Schon Beechler, PhD
Schon Beechler is Adjunct Faculty and Director of Positive Leadership Programs in Executive Education at the Stephen M. Ross School of Business, University of Michigan, and Academic Director, Duke Corporate Education. In these roles, she works with executive education clients and faculty to design and deliver executive education programs globally. Schon is also Adjunct Professor, China Europe International Business School, teaching in the Executive MBA program and custom programs. She received her undergraduate degree in Sociology and Anthropology from Oberlin College and earned a joint PhD in Business Administration and Sociology from the University of Michigan.
From 1989 until 2006, Schon served as faculty member, Columbia Business School, where she held the title of Associate Professor of Management and taught credit courses in the MBA, Executive MBA and PhD programs. Schon also served as Faculty Director of the Columbia Senior Executive Program, Columbia’s flagship senior executive program, from 1994 until 2006.
In addition to the Columbia Senior Executive Program, Schon has designed, directed, and taught in numerous open enrollment and custom programs in the United States, Austral-Asia, and Europe. She has worked with clients such as Medtronic, Aventis, Hitachi, Itochu, Credit Agricole, Kone, Macquarie Group, Microsoft, Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu, Alston and Bird, the Arts Institute of New York, New York Police Department, and the Fire Department of New York.
Schon is a specialist in global leadership and the management of multinational corporations. Schon lived in Japan for over six years and was Visiting Associate Professor at the Center for Innovation Research at Hitotsubashi University.
She has published a number of articles on her work that have appeared in leading academic journals, including the Academy of Management Review, Academy of Management Learning and Education Journal, the Journal of International Business Studies, Human Resource Management, and the Journal of International Management. In addition to academic journal publications, her research has also been published in book chapters and practitioner-oriented journals. She has authored two books on Japanese management and is currently finishing a new book, People Strategies for Global Firms, (with Vladimir Pucik and Anne-Valerie Ohlsson) to be published by Routledge.
Schon was elected to the Executive Committee of the International Management Division, Academy of Management for five years, serving as Chair of the Division from 2004 until 2005 and she currently works pro bono as a consultant with two not-for-profit organizations, Teach For America and Save the Children.