Jonathan Fortescue conducts leadership searches for clients who are creating new knowledge or working to shape the world, including research universities, liberal arts colleges, venture-backed life science companies, and not-for-profit organizations.

Prior to his career in executive search, Jonathan taught at Harvard for eleven years, first in the English department, where he was a perennial recipient of Derek Bok Distinguished Teaching Awards, and then in History and Literature where he won the Alan Heimert Teaching Prize. A scholar of American literature and culture, he wrote the introductions to and the literary chronologies for three of the eight volumes of the Cambridge History of American Literature. He was graduated with honors from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst with degrees in English and in Linguistics. A recipient of an Andrew W. Mellon Fellowship of the Humanities in 1989, he earned his M.A. and Ph.D. in English and American Literature and Language from Harvard University.

Jonathan is an avid runner with a personal best marathon time of 2:39:27. As he would almost always prefer to be outside than inside, he's also an organic gardener, a dangerous-enough alpine skier, and a neophyte sailor. He lives in Wellesley, Massachusetts.

HIGHER EDUCATION

American Academy of Arts & Sciences
Chief Operating Officer

Arizona State University
Dean, Herberger College of Fine Arts
Director, School of Music
Director, School of Art
Dean, College of Design

Berklee College of Music
Chief Financial Officer (ongoing)

Boston University
Dean, School of Law
Executive Director, Fraunhofer Alliance

Colorado College
Athletic Director

Columbia University
Executive Director, Clinical Trials Office
Executive Director, Sponsored Projects Administration

Duke University
President, Translational Research Institute

Emory University
Dean, Graduate School of Arts and Sciences
Vice Provost for Academic Initiatives & Deputy Provost
Vice Provost and Director of Libraries
Executive Director, MARBL (Manuscript, Archive and Rare Book Library)

Georgia Tech
Dean, College of Architecture

Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Allied Health Sciences
Dean, School of Nursing
Dean, School of Dental Hygiene

Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Director, MIT Media Lab
Head, Department of Athletics, PE, and Recreation

Mercy College
Provost
Director, Enrollment Services

Nantucket Atheneum
Executive Director

Rice University
Dean, Social Sciences
Dean, School of Architecture

Scottsdale Cultural Council
Chief Executive Officer

University of Chicago
Associate Vice President, Federal Relations

University of Michigan
Provost & Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs
Dean, Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy
Dean, School of Social Work
Director, University of Michigan Press
Executive Director, Michigan Memorial Phoenix Energy Institute
Executive Director, Inter-University Consortium for Political and Social Science

University of Washington
Dean, College of Architecture and Urban Planning

Wenner-Gren Foundation
President


LIFE SCIENCES

Diagnostics for All
Chief Executive Officer

Medicine in Need
Chief Executive Officer

SingHealth
Member, Scientific Advisory Board

TB Alliance
Senior Vice President for External Affairs

Zelos Therapeutics
Chief Financial Officer

Zosano Pharma
Chief Financial Officer


FINANCIAL SERVICES & PRIVATE EQUITY

Fidelity Investments
Executive Vice President, Tax
Executive Vice President, Government Relations & Public Policy
Senior Vice President, Finance and Operations, Capital Markets
Senior Vice President, Compliance, Institutional Investment Services
Senior Vice President, Financial Accounting Services

Devonshire Investors (Private Equity)
Chief Executive Officer, Boston Coach
Chief Executive Officer, Seaport Hotel & World Trade Center

1. What would you say is the top attribute that makes J. Robert Scott more effective than other senior level search companies?

Our honesty. A close second would be our tenacity.

2. What was one of your most challenging searches?

Every search presents challenges. A memorably unusual end to a search was that for the Head of a School of Art at a large research university. We had worked hard to identify individuals on the verge of breaking out in their careers. Unfortunately, we weren’t the only ones doing so. One finalist won a McArthur Grant on the eve of our making an offer and another received a counter-offer in the form of an enhanced research institute with six new faculty lines. We had continued to source for other possible candidates and found a perfect individual who had only one flaw: she was on sabbatical in China for a year. There were other candidates but it was clear that she was a perfect fit for the School and its needs. Our client felt the same way and was willing to wait.

3. What city would you most like to be lost in?

Salvador, Brazil. A policeman there once helped me drive the wrong way down a six-lane wide avenue by stepping in front of the oncoming stream of traffic. I was looking for a bookstore that was in an alley off the avenue and this seemed to be the only way to get there.

4. When do you know that you have found the right candidate for your clients?

Many candidates will be a match on paper and some of those will interview well. In the end, intuition plays a large role as well. Recent advances in neurology have revealed how richly the brain is wired for rendering different kinds judgments. (For example, there are single neurons that specialize in facial recognition alone.) The best search consultants have honed the skill of discerning interpersonal fit. That said, the objective must correlate the subjective. I tell my team as well as my clients that "everything is data." You can learn crucial information about candidates by the way they treat the mundane tasks of search such as arranging their travel or the promptness and clarity of their communication.

5. What book that you’ve recently read has made a lasting impression?

Philip Roth’s Patrimony. I started it in Terminal 3 at O’Hare and finished it just as my plane was touching down in Boston. It’s the best book on death and dying I’ve ever read.