Interview from Boston Business Journal

1. OUT OF THE OFFICE 21 | ON THE MOVE 22 | CALENDAR 23
l OUTSIDE THE BOX l
Deborah Merrill-Sands
‘The Green Dean’
Boston Business Journal BostonBusinessJournal.com November 6-12, 200920
CE 21 | ON THE MOVE 22 | CALENDAR 23
BostonBusinessJournal.com November 6-12, 2009
People
D
eborah Merrill-Sands
is known as the “Green
Dean” at Simmons College
because she not only talks
about the importance of
sustainability, she lives it. She drives
a Prius. Her house in New Hampshire,
where she lives with her husband on
the weekends, is heated completely by
solar and wood.
Merrill-Sands also spearheaded the
drive to make sustainability issues part
of the Simmons curriculum, and she
was a strong advocate for constructing
the new School of Management build-
ing, which opened this year, to meet
LEED gold certification standards.
When she joined Simmons in the late
1990s, Merrill-Sands started a campus
research institute to further engender
equality and leadership, called the Cen-
ter for Gender in Organization. In 2004,
she was named the dean of the School of
Management. She recently talked with
reporter Mary Moore.
What is your definition of a good day?
It’s when I have a very clear accom-
plishment, small or large, that reflects
the overall mission that I’m trying to
achieve at the school.
What is your biggest challenge?
The biggest challenge is getting people
to understand that profitability and
sustainability can go hand in hand and
can be mutually reinforcing. The para-
digm is changing and it’s changing a lot.
But we haven’t finished the paradigm
shift yet.
What’s the toughest thing you’ve had to
do?
In my profession, it’s laying off people.
But from a personal challenge point of
view, my early trips to eastern Africa,
when I was going into areas I knew
little about and in rural areas. Even
though I was trained across cultures
as an anthropologist, it was the tough-
est time. It turned out wonderful, but it
was a stretch. You don’t know what to
expect and what will happen.
Who is your mentor?
The most important mentor I had was
my first boss, Alexander Vonderausten.
He hired me right after completed my
Ph.D. and gave me a fabulous job in in-
ternational research study. He inspired
me to want to be in a leadership role in
an organization and to be in an orga-
nization that is in a startup mode and
turn it into something great.
Who would you most like to have dinner
with?
Hillary Clinton. I’ve admired her for
years since she was the first lady. I met
her briefly and I think she’s a remark-
able leader with such a breadth of ex-
perience and such clarity of thinking.
It would be an incredible privilege to
spend two hours with her.
What book is on your nightstand?
“The Kite Runner.” I love that book. It
opened some insights for me into that
world. I found the writing beautiful. I
found the analysis interesting. It really
is one of those books that allows you
to journey to another place in another
way.
What’s your favorite restaurant?
Stephi’s on Tremont.
HIGHLIGHTS ON
MERRILL-SANDS
Title: Dean of the School of Management,
Simmons College
Education: Bachelor’s degree, Hampshire
College, 1975; master’s degree in anthropol-
ogy, Cornell University, 1981; doctorate in
economic anthropology, 1984
Hometown: Orford, N.H.
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