Blair Sheppard

Academic Area: Management and Organization

Teaching / Research Interests

Corporate Strategy, Relations in Organizations, Leadership, New Organizational Forms

Bio

As Special Advisor to Duke Kunshan University, Professor Sheppard is responsible for directing all fundraising, corporate development, non-degree program development and regional development for the newly formed campus in China. Duke is one of two US schools allowed to establish an independent legal presence in China and has 200 acres, with the first 36 acres under development. Sheppard is also the Chair of the Board of directors for Duke Corporate Education (Duke CE), a company that he founded in 2000. Under his leadership, Duke CE grew from one office, 39 employees and $12 million in revenue, to offices on three continents, 140 employees and $56 million in revenue and has been rated number 1 in the world by Financial Times and BusinessWeek for 9 years in a row. 

Previously, Sheppard was the Dean of Fuqua School of Business which under his leadership rose in all three key rankings, developed a new Masters level degree program now considered one of the top three in the world, led the development of a new global strategy for the business school culminating in the creation of Duke Kunshan University and had one of the top two most productive research faculties in the world. All of this occurred during the worst economic crisis in the history of the school. Sheppard has also been the Senior Associate Dean of Fuqua, where he led the creation of two innovative management education programs. He conceived The Duke MBA - Global Executive in 1996 and was instrumental in developing the school''s early strategy. 

Sheppard has provided consultation to more than 100 companies and governments in the areas of leadership, corporate strategy, negotiation, organizational relationships and organization design and has extensive research on the same topics, with more than 50 published books and articles. 

Sheppard received his B.A. and M.A. from the University of Western Ontario and his Ph.D. in social and organizational psychology from the University of Illinois.