Alison McGrath Peirce

Alison McGrath Peirce, an educator and innovator who has led several successful programs internationally, was named executive director of the Vistex Institute for Executive Learning and Research at Lehigh in March, 2019. In her role, Peirce is  responsible for growing Lehigh’s specialized business and leadership development programming. She will promote broad participation of faculty and practitioners in developing and delivering non-credit custom and open learning opportunities for companies, organizations and industry partners locally, regionally and nationally.

At Wharton Executive Education, Peirce launched its Advanced Management Program, oversaw its Open Enrollment portfolio and led early initiatives in distributed learning before starting a consulting practice, Magma Learning Group, in 2000. In the 10 years she ran her consulting group, she worked with a variety of academic and for-profit organizations in the areas of marketing, business development and program direction.

Peirce earned her bachelor’s degree in history from the State University of New York, Rochester, and her M.B.A. from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University.

Prior to working in executive education, she led the M.B.A. offices of career development and placement at the Simon School at the University of Rochester, the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University and the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.