James M. Danko Biography
James M. Danko became the 21st president of Butler University in
2011.
He is an innovator at heart and in experience. Prior to his
academic career, President Danko was a successful entrepreneur in
his hometown of Cleveland, Ohio, for nearly two decades. At age 19,
he founded a medical equipment company, which he later expanded
into a multi-location health-care and fitness equipment
provider.
President Danko has taught entrepreneurship and served in
leadership roles at the University of North Carolina at Chapel
Hill, Babson College, and the University of Michigan. In his role
as director of MBA program innovations at Michigan, he worked to
link theory with practice in creative new ways. During President
Danko's time there, Michigan's MBA program earned international
recognition for pioneering a significant shift in business
pedagogy.
President Danko also brought his transformational leadership
approach to the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College, where
he served as associate dean, and to the Villanova School of
Business, where he served as dean. During his Villanova tenure,
financial gifts to the school increased nearly five-fold, enabling
it to implement efforts including a new curriculum, a comprehensive
student-services wing, and research centers focused on real estate,
innovation, and analytics. In addition, the school jumped from
regional recognition to being ranked by BusinessWeek as #7 in the
nation.
Throughout the first year of his Butler presidency, President
Danko met with thousands of community members, encouraged them to
imagine the Butler University of the future, and asked them to
share their ideas to advance creativity and innovation on campus.
In addition, he established the Butler Innovation Fund, a
competitive vehicle through which the ideas of Butler community
members can be fast-tracked and matched with the start-up resources
they need.
With broad stakeholder support, President Danko has led a number
of institutional changes, including the University's athletic
transition from the Horizon League to the Atlantic 10 Conference in
2012. Butler has also become a signatory of the American College
and University Presidents' Climate Commitment, joining nearly 700
other schools in the effort to achieve net climate neutrality.
President Danko is particularly focused on Butler's need to
develop innovative strategies to address the disruptive forces in
higher education worldwide. To that end, he has initiated the
development of a new shared strategic vision for Butler University
so that a bold, collective approach to Butler's continued success
over the next 15 years may emerge. The vision will be implemented
through a set of action steps that are informed and refined by the
campus community.
A foundational element of President Danko's leadership is his
empowered-college approach, which encourages each college to
develop and advance curricula, support faculty success, connect
students with opportunities, and develop academic programs of
interest and relevance for the common good of the University.
Meanwhile, the central administration is charged with supporting
Butler's academic mission, faculty, and students.
President Danko has been an active participant in the global
dialogue on higher education, having served as a founding board
member and as president of the MBA Roundtable, a consortium focused
on curricular innovation, and as a member of the international
board of the Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC). He also
has a strong interest in minority business education, and has
worked with political and corporate leaders to strengthen program
opportunities for minority business owners.
President Danko received his bachelor's degree in religious
studies from John Carroll University and his master of business
administration with high honors from the University of
Michigan.
President Danko has two daughters, Melanie and Meredith. He is
married to Bethanie Danko, a writer and editor. She serves on the
board of directors of Indy Reads, which provides free literacy
tutoring to adults in Central Indiana.
President and Mrs. Danko live on the Butler campus in the
historic Carter House and frequently open their home to students
for dinners and casual conversation.