The Rotary Club of Scottsdale recently welcomed Dr. Sanjeev Khagram, dean of Thunderbird School of Global Management, who detailed the newest happenings at the local educational facility.

During his introduction of the program, Rotarian Joe Cusack, shared Dr. Khagram’s bio as a world-renowned expert, scholar and practitioner in global leadership, the international political economy, sustainable development and the data revolution.

Dr. Khagram has worked extensively with global start-ups, corporations, governments civil society groups, multilateral organizations, cross-sectoral action networks, public-private partnerships, foundations, professional associations and universities. He has lived and worked for extended periods in Brazil, India, Kenya, Mexico, Nigeria, South Africa, Thailand, Germany and United Kingdom.

Dr. Khagram shared with the Rotarians his personal journey as a refugee in 1973 fleeing from Idi Amin’s Uganda to refugee camps in Italy to settling in the United States. Dr. Khagram has held faculty positions at the Harvard Business School and Kennedy School of Government, and the University of Washington where he was the founding director of the Lindenberg Center for International Development.

Dr. Khagram envisions the global management school bringing peace to the world through commerce.

Dr. Khagram identified areas in which he believes the Thunderbird School can take the lead in educating students from around the world by:

• Championing better globalization;
• Addressing climate change’s nature of the world; and,
• Advancing the importance of entrepreneurship and The Fourth Industrial Revolution of advanced technologies and innovation.

The Fourth Industrial Revolution is a way of describing the blurring of boundaries between the physical, digital, and biological worlds. It’s a fusion of advances in artificial intelligence, robotics, 3D printing, genetic engineering, quantum computing, and other technologies.

Dr. Khagram updated the Rotarians about the global management school’s new downtown Phoenix headquarters, at First and Polk streets, next to the Beus Center for Law and Society, home of the Sandra Day O’Connor School of Law at ASU.

The five-story building will include large gathering spaces, classrooms, a video studio and, on the roof, the pub --- an icon from the school’s early days. He noted that this will be the third home for the school, which started in 1946 at a site in Glendale that had been used to train pilots during the war.

Dr. Khagram stated: “Since the time ASU President Michael Crow arrived in 2002, Dr. Crow wanted to partner with Thunderbird, then a struggling but still prestigious private institution. Dr. Crow was impressed by the Thunderbird’s history and wanted to find a way to work with the school. In 2014, Thunderbird officially became part of ASU, and in 2018 moved from the Glendale campus to temporary quarters in downtown Phoenix.”

Dr. Khagram said that Thunderbird’s base of 45,000 alumni in 140 countries is its greatest asset. The school educates global leaders who create equitable and sustainable prosperity worldwide.

In closing, Dr. Khagram stated that April 2021 will the be the school’s 75th anniversary and also the grand opening of its new downtown headquarters.

The school started after World War II as a training program for international business people.

Its latest motto is: “Borders frequented by trade seldom need soldiers.”

As part of the Club’s business meeting, Rotarians welcomed its newest member Virginia (Ginny) Agar.

Rotarian Dale Gray, provided an update of the Club’s community thanksgiving dinner and international service projects. The Club expects to deliver a fully equipped ambulance to Sonora Mexico’s Minister of Health and $800,000 of medical supplies to five Sonora Mexico hospitals.

See the Club’s website for information about upcoming speakers at scottsdalerotary.org or call 480-945-6158.