Dr. Lucy J. Reuben
Dr. Lucy J. Reuben brings decades of experience in business and economic development as well as academic leadership to her role as Managing Director. She has provided expertise as a member of numerous national boards and commissions, including the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond’s Charlotte Office, the National Urban League’s Council of Economic Advisers and many others. Thus, Reuben is called upon to address governance and strategic planning issues facing varied institutions. As an academic leader, Reuben promoted the formation of increased opportunities for student internships and career development, the development of academic programs tied to economic development, the creation of public-private partnerships, the achievement of new national accreditations, and the accompanying increases in student enrollment. Reuben was named by Diverse Issues in Higher Education magazine as one of the 25 leading women in US higher education: her expertise is sought by academic institutions in the US and beyond.
Academic/Higher Education
As Professor of the Practice at Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business, Reuben, created the PhD Pipeline Opportunity Program and formed partnerships with more than a dozen other universities to encourage students from historically underrepresented groups to obtain doctoral degrees and become business school professors. Also, Reuben served as Curriculum Director for Duke’s LEAD Summer Business Institute. She created and directed the DukeEngage Program for Entrepreneurship and Economic Development in the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, developing DukeEngage’s first handbook for experiential learning in an international context. In recognition for these and other innovative program leadership roles, Duke University awarded her its annual “Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Award “in 2011. In promoting the engagement and inclusion of women and minorities, Reuben served as a Visiting Scholar at Duke’s John Hope Franklin Center and a Visiting Scholar at the University of Michigan’s Center for the Education of Women.
Reuben’s leadership abilities were recognized in her participation in the
the American Association of State Colleges and Universities (AASCU) Millennium Leadership Institute as well as the Kellogg Foundation’s Minority Serving Institutions (MSI) Leadership Program. As Provost and Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs, Reuben led the first strategic plan for North Carolina Central University and as well as over a dozen initiatives to improve the intellectual climate. In her role as CAO, she led the academic planning and promotion for the subsequent establishment of the NCCU Bio-manufacturing Research Institute and Technology Enterprise (BRITE) Center of Excellence. As Dean and Marshall B. Williams Professor at South Carolina State University’s business school, Reuben led the initial accreditation by AACSB (Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business) International. Her success in improving the SCSU business school and her contribution to university constituents led to recognition by BusinessWeek magazine and other media; and she was elected to the AACSB Board of Directors. More recently, Reuben was called to assist the University of the Virgin Islands in its recovery from category 5 hurricanes Irma and Maria. During those few months of work in the USVI, she was awarded the President’s Certificate of Appreciation to recognize her leadership and teambuilding which resulted in the development of innovative degree programs.
Reuben participated in the development of the “Grow Your Venture” Program, sponsored by the University of Witwatersrand’s Centre for Entrepreneurship and she serves as an International External Examiner for the University of Fort Hare’s doctoral program in the Faculty of Management and Commerce (South Africa). In 2014, Reuben gave a series of lectures at the University of Johannesburg. She served as a featured speaker for the South African Principals Association (Polokwane) and the 8th Pan African Congress (Johannesburg). She is a Founding Member of the Pan African Enterprise Research Council (PAERC) and serves on the Advisory Board for the Center for International Business Education and Research at the University of South Carolina’s Darla Moore School of Business.
Business/Finance/Economics: Reuben has taught and written in areas of finance and emerging domestic markets. Co-editor of Black Economic Development: Analysis and Implications, she has authored or co-authored more than two dozen academic articles, technical reports and other publications. She has appeared in television and print media, including The Wall Street Journal and Black Enterprise magazine. Reuben has provided financial analyses in regulatory cases and given expert witness testimony before legislative and judiciary bodies including the U.S. House of Representatives. Reuben has served as a consultant to numerous business and economic development organizations.
Due to her Board experience and her membership in the National Association of Parliamentarians, Reuben has been increasingly called upon to provide seminars and workshops focused upon board governance as well as parliamentary procedures. She has served on numerous Boards including: the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond’s Charlotte Office; the Carolina Small Business Development Fund; the Black Enterprise Board of Economists; the Visiting Committee at the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business; the President’s Council of Economic Advisors for the National Urban League; the President’s Advisory Committee for Oberlin College (Ohio); the Allen University Foundation; and the Mt Level Community Haven. She is an officer of the Mather School National Alumni Association. Reuben formerly served on the Boards of Directors of the Greater Research Triangle Council, the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business – International ((AACSB), the South Carolina Export Consortium, Providence Hospital (Strategic Planning Committee), the Durham Nativity School, the Columbia, S.C. World Affairs Council as well as both the Orangeburg County United Way and Chamber of Commerce. Reuben also held gubernatorial appointments to the South Carolina Technology Transition Team, the South Carolina Technology Council and on the Florida Black Business Investment Board. She was President of the Board of Directors of the Metropolitan Washington Planning and Housing Association, and has been recognized by the Washington, D.C. Chapter of the National Association of Urban Bankers, by the Columbia, S.C. Urban League and by the Midlands (Columbia, S.C.) YWCA for her leadership expertise.
A graduate of Oberlin College, Reuben earned Ph.D. and M.B.A. (With Distinction) degrees from the University of Michigan.