Stevens School of Business Professor Earns 2026 Outstanding Teacher Award

Stevens School of Business professor Don Lombardi always strives to ground his lessons in the “3 R’s,” but with his own innovative spin. Well past the traditional reading, writing and ‘rithmetic skills, his students gain knowledge that is relevant, resonant and reliable.

That commitment to ensuring Stevens graduates are prepared for an ever-shifting employment, technology and business landscape is just one reason why he was chosen as the Stevens Alumni Association’s 2026 Outstanding Teacher Award winner. He also won the award in 2016 and is now the first School of Business professor to be honored twice.

“I'm really intent on giving these kids the skills that are going to pay the bills,” Lombardi said. “I keep trying to do that, and I don't know if it's a complete evolution, but I'm always trying to improve on it and make sure that I'm giving them stuff that they'll use right away. If I'm teaching interviewing skills, I'm teaching them how to get the job. If I'm teaching them interviewing skills from the other side, I'm teaching them how to interview the right people when they're the boss. I teach them how to deal with difficult employees because that's something they’re going to run into in the first year or two of their work. The biggest thing to me is that we've developed this dynamic alumni base from the School of Business over the past 20 years. Just exceptional people, who are doing great.”

The Outstanding Teacher Award recognizes a faculty member who continues to leave a lasting mark on students. Each year, Stevens alumni from the past five years nominate a teaching faculty member who made a meaningful impact during their undergraduate experience.

Lombardi certainly left an impression on the alum who nominated him.

“Don Lombardi was the most memorable professor I had in my time at Stevens,” his nominator wrote. “I would not have made the career choices or taken the risks I have so far in my career without his inspiration and guidance, and I know he did the same for other students like me. He was made for an award like this.”

That impact is no surprise to those familiar with Lombardi's record. He served as Academic Director of the Stevens Veterans Program, secured more than $4 million in grants and launched the SATMax College Prep Program. A nationally known industry leader, he has consulted with more than 170 healthcare organizations across all 50 states and 10 countries, and authored 12 books and more than 40 articles on healthcare leadership and management. He served as a U.S. Marine Corps officer, becoming the youngest commissioned officer during the 1970s. His career reflects a combination of scholarship, leadership and an unwavering dedication to student and veteran success. It's a body of work that has earned him widespread recognition across the Stevens community.

Despite working and teaching in a complex industry, Lombardi's teaching philosophy is built on a simple foundation: staying relevant means constantly monitoring the pulse of what students will actually face when they graduate. Staying resonant means delivering lessons that echo long after the semester ends, and above all, never losing sight of the human connection.

"They don't care about what I know until they know that I care about them," he said. "That's a mantra I keep repeating to younger faculty. I say it to the kids the first day of class, and then I go and try to prove it."

To ensure both he and his students stay current, Lombardi maintains active connections with alumni on LinkedIn, reads a newspaper cover to cover every Sunday and produces a weekly “podcast” for his courses. That last habit became a cornerstone of his transition to online teaching, a shift he has fully leaned into.

"I think the learning part is a different set of muscles," he said. "The biggest thing with teaching online is providing a lot of information, but not overloading it, and constant communication. That means the podcast once a week, 24/7 coverage for students on email and adjusting the material. I always go through the module again and say, ‘If I were a 20-year-old junior, how would I be responding to this?’"

Based on the trophies on his mantle, it’s clear that students have been responding well. For Lombardi, receiving the Outstanding Teacher Award a second time carries a weight that goes beyond professional recognition.

"It never ceases to be an incredible surprise," he explained. "It really means a lot. I think this one means a lot to me because the school was so good to me with my recent health issues. More importantly, we have an incredible group of students who have graduated from the School of Business over the past 15 years. You could tell me MIT. You could tell me Harvard. You could tell me University of Chicago. I would put up our students against any group of kids that have come out of any business school in the country."

It is in those students that he finds the deepest meaning of his teaching career.

"The reward for me, bigger than all of this, is knowing that parents who've really poured their heart and soul into their kid sent them to Stevens and trusted me,” he said. “It's on my watch. I have those kids for four critical years. Knowing that I did a good job with that is terrific. And by the way, it isn't that hard, given the talent that you get at Stevens."

Lombardi and the rest of the Stevens Alumni Association award winners will be honored during Alumni Weekend in Hoboken on June 5-6, 2026.