Marla M. Capozzi, MBA'96 and McKinsey & Company Veteran, Appointed to Chair the Babson College Board of Trustees

WELLESLEY, Mass., July 20, 2017 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Babson College, the recognized global leader in entrepreneurship education and women's entrepreneurial leadership, has announced the appointment of Marla M. Capozzi, MBA'96 and long-time global strategy consultant at McKinsey & Company, as Chair-elect of the Babson College Board of Trustees.

Capozzi will succeed current Chair of the Board and esteemed member of the Babson College community, Joseph L. Winn MBA'74, who is stepping down as chair in October 2017 following six years of dedicated service in this role. Before being named Chair, Winn also served an additional 10 years on Babson's Board of Trustees. He is the retired Vice Chairman and CFO of American Tower Corporation (NYSE: AMT).

Capozzi, a Vice Chair of Babson's Board of Trustees, member of the Board for the last seven years, and an alumna of Babson's F.W. Olin Graduate School of Business, will be the first woman to serve as Chair of Babson's Board and will take the helm this fall as the college prepares to celebrate its Centennial in 2019.

In making this appointment, Babson becomes the only Massachusetts business school to have its two most senior governance roles held simultaneously by women leaders. Capozzi joins Babson College President Kerry Healey, who became the first woman to serve as Babson's president when she took office in 2013.

"On behalf of the entire Babson College community, I want to thank Chairman Winn for his strong leadership and exemplary service to the college, especially his commitment and efforts as Chair to expand Babson's global presence and reach," said Healey. "Babson is the recognized world leader in entrepreneurship education and, today, Babson's people and programs are growing businesses, spurring innovation, and strengthening communities in 114 countries around the world. I look forward to working closely with Chair-elect Capozzi to expand on this global vision and ensure that, in its second century, Babson continues to make the power of entrepreneurship accessible to everyone, everywhere."

Marla Capozzi, currently a leader in McKinsey Academy, McKinsey & Company's new global venture for client leadership development and capability building, has also been a founder and leader of McKinsey & Company's Global Innovation practice. A 17-year veteran of the firm, she serves clients on building new ventures, technology and industry disruption.

She has published widely on her extensive research on strategy and innovation, taught strategy at Babson as an adjunct lecturer, and previously led product-development at the Lotus/IBM innovation center. She was appointed to, and served on, the Massachusetts Council for Innovation by Governor Deval Patrick and served as vice-chair of the Board of Directors for Project Bread: The Walk for Hunger, a local Boston-based hunger organization, for seven years.

"As the world leader and the school that founded the discipline of teaching entrepreneurship, we will continue to pioneer the most innovative education opportunities to make entrepreneurship accessible and affordable to everyone around the world," said Capozzi.  "As an alumna, I am proud to work with fellow trustees and governance members, President Healey, faculty, and staff to build on our 100-year legacy and increase Babson's impact in its second century."

Babson's Centennial strategy is focused on preparing entrepreneurs of all kinds to lead in a new way—creating social and economic value simultaneously and, in doing so, transforming lives, businesses, and communities for the better. By offering a transformative experience, fostering intentional diversity, and preparing graduates to apply Babson's unique methodology, Entrepreneurial Thought & Action^®, in all settings—from professional services to startups to NGOs—Babson graduates will be ready to lead and make a difference in a rapidly changing world.

The Centennial strategy also calls for deepening the college's expertise and impact in three areas: strengthening family enterprises, advancing women-led entrepreneurship, and driving social impact. Each of these priorities is a historic strength for the college and offers an opportunity for Babson to make an outsized contribution to solving some of the world's most pressing problems.

"Marla's global lens on strategy and innovation, coupled with her deep understanding of Babson and higher education, will position the school to build on its extraordinary success and continue to lead in its next century," said current Chair of the Babson College Board of Trustees Joseph L. Winn MBA'74. "I am incredibly proud of what we have accomplished during my time on the Board, including our continued No. 1 rankings in entrepreneurship and return-on-investment, the creation of innovative affordability offerings, and our efforts to expand Babson's reach and impact globally. I am excited about Marla's vision to extend and increase these efforts and look forward to supporting her and the college long into the future." 

Chair-elect Capozzi was nominated by an eight-member Trustee committee led by Ken Romanzi '82. The Committee noted her long-time dedication to Babson and the strategic approach she brings to leadership and decision-making.

This fall, current Chair Joseph L. Winn will be celebrated for his many years of service and dedication to the college.

Marla M. Capozzi

Marla Capozzi has served as a leader of McKinsey & Company's Global Strategy and Innovation Practice, based in the Boston office. For the past 17 years at McKinsey, Capozzi has served global clients across sectors on topics ranging from strategy, innovation, disruptive technologies, corporate venture capital, building new ventures, and organizational change.  She has served clients across private sectors, public and government as well as family and social enterprises.  More recently, she is a leader in McKinsey Academy, the firm's new global venture for client leadership development and capability building.

Capozzi has conducted extensive research on strategy and innovation and has published leading articles in Fortune/CNN, McKinsey Quarterly, MIT Sloan Management Review, Strategic Finance, and Banking Strategies. Her articles are among the most read annually in McKinsey Quarterly, including "Leadership and Innovation" and "Sparking Creativity in Senior Executives." Capozzi is a frequent lecturer at Babson College, the NYU Stern School, MIT, Emory, and London Business School. She is also a regular Mass Challenge competition judge and startup mentor.

Prior to joining McKinsey, Capozzi led product development at the Lotus/IBM Innovation Centre in Cambridge where many of the first online collaboration and online learning management software products were launched in the 1990s.

Capozzi earned her MBA from Babson College with honors, and previously served as a member of the Babson College Board of Trustees where she sat on the Executive Committee and chaired the Academic Affairs Committee. Capozzi also has serves on Center for Women's Leadership Advisory Board and served on the board of Babson Global, an innovation initiative that developed new global opportunities to fulfill Babson's mission to educate entrepreneurial leaders globally.  In 2006, she received a Distinguished Recent Alumni Award and in the fall will be one of the recipients of the Richard J. Snyder Distinguished Service to the College Awards.

Capozzi was an appointed member of Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick's Council for Innovation and served as vice-chair of the Board of Directors for Project Bread: The Walk for Hunger, a local Boston-based hunger organization, for seven years.

About Babson College

Babson College is the educator, convener, and thought leader for Entrepreneurship of All Kinds^®. The top-ranked college for entrepreneurship education, Babson is a dynamic living and learning laboratory where students, faculty, and staff work together to address the real-world problems of business and society. We prepare the entrepreneurial leaders our world needs most: those with strong functional knowledge and the skills and vision to navigate change, accommodate ambiguity, surmount complexity, and motivate teams in a common purpose to make a difference in the world, and have an impact on organizations of all sizes and types. As we have for nearly a half-century, Babson continues to advance Entrepreneurial Thought & Action^® as the most positive force on the planet for generating sustainable economic and social value.

SOURCE Babson College

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