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Jeffrey Sonnenfeld

American academic

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Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionJul 26, 2026
Entity authorityQ6176288 ↗
Source-derived summary

Jeffrey A. Sonnenfeld (born 1 April 1954) is an American academic with a speciality in studying business leadership and management. He is the Lester Crown Professor in the Practice of Management at Yale School of Management, and Senior Associate Dean for Leadership Studies. Sonnenfeld is best known as the founder and CEO of Chief Executive Leadership Institute (CELI), affiliated with Yale University.

Sonnenfeld is known for convening Yale's semi-annual CEO Summits, which have drawn thousands of CEOs from across decades for off-the-record peer-to-peer conversations. In his personal capacity, he has informally advised thousands of CEOs as well as multiple U.S. presidents and nominees from both parties, including Joseph Biden, Donald Trump, Bill Clinton, and George H. W. Bush as a conduit between top business and political leaders. He is the first academician to have rung the opening bells of both the New York Stock Exchange and the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, having done so 10 times. Sonnenfeld is a member of the board of Lennar, the leading American homebuilder, as well as IEX, Atlas Merchant Capital, and the Ellis Island Honor Society. Sonnenfeld was appointed by Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont to serve as co-chair of Advance CT, where he currently leads the state’s economic development, including attracting and retaining leading global businesses and developing the state’s workforce.

Biography

Early life

Born in Philadelphia on April 1, 1954, to Jewish parents, Jeffrey Sonnenfeld is the son of Burton Sonnenfeld, a men's clothing retailer, and Rochelle Sonnenfeld, a healthcare and community leader. Sonnenfeld's mother, Rochelle, originally immigrated to the United States from the former Russian Empire in the 1920s.

Editorial summary

The public source identifies “Jeffrey Sonnenfeld” as american academic. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Jeffrey, Sonnenfeld and American.

Editorial reviewA dependable orientation record for establishing vocabulary, names and a first evidence trail. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1954—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1954-04-01. Its value is orientation rather than verdict, with Jeffrey, Sonnenfeld and American providing the first useful test.
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A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Jeffrey Sonnenfeld”, the useful work is to connect “american academic” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.

Evidence profile

Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 26, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q6176288. VIAF identifies the subject as 110112630. The Library of Congress control number is n81066994. 2 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1954.

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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “Jeffrey Sonnenfeld” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.