David Ager
Senior Lecturer in Executive Education
Managing Director, Executive Development, Executive Education
Senior Lecturer in Executive Education
Managing Director, Executive Development, Executive Education
David Ager is a Senior Lecturer in Executive Education. He engages CEOs, CHROs, and their teams to design and deliver customized executive development experiences for executive, senior and high potential leaders. The companies hail from diverse sectors including energy, fast moving consumer goods, quick service food, finance, government, media, automotive, retail, gems and jewelry, spirits and luxury goods. His teaching addresses a broad set of topics within leadership development and organizational behavior.
David chairs Harvard Business School’s first two executive development programs intended for Native American, First Nations, Aboriginal and Indigenous Leaders. The first of these programs, Leading People and Investing to Build Sustainable Communities, was launched in 2017. David worked closely with AFOA, NAFOA, NCAI, and HUNAP to design this program, which is intended to explore how governance practices can shape the management of investments (e.g. sovereign wealth funds) with a longer-term view toward building sustainable communities. The second program focuses on leading high performing Aboriginal Financial Institutions. These organizations provide capital to finance Aboriginal small and medium-sized enterprises with the goal to increase social and economic self-reliance and sustainability for Indigenous people.
David also co-chaired Families in Business and Family Office Wealth Management, two Harvard Business School executive education programs focused on Governance of the Family Enterprise.
From 2004 to 2012 David served as a faculty member and the director of undergraduate studies in the Sociology Department at Harvard University. One of the first faculty to introduce the case method of learning to Harvard College, David offered courses on leadership, organizational sociology, and field research methods. In 2008 he introduced the first undergraduate course on Social Entrepreneurship at Harvard College with an emphasis on using entrepreneurial approaches to create for-profit, not-for-profit, and hybrid ventures to address social problems and bring about social change. Before coming to Harvard, David was a research associate and Director of Program Mexico at the Ivey Business School in Canada, where he conducted research and wrote cases on companies from Canada, the United States and México doing business in México. David began his career as a civil servant in the Canadian Federal Government where he served as the Chief of Administration to the Minister in the Fisheries and Oceans and later the Employment and Immigration Departments.
In 2004 David earned a Ph.D. in Organizational Behavior, a joint degree granted by Harvard Business School and Harvard's Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. He also earned an Honors B.Sc. in Economics and Human Biology from the University of Toronto, an MBA from the Richard Ivey School of Business, University of Western Ontario and a Master's degree in Sociology from Harvard University. In 2010 Harvard University awarded David the Levenson Memorial Teaching Prize for excellence in teaching and dedication to undergraduate education. In 2011 he was awarded the Phi Beta Kappa Prize for excellence in teaching at Harvard University by the Alpha-Iota of Massachusetts Phi Beta Kappa chapter. David’s ongoing research interests include leading through change, especially in the context of Mergers and Acquisitions, Belongingness, and Resilience.
- Journal Articles
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- Ager, David. "The Emotional Impact and Behavioral Consequences of Post-M&A Integration: An Ethnographic Case Study in the Software Industry." Journal of Contemporary Ethnography 40, no. 2 (April 2011): 199–230. View Details
- Cases and Teaching Materials
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- Cohen, Lauren, David Ager, and Alpana Thapar. "Sacoor Brothers: From Co-Family CEOs to No Family CEOs?" Harvard Business School Case 225-008, October 2024. View Details
- Ager, David L., Zeynep Ton, and Amanda Silver. "Michael Ross: Whether to Move from Private Equity to Pest Control." Harvard Business School Case 925-301, July 2024. View Details
- Ager, David L. "Tribal Councils Investment Group of Manitoba Ltd. (B)." Harvard Business School Supplement 924-304, April 2024. (Revised May 2024.) View Details
- Ager, David L., and Antonio Manuel Oftelie. "Innovation Strategy at Stanley Black & Decker: Setting the Direction for Growth." Harvard Business School Case 924-301, February 2024. View Details
- Ager, David L., and Michael A. Roberto. "Tractor Supply Co." Harvard Business School Case 923-302, June 2023. View Details
- Ager, David L. "Tribal Councils Investment Group of Manitoba Ltd." Harvard Business School Case 923-301, March 2023. (Revised May 2023.) View Details
- Edmondson, Amy C., David Ager, and Emily Harburg. "Teaming at Disney Animation." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 617-036, January 2017. View Details
- Ager, David L., and Michael A. Roberto. "Trader Joe's." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 714-420, September 2013. View Details
- Ager, David L., and Michael A. Roberto. "Trader Joe's." Harvard Business School Case 714-419, September 2013. (Revised April 2014.) View Details
- Ager, David, and John A. Davis. "Bentington Industries." Harvard Business School Case 806-115, January 2006. (Revised September 2007.) View Details
- Perlow, Leslie A., and David Ager. "Cat is out of the Bag, The: KANA and the Layoff Gone Awry (A)." Harvard Business School Case 403-117, January 2003. (Revised April 2004.) View Details
- DeLong, Thomas J., Scott Baldwin, Chris Strong, Andrew Feng, Eliza Moody, and David Ager. "Ottawa Voyageurs, The." Harvard Business School Case 404-023, July 2003. (Revised October 2003.) View Details
- DeLong, Thomas J., Tejal Mody, and David Ager. "C&S Wholesale Grocers: Self-Managed Teams." Harvard Business School Case 404-025, August 2003. (Revised October 2003.) View Details
- Perlow, Leslie A., and David Ager. "Cat is out of the Bag, The: Kana and the Layoff Gone Awry (TN) (A), (B), and (C)." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 404-060, September 2003. (Revised October 2003.) View Details
- Perlow, Leslie A., and David Ager. "Cat is out of the Bag, The: KANA and the Layoff Gone Awry (B)." Harvard Business School Case 403-118, January 2003. (Revised October 2003.) View Details
- Perlow, Leslie A., and David Ager. "Cat is out of the Bag, The: KANA and the Layoff Gone Awry (C)." Harvard Business School Case 403-119, January 2003. (Revised October 2003.) View Details
- DeLong, Thomas J., and David Ager. "De La Salle Academy." Harvard Business School Case 404-024, July 2003. View Details
- Awards & Honors
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Winner of the 2011 Phi Beta Kappa Alpha Iota Prize for Excellence in Teaching.Winner of the 2010 Joseph R. Levenson Memorial Teaching Prize.