Contributor

David Steele-Figueredo

President of Woodbury University in Burbank, Calif., international business leader

Dr. David Steele-Figueredo serves as the 14th President of Woodbury University, a private, non-profit university in Burbank/Los Angeles, with an outpost in Hollywood and a second academic site in San Diego. Founded in 1884, Woodbury University is one of the oldest institutions of higher education in Southern California. The university is ranked 15th among the nation’s “25 Colleges That Add the Most Value” by Money Magazine, is ranked in the “Top 4% of Colleges and Universities Based On Economic Value” by the Economist Magazine, and is a 2014-2017 College of Distinction three years in a row. Dr. Steele-Figueredo is a seasoned international business leader who, prior to Woodbury, served as Dean of San Jose State University’s Lucas College & Graduate School of Business. Before beginning his academic career, he played a variety of strategic roles with Chevron Corporation, including senior strategic planner and financial analyst on the Chevron-Gulf merger team, executive in charge of overseeing the rapid growth of Chevron’s worldwide personal computer and satellite-based communications networks, Vice President of Finance for the largest division of Chevron, and President, Chevron Latin America. Among other posts, Dr. Steele-Figueredo served as Dean of the Silberman College of Business at Fairleigh Dickinson University, and as a professor and Dean of the College of Business at the Florida Institute of Technology. Born in Venezuela of Hispanic heritage, he attended the University of Birmingham in England, where he earned B.S. and Ph.D. degrees in chemical engineering. He later completed graduate business training at the University of California, Berkeley, and the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania.​