Loredana Padurean

Loredana Padurean is an educator, entrepreneur, author, and public speaker who serves as associate teaching professor of innovation and entrepreneurship at Northeastern University's D'Amore-McKim School of Business in Boston. Padurean has experience in Switzerland, Italy, India, Malaysia, and the United States, and brings a combination of academic expertise and entrepreneurial background to her work. Before entering academia, she held more than 19 positions across industries including construction, transportation, television, fashion, and life insurance, which informs her practical approach to teaching business and innovation.

Prior to joining Northeastern University, Padurean spent eight years in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, as the senior associate dean of Asia School of Business, an institution established in collaboration with MIT Sloan. Her leadership in action and experiential learning contributed to the MBA program's recognition for innovation. As an MIT Sloan International Faculty Fellow, she has taught in multiple MIT executive programs and entrepreneurship bootcamps. Throughout her career, Padurean has taught undergraduate, MBA, and executive education courses in SMART skills, innovation, and entrepreneurship at institutions including Northeastern University, Asia School of Business, MIT Sloan, Indian School of Business, Brandeis University, and USI Lugano.

Padurean is the author of "The Job is Easy, The People are Not — 10 Smart Skills to Become Better People" and is developing an entrepreneurship book titled "Nail it, Scale it, Sail it — Operations for Entrepreneurs" in collaboration with MIT Sloan Professor Charles Fine. Her course at Northeastern incorporates the "Nail it, Scale it, Sail it" framework, an exploration of corporate innovation models she co-developed with Fine. She has received the Teaching Innovation and Excellence Award at Northeastern for her use of artificial intelligence in the classroom.

Padurean received the Distinguished Woman Entrepreneur Lifetime Achievement Award at the World Women Economic & Business Summit in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. As a TEDx speaker, she has delivered more than 350 events globally, working with clients such as TBWA, State Street, China Construction Bank, European Commission, MITRE, Maybank, and Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank. She has also been voted best teaching professor in the undergraduate program at D'Amore-McKim School of Business by her students.