Christopher Michaelson

Biography

Christopher Michaelson is a professor of business ethics and social responsibility with extensive business experience and a unique record bridging scholarship and practice. In nearly 20 years as a business advisor, he has helped guide large, multinational private and public sector institutions through crisis and change. Christopher’s scholarly research applies the wisdom of humanities to enable people to perform and provide meaningful work.

After earning his Ph.D. in philosophical ethics and aesthetics from the University of Minnesota, Christopher joined the New York office of Price Waterhouse (now PwC) as one of the first five consultants in a business ethics advisory practice in 1998. A few years into his consulting career, he accepted a full-time faculty position at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, teaching corporate responsibility and ethics while keeping a foot in practice. Before leaving PwC in 2016, he worked on ten editions of PwC’s Annual Global CEO Survey and was PwC’s Strategy Officer to the World Economic Forum. Christopher went from Wharton to New York University’s Stern School of Business in 2005, where he continues on the Business and Society faculty and has taught professional responsibility and corporate governance. After moving home to Minneapolis, he also joined one of the largest business ethics faculties in the world at the University of St. Thomas in 2008, where he is now Opus Distinguished Professor of Principled Leadership. He was elected in 2020 to the Board of Directors of the Society for Business Ethics.

Courses Taught

• Professional Responsibility

Academic Background

Ph.D., Philosophy
University of Minnesota