Dan McGurrin Named Director of Poole College’s New Business Collaboratories
"Dan McGurrin is the new director of executive programs at the NC State Poole College of Management," Ira R. Weiss, dean of the college, announced on April 11, 2011. "Dan is joining us at a very exciting time for the college and our executive programs, as we also announced this week the launch of our new approach to executive education," Weiss said.
That new approach is Business Collaboratories, which brings together cross-disciplinary teams of faculty and other subject experts to work collaboratively with a company’s business leaders in a teaching clinic setting, enabling the companies to effectively diagnose problems and turn challenges into business opportunities.
McGurrin has more than 15 years' experience in business education and international business planning, a background that is ideally suited to this new approach, Weiss said.
"NC State's Poole College is creating the new standard for how business and universities interact in executive education programs," McGurrin said. "Business Collaboratories are uniquely positioned to deliver the kind of enduring value companies so desperately need and are seeking from their academic partners."
McGurrin formerly was a program director for Kenan Flagler's Executive Development program at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He also has delivered executive education programs at Boston University's School of Management, Indiana University's Kelley Executive Partners program, and the Budapest University of Economic Sciences in Hungary.
In addition to his roles in higher education, McGurrin has corporate experience, having worked at GlaxoWellcome Pharmaceuticals Inc., now GlaxoSmithKline, in marketing research for the company's central nervous system therapeutic group, and as an external consultant at Lek Pharmaceuticals in Slovenia.
"Dan has the expertise, breadth of experience and enthusiasm that we sought as we launched our new Business Collaboratories," Weiss said. McGurrin will be working with Paul Mugge, executive director of the college's Business Collaboratories and its Center for Innovation Management Studies.
The Poole College of Management's Executive Programs are contracted and delivered through the NC State Executive Education LLC, a non-profit (501)(c)(3) under the NC State University Foundation, Inc.
