Renowned Scholar. Trusted Counselor. Captivating Presenter.

Jeffrey Sonnenfeld is the Senior Associate Dean for Leadership Studies and Lester Crown Professor in Management Practice at the Yale School of Management, and founder and president of the Yale Chief Executive Leadership Institute (CELI). A lively, entertaining presenter, engaging educator, and renowned top leadership scholar, he has spent more than five decades convening and directly advising thousands of the world’s top CEOs, global heads of state, and leaders across sectors.

Thirty-eight years ago, while on the faculty of Harvard Business School, he created the world’s first school for incumbent CEOs — migrating it to Yale a decade later. He went on to help the WEF/Davos, Forbes, Fortune, BusinessWeek, the Wall Street Journal, and the New York Times, among others, launch convergent programs in this space. His flagship, off-the-record Yale CEO Summits remain the longest-running gathering of top executives in the world.

A New York Times bestselling author, he has written ten books on top leadership voice, CEO succession, and corporate governance. He earned his B.A., M.B.A., and Ph.D. from Harvard University, spent a decade on the Harvard Business School faculty and a decade as a full tenured professor at Emory’s Goizueta Business School, and has advised five U.S. presidents across both parties — including counsel to the White House, State Department, and Treasury, and testimony before Congress.

One of the most prolific scholars and commentators in American business, his original commentary appears several times each week across CNBC, MS NOW, CNN, Newsmax, Fortune, TIME, the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, and the Washington Post. Audiences don’t just hear about leadership — they hear from the person the world’s most powerful leaders call first.

Read His Full Yale Faculty Bio →