John Farrell

John Farrell is a senior advisor with significant leadership and hands-on operations experience in higher education and management consulting.  For over twelve years, he has led the management and development of graduate business programs, overseeing curricular innovation, program administration, business operations, marketing, corporate-university partnerships, recruiting, and assessment.

Recently, at two AACSB-Accredited universities, he led: the implementation of fully online MBA and Master of Accountancy (MAcc) programs; the curricular reengineering of an MBA program; and the preparation of a business school’s AACSB accreditation report. In addition to having led Rider University’s nationally ranked undergraduate leadership program, he taught, at both the graduate and undergraduate levels, courses in International Management, Personal Financial Planning and Managerial Thinking and Decision Making, the latter of which he designed.

Prior to joining Carl Marks Advisors, Mr. Farrell was the COO of Ernst & Young Consulting, Italy, the Managing Director of E&Y’s Middle Market Consulting in the New York Region and the Managing Partner for Unisys Corporations’ Commercial Industries Consulting and Systems practice in Europe.  As a management consultant, he has specialized in business strategy, operations reengineering and company transformation for a range of businesses, governmental organizations and nonprofits.  He has led major change initiatives with corporations such as Whirlpool, Xerox, Georgia Pacific, MCA Music Publishing, Fidelity Funds and Eaton Corporation and nonprofit organizations including the Associated Press, the Library of Congress, and several scientific agencies of the U.S. Government.

He has been a board member, executive and consultant for start-up education companies, including serving as the interim CEO of Competitive Collaboration, a University of Penn Center for Innovation company. He has served on the Board of Education for the West Windsor-Plainsboro School District, and through the SCORE organization serves as a mentor and advisor for start-up businesses in the Princeton area.

Mr. Farrell earned a BA in economics from the University of Notre Dame and an MBA from the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania.