenured professor at Emory's Goizueta Business School for a decade and a professor at the Harvard Business or a decade.