Theodore Ryan

Executive in Residence in the Engineering Graduate and Professional Programs

Ted has more than 40 years of experience as management consultant and coach to top-tier organizations, focusing on executive coaching and development; leadership and management development; organizational effectiveness; evaluation processes; business ethics; aligning corporate culture to strategy, mission, vision and values; and selection process development.

Currently, Ted teaches the core Management and Leadership course to Master of Engineering Management/Master of Engineering students at the Pratt School of Engineering. For twelve years, he taught the business ethics course at Fuqua School of Business to daytime MBA students.

Ted’s clients have included Accenture, American Museum of Natural History, Bank of America, Central Park Conservancy, Clariant Corporation, Deutsche Back, The Federal Reserve bank of New York, FHI 360, GE, Chase Bank [predecessor of JP Morgan Chase], ImageQuix, Lenovo, Mastercard, McKim & Creed, Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley, The New York Times, PepsiCo and the U.S. State Department. Ted’s work with these clients took place in intern

Ted has created and delivered numerous leadership development programs for executives and managers at major global corporations and not-for-profits in the US, Europe, Asia and Latin America. At Morgan Stanley, Ted was the lead consultant in creating and implementing Wall Street’s first computer-driven 360 performance evaluation process. Also at Morgan Stanley, Ted created and conducted a series of offsite leadership programs, for all officers, globally, in the administrative, auditing, finance, human resources, legal, operations and systems areas. One of the core modules focused on how to create and lead effective cross-cultural teams.

Ted helped deliver Bank of America’s executive leadership program to several hundred senior and high-level executives, and was the lead consultant in creating a world-class investment bank [Banc of America Securities] as a subsidiary of Bank of America.

Ted led the creation of the hiring processes for Accenture [for both its new-hire and mid-career consultant hiring], Chase Bank and Merrill Lynch. Ted’s proprietary Select for Success™ hiring skills program has been delivered to scores of clients globally.

At McKim & Creed, a civil engineering firm, Ted helped lead a successful C-suite transition.

Ted’s core professional interests center on helping individuals and organizations achieve high performance in ways that bring full personal development, team and organizational well-being and a positive impact on society. A current research and consulting interest is leveraging the dynamics that drive superior performance, high ethics and positive treatment of stakeholders, including employees and customers. Ted is also Chief Learning Officer for Choosing High Performance™, a consultancy for helping clients achieve high performance and well-being.

Ted recently wrote an element [a digital chapter] for Cambridge University Press’s extensive new series, Reinventing Capitalism in the 21st century. The element is titled, “The Failure of Shareholder Value Theory and the Contours of a Humane Capitalism.” It will be published soon. Ted has been asked to write another chapter for the series, which will provide a roadmap for Boards and CEOs who are striving to transform their organizations from a focus on shareholder value to that of being purpose-driven for the well-being of all stakeholders.

Ted has served on various boards, including the Episcopal Church Foundation, Hollow Rock Racquet and Swim Club, and the Rick Herrema Foundation, a non-profit near Fort Bragg in NC, serving military families. On these Boards, Ted served as Chair of the Governance and Strategy Committees. Ted has also worked with US Special Forces officers on ethical leadership and coaching.

Ted earned a B.A., High Honors, at Wheaton College (Ill.) in Philosophy and Anthropology; a Master of Divinity, at Princeton Theological Seminary, with a focus on Counseling and Developmental Psychology; a Ph.D. at Columbia University, in Clinical, Vocational and Organizational Psychology; and did Ph.D. studies at Princeton University, in Ethics, Personality, Society & Culture.

Appointments and Affiliations

• Executive in Residence in the Engineering Graduate and Professional Programs

Contact Information

• Office Location: 305 Teer Engineering, Box 90271, Durham, NC 27708
• Office Phone: (919) 660-5386
• Email Address: theodore.ryan@duke.edu
• Websites:
  • Fuqua Faculty Profile

Education

• Ph.D. Columbia University, 1977

Courses Taught

• EGRMGMT 540: Management of High Tech Industries
• MENG 540: Management of High Tech Industries