funding organizations such as the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), UNITAID, Citi Foundation, the World Bank, Higher Education for Development, the Rockefeller Foundation, and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The geographic reach of WDI also expanded to south Asia, the Middle East and Africa. “The fact that international organizations wanted to work with us meant that we were making a difference,” Kennedy said. “That was tremendously gratifying.” In summer 2013, Kennedy left to become dean of the Ivey Business School at the University of Western Ontario in Canada. A year later, economist and professor Paul Clyde was tapped to lead WDI, taking the new title of president. Before joining WDI, Clyde had served as the academic director of the Part-time MBA program at Ross and also led the development of the Weekend MBA program. Clyde was hardly a stranger to WDI. Since joining the Ross faculty in 1997, he had been named a WDI research fellow, led a WDI/Ross team on a USAID grant to initiate curriculum and program development at Ukrainian business schools, and participated in emerging- market conferences. He also taught a travel-study course partially funded by WDI, sourced and led student MBA teams organized and funded by the Institute, and authored business case studies for its publishing arm. WDI board member Ralph Gerson, who was on the search committee to replace Kennedy, said the combination of Clyde’s academic accomplishments and his passion for working in emerging economies made him a natural selection to be the Institute’s fourth leader. “He also excelled in Ross’ Weekend MBA program, and was very innovative in bringing business leaders in to teach parts of the classes,” Gerson said. As president, Clyde has worked to build more bridges between WDI, Ross and the wider U-M community. He has also sharpened the focus of WDI’s initiatives to better leverage its experience, its access to faculty and researchers at U-M, and the skills and talents of the WDI team. Clyde has re-emphasized the Institute’s mission of working closely with for-profit businesses to develop economies. To reach that goal, WDI continues to concentrate on what it has historically done well: innovative on- the-ground research and sharing that knowledge with enterprises and other stakeholders. Clyde noted that though there have been different leaders of WDI, evolving geographies and different areas of emphasis, “the basic premise that business models can play an important role in developing these countries and that education is a critical piece of that is something that has held true throughout the Institute’s 25 years.” Paul Clyde “He excelled ... and was very innovative in bringing business leaders in to teach parts of the classes.” 25th Anniversary 19