Malcolm Salter has been a member of the Harvard Business School faculty since 1967. His teaching and research focus on issues of corporate strategy, organization, and governance.
In addition to teaching at HBS, he has held faculty positions at the Harvard Law School and the Kennedy School of Government.
Professor Salter is author of Innovation Corrupted (Harvard University Press, 2008), which addresses the origins and legacy of Enron’s collapse; co-author and project director of Changing Alliances (HBS Press, 1987), a study of business-government-labor relations the world auto industry; co-author of Diversification through Acquisition (Free Press, 1979), a study of how real economic value can be created or destroyed through corporate diversification; and the author of many articles and papers addressing issues of corporate purpose; competitive strategy; and the coordination, control, and management of organizations.
In addition to his scholarly activities, Professor Salter served as Senior Associate Dean for External Relations from 2003 to 2006. He also served as Chairman of the Advanced Management Program and Chairman of the General Management Area (a section of the faculty encompassing the subject areas of general management, entrepreneurial management, and international management).
From 1986 to 2006, Professor Salter was also president of Mars & Co., a strategy consulting firm with offices in Greenwich (CT), London, Paris, San Francisco, Tokyo, and Shanghai. He is also a former Overseer of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, a former Trustee and Director of the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, a past Overseer of the Boston Museum of Fine Arts and the Rose Art Museum at Brandeis University, a former Trustee and Treasurer of the Shady Hill School, and a past director of Schlegel Corporation and Christie's, the London-based auction house. He currently serves as a founding director of four bioscience firms: C4T Therapeutics, NextRNA, AI Proteins, and Dynamic Cell Therapies.
Active in civic affairs at both the municipal and state levels of government, Professor Salter served as Chair of Newton’s (MA) Citizen Advisory Group in 2008-2009, which was charged with developing a new financial and governance model for this city of 85,000 residents and thirteen villages. During 2020 – 2022, he was Chair of Danielle Allen’s bid for the governorship of Massachusetts. He currently serves as Treasurer and founding Board Member of Partners in Democracy, a non-profit committed to building a stronger democracy.
Professor Salter is a graduate of Harvard University where he received his AB, MBA, and DBA degrees.