International leadership expert Bruce Avolio to join Rice’s Doerr Institute

Internationally known leadership expert Bruce Avolio, the Mark Pigott Chair in Business Strategic Leadership and Executive Directorship in the Center for Leadership and Strategic Thinking at the Michael G. Foster School of Business at the University of Washington, will join Rice University’s Doerr Institute for New Leaders as a fellow. His appointment is effective March 1.

BRUCE AVOLIO

Avolio will serve as a consultant to the Doerr Institute on how to measure leader development outcomes and leader development strategy. Tom Kolditz, director of the Doerr Institute, said Avolio’s work on developmental readiness will be particularly useful as the Doerr Institute gathers evidence on the best approaches to develop new leaders in a university setting.

Involved in advancing research and practice on leadership for over 30 years, Avolio balances what he refers to as being both rigorous and relevant in terms of what is shared with leaders and their organizations. He has developed an international reputation as a researcher and practitioner in leadership and has authored 12 books and more than 150 articles on leadership and related areas.

Kolditz said that Avolio is among the most impactful living leadership researchers, with more than 79,000 citations of his work in the field of leadership.

“We are thrilled to be working closely with Professor Avolio,” Kolditz said. “His talent and perspective has been, and will continue to be, invaluable to us as we design and deploy leader development initiatives at Rice.”

The Doerr Institute was established in 2015 to maximize the leadership capabilities of all students at Rice by empowering them with the skills, training and confidence to make a true difference in the world. For more information, visit https://doerrinstitute.rice.edu/.