Executive Director, Global Business, Northeastern University – NYC

About this role

About the Opportunity

Founded in 1898, Northeastern is a global research university and a world leader in experiential learning. The same commitment to connecting with the world drives our use-inspired research enterprise. The university offers a comprehensive range of undergraduate and graduate programs leading to degrees through the doctorate in nine colleges and schools. Our Global University System consisting of fourteen campuses across North America and in the UK are platforms for undergraduate and graduate learning and collaborative research. Northeastern's signature cooperative education model integrates rigorous academic study with professional experience, producing graduates who are career-ready from day one.

Summary:

Reporting to the Dean of the D'Amore-McKim School of Business (DMSB), and working in close partnership with the Dean of US Degree Programs at Northeastern University London, the Executive Director of Global Business is the founding academic leader charged with building and scaling Northeastern's next-generation business degree: one program delivered across two continents, designed for a future in which competitive advantage comes from human capability — not technical knowledge alone.

The Bachelor of Global Business is a transformative degree in which students move between New York and London as a core feature of the degree, not a study-abroad add-on, developing expertise across business, design, technology, creativity, entrepreneurship, and AI along the way. The centerpiece of the degree is a sequence of four required, progressive, cross-year Studios — Foundations, Innovation Lab, Strategy & Implementation, and Leadership & Transformation — each co-taught by one business faculty member and one design/arts faculty member, and each replacing select traditional core courses under an AACSB-compliant, competency-based assessment model. This business design/arts co-teaching model sits at the heart of every studio, and the Executive Director must bring a proven ability to lead cross-college collaboration, building shared ownership between business and design/arts faculty as they design and deliver much of the curriculum together. Beyond the studios, students pursue an I3 studio (a specialization studio, paired with two required electives) in areas such as media and entertainment, fashion and luxury marketing, fintech, global supply chain, and tech and AI leadership — taken at either campus, and serving as the degree's primary vehicle for cross-campus mobility.

This is a significant program-building opportunity within Northeastern's global network: a chance to lead the design of an AI-native, studio-based, portfolio-assessed business degree from its earliest working skeleton through launch, in close and continuous partnership with Northeastern University – London. The ideal candidate is energized by building something that does not yet exist — a business education organized around real industry partners, experiential studios, and demonstrated capability rather than a conventional course list — and is comfortable operating amid genuinely open questions about curriculum, concentrations, and market positioning as the program takes shape.

The Executive Director will lead the program from its current prototype stage through launch, finalizing the first so-called “I3 (Imagination/Ideation/Innovation) Studio” concentrations, building out the competency-based core curriculum, standing up the industry liaison and studio-partner infrastructure, and ensuring the degree is clearly differentiated from the BSBA in the market from day one.

Qualifications:

Education & Experience • Doctorate or terminal degree (e.g., PhD, DBA) in business, management, entrepreneurship, or a closely related field • Significant academic leadership experience, including service at the level of Program Director, Associate Dean, Department Chair, or equivalent, with demonstrated responsibility for curriculum design, faculty leadership, and budget oversight • Demonstrated experience building or launching new academic programs, ideally programs involving experiential, studio-based, project-based, or competency-based pedagogy • Experience operating in an international or multi-campus higher education environment, ideally including direct familiarity with both US and UK academic structures • Experience navigating AACSB or comparable business accreditation processes, particularly where non-traditional curricular models (e.g., studios or labs replacing standard courses) require close attention to competency documentation • Track record of building industry partnerships and employer engagement in business, technology, media, or entrepreneurial sectors

Technical Knowledge & Skills • Deep understanding of studio-based, project-based, and portfolio-assessed curriculum design, including how to structure competency-based course groupings in place of traditional single-subject courses • Familiarity with AACSB accreditation standards and the documentation required to substitute studios or labs for required core courses • Knowledge of AI-native curriculum design — embedding AI fluency, supervision, and strategic application throughout coursework rather than isolating it in a single class • Understanding of experiential and industry-integrated learning models, including co-op education and alternative experiential-semester structures • Familiarity with two-campus (or multi-campus) degree mobility design, including how cultural, regulatory, and market differences between locations shape a shared curriculum • Understanding of the competitive landscape for innovative business degrees, and the market dynamics differentiating a next-generation program from a traditional BSBA or BSIB

Leadership & Management • Visionary leadership presence with the ability to articulate a compelling identity for a genuinely new kind of business degree, and to inspire faculty, staff, students, and industry partners around a shared mission •

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