Landry Signe

Landry Signé PhD

Cameroon

Occupational Information

Job Title: Founding Co-Director of Thunderbird’s Fourth Industrial Revolution Initiative and Globalization 4.0 Initiative at Arizona State University’s Thunderbird School of Global Management

Professional History

Professor Landry Signé is a world-renowned and award-winning scholar and leading practitioner in the areas of global political economy, global governance and sustainable development, global business and emerging markets, strategic management and leadership, fragility, state capacity, and policy implementation, the Fourth Industrial Revolution and Globalization 4.0, and Africa. Professor Signé received the fastest reported tenure and promotion to the highest rank of full professor in the history of United States universities, for a scholar who started at an entry-level position in his discipline and won more than sixty awards and distinctions from four continents for his academic, policy, business, and leadership accomplishments.

In addition to his positions at the Thunderbird School of Global Management and the Brookings Institution, he is a Distinguished Fellow at Stanford University’s Center for African Studies, the Chairman of the Global Network for Africa’s Prosperity, and a senior adviser to top global leaders (presidential, prime minister, and C-suite levels) in business, policy, and international affairs. He has been on numerous boards and councils including for the World Economic Forum, the United Nations, Ampion Entrepreneurship and Innovation in Africa, and the African Union, was a Co-Chair of the World Economic Forum YGL Board Governance Initiative (improving board governance in leading public and private corporations, and non-profit organizations), Professor & Former Senior Advisor to the Chancellor and Provost on International Affairs at UAA, among others. Professor Signé was also a visiting scholar or has taught across the world, including at the universities of Oxford, Stanford, Georgetown, Montreal, Ottawa, Witwatersrand, as well as the Sub-Regional Institute of Statistics and Applied Economics in Central Africa, Mohamed VI and HEC Paris School of Management.

Professor Landry Signé’s achievements have been recognized internationally with dozens of distinctions for his accomplishments as an extraordinary professor, prolific author and cutting-edge scholar, influential public intellectual, exemplary and dedicated academic leader, innovative entrepreneur, and sought-after strategic thinker, problem-solver, board member, and keynote speaker. He was selected as a World Economic Forum Young Global Leader for “finding innovative solutions to some of the world’s most pressing issues,” an Andrew Carnegie Fellow for being one of the “most creative thinkers,” a Woodrow Wilson Public Policy Fellow for “preeminent scholarship uniting the world of ideas to the world of policy,” and one of JCI’s Ten Outstanding Young Persons in the World for “extraordinary achievements and dedication exemplifying the best attributes and leadership in academia.”

As a pioneer in Silicon Valley, he is the first to have taught at Stanford an award-winning course presenting Africa as a continent of economic opportunities (Emerging African Markets: Strategies, Investments, and Government Affairs). He is also the author of numerous authoritative publications with leading academic presses such as Cambridge University Press (CUP), including Unlocking Africa’s Business Potential: Trends, Opportunities, Risks, and Strategies (Brookings Institution Press, 2020). His work has also appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, Foreign Affairs, CNBC, Forbes, and Harvard International Review, among others.

Qualifications

Bachelor of Science in Political Science from Jean Moulin Lyon III University
Master's in Political Science from Jean Moulin Lyon III University
Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of Montreal
Stanford University Postdoctoral Studies in Political Science
Global Leadership and Public Policy for the 21st Century at Harvard Kennedy School Executive Education