BGCEL Team
David Abdow
President and CEO, Babson Global, Inc.
David Abdow is President & CEO of Babson Global, Inc. and oversees all activities and collaborations of Babson Global Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership – an organization supported by Babson Global.
Previously, David served as Dean for Babson Executive Education, where he led Babson’s efforts to meet the executive and professional development needs of business organizations and professionals worldwide.
David brings more than 20 years of senior-level experience at the intersection of higher education, business, and social sectors to Babson. Before joining the Babson community, he served in leadership roles at Northeastern University’s D’Amore-McKim School of Business and Boston College’s Center for Corporate Citizenship. In these roles, he was responsible for a portfolio of corporate engagement and executive education activities, developing a clientele that included organizations such as IBM, Bose, Ericsson, Federal Bureau of Investigation, and Dell EMC.
David’s work has been recognized for Excellence in Practice by the European Federation for Management and for Leadership in Innovation by Northeastern University.
He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Brown University and a Master of Education degree from the University of Massachusetts Amherst.
Kim Stanhouse
Director, BGCEL
Kim Stanhouse is the Director for the Babson Global Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership (BGCEL). As director she oversees strategic planning, program development and partnerships that expand BGCEL’s impact in KSA and the surrounding region. Under Kim’s leadership, the Center has seeded and grown multiple new initiatives and programs, including the KSA Founder Scale-Up Bootcamp, and Developing Entrepreneurial Mindsets project. She has also enabled the growth for the signature initiatives of BGCEL: the production of the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor reports for Saudi Arabia, and Summer@Babson. She is committed to ensuring the Center’s work creates a lasting and meaningful impact in the entrepreneurial ecosystem of the region.
Prior to coming to Babson Global in 2019, Kim taught high school history for eleven years at public and private schools in the US and United Kingdom with diverse student bodies. She has a B.A. in Secondary Education from the University of Nevada, Reno, a M.A. in European History from Birkbeck College, University of London, an Ed.M in Learning & Teaching from Harvard Graduate School of Education and a Graduate Certificate in Nonprofit Management from Harvard. She has been involved with BGCEL initiatives throughout her time at Babson Global.
Safae Jdid
Strategic Research Assistant and Program Coordinator, BGCEL
Safae Jdid is the Strategic Research Assistant and Program Coordinator at the Babson Global Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership. She first joined BGCEL as a Student Fellow while pursuing her master’s degree at Babson College, contributing to key research projects and supporting Arabic proofreading and translation.
In her current role, Safae is involved in program coordination and strategic research, with a strong focus on data gathering, database development, and analysis. She has contributed to building and managing research resources that inform BGCEL’s work across Saudi Arabia and the wider Middle East.
Safae holds a Master’s in Business Analytics from Babson College and brings a dynamic blend of analytical expertise, cross-cultural understanding, and operational skills to the Center’s mission.
Tracey O’Rourke
Administrative Assistant and Program Coordinator, Babson Global, Inc.
Tracey O’Rourke is the Executive Assistant & Project Coordinator for Babson Global and oversees all travel and event planning for the Babson Global Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership. She reports directly to the President & CEO, managing daily operations and acting as liaison between Babson Global, Babson College, and affiliates.
Tracey previously served as the school secretary at Claypit Hill School in Wayland, Massachusetts. Prior to working in the public school sector, Tracey spent nine years at Fidelity Investments in various roles such as sales and relationship management at Fidelity Charitable Gift Fund, Fidelity Charitable Services and within the Fidelity Investor Centers. Prior to her work at Fidelity, she spent a year working at Putnam Investments in the shareholder services division. She received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Providence College
Cassandra Lockett
Senior Accountant, Babson Global, Inc.
Cassandra Lockett is the Senior Accountant of Babson Global, Inc., supporting financial aspects of the Babson Global Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership.
She oversees all organizational accounting/financial functions and activities related to budgeting, forecasting, financial reporting and analysis, and cash flows, while also supporting the contract financial management activities for BGI. Specifically, she is responsible for planning, analyzing, and monitoring BGI’s annual operating budgets, maintaining complete and accurate subsidiary cost ledgers and financial statements, and working with the BGI Board of Directors and the BGI CEO to ensure BGI’s mission and Business/Financial Plan goals and objectives are met.
She has a Bachelor of Science degree from California State University, Dominguez Hills in Accounting.