Ladd Greeno

Special Advisor

Professional Background:
Ladd Greeno is a veteran strategic advisor and executive leader with over four decades of experience helping organizations manage complex innovation and navigate large-scale systemic change. At CES4All, he serves as Special Advisor, leveraging his expertise in operational strategy and research-to-practice pipelines to advance the center’s mission of improving educational outcomes for all students. He is also President and CEO of Acorn Advisors, a consultancy focused on strategic growth and organizational effectiveness.

 

Expertise and Impact:

  • Inclusive R&D: Recognized for ensuring that solutions in literacy and mathematics are developed with the lived experiences of Black, Latino, and Native American students at the forefront.
  • Strategic Leadership: Former Senior Vice President at Arthur D. Little, where he led global activities in environmental, health, and safety consulting.
  • Innovation Authority: Co-author and contributor to seminal works on innovation management, including the book Making Innovation Work: How to Manage It, Measure It, and Profit from It.
  • Education Impact: Active advisor for Reading Reimagined, focusing on ending persistent illiteracy by addressing the “decoding threshold” for older elementary and middle school students.

 

Leadership and Advisory Roles:
Ladd has been a trusted counselor to corporate boards, foundations, and nonprofit leaders. His work includes providing strategic guidance for high-impact educational R&D initiatives supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, such as the AIMS Collaboratory and AERDF’s Reading Reimagined program.

 

Education:

  • MBA from Harvard Business School.