David H. Blake
Chair of the BGS Center for Ethical Business Leadership
Professor of Strategic Management
The Paul Merage School of Business
University of California, Irvine
David H. Blake has been a close observer and practitioner of the arts and sciences of management as a scholar, business school dean for 22 years, consultant, and board member of more than 16 public and private companies. These diverse experiences have given him the ability to focus sharply on the key strategic issues while working with business leaders and others to get the most value out of their organizations, staff, and business opportunities.
Professor Blake’s career as an academic has included being dean at four different business schools including Northeastern, Rutgers - The State University of New Jersey, Southern Methodist University, and most recently the University of California, Irvine. As such he has had CEO responsibility (including P/L concerns) for large faculties and staffs, budgets of more than $40,000,000, and literally thousands of students. In each case the quality of the school increased substantially. An author of seven books, he has written and spoken widely on such topics as corporate strategy, global business, and strategic leadership. He is currently writing two books, Time as a Strategic Advantage and “Doing” Leadership.
As a board member and business advisor, Professor Blake has shepherded companies through startup and funding issues, mergers, acquisitions, spin offs, SEC investigations, corporate raider attacks, and strategic repositioning challenges. Recently he and another independent director sold Procom Technology to Sun Micro Systems and the remainder to a start up in the medical imaging business. Over the years he has served on the boards of several technology-innovative companies, financial services companies, NYSE and NASDQ firms, and privately- or employee-owned companies. Blake served on the Beta Gamma Sigma Board of Governors from 2000 to 2010.
As an expert in global business, he has led classes of MBA students to China, Western and Central Europe, and Russia. He is Director of International Programs at the Merage School of Business.
Professor Blake graduated from Dartmouth College with an AB in history, an MBA from the University of Pittsburgh, and his Ph.D. from Rutgers – The State University of New Jersey. In 2002, Fast Company selected Dr. Blake for its inaugural list of Fast Fifty innovators, judged by Tom Peters and Sally Ride among others.
He is a sought-after speaker and commentator on two essential business strategies of our time - global business and strategic leadership.