Guiding the Ethics Center Forward: Executive Transition Update

After eight years of dedicated service, Don Heider's tenure as executive director of the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics came to a close on August 31. Since joining Santa Clara University in 2018, Dr. Heider led the Markkula Center with enthusiasm, savvy, and steadfast commitment in an era of rapid technological and social change. d

While the search for the new executive director relaunches, SCU Provost and Executive Vice President James M. Glaser has appointed Ann Skeet, as the interim executive director of the center.

Skeet has served the Markkula Center since 2014 as the senior director of leadership ethics. A recognized voice in applied ethics, Skeet frequently collaborates with global institutions, including serving as a member of the AI Research Group at the Vatican Dicastery for Culture and Education and contributing to AI and ethics initiatives with the World Economic Forum and the Partnership on AI. She is also a member of the Association of Jesuit Colleges and Universities’ Commission on Artificial Intelligence. She co-authored Ethics in the Age of Disruptive Technologies: An Operational Roadmap, Voting for Ethics: A Guide for U.S. Voters Second Edition, and teaches ethics literacy and board-level technology governance at SCU’s Leavey Executive Center. Her research has identified conditions that make it more likely for ethics to be used in organizations and she is currently working with colleagues at the Markkula Center and the Leavey School of Business to explore which AI risks matter most to decision-makers during mergers and acquisitions.

We appreciate Skeet's leadership during this transitional period and warmly welcome her in her new role.

What stands out most during Heider’s tenure is how the Center has evolved. The Center has grown as a nationally and internationally recognized voice on some of the most consequential ethical questions of our time.

Three areas that capture that transformation: our work at the intersection of ethics and technology, our expansion into venture capital, and the dramatic growth of the Center's reach and impact.

Incorporating  Ethics into Technology

One of our most ambitious initiatives has been the Institute for Technology, Ethics, and Culture (ITEC), an unprecedented collaboration among the Markkula Center, Silicon Valley technology leaders, and the Vatican's Dicastery for Culture and Education.

That partnership has so far produced three important books. Ethics in the Age of Disruptive Technologies: An Operational Roadmap translates ethical principles into practical guidance for organizations working with AI, machine learning, encryption, and other emerging technologies. It has generated more than 41,000 website views and more than 5,000 downloads or purchases, along with 74 media stories reaching an estimated 488 million people and 21 speaking invitations across the U.S. and Mexico.

At the same time, an academic working group of ethicists and moral theologians explored the deeper questions AI raises about humanity, morality, and society. Their work resulted in Encountering Artificial Intelligence: Ethical and Anthropological Investigations, and Reclaiming Human Agency in the Age of Artificial Intelligence, both published by the Journal of Moral Theology. A fourth book on AI and education is due in November, 2026. Together, these projects demonstrate the Center's ability to connect practical ethical challenges with deeper questions about the kind of society we want technology to create.

Applying Ethical Decision Making to Venture Capital

We also recognized that ethical decision making needs to begin much earlier in the technology lifecycle—ideally in the planning process, before products reach the market.

In 2022, the Center convened a working group to explore ethics and early-stage investing. That effort became the Lucas Institute for Venture Ethics, launched with a $1 million grant from the Lucas Brothers Foundation. 

This represents an important shift for the Center: rather than asking companies to consider ethics after products are developed, we are helping put ethics into the investment and business decisions that shape those products from the beginning.

Expanding Our Voice and Impact

The Center's influence has grown dramatically. Our scholars now contribute regularly to publications including Forbes, MarketWatch, and the National Catholic Reporter, while our work has appeared in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, USA Today, Newsweek, U.S. News & World Report, Reuters, Euronews, Al Jazeera, and India TV among many others.

In the past year alone, the Center was cited more than 1,700 times in media outlets around the world .

Our website audience is increasingly global, with significant readership in the Philippines, India, Canada, and Australia. Social media followership also grew to more than 19,000.

At the same time, we have continued to deepen our impact on Santa Clara students through internships, fellowships, student projects, and a new certificate in ethical decision making which was offered 14 times during the 2025-2026 academic year.

Finally, we have worked to ensure that this growth is sustainable. By aligning staff and resources with our strategic priorities and strengthening fundraising—including the $1 million Lucas Institute grant and philanthropic support for initiatives such as the Sutter Health Fellowship in Health Equity and Innovation—we have built a stronger foundation for the Center's future.

Under Heider’s leadership, the Markkula Center has become an institution that brings ethics into the decisions shaping technology, business, medicine, education, and society—and extends Santa Clara University's voice into that global conversation.

After a well-earned sabbatical, Heider will resume his faculty position as a tenured professor in the Department of Communication in the SCU College of Arts and Sciences. We want to thank Don for his eight years of leadership, his contributions to the center, and wish him all success in his future endeavors.