Acclaimed leadership speaker to address Mercyhurst business students

Mercyhurst University announced today that Erie native Christine Spadafor, an accomplished executive whose extensive career experience ranges from corporate board rooms to nonprofits, will deliver a special program on leadership to university business students this fall.

A new member of the Mercyhurst University Board of Trustees, Spadafor will make the presentation on “Adaptive Leadership in an Uncertain Business Environment: Strategies for Agility, Flexibility, and Resilience” on Tuesday, Oct. 4, at 7 p.m. in Zurn 114. Invitations will be extended first to graduate students in the Organizational Leadership program, then seniors in the Walker College of Business, followed by remaining student groups based on availability. RSVPs will be required.

Spadafor is a sought-after speaker at conferences and seminars—lecturing on board governance, leadership, and issues central to gender equity. She is a Visiting Executive in the MBA program at Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College and a frequent lecturer at Harvard University, where she earned her juris doctor from Harvard Law School and Master of Science from its School of Public Health.

“We are excited to introduce our business students to an individual of Ms. Spadafor’s caliber,” said Mercyhurst President Kathleen A. Getz, Ph.D. “We expect the insights she will share from her own exceptional career as a leader will inspire them as they pursue their personal and professional goals.”

As CEO of SpadaforClay Group, a management consulting and board advisory firm, Spadafor has led transformational industry initiatives at the intersection of strategy, operations, finance, and change management in both domestic and international markets. She has worked extensively as an adviser to Fortune 500 C-suite executives and been recognized by the American Bar Association as one of the nation’s top 20 female attorneys with business expertise for board service. She is also a frequent contributor to Fortune, Forbes, BBC.com, and various business journals.

In addition, she is an independent director of a New York Stock Exchange-publicly traded company, former board director at privately held corporations, and adviser to numerous nonprofit organizations. Her wide-ranging experience includes health care, entertainment and media, mergers and acquisitions, and business turnarounds.

Spadafor’s support for Mercyhurst is nothing new. In 2019, she honored her late mother by creating the Mary A. Spadafor Endowed Chair of Music, currently held by Dr. Nathan Hess, and the Mary Pellegrino Spadafor Scholarship for Music. She also served as the university’s commencement speaker that year.