Jeffrey R. Beard is an American

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business. Management includes the activities o ...

. He was appointed to become

director-general A director general or director-general (plural: ''directors general'', ''directors-general'', ''director generals'' or ''director-generals'' ) or general director is a senior executive officer, often the chief executive officer, within a government ...

of the

International Baccalaureate The International Baccalaureate (IB), formerly known as the International Baccalaureate Organization (IBO), is a nonprofit foundation headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, and founded in 1968. It offers four educational programmes: the IB Dip ...

(IB), based in Geneva, Switzerland, starting on 1 January 2006, following the retirement of the previous director-general,

George Walker George Walker may refer to: Arts and letters * George Walker (chess player) (1803–1879), English chess player and writer *George Walker (composer) (1922–2018), American composer * George Walker (illustrator) (1781–1856), author of ''The Co ...

. Beard was born in

Akron, Ohio Akron () is the fifth-largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio and is the county seat of Summit County, Ohio, Summit County. It is located on the western edge of the Glaciated Allegheny Plateau, about south of downtown Cleveland. As of the 2020 C ...

in 1950 and attended Ellet High School. He then went on to study at the US Naval Academy, graduating in 1972 with a

Bachelor of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University of ...

degree Degree may refer to: As a unit of measurement * Degree (angle), a unit of angle measurement ** Degree of geographical latitude ** Degree of geographical longitude * Degree symbol (°), a notation used in science, engineering, and mathematics ...

in Analytical Management. He also holds an

MBA A Master of Business Administration (MBA; also Master's in Business Administration) is a postgraduate degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration such as accounti ...

from the

University of Wisconsin–Oshkosh The University of Wisconsin Oshkosh (UW Oshkosh or UW Osh) is a public university in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. It is part of the University of Wisconsin System and offers bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degree programs to nearly 14,000 students ea ...

and an MS from Iowa State University. Most recently, Beard worked as division president and

Chief Operating Officer A chief operating officer or chief operations officer, also called a COO, is one of the highest-ranking executive positions in an organization, composing part of the "C-suite". The COO is usually the second-in-command at the firm, especially if t ...

Seeds for Syngenta AG, a

Swiss Swiss may refer to: * the adjectival form of Switzerland * Swiss people Places * Swiss, Missouri * Swiss, North Carolina *Swiss, West Virginia * Swiss, Wisconsin Other uses *Swiss-system tournament, in various games and sports *Swiss Internation ...

agribusiness Agribusiness is the industry, enterprises, and the field of study of value chains in agriculture and in the bio-economy, in which case it is also called bio-business or bio-enterprise. The primary goal of agribusiness is to maximize profit w ...

based in

Basel , french: link=no, Bâlois(e), it, Basilese , neighboring_municipalities= Allschwil (BL), Hégenheim (FR-68), Binningen (BL), Birsfelden (BL), Bottmingen (BL), Huningue (FR-68), Münchenstein (BL), Muttenz (BL), Reinach (BL), Riehen (BS ...

. He has also served as an officer in the US Navy (Groton, CT; Brawdy, Wales, UK) and worked for Procter and Gamble (paper products: Mehoopany, PA; Green Bay, WI) and Pioneer Hi-Bred, Int'l (Johnston, IA, USA; Paris, France; Parndorf, Austria). Beard gave a speech at

Chautauqua Institution The Chautauqua Institution ( ) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit education center and summer resort for adults and youth located on in Chautauqua, New York, northwest of Jamestown in the Western Southern Tier of New York State. Established in 1874, the ...

in August 2010 on reforming education. Chautauqua Institution officials later discovered the speech was not Beard's original work, as it drew heavily upon a speech given earlier in the year by

Sir Ken Robinson Sir Ken Robinson (4 March 1950 – 21 August 2020) was a British author, speaker and international advisor on education in the arts to government, non-profits, education and arts bodies. He was director of the Arts in Schools Project (1985 ...

at a

TED conference TED Conferences, LLC (Technology, Entertainment, Design) is an American-Canadian non-profit media organization that posts international talks online for free distribution under the slogan "ideas worth spreading". TED was founded by Richard Sau ...

. According to a letter printed in the Chautauquan Daily, Beard used "identical quotes, phrasing and even anecdotes." The Institution issued an apology to those who attended the talk, saying "Beard's behavior in this matter is not characteristic of the work done here at Chautauqua and violates the expectations you should have for that work. We acknowledge to you our genuine disappointment in this event." Beard's explanation was that he had not intended to pass off the work he quoted as his own, but acknowledged that he could and should have made it more obvious that he was citing the work of others, most particularly Sir Ken Robinson, whom he admires greatly and quotes frequently. Staff at the IBO were surprised by the incident, as Beard is generally well-regarded and known for his honesty and integrity throughout his life and career. After his term at IB, Beard was hired in 2014 by

GEMS Education GEMS Education, founded as Global Education Management Systems (GEMS), is an Indian Emirati-based education company. It is a global advisory and educational management firm, and is the largest operator of kindergarten-to-grade-12 schools in th ...

to lead the development and innovation of its education programmes. He also provides academic consultancy services. Beard has been married since 1972 to wife Cecily, and has 2 children: Lindsay (born in 1977 in Haverfordwest, Wales, UK) and Andrew (born 1980 in Pennsylvania). Both Lindsay and Andrew completed the International Baccalaureate program at the Vienna International School in the 1990s. Lindsay now lives in Wales with her 4 children and is an executive manager. Andrew (who also attended the US Naval Academy) is a LTCDR in the US Navy, and a qualified pilot and lives in Virginia with his wife and 2 children.

References

External links

*https://web.archive.org/web/20101124223157/http://ibo.org/dg/ {{DEFAULTSORT:Beard, Jeffrey International Baccalaureate Living people Year of birth missing (living people) United States Naval Academy alumni American chief operating officers University of Wisconsin–Oshkosh alumni