Northeastern Global Impact Fellowship
Unlocking leadership potential for transformative impact
Leaders and innovators who want to make a direct impact on the world need opportunities to professionally and personally evolve, and to build a trusting community of peers across myriad industries to broaden their perspective and from whom to seek guidance and support. That’s why Northeastern University is proud to present the Global Impact Fellowship—a dynamic learning experience designed to help you enhance your leadership capabilities, focus on your personal and professional growth, and build lifelong relationships.
Program Overview
The Global Impact Fellowship program brings together a cohort of 20 senior executives representing myriad industries and areas of expertise to participate in a six-month intensive leadership experience. During this period of study and reflection, you’ll collaborate closely with notable academics, former C-Suite executives and thought leaders and forge powerful relationships with your peers.
Program components:
- Find the courage to meaningfully connect with your peers and build lasting, trusting relationships.
- Uncover your blind spots and develop pathways for overcoming them as obstacles to success.
- Master the skills you need to build the resilient and adaptable teams necessary to succeed in today’s uncertain competitive environment, including being able to better manage difficult situations and challenging people.
- Learn about critical issues that are influencing the global competitive landscape (e.g., generative AI, US-China relations) from leading experts.
Program Format
The Global Impact Fellowship program is comprised of a five-day in-person retreat and five monthly in-person seminars.
January 18 – January 21, 2024
The Global Impact Fellowship program begins with an in-person retreat at a location in the NYC metro area to be announced in December with notification of your selection to the program for the January 2024 cohort. Developed and led by renowned executive coach Peter Bregman, the retreat is designed to foster trusting relationships within the cohort and help you:
- Understand the four elements of powerful leadership: Confidence in Self, Connection to Others, Commitment to Purpose, and Emotional Courage
- Uncover blind spots and develop a path to eliminating them as obstacles to success
- Master the ability to stay focused on what is most important for lasting impact
- Develop the four elements to become the leader you aspire to be, inspire those around you, and reach your goals
- Cultivate the confidence and ability to manage difficult situations and challenging people
February
The Power of Gratitude: Boost Engagement, Retention, and Results – Led by Chester Elton, a New York Times bestselling business author and co-founder of The Culture Works
In this insightful masterclass, Chester teaches how mastering strategic gratitude can transform team culture and drive extraordinary performance. Backed by extensive research, discover the neuroscience of why appreciation resonates and simple but powerful practices for showing employee value.
You’ll uncover:
- How genuine praise enhances motivation, productivity, and discretionary effort
- Ways to cultivate a culture where people are valued. 81% say they’d work harder if their boss were more grateful
- The eight high-impact habits for expressing authentic appreciation and driving results
With evidence-based gratitude skills, you will leave equipped to increase employee fulfillment, strengthen trust in leadership, and propel teams to new heights. Discover the immense power of appreciation.
The Anxiety Solution: How to Build Resilience, Psychological Safety and Get Stuff Done – Led by Chester Elton, a New York Times bestselling business author and co-founder of The Culture Works
Anxiety is surging in the workplace, crippling productivity and fueling turnover. In this empowering masterclass, learn eight strategies from Chester’s bestseller, “Anxiety at Work, to create a thriving culture of resilience.
Gain insights on:
- Recognizing anxiety’s warning signs before it hinders performance
- Alleviating stress with flexible boundaries and reasonable expectations
- Fostering inclusion, vulnerability, and support among teams
- Helping perfectionists ship projects vs. getting stuck in analysis paralysis
Attendees will leave equipped to build psychologically safe environments where people speak up, harness stress, and do their best work, even amid uncertainty. The outcome? Calmer, more engaged teams ready to deliver results.
March
Developing Aesthetic Intelligence – Led by Pauline Brown, former Chairman of LVMH, North America
The Role of Virtue in Leadership – Led by Dr. Tony Klemmer, Founder of Wisdom for Good, a retreat program for developing a life of meaning.
April
Global Strategic Competition and Leadership – Led by Sonia Marciano, Clinical Full Professor of Management and Organizations at NYU Stern and 2022 NYU Distinguished Teaching Award winner
May
Global Perspectives on Consumer Trust & Safety – Led by Sudhir Venkatesh, the William B Ransford Professor at Columbia University and formerly Head of Integrity Research for Facebook and Social Science Innovation Center at Twitter.
AI and Consumers Experience – Led by Yakov Bart, a Patrick F. and Helen C. Walsh Research Professor at D’Amore-McKim School of Business. Yakov received several awards for outstanding teaching in Executive Education programs at INSEAD and teaching excellence at Northeastern University.
June
Understanding China – Led by Douglas Guthrie, Professor of Global Leadership at the Thunderbird School of Global Management, and Director of China Initiatives and Executive Director of Thunderbird Global.
Changing Media – Led by John Wihbey, Graduate Programs Director and Associate Professor of Media Innovation and Technology at Northeastern
By the end of the Global Impact Fellowship program, you’ll have:
- Deeper personal awareness, including an understanding of your blind spots and limiting behaviors, and the skills needed to address these
- The ability to better thrive despite uncertainty, including building resilient business environments and adapt to emerging trends
- A trusting community of similarly situated senior executives across a plethora of industries and disciplines
- A Certificate in Leadership from the Provost’s Office
- Membership in the Provost’s Executive Fellows Alumni Group
- Invitations to exclusive and intimate events with leading executives, academics and thought leaders open only to alumni of the Global Impact Fellowship
Application
Cohorts of the Provost Leadership Fellowship program are meticulously curated to ensure an array of industries and areas of expertise, as well as a diversity of backgrounds and experiences.
● Application deadline: October 31, 2023
● Interviews: Rolling through November 2023
● Selection and notification: December 1, 2023
The fee for the inaugural cohort is $20,000 and is all-inclusive, except for travel to and from the retreat and monthly seminars.
Qualifications
The Global Impact Fellowship program welcomes senior executives across all industries who are eager to genuinely connect with peers and dig deep within themselves to build upon their leadership expertise.
Globally Recognized Faculty and Presenters
Sonny Garg, Program Co-Leader/Co-Director
Garg has spent more than 25 years as a senior executive or board member across many organizations in the private, public, and nonprofit sectors. Most recently, he launched the Energy division at Uptake Technologies, and prior to that, he was a member of the Executive Committee and the Chief Information & Innovation Officer at the Fortune 100 company, Exelon Corporation. Garg also served in the administrations of Mayor Richard M. Daley and President William J. Clinton, and he is currently a Distinguished Executive in Residence at the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business.
Charlene Wheeless, CEO, Charlene Wheeless, LLC
Wheeless is a successful business executive, executive coach, keynote speaker, and author. With more than three decades of experience in corporate affairs, communications, and operations, Wheeless leads her namesake firm, Charlene Wheeless LLC, where professionals turn to strengthen their performance and leadership capabilities. As the first Black female executive at Bechtel and other companies, Wheeless brings a powerful perspective on how to help leaders nurture and develop their minority talent and create a culture of inclusion.
Pauline Brown, Aesthetic Intelligence
Pauline Brown is the former Chairman of LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton North America and has held senior executive positions at other leading companies, including Estée Lauder, Bain, and The Carlyle Group. Pauline currently serves as a Board Member of America´s leading luxury retailer Neiman Marcus, teaches at Columbia Business School and is the host of the popular talk show, called “the Other A.I.,” which airs weekly on SiriusXM’s Business Radio. She also is the author of a bestselling business book, entitled Aesthetic Intelligence, published by HarperCollins in 2019.
Chester Elton, Bestselling author
Chester Elton is a Marshall Goldsmith’s 100 Coaches member and a Thinkers 50 Coaching Award winner. He’s consistently ranked among the world’s top leadership and organizational culture experts. He is co-author of several New York Times bestselling books, including Leading with Gratitude, The Carrot Principle, and All In. His books have sold over 1.5 million copies and translated into over 30 languages. Elton is cofounder of The Culture Works, a global consultancy that helps organizations of all sizes create the culture they need to succeed.
Sudhir Venkatesh, Program Advisor
Venkatesh is the William B Ransford Professor at Columbia University, where he teaches courses on organizational design, technology, and human behavior. He is the author of five books, including the NY Times bestseller, Gang Leader for a Day, and has held senior leadership positions at the Department of Justice, Ivy League Universities, Facebook, Twitter, and advises firms on consumer trust and safety.
John P. Wihbey, Associate Professor of Media Innovation and Technology, Northeastern University
Dr. Wihbey is an associate professor in the College of Arts, Media and Design at Northeastern University and a faculty researcher at Northeastern’s Ethics Institute. An expert in media innovation and advocacy, his writings and research have appeared in The New York Times, The Atlantic, The Washington Post, and The Boston Globe, and he comments regularly for outlets such as CNN, CBC, and Associated Press. He is the author of The Social Fact: News and Knowledge in a Networked World (MIT Press, 2019).
Sonia Marciano, 2022 NYU Distinguished Teaching Award Clinical Professor, NYU Stern
Professor Marciano has taught at the Stern School of Management since July 2007. She has won several awards for distinction in teaching, and is among the highest rated management professors at Stern. She currently teaches core strategy, as well as electives in advanced strategy and global competition. In addition, she teaches strategy and economics for corporate executive education programs in the U.S., Canada, and Europe. Professor Marciano also serves as the Stern academic director for TRIUM—a joint executive MBA program that includes Stern, LSE and HEC.
Peter Bregman, Executive Coach
Recognized as the #1 executive coach in the world by Leading Global Coaches, Bregman coaches C-Level executives in many of the world’s premier organizations, including Electronic Arts, CBS, Citi, Showtime, and AMC Networks. His focus on CEO succession and development has resulted in countless successful transitions, including Head of Sales to CEO, President to CEO, CFO to CEO, and COO to CEO. Bregman has authored and contributed to more than 20 books, including Leading with Emotional Courage: How to Have Hard Conversations, Create Accountability, and Inspire Action on Your Most Important Work.
Yakov Bart, Associate Professor of Marketing, Northeastern University
Professor Bart is the Thomas E. Moore Faculty Fellow at D’Amore-McKim School of Business, Faculty Director of the DATA (Digital, Analytics, Technology, Automation) Initiative, and a core faculty member at the Institute for Experiential AI and the NULab for Texts, Maps, and Networks at Northeastern University. His research examines the marketing implications of new digital technologies and business models, and has been published in leading journals, including Management Science, Journal of Marketing, Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, and Harvard Business Review.
Tony Klemmer, Founder and President of Wisdom for Good and the National Academy of Advanced Teacher Education
Tony Klemmer is the Founder of Wisdom for Good, which delivers adult personal formation retreats and programs. He also leads the NAATE Program, which delivers intense programs of advanced learning to high-performing K–12 classroom teachers and school leaders in the U.S. He led tech startups and served as an officer of a multi-national technology corporation before his work in education. He has taught at Yale and Babson College, and now Salve Regina University. He serves as a moderator for the Aspen Global Leadership network.
Doug Guthrie, Professor of Global Leadership, Thunderbird School of Global Management; CEO, On Global Leadership
Professor Guthrie is a dynamic speaker, respected thinker, world-renowned advisor, teacher, and executive coach in the areas of China-US business leadership, geopolitics, and leadership in complex organizations across the United States and globally. Guthrie has held numerous faculty positions at NYU’s Stern School of Business as Professor of Management and Director of Custom Executive Education, as well as Professor of Sociology with NYU’s Faculty of Arts and Sciences and the Founding Director of the university’s Office of Global Education. He was appointed dean of the George Washington School of Business, Vice President for University China Operations, and Professor of International Business at George Washington University. He has lived in Shanghai, China, where he served as a Senior Director and Apple University faculty member at Apple, Inc and joined the Thunderbird School of Global Management at Arizona State University as Professor of Global Leadership and Executive Director of China Initiatives in 2019.
Dr. Don Davis, Senior Director of Player Affairs and Senior Advisor to the Executive Director of the National Football League Players Association
Dr. Davis is responsible for leading and overseeing the management of player labor relations as the Senior Director of Player Affairs and Senior Advisor to the Executive Director of the National Football League Players Association (NFLPA). He is a crucial resource for galvanizing union membership and involvement. He is a widely sought- after speaker and facilitator respected for his ethics, tenacity, and precise business acumen.
A life-long learner, Don earned a doctoral degree in human and organizational leadership from George Washington Graduate University School of Education, a master’s degree in business administration from George Washington University, and a bachelor of arts in human development from the University Kansas.
100 Coaches Agency, Corporate Partner
100 Coaches was established in 2016 by world-renowned business educator and coach Marshall Goldsmith. 100 Coaches Agency is a talent agency specializing in connecting companies and leaders with the experts that best fit their needs.
Chester Elton
Bestselling author
For the past four years, Elton has been ranked in the top 30 Global Gurus for Leadership and #4 for Organizational Culture. He is co-author of five New York Times bestselling business books, including Leading with Gratitude, The Carrot Principle, and All In. His books have sold more than 1.5 million copies and have been translated in more than 30 languages. Elton is also co-founder of The Culture Works—an international training company that helps organizations of all sizes create the culture they need to succeed.
Lisa Feldman Barrett
University Distinguished Professor, Psychology, Northeastern University
Professor Feldman Barrett holds appointments at Massachusetts General Hospital as the Chief Science Officer for the Center for Law, Brain and Behavior at Harvard Medical School. Her research focuses on a systems-level model of brain and body mechanisms to unify human affect, emotion, motivation, cognition and action. She is the recipient of a NIH Director’s Pioneer Award for transformative research, the Mentor Award for Lifetime Achievement from the Association for Psychological Science (APS), the Distinguished Scientific Contribution Award from the American Psychological Association (APA), and is the former president of the APS. She has testified before the US Congress and actively engages in informal science education for the public.
Yakov Bart
Associate Professor of Marketing, Northeastern University
Professor Bart is the Thomas E. Moore Faculty Fellow at D’Amore-McKim School of Business, Faculty Director of the DATA (Digital, Analytics, Technology, Automation) Initiative, and a core faculty member at the Institute for Experiential AI and the NULab for Texts, Maps, and Networks at Northeastern University. His research examines the marketing implications of new digital technologies and business models, and has been published in leading journals, including Management Science, Journal of Marketing, Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, and Harvard Business Review.
Tony Klemmer
Founder and President of Wisdom for Good and the National Academy of Advanced Teacher Education
Tony Klemmer is the Founder of Wisdom for Good, which delivers adult personal formation retreats and programs. He also leads the NAATE Program, which delivers intense programs of advanced learning to high-performing K–12 classroom teachers and school leaders in the U.S. He led tech startups and served as an officer of a multi-national technology corporation before his work in education. He has taught at Yale and Babson College, and now Salve Regina University. He serves as a moderator for the Aspen Global Leadership network.
Sudhir Venkatesh
Program Advisor
Venkatesh is the William B Ransford Professor at Columbia University, where he teaches courses on organizational design, technology, and human behavior. He is the author of five books, including the NY Times bestseller, Gang Leader for a Day, and has held senior leadership positions at the Department of Justice, Ivy League Universities, Facebook, Twitter, and advises firms on consumer trust and safety.
Charlene Wheeless
CEO, Charlene Wheeless, LLC
Wheeless is a successful business executive, executive coach, keynote speaker, and author. With more than three decades of experience in corporate affairs, communications, and operations, Wheeless leads her namesake firm, Charlene Wheeless LLC, where professionals turn to strengthen their performance and leadership capabilities. As the first Black female executive at Bechtel and other companies, Wheeless brings a powerful perspective on how to help leaders nurture and develop their minority talent and create a culture of inclusion.
Doug Guthrie
Professor of Global Leadership, Thunderbird School of Global Management; CEO, On Global Leadership
Professor Guthrie is a dynamic speaker, respected thinker, world-renowned advisor, teacher, and executive coach in the areas of China-US business leadership, geopolitics, and leadership in complex organizations across the United States and globally. Guthrie has held numerous faculty positions at NYU’s Stern School of Business as Professor of Management and Director of Custom Executive Education, as well as Professor of Sociology with NYU’s Faculty of Arts and Sciences and the Founding Director of the university’s Office of Global Education. He was appointed dean of the George Washington School of Business, Vice President for University China Operations, and Professor of International Business at George Washington University. He has lived in Shanghai, China, where he served as a Senior Director and Apple University faculty member at Apple, Inc and joined the Thunderbird School of Global Management at Arizona State University as Professor of Global Leadership and Executive Director of China Initiatives in 2019.
Pauline Brown
Aesthetic Intelligence
Pauline Brown is the former Chairman of LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton North America and has held senior executive positions at other leading companies, including Estée Lauder, Bain, and The Carlyle Group. Pauline currently serves as a Board Member of America´s leading luxury retailer Neiman Marcus, teaches at Columbia Business School and is the host of the popular talk show, called “the Other A.I.,” which airs weekly on SiriusXM’s Business Radio. She also is the author of a bestselling business book, entitled Aesthetic Intelligence, published by HarperCollins in 2019.
John P. Wihbey
Associate Professor of Media Innovation and Technology, Northeastern University
Dr. Wihbey is an associate professor in the College of Arts, Media and Design at Northeastern University and a faculty researcher at Northeastern’s Ethics Institute. An expert in media innovation and advocacy, his writings and research have appeared in The New York Times, The Atlantic, The Washington Post, and The Boston Globe, and he comments regularly for outlets such as CNN, CBC, and Associated Press. He is the author of The Social Fact: News and Knowledge in a Networked World (MIT Press, 2019).
Sonia Marciano
2022 NYU Distinguished Teaching Award Clinical Professor, NYU Stern
Professor Marciano has taught at the Stern School of Management since July 2007. She has won several awards for distinction in teaching, and is among the highest rated management professors at Stern. She currently teaches core strategy, as well as electives in advanced strategy and global competition. In addition, she teaches strategy and economics for corporate executive education programs in the U.S., Canada, and Europe. Professor Marciano also serves as the Stern academic director for TRIUM—a joint executive MBA program that includes Stern, LSE and HEC.
Peter Bregman
Executive Coach
Recognized as the #1 executive coach in the world by Leading Global Coaches, Bregman coaches C-Level executives in many of the world’s premier organizations, including Electronic Arts, CBS, Citi, Showtime, and AMC Networks. His focus on CEO succession and development has resulted in countless successful transitions, including Head of Sales to CEO, President to CEO, CFO to CEO, and COO to CEO. Bregman has authored and contributed to more than 20 books, including Leading with Emotional Courage: How to Have Hard Conversations, Create Accountability, and Inspire Action on Your Most Important Work.