Faculty
Roberto M. Fernandez is currently the William F. Pounds Professor at the MIT Sloan School of Management. He has over 35 years teaching experience at numerous universities, including six years as a Full Professor at Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business, and 24 years at MIT’s Sloan School of Management. He is a recognized expert in the areas of organizational behavior, social networks, and human resources, and is the author of over 60 articles and research papers published in these areas.
Roberto is an outstanding communicator, and has received numerous Sloan- and MIT-wide teaching awards (in 2009 the Jamieson Prize for Excellence in Teaching; in 2011, the Frank E. Perkins Award for Excellence in Graduate Advising; in 2023 the Committed to Caring (C2C) Award for “Outstanding Advisors and Mentors; in 2023-2024 the MIT Sloan Outstanding Teacher Award).
Roberto’s executive teaching duties include the management of innovation, organizational change, and human resources, negotiations, networks, and power and politics in organizations. In addition, he is the lead professor in charge of the required class on Organizational Processes for MIT Sloan’s Executive MBA (EMBA) degree program. Roberto has also served as the faculty leader for many custom executive education programs with a focus on organizational transformation and change management. He has worked with private and public sector organizations across numerous industries, including Automotives, Banking and Finance, BioPharma and Health Care, Entertainment, Energy, Mining and Oil and Gas. He has traveled extensively, lecturing and consulting for top executive audiences and clients in Abu Dhabi, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Iceland, Israel, Italy, Mexico, Malaysia, Morocco, The Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Russia, Singapore, South Africa, Spain, Turkey, the United Kingdom, and Vietnam. Most recently, Roberto has been faculty co-leader of the AI For National Security Program supporting the US government in adoption of Artificial Intelligence.
Roberto earned a BA in Sociology (magna cum laude) from Harvard University, and MA and PhD degrees from the University of Chicago specializing Organizational Sociology. He has received numerous awards for his scholarship and teaching. In 2012, Roberto was honored by being elected as a Fellow of The American Academy of Political and Social Sciences, an honorary society founded in 1889.
Kim, Minjae and Roberto Fernandez. Annual Review of Sociology Vol. 49, (2023): 177-193.
Bond, Brittany, and Roberto Fernandez. In Social Networks at Work, edited by Daniel J. Brass and Stephen P. Borgatti, 275-307. New York, NY: Routledge, 2020.
Campero, Santiago, and Roberto Fernandez. Social Forces Vol. 97, No. 4 (2019): 1487-1516.
Fernandez, Roberto, and Brian Rubineau. RSF: The Russell Sage Foundation Journal of the Social Sciences Vol. 5, No. 3 (2019): 88-102.
Hassink, Wolter H.J., and Roberto Fernandez. The Manchester School Vol. 86, No. 6 (2018): 816-839.
Sterling, Adina, and Roberto Fernandez. Management Science Vol. 64, No. 11 (2018): 5444-5460.
Even for the well-intentioned, gender and racial pay equity is elusive. A fair starting line, real transparency, and long-term commitment are a must.
It’s not about fixing the pipeline. It’s about making it bigger.
New research has started to shed light on some of the reasons for the shrinking proportion of women making up each successive career level.
Roberto Fernandez co-created the Leading a Diverse Workforce program ... to nurture diverse, inclusive and effective teams and organizations.
"Anne is ... a gifted mentor, as evidenced by the success of her mentees."
An exciting collaboration between MIT's Sloan School of Management and Schwarzman College of Computing, this immersive, two-week program on campus dives deep into both the technical and business aspects of artificial intelligence, providing a comprehensive understanding of AI's impact across industries. The program will bridge the gap between AI technology and business leadership through practical, hands-on learning experiences, ensuring participants can apply AI strategies effectively in their organizations.
Why has implementing enterprise-wide transformation proven to be troubling? When challenges persist, it is often because there are embedded tensions or paradoxes that surface and seem unresolvable. This research-driven and practitioner-led program is designed to help senior executives avert failure, create cultures of agility and resiliency, and develop a customized blueprint for large-scale business transformation in their organization.
