Simmons College

School of Management

Current Issue

Simmons College School of Management
Executive Education
409 Commonwealth Ave
Boston, MA 02215
617-521-3869
execed@simmons.edu

Faculty Profile

Sylvia Maxfield, Associate Professor
of Management

Forty-five years of international experience under girds the passion and energy Maxfield brings to training women leaders.

Dr. Sylvia Maxfield, Associate Professor of Management at the SOM is a product of her environment, which in this case are three out of the seven continents. “I had the good fortune to grow up internationally, spending parts of my early childhood in Germany and Italy, my pre–adolescence in Spanish Harlem in New York, and my high school years in Mendoza, Argentina, at a time of economic difficulty and extreme political turmoil for that country.” Combine that with a B.A. in economics and government from Cornell, a Ph.D. in political economy from Harvard, ten years teaching at Yale, and a three–year stint on Wall Street evaluating emerging economies and markets and you have one serious expert on international political economy. But despite her superb research and publishing record—most recently in the areas of women business leaders in Latin America, cross–national variations in entrepreneurial activity, and socially–minded strategy—Maxfield is most passionate about executive training and development for women.

“Forty-five years of international experience under girds the passion and energy I bring to teaching economics in a world where global integration touches virtually every business endeavor,” says Maxfield. “As an instructor, I try very hard to teach finance and economics as an applied subject relevant for business leadership in an era of globalization. I also highlight interdisciplinary approaches and I nurture an individual–centered learning community to push women executives toward higher–order analytical thinking.”

Maxfield is delighted by the diversity of Simmons Executive Education participants and enjoys the opportunity to work with women from so many different professional backgrounds.

“The Executive Education program participants inspire me. I teach at Simmons because of our mission of helping develop women leaders. I believe the world needs more women with integrity, courage, and decision–making capability.”