Kenneth Freeman

Kenneth Freeman, dean emeritus and professor of the practice in the Questrom School of Business, was appointed interim Vice President and Associate Provost for Online Programs At-Scale in December 2021. In this capacity, Ken led the early efforts to establish BU’s new online program unit, BU Virtual – a key element of the University’s 2030 Strategic Plan that will support the development, production, recruitment for, and delivery of online undergraduate and graduate education in collaboration with the schools and colleges. This included defining and implementing an organizational structure to support the University’s online at-scale goals and facilitating early-stage development of a new online Master of Public Health for delivery by January 2023. As part of his interim role, Ken led a successful national search for a permanent vice president and associate provost for BU Virtual.

Ken joined Boston University in 2010 as the Allen Questrom Professor and dean of the Questrom School of Business after almost 40 years in industry, and served in that capacity for eight years. As dean, he oversaw the transformation of Questrom’s undergraduate and MBA curricula, with a focus on ethics and global citizenship, and sectors that are dramatically impacting the world economy – health and life sciences, digital technology, sustainability and social enterprise. He also initiated the first ever comprehensive global conversation about the future of business education between academia and industry in 2014, and co-authored “Reimagining Business Education: Insights and Actions from the Business Education Jam,” published in 2016. Ken would later serve as interim vice president for human resources at BU from April 2020 to August 2021.

In addition to his leadership roles at Boston University, Ken brings a career in business to this role, including executive posts at Corning Incorporated, Quest Diagnostics, and Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. In 2013, he was recognized as one of the 100 best-performing CEOs in the world. He is chairman of the board of Laureate Education and a director of Lightcast, Production Resource Group Inc., WBUR, and the Center for Higher Ambition Leadership.

Ken received an MBA with distinction from Harvard Business School in 1976, and a BSBA, summa cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa, from Bucknell University in 1972. He was a trustee of Bucknell University for 17 years, serving as chair of the board from 2009 through 2018.