12 May 2007

Dr Lawrence Abeln has been appointed as the new Executive Director of Corporate Education at Judge Business School, to develop and deliver management education programmes to industry.

Dr Abeln holds a PhD in Management from Judge Business School and an MPhil in International Relations from Cambridge University, where he studied as a Rotary Foundation Scholar. He received his B.A. from the University of Pennsylvania in 1989, where he graduated Phi Beta Kappa.

Based at the business school, Dr Abeln will be building on the recent developments initiated by Tim Bellis who has been acting as Interim Director of Executive Education. Dr Abeln commented: "I am delighted to accept this appointment and work with the faculty and leadership team to build upon the School's strong foundation to deliver executive education. We intend to greatly expand our executive education offerings over the coming two to three years by partnering with companies to develop programmes aligned with Cambridge's intellectual strengths. In addition we will be planning to launch a select portfolio of public enrolment programmes anchored in the research output of the School and the University."

Commenting on the appointment, Professor Arnoud De Meyer, Director of Judge Business School, said: "Business schools owe it to their partner organisations to offer solutions for their executives to learn throughout their professional lives. So I am delighted that we have appointed Dr Abeln, who has extensive experience in this area and who can use his expertise to continue the enhancement of our executive education portfolio. It gives me great satisfaction to know that executives apply the concepts they learn on our business programmes, giving them and their organisations a competitive edge in today's world as a result."

Over the last twelve years Dr Abeln has held significant leadership positions in academia including the Director of the MBA programme at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Sloan School of Management, Associate Dean at Georgetown University School of Business in Washington D.C. and, most recently, as the Associate Dean and Director of Executive Education at the University of Texas at Austin. In this role, he oversaw over a portfolio of custom and open enrolment programmes and five MBA degree programmes enrolling 800 students. He has worked closely with many global clients in developing specialised management education curriculum and delivering executive education programmes.

Dr Abeln previously served on the Board of Directors of the MIT Enterprise Forum and has been a media commentator on CBS and NBC television affiliates and ABC radio.