Former Fortune 100 Business President Delivers Keynote Address
Two highly respected leaders with decades of experience shared insightful professional and personal advice during the 2025 Doctor of Business Administration (DBA) Residency, held May 7–10, 2025, at Northwood University’s Richard DeVos Graduate School of Management.
Mauro Gregorio, retired President of Performance Materials & Coatings for Dow and current board director for Eagle Materials and Radius Recycling, provided the residency’s keynote address. Additionally, the residency featured a session with motivational speaker Dr. Fadi Baradihi, a nationally certified executive coach and founder of Baradihi Business Performance.
“These speakers significantly enriched the experience for our DBA students,” stated Dr. Lisa Fairbairn, Assistant Vice President and Dean of the DeVos Graduate School of Management. “We are proud to be able to offer doctoral students direct access to the insights of a Fortune 100 executive and a nationally recognized executive coach. Mauro Gregorio and Dr. Fadi Baradihi brought extraordinary depth and perspective to this year’s program, offering our students invaluable lessons in global leadership, strategic transformation, and personal excellence.”
The annual DBA residency convenes all doctoral students enrolled in Northwood University’s DBA program for a four-day academic immersion on the Midland campus. The residency agenda includes workshops, panels, presentations, poster sessions, networking, demonstrations, speakers, research activities, assessments, and social events.
“Alumni and faculty plan, organize, coordinate, and facilitate the sessions,” explained Director of Graduate Programs Kennedy Cripps. “Alumni of the program are extremely involved in formulating the agenda and executing the sessions, which is a unique spin on a traditional residency. But our students always have good feedback, as they appreciate hearing from people who just completed the degree they are currently working on.”
Feedback from this year’s residency appreciated the caliber of speakers, particularly the keynote provided by Gregorio and the session led by Dr. Baradihi.
With a global career spanning more than 40 years, Mauro Gregorio led Dow’s $10 billion Performance Materials and Coatings Division, spearheaded international M&A deals, and served on both corporate and nonprofit boards. No stranger to Northwood, Gregorio earned his MBA from the DeVos Graduate School.
As a certified business coach based in Michigan, Dr. Baradihi uses his several decades of business experience in diverse industries to help business owners and executives bring out their best through education, mentoring, mindset, and accountability using a positivist approach. Dr. Baradihi also earned his MBA from the DeVos Graduate School.
Launched in 2020 and designed for working professionals, Northwood University’s DBA program is a natural next step for those with a master’s degree in a business-related field who want to enhance their knowledge and expertise to transform themselves into better problem-solvers, business leaders, and scholar-practitioners.
To learn more about Northwood University’s Doctor of Business Administration program, visit https://devos.northwood.edu/graduate-programs/doctor-business-administration/.
