As a Senior Fellow, Donald Lessard will undertake research on the changing models for global supply chains with special emphasis on Asian firms and  companies that are driving global integration from Asia.

Donald is also the Epoch Foundation Professor of International Management at the MIT Sloan School of Management where he teaches courses on global strategy and strategic opportunities in the energy sector. Donald, who has been at MIT since 1973, has served as its Deputy Dean with responsibility for research, international programmes and executive education. In 2010, he led the development and launch of a new executive programme for Li & Fung that MIT is offering in conjunction with the University of Hong Kong. At MIT, he recently completed  terms as Co-Chair of the  Energy Education Task Force, which launched an Institute-wide undergraduate energy minor in 2010; as Faculty Director of the MIT Sloan Fellows Program and newly launched MIT Executive MBA programme,  and as Faculty Director of the BP Projects and Engineering Academy, an executive education programme for leaders of major projects that span management and engineering. He also led the MIT-Merrill Lynch Partnership, MIT's first large-scale collaboration with a financial services firm.

He is a Senior Advisor to the Brattle Group, a US-based economics and financial consulting group, and has led major consulting assignments with firms, banks, and government agencies throughout the world.