Donald Roy Lessard

The Epoch Foundation Professor of International Management and Professor of Systems Engineering, Emeritus at Sloan School of Management

Biography

Sloan School of Management

Donald R. Lessard is the Epoch Foundation Professor of International Management, Emeritus at the MIT Sloan School of Management. His research interests are in global strategic management and project management, focused on the energy sector, with an emphasis on managing in the face of uncertainty and risk.

He has published extensively on these topics in academic and professional journals, and is co-author of Strategic Management of Large Engineering Projects: Shaping Institutions, Risks, and Governance (MIT Press 2001 with Roger Miller).

A member of the MIT faculty since 1973, Lessard has served as Deputy Dean of the Sloan School with responsibilities for research, international programs, and executive education; co-chair of the Energy Education Task Force that launched an Institute-wide undergraduate energy minor; and founding director of the MIT Executive MBA, the BP Projects and Engineering Academy, and the Li and Fung Executive Development Program. He also led the MIT-Merrill Lynch Partnership, MIT's first large-scale collaboration with a financial services firm.

A leader in international management education, Lessard is a past President of the Academy of International Business and Dean of the Fellows of the Academy. He is a Senior Fellow of the Fung Global Institute, a think tank based in Hong Kong. A senior advisor to the Brattle Group, he has led major consulting assignments with firms, banks, and government agencies throughout the world.

Lessard earned his BA in Latin American studies and his MBA and PhD in business administration from Stanford University.

Companies

  • Advisory Board Member 4DPath (2019)
  • Executive Advisor Promethean Energy Corporation (2017)
  • Senior Advisor The Brattle Group (1994)
  • Epoch Foundation Professor of International Management, Emeritus MIT Sloan School of Management (1973)

Education

  • PhD, MBA Stanford University Graduate School of Business (1965 — 1969)
  • BA Stanford University (1964 — 1965)
  • Pacific Union College (1961 — 1964)

Videos

Read about executive education

Other experts

Elizabeth Cohen

Senior Research Associate, Campbell Public Affairs Institute Degree Ph.D., Yale University, 2003 Specialties Contemporary and modern political theory, history of political thought, immigration and citizenship Courses Power and Identity  Contemporary Normative Political Philosop...

Victoria Ivashina

Victoria Ivashina is the Lovett-Learned Chaired Professor of Finance at Harvard Business School. She is a Research Associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research, and a Visiting Scholar at the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston and the European Central Bank. She serves on the editorial boards ...

Amy Beth Zegart

Bio Amy Zegart is the Morris Arnold and Nona Jean Cox Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution, where she directs the Robert and Marion Oster National Security Affairs Fellows program. She is also a senior fellow at the Freeman Spogli Institute of International Studies (FSI), professor of politic...

Looking for an expert?

Contact us and we'll find the best option for you.

Something went wrong. We're trying to fix this error.