JD Schramm's Biography

JD Schramm combines over 20 years of professional training and development experience with his personal expertise in Management Communication to design and deliver a variety of highly interactive courses for MBA students at Stanford University. A seasoned communicator and experienced entrepreneur his courses blend the theoretical and practical aspects of effective communication.

In 2012 Schramm completed his Doctorate of Education (Ed.D.) through the Executive Doctorate Program in Higher Education at the University of Pennsylvania. His dissertation focused on the study of curricular innovation within MBA programs comparing established innovations at MIT and Tulane with an emerging innovation at NYU. His work revealed a nine-point framework indicating what schools of management should strive to be, do and have in order to foster and sustain curricular innovation.

Schramm serves as a full-time lecturer in Organizational Behavior and as founding director of the Mastery in Communication Initiative. His current dual role at Stanford’s GSB allows him to pursue both of his professional passions: teaching communication courses while also creating and leading innovative academic programs.

JD Schramm joined the GSB faculty in the fall of 2007 to create and launch communication courses as part of the new GSB curriculum. He teaches courses in Strategic Communication, Executive Communication (Sloan only), Communication Strategies for Scholars (PhD only), and Entrepreneurial Communication (Undergraduate only). He actively coaches students and has had his protégés present at the Aspen Ideas Festival, TED events around the globe, and up and down Sand Hill road.

He leads a team of communication coaches who work with all first year MBA students in courses including Critical Analytical Thinking (CAT), Managing in the Global Context, Ethics in Management, Strategic Leadership, Managerial Skills, and Organizational Behavior. In 2009 he led the development and launch of the Mastery Initiative to support GSB students at all levels of expertise improve their mastery of speaking and writing. More than forty professional communication coaches and seminar leaders work with GSB students in this initiative. In 2012, working alongside colleagues in the Center for Leadership Development and Research he co-founded the LOWKeynotes program where students create and deliver inspiring talks to enroll others in their vision to change lives, organizations, and the world.

Professor Schramm graduated with his MBA from the Stern School of Business at New York University in 2002 and was immediately appointed to the NYU faculty. During his five years there he rose from adjunct to assistant to associate professor teaching courses in strategy, organizational communication, management communication, and teamwork. Consistently ranked in the top tier on student evaluations Schramm taught the full spectrum of the Stern students from undergraduate to MBA to Executive MBA.

Beyond the classroom Dr. Schramm is an active leader of LGBT efforts within schools of management. He serves on the board of the Out for Undergraduate Business Conference and advises the Out for Undergraduate Technology Conference. Through his years of involvement in Reaching Out MBA he has led the development of a rich library of MBA teaching cases on a wide variety of LGBT topics used by business faculty throughout the world. He and his husband Rev. Ken Daigle make their home in San Francisco and New York City.