Overview

Kenneth Freeman is a transformational CEO, chairman, private equity director and business school dean. Freeman is known for his leadership in executing or advising many successful turnarounds and providing record shareholder returns. In 2010 and again in 2013, Freeman was named one of the 100 best performing CEOs in the world according to a study of global business leadership conducted at INSEAD and published in the Harvard Business Review.

Career History

In addition to his work at The ExCo Group, Freeman has served on a number of boards (often as chairman or lead director), including Laureate Education, Production Resource Group, Lightcast, HCA Healthcare, Lake Region Medical, Masonite, Alliance Imaging, TRW, Dow Corning Corporation, Ciba-Corning, Fleet Bank of New York, Bucknell University, the Graduate Management Admission Council, and the Corning Incorporated Foundation.

Freeman served as CEO and Chairman of Quest Diagnostics Incorporated after the company was spun off from Corning Incorporated. He created exceptional value for shareholders by leading a dramatic turnaround grounded in culture change, with a focus on employee engagement and customer satisfaction, that yielded the third-highest five-year shareholder returns among the Fortune 500. In 2004, Freeman was named to the Business Week 50. Market capitalization increased from $350 million at the time of the spin-off to over $9 billion.

Most recently, Freeman was appointed president ad interim of Boston University in August 2023 and served until July 2024. Before his appointment, he served in a variety of roles at BU, including interim vice president for human resources during the COVID pandemic and interim vice president and associate provost for online programs at scale. He joined the BU community in 2010, serving as the Allen Questrom Professor and Dean of the Questrom School of Business for eight years.

From 2010-2013, he was a senior advisor to KKR, serving on the firm’s portfolio management committee. Freeman joined Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co (KKR) in 2005, where he was a managing director and partner.

Personal

Freeman received an M.B.A. with distinction from Harvard Business School and a B.S.B.A. from Bucknell University.