Mark Esposito

As emerging technologies like generative AI spread throughout organizations and public calls for more sustainable business practices grow louder, how can leaders turn these external challenges into internal capabilities that ensure growth and success in the years ahead?

A trusted advisor to multinational businesses and world leaders alike, and a faculty affiliate of Harvard Kennedy School’s Center for International Development, Harvard’s Institute for Quantitative Social Science, and the Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies, Mark Esposito, Ph.D. is a multidisciplinary expert who helps leaders build an agile mindset and find incredible possibilities for the future, even in times of adversity and uncertainty.

An economist by training and co-author of the award-winning, bestselling book, “The Great Remobilization: Strategies and Designs for a Smarter Global Future” (The MIT Press, October 2023), Esposito teaches leaders how to identify trends and build the future with foresight. With expert insights on leading in times of disruption, he shows executives how to make sense of the seismic shifts ahead to create risk mitigation strategies and build the capabilities of tomorrow.

“A lot of the work I do is about demystification,” explains Esposito, director of Hult International Business School’s Futures Impact Lab. “From understanding the power AI has to make a positive impact, to climate transition and the circular economy, I help leaders think in terms of moonshots, radically transforming what needs to be transformed while considering the challenges ahead.”

An academic, tech entrepreneur, and true citizen of the world whose global and multi-cultural perspective allows him to connect with a variety of leaders and audiences, Esposito’s research zooms in on emerging technology and AI, sustainable business models and how these advancements will vastly influence the future of how economies relate to people and society. Developer of the DRIVE framework for harnessing the power of today’s megatrends, he provides practical tools that empower leaders to illuminate blind spots and reveal exceptional opportunities.

Create Value with Machine Learning by Demystifying AI

Co-author of “The AI Republic: Building the Nexus Between Humans and Intelligent Automation” (2019), Esposito is co-founder and Chief Learning Officer of Nexus FrontierTech, an AI scale-up venture and research lab. Equipped with the practical experience of running an emerging tech startup and an ability to cut through disinformation and demystify AI, he helps business and government leaders understand the future of AI and how it can become a force for good.

“What if AI was designed to lift us up and empower human capability?” proposes Esposito, who teaches an award-winning executive education course on AI at Harvard’s Division of Continuing Education. “I help people cross that bridge of what AI is and how we can use it to augment humans in our existing infrastructure.”

Esposito – an adjunct professor of public policy at Georgetown University where he works with public leaders to shape global policy options on competitiveness and digital governance – helps leaders navigate the challenges of the “Human 2 Machine Era” by providing accessible tools for creating value with machine learning and embedding AI into their firm’s core strategy.    

Circular Business Models: Rethinking Sustainability in a World in Constant Flux

According to Esposito, a resident fellow and professor of economic policy at Mohammed Bin Rashid School of Government in the United Arab Emirates, one of those opportunities is the imperative to act now in creating sustainable business models. One of the most cited scholars on the circular economy, Esposito urges leaders to change their thinking from the traditional “take, make, dispose” model of production to one that can harness technology to accelerate sustainable transitions and the preservation of our natural resources.

“Since the industrial revolution, we have been able to depend on natural resources to achieve economic growth and development and raise the standard of living,” explains Esposito, Chairman of the Circular Economy Alliance, an EdTech firm for certifications on the circular economy. “But as these resources become scarcer and more expensive, and the over utilization of these resources is having a negative impact on the environment, we need to find new ways to create a more sustainable economic growth model that generates more employment and improves competitiveness.”

The imperative grows for leaders to make AI an ingrained part of their business processes and for organizations to equally prioritize sustainable business models. By showing how to gain self-power to think differently, Mark Esposito activates the ability for leaders to break the entrenched politics of an organization and turn external forces such as AI and sustainability into powerful internal capabilities.

Mark Esposito, Ph.D. is recognized internationally as a top global thought leader in matters relating to The Fourth Industrial Revolution. A professor of economics, strategy and foresights at Hult International Business School, Esposito directs the school’s Futures Impact Lab and is a global expert for the World Economic Forum. He has been recognized by Thinkers50 as one of the most prominent rising business thinkers in the world and was shortlisted for the 2023 Strategy Award. His academic journey culminated with a doctoral degree in Business and Economics from Ecole des Ponts Paris Tech, one of France’s esteemed Grande Ecole.

Esposito has authored or co-authored over 150 publications and 13 books, including bestsellers “Understanding How the Future Unfolds” (2017) and “The AI Republic” (2019). His latest books are: “The Emerging Economies Under the Dome of the Fourth Industrial Revolution” (Cambridge University Press, 2022) and “The Great Remobilization: Strategies and Designs for a Smarter Global Future,” (MIT University Press, 2023), which won the 2024 Axiom Awards silver medal in the International Business / Globalization category. His next book, “Digitizing the Emerging Economies,” is due for release in 2024.

A chaired professorship on Global Shifts and Industrial Transitions was created under Esposito’s name at Woxsen University in India in 2023.

He is a senior advisor to the Ideation Center of Strategy& in Dubai, an advisor to the UC Berkeley SkyDeck incubator, a member of India Dialog at Stanford University’s US Asia Technology Center, a policy associate at University College London’s Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose, a senior fellow for the UN Foundation’s Digital Impact Alliance and is a science fellow at the DLT Science Foundation.

From 2015-2019, Esposito served under the mentorship of Michael E. Porter as Institutes Council Co-Leader in the Microeconomics of Competitiveness program at Harvard Business School’s Institute of Strategy and Competitiveness. He was a Founding Research Fellow of the Circular Economy Center at the University of Cambridge’s Judge’s Business School from 2016 to 2020.

Mark Esposito is available to advise your organization via virtual and in-person consulting meetings, interactive workshops and customized keynotes through the exclusive representation of Stern Speakers & Advisors, a division of Stern Strategy Group^®.