Paula A. Cordeiro

Paula A. Cordeiro is the Dammeyer Distinguished Professor of Global Leadership and Education. She directs the Master of Arts in Social Innovation (MASI) and leads graduate and executive programs focused on social entrepreneurship, sustainability, philanthropy, and alternative economic models, with particular attention to institutional design, governance, and systems change.

From 1998 to 2015, Dr. Cordeiro served as Dean of the School of Leadership and Education Sciences (SOLES). She later worked with international NGOs across sub-Saharan Africa and Central and South America and, from 2015 to 2019, served as Vice President for Education at Edify, a global micro-lending nonprofit supporting low-fee private schools in thirteen countries. These roles reflect her long-standing engagement with education, enterprise, and development in low-resource contexts.

In parallel with her academic and professional work, Dr. Cordeiro has served for more than fourteen years on philanthropic foundation and nonprofit boards in the United States and internationally, with a focus on governance, grantmaking, and impact investing. She joined the board of the Conrad Prebys Foundation in 2023.

She is the author of three books, including the widely adopted textbook Educational Leadership: A Problem-Based Approach (five editions). Her teaching and research focus on social entrepreneurship, institutional design, community wealth building, women’s leadership, international education development, and the role of enterprise in advancing shared prosperity, equity, and peace. Dr. Cordeiro is currently writing Social Entrepreneurship Reframed: Designing Business Models, Ownership, and Systems for Change (Tentative title) which examines social entrepreneurship through the lenses of purpose, ownership, governance, and capital.