Former Forbes magazine publisher named professor at ASU

Jeff Cunningham, the former publisher of Forbes magazine and founder of Directorship Magazine, is joining Arizona State University as a faculty member at the W. P. Carey School of Business and the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication.

Cunningham will serve as a professor of practice at both schools. He will focus on corporate governance, entrepreneurship and the business of news media.

“I am delighted that I will now be able to impart my experience as a CEO, publisher and board director to such pre-eminent institutions as the W. P. Carey School of Business and the Cronkite School,” Cunningham said.

Cunningham worked at Forbes for nearly 20 years and served as publisher from 1993 to 1998. During his tenure, the Delaney Report named him Publisher of the Year in 1995. In 2005, he launched Directorship Magazine and Directorship.com, the leading publication for corporate directors, which in 2010 was acquired by the National Association of Corporate Directors, where he is a senior adviser. Lord William Rees-Mogg, former editor of The Times of London, has described Cunningham as “one of the top media professionals in America.”

During his 40-year career, Cunningham also served as an adviser to many Fortune 500 CEOs and boards of directors on corporate governance, leadership and crisis management. In the boardroom, he has held numerous corporate directorships for technology and multinational firms, including Schindler of Switzerland, Data General, Bankrate and TheStreet.com.

“In addition to having his own extensive boardroom experience, Jeff Cunningham has also interviewed or profiled some of the biggest names in business, including Berkshire Hathaway’s Warren Buffett, Hewlett-Packard’s Meg Whitman and Goldman Sachs’ Lloyd Blankfein,” said Amy Hillman, dean of the W. P. Carey School of Business. “He understands some of the most important issues in business right now, and he will bring his real-world knowledge to our students.”

Cunningham was also a senior executive at McGraw Hill’s BusinessWeek, as well as a president of CMGI, an Internet venture capital incubator, where he served as CEO of digital media companies Zip2.com and Myway.com. Subsequently, he was appointed U.S. managing director of the venture capital firm Schroders, where he ran the Internet Finance Partners fund.

In the nonprofit sector, he has been a trustee of the Center for Strategic and International Studies and the Middle East Institute, as well as a special adviser to the Nobel Peace Prize Committee. He currently serves as a trustee for the McCain Institute.

Cunningham completed the Finance Executive Program at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School. He holds a bachelor’s degree in English and literature from Binghamton University of the State University of New York.

“Jeff’s leadership at Forbes and expertise in the business of journalism offer an extraordinary opportunity for our students, our school and the news media industry,” said Christopher Callahan, Cronkite School dean.