Humanities-infused leadership program begins second year
The aim of the program is for executives to build their leadership potential by studying history, religion, creative writing, and critical thinking.
They span the fields of real estate, public policy, social media, business, journalism, and technology.
They are entrepreneurs, tech gurus, social media mavens, and digital storytellers.
They live around the world, from India to the United Kingdom and Alaska to Colorado.
They are the second cohort in a Virginia Tech program that infuses the humanities with leadership education.
This week, eight participants in the Institute for Leadership in Technology will begin a nine-month executive program that offers both in-person and virtual courses in a variety of humanities and social science topics. They are gathering at Virginia Tech’s Blacksburg campus this week.
The program, which culminates in an executive leadership certificate, will feature virtual modules, independent writing, a winter immersion trip, and a spring celebration at Virginia Tech campuses in Northern Virginia.
The aim of the program is for executives to build their leadership potentials and purposes by studying history, religion, creative writing, critical thinking, and more. These aren’t the topics typically found in business leadership curriculums. Instead, the institute’s mission is based on the fact that many of the world’s top technology and business executives earned college degrees in the humanities, rather than in specific business or technology subjects.
“We learned last year that the humanities do indeed have a profound role to play in shaping the leadership potential, practice and purpose of rising stars in the technology landscape,” said Rishi Jaitly, founder of the institute and a professor of practice and distinguished humanities fellow at Virginia Tech. “I’m honored to build upon the success of our inaugural class to welcome such a passionate and promising class of 2025 from around the world.”
Jaitly himself is an entrepreneur who in the past held executive roles at Google and Twitter and presently is a senior advisor to OpenAI, an American artificial intelligence (AI) research organization.
The inaugural institute drew executives from Microsoft, Amazon, and Boeing, along with tech entrepreneurs.
Tim Kircher is a distinguished advisor for the institute and editor-in-chief of Humanities Watch, a website that promotes questions about humanities and its intersection with diverse fields.
The institute “affords fellows the opportunity to perceive a deeper dimension to their lives and their work,” he said. “I hope they will see the presence of the humanities in their lives as they read texts old and new, create their own stories, and hold lasting conversations with one another. They will find leadership in the humanities and the humanities in leadership.”
Read stories from last year’s fellows.
Meet the 2025 fellows:
- Sahra Ali, communications associate and writer with focus on diversity and inclusion, Alaska
- Sandeep Amar, digital professional and founder of PDLab, New Delhi, India
- Hemant Arora, TikTok, London
- Liza Bright-Watson, Gentry Locke, Roanoke
- Luis Duarte, co-founder and CEO of Amoofy, Denver, Colorado
- Rhydhi Gupta, analyst at The Quantum Hub, New Delhi, India
- Pamposh Raina, journalist and head of the Deepfakes Analysis Unit, New Delhi, India
- Malcolm Westbrook, founder and CEO of Mable Software, Arlington, Virginia
