Spouse(s) Mary Harreld | ||
 | ||
Preceded by Sally Mason
Jean Robillard (interim) Born December 12, 1950 (age 66)
Gallipolis, Ohio ( 1950-12-12 ) Children Sara
Kelly
Christopher
Natalie Alma mater Purdue University
Harvard Business School Profession Business consultant, university president Education Harvard University, Harvard Business School, Purdue University Similar Sally Mason, Samuel J Palmisano, Louis V Gerstner Jr, Jon C Iwata, J Randall MacDonald | ||
James Bruce Harreld (born December 12, 1950) is the 21st president of the University of Iowa. The business consultant succeeded Sally Mason as president on Nov. 2, 2015 after serving in senior corporate roles at Kraft Foods, Boston Market, and IBM. He also served as an adjunct business professor at Northwestern University and Harvard Business School.
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Early life and education
Harreld was born and raised in Gallipolis, Ohio. He graduated from Purdue University in 1972 with a degree in industrial engineering, followed by a Master of Business Administration from the Harvard Business School in 1975.
Career
Following his graduation from Harvard, Harreld participated on consulting teams at Boston Consulting Group and aided in opening Chicago and Munich offices, eventually serving as vice president and board member until 1983. He then worked as senior vice president and division president at Kraft Foods until 1993, overseeing the frozen food unit.
From 1993-1994, Harreld was an adjunct professor at Northwestern University. He was also president and board member at Boston Market from 1993-1995, a time of a massive expansion for the company. Harreld later served as senior vice president at IBM from 1995-2008, overseeing strategic restructuring of the organization.
From 2008-2014, Harreld was an adjunct professor at Harvard Business School in both the entrepreneurial and strategy units. He then briefly pursued freelance business consulting under Executing Strategy, LLC. In September 2015, the Iowa Board of Regents offered him the role of president at the University of Iowa. His term began Nov. 2, 2015. Harreld later said he will retire in 2020, when his contract ends.
University of Iowa
The regents' selection of Harreld, a business man with limited experience in academic administration, elicited criticism and controversy on the UI campus due to his corporate background, lack of history in leading an institution of higher education, inaccuracies and perceived misrepresentations on his résumé, and the circumstances surrounding the search process itself. The regents' decision to appoint the nontraditional Harreld hinged on a belief that he could limit costs and find new sources of revenue beyond tuition in an age of declining state support for universities.