By Molly Mitchell
The University of Virginia Darden School of Business has appointed technology strategist and alumnus Patrick Higgins (MBA ’16) as managing director of the LaCross Institute for Ethical AI in Business, effective 1 June 2026.
Higgins returns to Darden at a pivotal moment for organizations deciding how to navigate the opportunities and risks of generative AI. Higgins will bring his experience spanning enterprise technology transformation, AI innovation and digital strategy to bear in leading The LaCross Institute to meet this transformative time in technology and business.
A proud “double Hoo,” Higgins got his undergraduate degree from UVA and earned his MBA at Darden. He has spent his career helping organizations translate emerging technologies into business value, including enterprise transformation work at IBM, AI and mobile innovation leadership at WillowTree, and most recently developing AI-first delivery strategies at Robots & Pencils.
“In short,” he says, “my career has centered on helping organizations go from technology promise to practice.”
“We are excited to welcome Patrick back to Darden, bringing his many talents and expertise at the intersections of what is happening today in technology, new business creation and responsible leadership to the LaCross Institute,” says Marc Johnson, senior associate dean and chief strategy and innovation officer. “As the Institute fuels Darden’s impact in research, teaching, learning and engagement with the practice of ethical AI in business today, Patrick will bring some of the latest from the field to partnership with leaders across Darden.”
Succeeding Marc Ruggiano, who lead the institute during its first two years, Higgins will lead efforts to advance the LaCross Institute’s mission to help leaders harness the potential of AI to create human value and new business models while ensuring that AI use is ethical, inclusive and socially responsible.
The institute brings together Darden’s strengths in business ethics, stakeholder theory and analytical decision-making to help leaders apply AI responsibly across industries. Its work spans faculty research, interdisciplinary collaboration, student engagement and partnerships with industry.
“The LaCross Institute was founded on the conviction that AI leadership requires both analytical rigor and ethical clarity,” says Rajkumar Venkatesan, co-academic director of the LaCross Institute. “Patrick understands that firsthand. He’s spent his career at the intersection of emerging technologies and business impact. His appointment positions the institute to achieve its mission of building a community of scholars, students and industry leaders who develop frameworks informed by academic research that help organizations deploy AI responsibly and effectively.”
A lifetime tech enthusiast, Higgins traces his interest in emerging technologies back to around age 4, making masterpieces with Paintbrush and searching for Carmen Sandiego on his family’s first computer, the IBM PS/2 running DOS. A little later, he first came to Darden for his MBA after a stint working at IBM after college, looking for a way to reset and approach his career more ambitiously, aiming for a bigger impact with more cutting-edge software. He even found his original application essay for Darden, which focused on his goal to make his tech career meaningful and positive for the world.
“It’s been a really fun full circle moment to come back here and continue doing what I was so passionate and excited about in 2014,” he says.
In 2026, the generative AI wave is bringing a lot of flotsam and jetsam in along with the new possibilities presented by the technology. Higgins believes that Darden can be a trusted source for leaders navigating this new paradigm in business.
“In AI especially,” Higgins says, “there’s just so much evolving daily and conversations are happening across every part of our lives. Some of this is noise and some is signal, both in the potential value as well as the ethical questions we face.” Through the LaCross Institute, he aims to support efforts to cut through the noise and develop legitimate approaches to integrating AI responsibly.
He observes a strong thread of uncertainty among leaders and executives on the best way to handle AI, frozen at the crossroads of the technology’s potential, its risks, and the speed at which it’s moving.
“What is still missing are broader frameworks of how to approach and start unpacking this problem with your teams,” he says. “I do still hear that need in the market for a trusted source in a time where there is a lot of information flowing around.”
He says that Darden and UVA are well positioned to help fill that gap through research, collaboration and a focus on innovation that creates positive societal impact.
Higgins also pointed to Darden’s longstanding emphasis on combining analytical rigor with human-centered leadership, collaboration and real-world problem-solving. “That’s always been a core part of the approach at Darden,” he says. “I think the LaCross Institute, if we expand it in the right way, will be an extension of that culture applied specifically to this space.”
The University of Virginia Darden School of Business prepares responsible global leaders through unparalleled transformational learning experiences. Darden’s graduate degree programs (Full-Time MBA, Part-Time MBA, Executive MBA, MSBA and Ph.D.) and Executive Education & Lifelong Learning programs offered by the Darden School Foundation set the stage for a lifetime of career advancement and impact. Darden’s top-ranked faculty, renowned for teaching excellence, inspires and shapes modern business leadership worldwide through research, thought leadership and business publishing. Darden has Grounds in Charlottesville, Virginia, and the Washington, D.C., area and a global community that includes 20,000 alumni in 90 countries. Darden was established in 1955 at the University of Virginia, a top public university founded by Thomas Jefferson in 1819 in Charlottesville, Virginia.
Molly Mitchell
Senior Associate Director, Editorial and Media Relations
Darden School of Business
University of Virginia
MitchellM@darden.virginia.edu
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