On May 8, 2026, St. Mary’s University organized a training session at its Main Campus, spearheaded by the Business and Economics Faculty in collaboration with the Office of the Vice President for Research, Community Engagement, and Communication. The event was opened by Misganaw Solomon, Ph.D., Vice President for Research, Community Engagement, and Communication Office.
The keynote presentation was delivered by Dereje Befekadu Tessema, PhD, a distinguished scholar-practitioner and acclaimed author of Building Sustainable Organizations and Nations in the AI Era. Drawing on his extensive research and professional practice, Dr. Tessema offered a thought-provoking lecture that was carefully structured around major thematic areas central to his intellectual contributions. His discourse contextualized these themes within the academic and institutional framework of St. Mary’s University, highlighting the intersection of theory and practice in shaping sustainable organizational and national development in the age of artificial intelligence.
The training was organized around four central themes. Dr. Dereje began by addressing transformation in complex and regulated environments, illustrating how institutions can merge academic rigor with practical execution to build lasting capabilities. He then turned to agility as a driver of resilience, showing how Agile coaching and systems thinking empower organizations to adapt swiftly to change. The third theme emphasized customer-centric leadership, underscoring the need to embed empathy and responsiveness into leadership practices to achieve sustainable impact. Finally, he explored AI-enabled transformation, demonstrating how artificial intelligence can be leveraged to strengthen strategy, sustainability, and national development
The presentation was followed by an interactive discussion, where participants reflected on the applicability of these frameworks to Ethiopia’s evolving institutional and economic landscape. Faculty members and staffs shared perspectives on how systems thinking and agile approaches could be localized to drive sustainable transformation.
The session concluded with a collective commitment to continue fostering knowledge exchange between academia and practice. St. Mary’s University reaffirmed its dedication to organizing similar engagements that empower leaders, scholars, and practitioners to shape a sustainable future in the AI era.
Dr. Dereje Befekadu Tessema is a distinguished scholar-practitioner, Agile and organizational transformation coach, and global leadership advisor. He holds dual PhDs and brings more than two decades of experience across higher education, financial services, consulting, and international development. He currently serves as an Adjunct Professor at Georgetown University, where he teaches graduate-level courses while advising executives, banks, and institutions on strategic planning, leadership development, and enterprise transformation. Known for his ability to translate theory into practice, he combines Agile coaching, systems thinking, and executive education to help organizations build durable capabilities and achieve sustainable impact. He is also the author of Building Sustainable Organizations and Nations in the AI Era, where he introduces proprietary frameworks for transformation, intelligence, agility, and customer-centric leadership in complex and regulated environments.
Recent Comments