Lee Newman is the 9^th Dean of IE Business School and a professor of Behavioural Science and Leadership at IE University in Madrid, Spain. As Dean and an educational entrepreneur, he has spearheaded the construction of world-class programmes that integrate business with human sciences and technology.

Since assuming the helm as Dean of the Business School in June 2021, Newman has restructured the school to launch pathway-specific modules and concentrations across all general management programmes, from the Bachelor’s in Business Administration to the Executive MBA. He added nine career-focused Master’s degrees and two Bachelor’s degrees to the portfolio, designed to prepare a further generation of professionals for roles in Finance, Marketing & Communication, Business Technology & Analytics and Talent Development. He also galvanised the growing support of Business with Purpose into a growing movement for the IE Business School community, made up of more than 5500 students and 60,000+ alumni worldwide.

Newman joined the faculty of IE University in 2009 and in the following year became the founding Dean of the school known then as the IE School of Human Sciences & Technology (HST). As Dean of HST, Newman drove the school’s strategy and growth. It currently serves 1500 students from more than 100 countries every year. He oversaw the development of 12 Master’s programmes and five Bachelor’s degrees, all career-focused degrees taught in English and designed to prepare students for the many new jobs that have arisen in the New Economy. These include programmes in customer experience, talent development, positive leadership, business analytics and digital transformation.

Originally from the United States, Newman has an interdisciplinary PhD from the University of Michigan in Psychology and Computer Science that focused on the relationship between neural processing and decision behaviour in experience-based learning. His research used both experimental and computational methods. In addition to his PhD, Newman holds an MBA and Master’s degree in Technology & Policy from MIT and a Bachelor’s degree in Engineering from Brown University. Newman has published in the areas of cognitive neuroscience, artificial intelligence and business management in journals such as The Neuroscientist and Management Science.

His work centres on behavioural fitness and positive leadership, which is about translating and applying behavioural science to help professionals optimise their performance in the workplace. Imagine an organisation in which employees at all levels can out-think and out-behave the competition. This is a company with a behavioural advantage and Dr. Newman’s professional mission is to help individuals and companies achieve this type of advantage.

His research, teaching and professional initiatives focus applying behavioural science to helping professionals to work (behavioural fitness), think (rethinking thinking) and lead (positive leadership) more effectively in daily life in the modern workplace.

Prior to joining IE, Newman served as engagement manager with McKinsey & Company in Chicago, where he managed projects in sectors such as mining, manufacturing and consumer goods that focused on re-engineering operational and organisational processes. During the first years of the internet boom in the 1990s, he founded (and later sold) two successful technology startups: one of the first social media platforms and an innovative company offering ERP services delivered via the internet.