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Management Team

Dr. Ram Rajagopal

Academic Director

Professor Ram Rajagopal is the Academic Director of the Global Projects Center, a Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering and by Courtesy, of Electric Engineering. Rajagopal's primary research focus is on advancing the design, optimization and data-driven modelling of electric power systems. His work involves creating novel sensing and control platforms, robust data processing algorithms and dynamical statistical decision methods. He has also extensively worked on sensing infrastructure systems and transportation networks.

 

Dr. Ashby Monk

Executive Director

Dr. Ashby Monk is the Executive and Research Director of the Stanford Global Projects Center. He has a strong track record of academic and industry publications. He was named by CIO Magazine as one of the most influential academics in the institutional investing world. His research and writing has been featured in The Economist, New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, Institutional Investor, Reuters, Forbes, and on National Public Radio among a variety of other media. His current research focus is on the design and governance of institutional investors, with particular specialization on pension and sovereign wealth funds. Outside of Stanford, he is the co-founder and Chairman of Long Game Savings. He received his Doctorate in Economic Geography at Oxford University and holds a Master's in International Economics from the Universite de Paris I - Pantheon Sorbonne and a Bachelor's in Economics from Princeton University.

Mike Steep

Adjunct Professor and Executive Director, Digital Cities

Michael Steep is Adjunct Professor and Executive Director of the Stanford Global Projects Center's Digital Cities Program. Michael is also  former Senior Vice President of Global Business Operations for the PARC innovation center in Palo Alto, California. He has over two decades of operating experience managing global P&L's, sales, digital marketing, strategy, business development, and strategic alliances for Microsoft, Lexmark (IBM), Apple, and HP. Mr. Steep’s team at Apple launched the first digital camera. Today, he works with commercial clients on transforming their industry and company business models by leveraging emerging technologies - big data, predictive analytics, cloud, mobile, and privacy. He also serves on the Smart City London Board and is Contributing Editor for Forbes writing articles on digital cities, disruptive technologies, and executive leadership. Mr. Steep’s passion is corporate transformation through effective leadership and practical approaches to innovation. He has worked extensively at Microsoft and PARC with executives from companies crossing multiple industries including Aerospace, Healthcare, Pharma, and Automotive. He works with the top Innovation and R&D executives from companies including Airbus, BMW, Google, Merck, BP, and Booz Allen. Mr. Steep’s MBA is from the University of Virginia Darden School of Business, and he has a BA from the University of Pennsylvania. He also serves as an Adjunct Professor of Digital Business at Imperial College London.

Michael Bennon

Managing Director

Michael Bennon is a Managing Director at the Stanford Global Projects Center, developing new initiatives for the GPC and managing our student programs and industry affiliations. Michael’s research areas of interest for the center and work experience are in Public Sector finance, infrastructure and real estate investment, and project organization design. Michael served as a Captain in the US Army and US Army Corps of Engineers for five years, leading Engineer units, managing projects, and planning for infrastructure development in the United States, Iraq, Afghanistan, and Thailand.  Michael received a bachelor’s degree in Civil Engineering from the United States Military Academy at West Point and received an MSCE and MBA from Stanford University. 

Dr. Raymond Levitt

Director Emeritus

Dr. Raymond Levitt earned his BSCE at Witwatersrand University and his MSCE and Ph.D. at Stanford University. He served on the MIT CE faculty from 1975-80 before moving to Stanford in 1980. Ray teaches undergraduate, graduate and executive education classes in strategy, organization design and governance for development of capital facilities and other project-based endeavors. Ray's Virtual Design Team (VDT) research group has developed new organization theory and computer simulation tools to optimize the execution of complex, fast-track, projects and programs. His current research focuses on governance of private-public partnerships for development and delivery of infrastructure services. In 1988, he co-founded and was the initial Director of Stanford's Center for Integrated Facility Engineering. He founded, and serves as Academic Director of, Stanford's Advanced Project Management Executive Program and The Collaboratory for Research on Global Projects. The SAPM program now has more than 2500 alumni and is recognized internationally as the premier executive program for strategic project and portfolio management. Ray has supervised dozens of dissertations, written more than 100 scholarly papers, launched two major research centers and three software companies. He was elected to the rank of Distinguished Member of ASCE in 2008. In 2009, Governor Schwarzenegger appointed Dr. Levitt as one of the initial commissioners for the State of California's Private Infrastructure Advisory Commission.