Stephen Spinelli Jr., PhD, MBA’92
President
Babson College

Stephen Spinelli Jr., PhD, MBA’92 is Babson College’s 14th president. A successful entrepreneur, academic leader, and scholar, Dr. Spinelli assumed the role of President in July 2019, guiding the College through its centennial year and into its second century.

A lifelong entrepreneur, Dr. Spinelli has spent his career at the intersection of academia, business, and philanthropy. He co-founded Jiffy Lube International and was chairman and CEO of the American Oil Change Corporation, helping to pioneer the quick-lube industry nationwide and turning Jiffy Lube into the nation’s dominant competitor with more than 1,000 service centers.

As a long-standing member of the Babson community, Dr. Spinelli spent 14 years of his career as a member of the College’s faculty, vice provost for entrepreneurship and global management, and director of The Arthur M. Blank Center for Entrepreneurship. During his tenure at Babson, Dr. Spinelli played a number of critical and influential roles. He was an influential member of both the President’s Cabinet and the Academic Council, as well as chair of the entrepreneurship
task force that contributed significantly to the College’s strategic plan. He led the charge to maintain Babson’s No. 1 ranking for entrepreneurship in U.S. News & World Report and to achieve, for the first time, the No. 1 ranking for entrepreneurship in Financial Times in 2006 (repeating in 2007). In 2011, Dr. Spinelli was inducted into Babson’s Alumni Entrepreneur Hall
of Fame. As vice provost, Dr. Spinelli was instrumental in strengthening and growing important initiatives including the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM), the world’s largest collaborative research project studying entrepreneurship; the Entrepreneurship Intensity Track curriculum; Rocket Pitch and in doubling the entrepreneurship faculty. He also was responsible for expanding the Symposium for Entrepreneurship Educators (SEE) to an international program.