David De Cremer is Installed as the Dunton Family Dean

At a ceremony on Northeastern’s Boston campus, David De Cremer, a behavioral scientist, educator, researcher, and author, was formally installed as the second Dunton Family Dean of the D’Amore-McKim School of Business. The university’s first-ever deanship, the position was endowed in 2016 by the late Gary Dunton, DMSB’78, and his wife, Lea Anne.

“I stand before you today with a heart filled with profound gratitude and humility,” De Cremer said during the event.

“I feel committed to uphold the values and standards of excellence of our beautiful institution,” De Cremer continued. “Together I hope we can work tirelessly to fulfill the promise and the potential of the Dunton Family Deanship.”

De Cremer came to Northeastern in July from the National University of Singapore, where he was the provost chair and professor of management and organization in the Business School. He is also the founder and director of the Center on AI Technology for Humankind.

De Cremer’s research and teaching focuses on human behavior in organizations, specifically on the theme of leading organizational change and the use of emerging technologies to drive digital transformation.

He also champions the necessity for interdisciplinary approaches to understand more deeply the drivers of innovation, trust and justice to positively impact industry and society. 

“I don’t need to say why Northeastern is the perfect place for me,” De Cremer said, laughing, after describing his interest in furthering interdisciplinary scholarship.

The D’Amore-McKim School of Business is named after graduates Richard D’Amore and Alan McKim, whose $60 million philanthropic investment created the university’s first named college or school in 2012.

Both D’Amore and McKim were in the audience, as were Lea Anne Dunton and members of the Dunton family.

Today, the D’Amore-McKim School of Business includes 4,779 undergraduate students, 1,418 graduate students and 205 faculty members, as well as over 600 co-op partners in nearly 60 countries and 110 cities around the world. 

Aoun concluded the ceremony by telling De Cremer he had a great responsibility to fulfill. 

“The way to do it is to allow our students, our faculty to shine and to continue to engage the family,” Aoun said. “It’s not going to be easy for you to do it, but we want you to do it. Do it for Gary.”