Karen Hebert-Maccaro Named CEO of Babson Executive Education

Karen Herbert-Maccaro
Listen

Accomplished practitioner, educator, and thought-leader Karen Hebert-Maccaro has been named the CEO of Babson Executive Education.

Over the course of her career in industry and academia, Hebert-Maccaro has developed extensive expertise in the areas of talent management, leadership development, influence and change management, and innovative pedagogical design. Most recently, she held leadership roles in learning product and content development, talent management and learning and development in the media, healthcare technology, and biotech industries. She earned her PhD from Boston College, her EdM from Boston University, and her BA from the University of Massachusetts.

“Whether it’s been individually teaching or coaching a small group or in a one-on-one setting, or whether it’s been in roles where I think about an entire organization, I’ve been committed to this notion of helping individuals and organizations grow over my entire career,” she said. “I can’t think of a better place to continue with that work than within the context of Babson Executive Education.”

“Higher education, and executive education in particular, are undergoing significant disruption,” said Provost Mark Rice. “Karen’s experience and skillset make her an excellent fit to lead Babson Executive Education as CEO. She is a creative, innovative, and entrepreneurial leader with a track record of successfully managing turnarounds.”

Prior to her corporate roles, Hebert-Maccaro spent 15 years in academia and independent consulting, including at Babson’s F.W. Olin Graduate School of Business.

“I’m thrilled to be returning to Babson to lead executive education after nearly a decade in other academic and industry posts,” said Hebert-Maccaro. “I believe Babson is in a uniquely powerful position to bring the skills of entrepreneurial leadership and adaptability to a workforce who need it more than ever before.”

Performance Adjacent Learning

As a certified executive coach, Hebert-Maccaro has spent many years coaching mid- and senior-level leaders inside organizations across different industry verticals. From that experience and her time designing learning products and programs for corporations and individuals, she has come to believe that learning itself has evolved—and the professional development industry must evolve along with it.

“Learning is no longer solely programmatic or event-based. It’s become what I call performance adjacent,” she said, defining performance adjacent as within the workflow itself, not solely confined within classroom walls. “It’s learning what you need to know, when you need to know it—and technology has made it possible for learning to be truly ubiquitous. Learning can and should happen all the time, continuously adjacent to work itself to support the individual and the organization.”

She aims to bring those lessons to the corporate executives and entrepreneurs who turn to Babson Executive Education for help developing an entrepreneurial mindset to address challenges and identify opportunities for future breakthrough growth.

“The opportunity to build upon Babson’s already strong foundation of excellence in professional development is exciting,” she said. “This is especially true at this point in time, when lifelong learning is no longer a nice-to-have but is now a need-to-have for the success of an individual’s career and for the success of the organizations in which they work.”

“There is real opportunity to take all of the capability inherent in Babson and bring it to the world in new ways. I want to be part of that.”

Posted in Community

More from Community »

Latest Stories

Three photos in a side-by-side collage depict Michael Kopelman coaching, Brady Anderson in action, and the doubles team celebrating
Courting Success: How Babson Tennis Teams Transformed into National Powerhouses With championships and top-tier recruiting classes, Babson Director of Tennis Michael Kopelman has overseen the transformation of the men’s and women’s programs into national powerhouses.
By
Scott Dietz
Writer
Scott Dietz
Scott Dietz is Babson College's Associate Athletic Director for Strategic Communications. Dietz is responsible for the department's internal and external communications, including branding, campus engagement, marketing, social media, sponsorships and website management. Additional duties consist of event coverage, facilitation of interview requests, media pitching, video content, writing and editing. Before Babson, Dietz spent 13-plus years at fellow NEWMAC institution Wheaton College, worked for the NFL, New England Patriots, and in the media relations department with the NBA's Cleveland Cavaliers. A native of South Park, PA, Dietz began his sports information career at Westminster College.
September 2, 2025

Posted in Community

Babson Build students from HBCUs participate in an exercise in the Weissman Foundry
An Entrepreneurial Summer: How Babson Impacts Communities Year-Round The school year may be over, but Babson’s work of educating entrepreneurial leaders doesn’t stop. In the summer, many entrepreneurs, educators, and leaders descend on campus. They come from around the globe to connect and to learn. What they take away from the College can impact their companies, their classrooms, and their communities.
By
John Crawford
Senior Journalist
John Crawford
A writer for Babson Thought & Action and the Babson Magazine, John Crawford has been telling the College’s entrepreneurial story for more than 15 years. Assignments for Babson have taken him from Rwanda to El Salvador, from the sweet-smelling factory of a Pennsylvania candy maker, to the stately Atlanta headquarters of an NFL owner, to the bustling office of a New York City fashion designer. Beyond his work for Babson, he has written articles and essays for The Philadelphia Inquirer, Notre Dame Magazine, The Good Men Project, and other publications. He can be found on Twitter, @crawfordwriter, where he tweets about climate change.
August 29, 2025

Posted in Community, Entrepreneurial Leadership

Juan “JC” Grullon ’27 and Ty Bradford ’29 shake hands outside Publishers Hall
Publishers Hall Welcomes First-Year Students to Its Cozy Confines During move-in day, a new crop of first-year students made Publishers Hall their home. The small residence hall, built over a century ago, is known for the tight-knit communities that form there.
By
John Crawford
Senior Journalist
John Crawford
A writer for Babson Thought & Action and the Babson Magazine, John Crawford has been telling the College’s entrepreneurial story for more than 15 years. Assignments for Babson have taken him from Rwanda to El Salvador, from the sweet-smelling factory of a Pennsylvania candy maker, to the stately Atlanta headquarters of an NFL owner, to the bustling office of a New York City fashion designer. Beyond his work for Babson, he has written articles and essays for The Philadelphia Inquirer, Notre Dame Magazine, The Good Men Project, and other publications. He can be found on Twitter, @crawfordwriter, where he tweets about climate change.
August 28, 2025

Posted in Community