Loredana Padurean is an award-winning global educator, entrepreneur, author, and public speaker with experience in Switzerland, Italy, India, Malaysia, and the USA. Before joining Northeastern University, she spent eight years in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, as the Senior Associate Dean of a new business school established in collaboration with MIT Sloan, Asia School of Business. Under her leadership in action/experiential learning, the MBA program was recognized multiple times for extraordinary innovation.
In July 2022, she received the "Distinguished Woman Entrepreneur Lifetime Achievement Award" at the World Women Economic & Business Summit in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, in an event keynoted by the Prime Minister of New Zealand, Honorable Jacinda Arden.
As an MIT Sloan International Faculty Fellow, she has taught in multiple MIT executive programs and entrepreneurship bootcamps.
As a keynote and TedX speaker, she shared the stage with famous entrepreneurs, dignitaries, authors, and influencers, but her favorite stage remains the classroom.
Prof. Padurean is the author of "The Job is Easy, The People are Not - 10 Smart Skills to Become Better People" and she is working on a new entrepreneurship book called "Nail it, Scale it, Sail it - Operations for Entrepreneurs" in collaboration with MIT Sloan Professor Charles Fine.
Known by her students as the "unconventional professor" due to her direct, no-nonsense approach, she is a plant-based animal lover and an undercovered introvert. She loves nothing more than to write in her farm house in Transylvania, surrounded by her family's competition Saint Bernard's.
Education
- PhD in Economics, Universita della Svizzera Italiana, Switzerland
- MS in Economics and Communication, Universita della Svizzera Italiana, Switzerland
- BA International Relations, Babes Bolyai University, Romania
Selected Publications
- Padurean, L. (2020). “The Job is Easy, The People are Not – 10 Smart Skills to Become Better People”, book published by StartDisrupt Malaysia.
- Padurean, L., Fine, C., & Naumov, S. (2022). Operations for entrepreneurs: Can operations management make a difference in entrepreneurial theory and practice? Production and Operations Management, 30th Anniversary Issue.
- Padurean, L. & Fine, C. (2019). Enough with ‘soft' and ‘hard' skills – let's get smart and sharp instead. MIT Sloan Experts.
- Fine, C., Padurean, L., & Naumov, S. (2018). Managing operational capabilities in start-up companies Academy of Management Global Proceedings. https://journals.aom.org/doi/abs/10.5465/amgblproc.telaviv.2018.00179.
- Fine C., Werner M., & Padurean L., (2014). The Tesla Roadster (A): Accelerated supply chain learning. Case study, MIT SLOAN, 14-157.
Selected Presentations
- Keynote Speaker, The Network for Academic Corporate Relations Officers (NACRO) on “The Job is Easy, the People are Not” Minneapolis, 2022
- Panelist in Entrepreneurship at the World Women Economic and Business Summit, Kuala Lumpur, 2022
- Inaugural Keynote Speaker, Response Plus Holding PJSC, the largest provider of healthcare services in the United Arab Emirates, “The Job is Easy, the People are Not”, Abu Dhabi, 2022
- Keynote Speaker, The European Commission Senior Leaders Digital Task Force, Zoom, Brussels, 2022
- Keynote Speaker, Digital Transformation for Asia Investment Infrastructure Bank, Zoom, Beijing, 2021
Awards and Recognition
- Recipient of the “Distinguished Woman Entrepreneur Lifetime Achievement Award” given at the World Women Economic & Business Summit in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, July 2022.
- Twice Recipient of the Swiss National Research Foundation grant in 2008 and 2009 for action/experiential research.
