Wayne State accounting chair selected to participate in the Harvard Business School's Young American Leaders Program

Wayne State University’s Matthew X. Roling has been selected as one of 10 exceptional leaders from the Detroit region to participate in the Harvard Business School’s Young American Leaders Program for this year. Roling currently serves as interim chair of the Department of Accounting in WSU’s Mike ilitch School of Business.

“I was surprised and honored to be named one of the Harvard Business School’s Young American Leaders,” Roling said. “I’m excited to network and learn best practices from people in the business, academic and nonprofit world.”

The Young American Leaders Program aims to develop leaders who understand cross-sector collaborations for shared prosperity and can implement them more effectively and spread them more rapidly than in the past, according to the program’s website. 

This year’s participating cities are Birmingham, Boston, Chattanooga, Columbus, Detroit, Miami, Milwaukee, Minneapolis-Saint Paul, Nashville, Pittsburgh, Salt Lake City and Seattle. The program will take place from June 25-28 at the Harvard Business School in Boston.

For four intense days, the group will learn about cross-sector collaborations – best and worst practices from across the country and around the globe. Through case-method discussions and drawing on the experiences of the young leaders themselves, Harvard Business School faculty will bring insight into where America and American cities stand today, examples of innovative cross-sector collaborations that improve cities’ standing and personal lessons about collaborative leadership. 

“I look forward to being a part of this 2019 cohort and bringing back relationships to help the Mike Ilitch School of Business,” Roling said.

Matt Roling is a certified public accountant who joined the Ilitch School leadership team in 2018 with more than 15 years of professional experience. He most recently served as CEO of BoostUp, a savings platform that helps people reach their big purchase goals. Before joining BoostUp, Roling spent five years as director of business development at Rock Ventures. Previous stops included AlixPartners, PwC and GM.

He was named to the DBusiness “30 in their Thirties” list, and was recognized as a Crain’s Detroit Business “40 under 40.” Additionally, he serves as a board member for numerous organizations, including the Detroit Economic Growth Corporation’s Economic Development Board and the Downtown Boxing Gym Youth Program.

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