Darden Professor Laura Morgan Roberts

UVA Darden Professor a Top Management Thinker of 2021

01 December 2021

By Dave Hendrick

University of Virginia Darden School of Business Professor Laura Morgan Roberts has been ranked as a top thinker in the world of business and the practice of management.

Thinkers50, which previously placed Roberts on its Radar List and shortlisted her for the Thinkers50 Talent Award for 2021, named Roberts one of the Top 50 management thinkers for 2021 for her research focused on what the organization described as “the science of maximizing human potential in diverse organizations and communities.” The organization describes its Thinkers50 Ranking, which is published every two years, as “the essential guide to which thinkers and which ideas matter now.”

Roberts teaches throughout the Darden MBA program, and her current and upcoming courses include “Leading Change,” “Leadership, Diversity and Leveraging Difference” and “Negotiations.”

Roberts’ most recent book, “Race, Work and Leadership: New Perspectives on the Black Experience, was released in 2019.

In 2021, Thinkers50 also inducted Professor Mary Gentile into the Thinkers50 Hall of Fame. Gentile, who has previously been shortlisted for multiple Thinkers50 awards, was recognized for her contributions via her Giving Voice to Values curriculum, which has been piloted in over 1,300 schools and organizations globally.

In 2017, Darden Professor Jeanne Liedtka was a finalist for the Thinkers50 Innovation Award.

About the University of Virginia Darden School of Business

The University of Virginia Darden School of Business prepares responsible global leaders through unparalleled transformational learning experiences. Darden’s graduate degree programs (MBA, MSBA and Ph.D.) and Executive Education & Lifelong Learning programs offered by the Darden School Foundation set the stage for a lifetime of career advancement and impact. Darden’s top-ranked faculty, renowned for teaching excellence, inspires and shapes modern business leadership worldwide through research, thought leadership and business publishing. Darden has Grounds in Charlottesville, Virginia, and the Washington, D.C., area and a global community that includes 18,000 alumni in 90 countries. Darden was established in 1955 at the University of Virginia, a top public university founded by Thomas Jefferson in 1819 in Charlottesville, Virginia.

Press Contact

Molly Mitchell
Associate Director of Content Marketing and Social Media
Darden School of Business
University of Virginia
MitchellM@darden.virginia.edu