Executive Director, CAAI and Booth AI Transformation

About The Department

The University of Chicago Booth School of Business is the second-oldest business school in the U.S. and second to none when it comes to influencing business education and business practices. Since 1898, the school has produced ideas and leaders that shape the world of business. Their rigorous, discipline-based approach to business education transforms students into confident, effective, respected business leaders prepared to face the toughest challenges. Chicago Booth has the finest set of facilities of any business school in the world. Each of the four campuses (two in Chicago, one in London, and one in Hong Kong) reflects the architectural traditions of its environs while offering a state-of-the-art learning environment.

Job Summary

The Executive Director, AI Center and AI Transformation, is a newly created, dual-mandate role at Chicago Booth School of Business. This position carries two complementary accountabilities that together make it uniquely consequential, institutional executive leadership of the Center for Applied AI (CAAI), and School-wide responsibility for driving Booth's AI transformation agenda in close coordination with the CIO.

Responsibilities

• Guides the evolution of the Center's mission and vision as AI and Booth's needs advance, partnering with the Director, who leads all Center operations, staff, and programs with day-to-day accountability.
• Serves as the senior external representative of the Center in high-stakes academic, industry, and policy contexts, opening doors, deepening relationships, and elevating Booth's profile in the applied AI landscape.
• Champions the Center's interests in University-level forums, governance bodies, and cross-institutional AI initiatives, ensuring CAAI's voice is present where strategic decisions are made.
• Serves as a mentor to the Center leadership team and staff.
• Develops and stewards a multi-year AI transformation strategy grounded in Booth's educational mission; defines school-wide goals and success metrics for AI adoption and advises the Dean's Office and CIO on emerging AI trends, opportunities, and risks.
• Maps, catalogues, and critically assesses existing AI-related initiatives across Booth; identifies gaps and overlaps to enable coordinated, accountable adoption without duplicating the efforts of existing units.
• Leads an enterprise-wide change management effort that actively brings all audiences to AI usage, addressing concerns about academic integrity, equity, and job displacement, and building broad-based confidence in AI's role at Booth.
• Designs and oversees AI literacy and enablement programs tailored to the distinct needs of faculty, students, and staff; identifies early adopters, builds feedback loops, and executes a communications strategy through town halls, listening sessions, and targeted outreach, that keeps all constituencies informed and empowered.
• Works with the existing AI Awareness and Training team to advance AI literacy at Booth.
• Serves as main point of contact on developing and coordinating all teaching and classroom AI initiatives in conjunction with the Dean's Office and Faculty Services.
• Integrates enterprise AI pilots into the broader strategic plan; partners closely with Booth IT and, through Booth IT, coordinates with University ITS on institutional deployments such as the Claude platform rollout.
• Develops and stewards AI use across research, teaching, and administration, addressing academic integrity, data privacy, and equity, closely coordinating with key partner departments at Booth.
• Provides strategic leadership for a Center with senior management and serves as a liaison to academic departments, professional organizations and administrative units of the University.
• Manages multiple related teams. Establishes department priorities, is responsible for the management of the center budget, allocates resources and executes strategic plans.

Qualifications

• Education: Minimum Qualifications: A college or university degree in related field.
• Work Experience: Minimum requirements include knowledge and skills developed through 10+ years of work experience in a related job discipline.

Preferred Qualifications

• Education: Bachelor's degree. MBA or related advanced degree.
• Experience: Progressive leadership experience with demonstrated success driving organizational change in complex, multi-stakeholder environments. Background in or with higher education.
• Preferred Competencies: Demonstrated ability to translate enterprise AI capabilities and technical team outputs into practical, accessible programs for non-technical audiences; hands-on familiarity with AI platforms such as Claude or comparable enterprise tools. Proven track record in change management, including successfully engaging skeptical constituencies; background in innovation, entrepreneurship, consulting, or digital transformation. Exceptional stakeholder engagement, facilitation, and communication skills — written, verbal, and presentation — to build trust and consensus across academic faculty, IT professionals, and administrators without direct authority. Executive-level relationship management and fundraising experience; comfortable representing an institution in high-profile external settings. Strategic thinker with strong execution instincts; comfortable in ambiguity, managing competing priorities in a fast-paced environment. Professional demeanor including tact, discretion, and a service-oriented approach.