Jonathan Fortescue

He conducts leadership searches for clients who create knowledge or shape the world, including research universities, liberal arts colleges, venture-backed companies, and not-for-profit organizations. Previously, he was a Managing Director in the Higher Education and Healthcare practices at J. Robert Scott, a global retained executive search firm.

Prior to his career in executive search, Jonathan taught at Harvard for eleven years, first in the English department, where he was a perennial recipient of Derek Bok Distinguished Teaching Awards, and then in History and Literature where he won the Alan Heimert Teaching Prize. A scholar of American literature and culture, he wrote the introductions to and the literary chronologies for three of the eight volumes of the Cambridge History of American Literature. He graduated with honors from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst with degrees in English and in Linguistics. A recipient of an Andrew W. Mellon Fellowship in the Humanities, he earned his M.A. and Ph.D. in English and American Literature and Language from Harvard University.

Jonathan continues to read for pleasure and edification. He likes to cook, garden, sail, and ski. A former competitive Master’s runner with personal best marathon and half-marathon times of 2:39:24 and 1:12:11 respectively, he has recently returned to road cycling as the preferred means to induce endorphins. He lives in Wellesley, Massachusetts with his son, William.