Dr. Stephen Spinelli Jr., President, Babson College

Dr. Stephen Spinelli Jr. is the 14th president of Babson College, having assumed the role in July 2019. A lifelong entrepreneur, President Spinelli has spent his career at the intersection of academia, business, and philanthropy. Under his leadership, Babson College was named the 10th best college in the United States by The Wall Street Journal and has retained its long-standing place atop U.S. News & World Report’s undergraduate and graduate entrepreneurship rankings.

He co-founded Jiffy Lube International and was chairman and CEO of the American Oil Change Corporation, helping to pioneer the quick-lube industry across the United States and turning Jiffy Lube into the America’s dominant competitor with more than 1,000 service centers.

President Spinelli is a long-standing member of the Babson community. He spent 14 years of his career as a member of the College’s faculty, as vice provost for entrepreneurship and global management, and as director of The Arthur M. Blank Center for Entrepreneurship.

In September 2007, he became president of Philadelphia University, which later merged with Thomas Jefferson University to form the new Jefferson, where he was named chancellor in July 2017. Under his leadership, Philadelphia University enjoyed record enrollment and retention, with particular growth in graduate enrollment, continuing and professional studies enrollment, and online enrollment.

President Spinelli earned his PhD in economics from The Management School at the University of London’s Imperial College London, his MBA from Babson College, and his BA in economics from McDaniel College.

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
This is CEOs you should know poweredby iHeartMedia, America's largest audio company.
Name is Steve Spinali. I amthe proud president of Babson College. We
have over the years expanded clearly intothe NBA market, and from the NBA
market, we have expanded into abroad portfolio of graduate business degrees. Sort
of evolution of the social mindset.Now they don't see a career path as

(00:25):
this linear progression. They see itas a series of engagements. And they
could do a startup and then gointo something else, and then be a
corporate player and then do another startup, and it is a more natural phenomenon
for them. And I think it'ssupported by society that is disrupted all the

(00:45):
time, and those disruptions jar youinto a different mindset and help you see
the world in different ways and maybecreate different problems and have different solution sets.
And if you can engage yourself inthat process, then you become much
more the master of your own destiny, you know, and start of the
human endeavor is very personal, andso who you are is different than everyone

(01:08):
else in the history of the world. And to sort of let that blossom
in and be a part of yourbusiness model is ultimately why we're hearing this
has been CEOs you Should Know poweredby iHeartMedia. For more, visit iHeartMedia
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