Jeffrey Sonnenfeld

Jeffrey Sonnenfeld is the Associate Dean for Executive Programs at Yale University's School of Management and professor of management practice as well as the Founder, President and Chief Executive Officer of The Chief Executive Leadership Institute of Yale University. The Institute is dedicated to the advancement of top leadership education through scholarly research and peer-driven educational programs.

Previously, he was a professor at the Goizueta Business School of Emory University. There, he founded the Center for Leadership & Career Studies, which he ran for eight years. Prior to this, Sonnenfeld spent ten years as a professor at the Harvard Business School. His research, publications and consulting address issues of top leadership development, executive succession and board governance. Jeffrey Sonnenfeld has an expertise on the human side of What Makes Great Board Great, a prominent article to was published by Harvard Business Review.

Mr. Sonnenfeld received his AB, MBA, and DBA from Harvard University. He has been the recipient of: the Irwin Award for Social Research in Industry; AT&T's Hawthorne Fellowship for Social Research in Industry; the John P. Whitehead Faculty Fellowship; and, on two occasions, Emory's "Outstanding Educator Award." He was awarded the "Outstanding Educator Award" in 1996 from the American Society for Training and Development, the nation's professional association for corporate educators.

A frequent speaker before executive audiences, Mr. Sonnenfeld's consulting work and research activities reflect a continued interest in chief executive succession and board governance along with corporate culture and strategic change. A regular commentator on PBS's "Nightly Business Report," and NPR's "Marketplace," Mr. Sonnenfeld is a frequently cited leadership expert appearing on CNBC, CNN, FoxNews, ABC, NBC, and CBS. He has also appeared in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Business Week, Fortune, US News & World Report, Newsweek, The Financial Times, and The Economist. Mr. Sonnenfeld's book, The Hero's Farewell: What Happens When CEOs Retire (Oxford University Press), was designated as "the standout new management book of the year" in 1988 by Business Week and it earned the executive search community's Golden Baton Award. His latest book Leadership & Governance from the Inside Out (Wiley) has been endorsed by such widely admired executive officers as Jeffrey Immelt of GE; Henry Paulson of Goldman Sachs; Hank McKinnell of Pfizer; and Jamie Dimon of JP Morgan Chase.