Business and management curricula and workshops tailored to low- and middle income countries
A conduit to University of
Michigan scholars and world-class management educators
Transformative learning experiences for companies, universities and non-profit organizations
When businessman William Davidson first visited Eastern Bloc countries after the fall of the Berlin Wall in the early 1990s, he encountered many enterprising and hard-working people. But without basic business and management training, Davidson knew many would fail to achieve their aspirations. The desire to help others succeed in the free market led the University of Michigan alumnus to create an Institute focused on business education nearly 30 years ago.
Our Education team at the William Davidson Institute designs world-class business and management training, adapting global best practices for learners—wherever they live and work. Drawing on the scholarship of a premiere research university, we collaborate with international educators to bring innovative curricula to classrooms—whether it’s in-person or virtually. Since our founding, we’ve trained over 24,000 participants from multinational companies, small and medium-sized enterprises, universities and non-profit organizations in low- and middle-income countries around the world—providing the tools for commercial success.
Learn more about our training capabilities for business professionals, entrepreneurs, NGO leaders and virtual learners.
Vice President / Education
Secretary, WDI Board of Directors
734-763-5928
Amy Gillett is the vice president of the Education sector and specializes in designing and delivering executive education programs in emerging markets. Prior to joining WDI, Gillett served in the foreign service in Prague, Czech Republic as a Masaryk Fellow responsible for political and economic research. She also worked as a marketing executive for Hewlett-Packard and The Clorox Company. She has a Master of Business Administration degree from Cornell University where she attended as a Park Leadership Fellow, a master’s degree in Russian and Eastern European studies from Stanford University and a bachelor’s degree in Slavic languages and literature from Stanford University. Additionally, Gillett holds certificates from the Pushkin Institute in Moscow and St. Petersburg State University in Russia. She is fluent in Russian and speaks some Czech, French and Spanish.
Our team works closely with educational institutions, corporations, NGOs and other institutions to build their capacities and deliver world-class management education programming. We also bring these core capacities to entrepreneurship development. Please explore our complete Capability Statements below.
