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Duke University's
Fuqua School of Business
1 Towerview Drive
Box 90120
Durham, NC 27708-0120 USA
Tel +1.919.660.7700
Fax +1.919.684.2818
Blair Sheppard is Dean of Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business and Chair and Founder of Duke Corporate Education.
He has offered consulting services to more than 100 companies and governments in the areas of corporate strategy, relationship management, structure and leadership, including Eli Lilly and Company, GlaxoSmithKline, Johnson & Johnson, IBM, Merrill Lynch, Deutsche Bank, ABB, AT&T, the Canadian Government, Ernst & Young, Ford, LaFarge, Morgan Stanley, Norfolk Southern, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Siemens, Toronto Dominion Bank, United States Postal Service, and Wachovia. His extensive research on corporate strategy, relationship management, structure, and leadership has resulted in more than 50 books and articles.
When Sheppard created Duke Corporate Education in July 2000, the company was the first full-service provider of customized, enterprise-wide management education to global organizations. Under his leadership, Duke CE grew in seven years from one office with 39 employees and $12 million in revenue to five offices on three continents, with 140 employees and $56 million in revenue.
Prior to founding Duke CE, Sheppard was the Senior Associate Dean of Fuqua. He played a leading role in the creation of two innovative management education programs at Fuqua. He conceived The Duke MBA - Global Executive in 1996 and was instrumental in the school’s key global strategy. He has extensive experience working with leading executives as a consultant and teacher in the areas of leadership, corporate strategy, negotiation, organizational relationships, and organization design.
Sheppard, a native of Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, received his bachelor and master’s degrees from the University of Western Ontario and his PhD from the University of Illinois. Sheppard joined Fuqua’s faculty in 1981 as an Assistant Professor of organizational behavior and was named Associate Professor in 1986. He was named Professor of Management and Associate Dean and Director of Executive Education in 1993. In 1997, Sheppard became Senior Associate Dean for Academic Programs, before being named CEO and President of Duke Corporate Education in 2000.
His numerous honors include the Canada Council Doctoral Fellowship, the first North Carolina NationsBank Outstanding Faculty Award, the Outstanding Book Award from the International Association for Conflict Management, and the Duke University Psychology Majors’ Union Faculty Award.
Sheppard is married to Martha Putallaz, a professor of psychology and director of Duke’s Talent Identification Program. They have two sons: Philip, a 2006 Duke graduate who is now a student at American University’s Washington College of Law, and Christopher, a Duke sophomore.