Dr. James K. (Jim) Hazy
Founder & CEO, Leadership Science, LLC
jim.hazy@leadershipscience.com
In addition to being the Founder and CEO of Leadership Science, LLC, Jim Hazy is a Professor at Adelphi University in Garden City, New York, and is cofounder of the Institute for Research in Complexity and Society. In his over 25 years of senior executive experience at AT&T, Ernst & Young and other firms, he has led strategic planning, innovation, business development and M&A activity in the technology, telecommunications and energy sectors. He has been the Treasurer and served on the Executive Committee of Goodwill Industries International, a $5+ billion social enterprise and was on the board from 2008 to 2013.
He has co-authored three books including most recently, Complexity and the Nexus of Leadership, and has also published over 30 articles and book chapters on applications of complexity science to social innovation and leadership including a case study the Goodwill Industries business model. He is a recognized expert in organizational leadership, international finance, M&A, venture capital and private equity. He has conducted seminars and presented at numerous conferences including ones at Carnegie Mellon University, The University of Augsburg, Germany, George Washington University, MIT, the University of Pennsylvania, and Oxford University.
As a strategist and financial engineer, Dr. Hazy produces results by aligning assets to business strategies and objectives. He recently structured the sale of an engineering services firm for a Fortune 100 energy company and providing strategic advice for a $5M software company that merged with a large public company. As Executive Vice President and CFO of the Ernst & Young eLearning venture, he led restructuring, built core infrastructure and added key assets by acquiring a venture-backed company. At AT&T, as Financial VP of Financial Planning and Analysis, he was integral in increasing operating margins via benchmark analysis and operations improvement programs in eight global divisions with revenue totaling $50 billion. By implementing a capital management process and extending it to R&D projects, he was pivotal in significantly increasing ROI on capital and R&D spending.
Dr. Hazy has extensive M&A and business development experience. He has directed all phases of transactions involving global 500 companies such as Lucent, Philips Electronics, Mannesmann and Hughes as well as focused technology firms such as Paradyne, Cirrus Logic and eLearning companies. He has led or supported over $10 billion in acquisitions, including a $400 million acquisition in the Netherlands, France and Germany, and he has been responsible for over $350 million in divestitures. Skilled at structuring deals, for one joint venture, he recognized critical risks and created provisions that reduced the investor’s exposure by $300 million. As a founding venture capitalist at AT&T Ventures, he developed and financed businesses spun-out from Bell Laboratories. He also led business development projects for AT&T Computer Systems and was a key player in the integration of NCR after its acquisition by AT&T. At South Central Bell Telephone, he designed, implemented and project managed multiple networked operations support systems.
Dr. Hazy is Professor (Full) of management and entrepreneurship at Adelphi University and received his doctorate in education with “distinquished honors” from The George Washington University in Washington DC in organizational leadership. He has an MBA “with distinction” for the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and a BS in mathematics from Haverford College.