Bainbridge Graduate Institute is pleased to announce the appointment of Dr. Jon C. Strauss as President of the Institute.

Dr. Strauss comes to the Bainbridge Graduate Institute out of retirement as President Emeritus of Harvey Mudd College, a highly ranked liberal arts college of engineering, science and mathematics, where he served as its fourth president from 1997 to 2006. Dr Strauss brings an extensive background in academic leadership and management and he is an advocate of the benefits of a diverse and inclusive collegiate culture.

“As President of this unique school, I am excited to collaborate with the BGI community to move its mission forward so that we will continue to grow in numbers, diversity, and in the impact that our student leaders will have in the world,” said President Strauss.  “The need to create businesses, non-profits, and governmental agencies that are socially responsible and environmentally sustainable and that support the health and long-term needs of our global communities and our planet becomes more evident each day.   BGI is in the forefront of educating leaders in sustainable business to do just that.  And I am here to accelerate the process.  As BGI moves through the accreditation process, I am confident that my experience in accreditation with institutions of higher learning will be of benefit. ”

Dr. Strauss’ professional interests include organizational development and planning, modeling and performance enhancement, and sustainability and decentralized management in higher education. He was appointed to the National Science Board In 2004 where he has led two important task forces on international science and sustainable energy and chairs the Subcommittee on Polar Issues.

“BGI is honored to welcome Jon Strauss as its new President,” said Chairman of the Board John Eisenhauer. “This marks a major step in BGI’s emergence as a world-class and world-renowned school and in its mission of changing business for good.  Jon’s experience and past successes, and his enthusiasm for BGI’s focus and potential, make him a fitting successor for our beloved founder, Gifford Pinchot.  “                                              (cont’d)
BGI co-founder and President Emeritus Gifford Pinchot will work with President Strauss with a focus on teaching, speaking, and writing about sustainable business.  According to Pinchot, “Jon Strauss is the perfect President for BGI for our next level of evolution and growth. He has a deep commitment to sustainability and his experience and credentials are outstanding.  I am thrilled to be liberated to work on my new book and to research and explore new opportunities in sustainable business.”

Prior to his appointment at Harvey Mudd College, Dr Strauss served as Vice President and Chief Financial Officer at Howard Hughes Medical Institute in Chevy Chase, Maryland.  He is also President Emeritus of Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Massachusetts, and he served as Senior Vice President of Administration at the University of Southern California where he also was a tenured professor of electrical engineering.  He was Vice President for Budget and Finance at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, and also served as a professor of computer science at that institution and at Washington University in St. Louis, the Technical University of Norway, and Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh.  Dr. Strauss has published and spoken widely, consulted for a wide variety of colleges, universities, and corporations, and served on the Boards of a number of corporations and professional and community organizations.  He holds a Ph.D. in Systems and Communication Sciences from Carnegie Institute of Technology, a M.S. in Physics from the University of Pittsburgh, and a B.S.E.E. from the University of Wisconsin.

BGI is delighted to welcome our new Provost and Executive Vice President, Dr. Chris Gilbert. He is not only a gifted teacher with a focus on ethics, learning community development, high performance work teams and the social side of sustainability; he is also a highly perceptive, warm and compassionate leader.
As Provost, Chris oversees all BGI academic program design and operations, including outcomes planning, assessment, curriculum development and implementation, and institutional effectiveness.

For 16 years, Chris was the Chair of the Business Management and Organizational Leadership Programs at Tacoma Community College, Tacoma, Washington. As both principal academic manager and primary business instructor for two Associate of Arts degrees and a management certification program, his responsibilities included curriculum development, budget control, faculty hiring and supervision, and business and community outreach program planning and implementation.

Dr. Gilbert was also principal international faculty in the executive MBA program at Beijing University of Technology, Beijing, China, and principal management faculty at Landegg International University in Rorsarcht, Switzerland, from 2002-2004.

From 2003-2005, Dr. Gilbert was the Acting Director of the Center for Ethical Development pioneering a cutting edge, non-profit, ethics resource center responsible for directing cross-disciplinary ethics education programs, student faculty and staff professional development opportunities and business ethics outreach and training courses.

Our new Dean of Faculty and Instruction and core faculty member, Dr. Scott Schroeder, will take us to the next level of academic excellence and organizational coherence. Scott’s career has been lived as a management activist, dedicated to developing organizational systems and management approaches that facilitate the sustainable productivity and well-being of people at work.  His research focuses on individuals’ personal power and social influence at work, with special interest in getting people the power they need to have personal and professional success in their careers. 

Scott has done extensive work in executive coaching and he consults on issues of executive development and team effectiveness.  His clients have included individuals and organizations from industries including advertising, entertainment, health care, environmental protection, professional sports, education, government services, the U.S. military, faith communities, and other non-profits. 

His research focuses on individuals’ personal power and social influence at work, with special interest in getting people the power they need to have personal and professional success in their careers.  He is most recently co-author with Samuel Culbert of “Getting Hierarchy to Work,” in Organization 21C: Someday all organizations will lead this way. 

Scott has held administrative, faculty, or research positions at universities including Antioch, Arizona State, and UCLA.   Before joining BGI, Scott was most recently Dean of Business and Professor of Management at Chaminade University of Honolulu.  Since 1996, he has also taught courses on individual and organizational effectiveness at Claremont Graduate University, where he was recognized for outstanding teaching by students and alumni in 2005.  Scott completed doctoral specializations in management and psychology at UCLA, as well as post-doctoral work in university leadership at Harvard.