Mary Shapiro

For more than 25 years, Ms. Shapiro has served as an Organization Behavior faculty at Simmons School of Business, teaching undergraduates, MBA students, and executives. She teaches in the areas of leadership, team building, compelling communication, and strategic career management with the critical lens of multiple social identities. In 2014 she was appointed to the inaugural endowed position of the Diane K. Trust Professorship on Leadership Development. In that position she is guiding the College in developing a leadership platform to be infused throughout the undergraduate program.

Ms. Shapiro researches and publishes in the areas of women, their careers, risk-taking, confidence, and use of power. In addition to contributing to scholarly literature, her most recent popular publication is Leading Teams with Harvard Business School Press (2014). Previously she co-authored two books on interviewing and career management with Simmons colleague, Dr. Cynthia Ingols, Take Charge of Your Career (2005), and A Smart, Easy Guide to Interviewing (2003) which extend an understanding of interviewing and work strategies to include the nuances of gender and many dimensions of diversity. She also developed “The Communication Styles Diagnostic,” an online tool that has been used by thousands of managers to improve their effectiveness with individuals and teams.

Throughout her career, Ms. Shapiro has consulted with Fortune 500 companies, private institutions, and non-profits, including organizations such as CVS Caremark, Harvard University, WebMD, and Liberty Mutual Insurance, to create vision, mission and strategic plans; launch teams with process infrastructure; and intervene in teams in crises. She works with numerous Boards of Directors, as a consultant guiding strategic planning efforts, and as a member of the Executive Committee of the Girl Scouts of Eastern Massachusetts (GSEM) where she serves as First Vice Chair. In addition to her dedication to Girl Scouts, for 20 years she has raised funds for the Dana Farber Cancer Institute through the Pan Mass Challenge, a 200-mile bike ride. Ms. Shapiro received her M.B.A. and M.S. Economics from Wright State University, Dayton, Ohio.

Faculty Courses