Huntsman School of Business Names Inaugural Stephen R. Covey Endowed Professors of Leadership

Utah State University’s Jon M. Huntsman School of Business has named Boyd Craig and Lord Michael Hastings as the Inaugural Stephen R. Covey Endowed Professors of Leadership. Craig and Hastings will share the honor, among other assignments, and team teach a course, “Leading in a World of Constant Change: The Power of Principle-Centered Leadership,” during the 2020-21 academic year. Their appointments begin July 1.

“Lord Hastings and Boyd Craig are close personal and professional friends, and in addition to their teaching and mentoring responsibilities will be outstanding ambassadors of the Stephen R. Covey Leadership Center at the Huntsman School,” said Huntsman School of Business Dean Douglas Anderson.  

The Stephen R. Covey Endowed Professorship was made possible by the Huntsman Foundation, and was announced last year as part of the foundation’s $15 million Fund for Faculty Excellence.

“Michael and Boyd are great individuals, and their appointment is a huge victory for the entire USU team,” said David Huntsman, member of the USU Board of Trustees and president of the Huntsman Foundation.

Craig is the founder, chairman and CEO of Leader.org, a non-profit foundation that seeks to develop habits of leadership in the world’s underserved children. His foundation's transformative work in influencing public education has brought “The Leader in Me” process to nearly a million school children and youth in poverty.  In 2020, his work expands internationally, beginning in the Middle East.

Craig holds a bachelor’s in philosophy and an MBA from Brigham Young University. He serves as a trustee of Intermountain Healthcare, member of the national advisory board of the Jon M. Huntsman School of Business and founding vice chairman of The Stephen R. Covey Leadership Center at the Huntsman School. Craign and his wife, Michelle Daines Craig, have three children and nine grandchildren.

“There is no one who understands the leadership principles my father taught more deeply or broadly than Boyd,” said Stephen M. R. Covey. “He was my father’s most intimate collaborating partner for nearly a quarter century. Though most of his work was out of the limelight and largely anonymous, Boyd's output with my father in producing ten books and scores of articles on leadership is breathtaking. He was not only deeply influenced by my father, Boyd's insight and thought leadership greatly influenced and enabled my father and his work. Boyd [will] bring an understanding of my father’s work, and how to leverage it, that is equal or greater than my own.”

Hastings of Scarisbrick CBE has enjoyed a distinguished career in education, government, television broadcasting, business and public service. He is a member of Parliament, the British House of Lords and is the Chancellor of Regents University London. He is the former Global Head of Citizenship for KPMG International.

Hastings began his career as a high school teacher in London, moving into government service in 1986 supporting policy initiatives to bring employment and development to Britain’s inner cities after some years of high unemployment and race-based disturbances. In 1990, he started working in television on education programming and as a presenter and then as chief political correspondent for GM-TV. In 1994, Hastings moved to the BBC as a presenter on the weekly Around Westminster program before joining its Corporate Affairs division. In 1996, he became the BBC’s head of Public Affairs and then its first head of Corporate Social Responsibility before becoming KPMG International's Global Head of Citizenship in 2006. Hastings retired from KPMG in 2019. 

Hastings has served as a trustee of the Vodafone Group Foundation for over 11 years concluding in December 2019 and is now a governor of the Vodaphone-supported MPESA Academy in Nairobi, Kenya. He currently serves as a vice president of UNICEF and as patron of WE, formerly Free the Children; and is a former director of Junior Achievement Worldwide.

In 2003, Hastings was awarded a CBE (Commander of the British Empire) for services to crime reduction that includes 15 years as chair of Crime Concern and nine years serving on the Commission for Racial Equality (1993-2001). In 2005, Hastings was awarded a life peerage to the House of Lords. In the same year, he received the UNICEF Award from the then UK Chancellor for his outstanding contribution to understanding and effecting solutions for Africa’s children.

In 2014, a Doctorate in Civil Law from the University of Kent, Canterbury was conferred upon Hastings in recognition of his leadership at KPMG, the BBC and for his work in international development and corporate responsibility. In 2017, he was installed as the chancellor of Regent's University London.

“Over the past three years, through the Huntsman School’s global learning experiences in London, Hastings and Craig have demonstrated an exceptional connection with USU’s students, providing them with unique and transformational experiences that have deepened their understanding and commitment to principle-centered leadership,” Anderson said. “Through their appointment as Covey Professors we are excited to leverage the impact of their influence to the benefit of many more of our students. Both of them, like Stephen R. Covey himself, see the potential in people and have a gift of inspiring others to realize that potential.”

As part of their brief, the Huntsman School has challenged Craig and Hastings to embed principle-centered leadership into the cultural DNA of the Huntsman School. And Anderson believes their close, personal friendship and trust promises great synergy in the execution of the mission.

“Michael and Boyd are both powerful role models of principle-centered leadership,” Anderson said. “They share a deep affinity and intimate understanding of the work of Stephen R. Covey, and each has succeeded by living and leading a principled life. Each will set a high standard of excellence for future incumbents of the Covey Professorship. Together, through the reach of their extraordinary personal networks, their imaginative and creative vision, their high energy and their passion for, and identification with, the life work of Stephen R. Covey, they will greatly accelerate the work of the Covey Leadership Center and open many doors for students of the Huntsman School.”