Written by Molly Mitchell
The University of Virginia Darden School of Management has appointed technology strategist and alumnus Patrick Higgins (MBA ’16) as managing director of the La Crosse Business Ethics AI Institute, effective June 1, 2026.
Higgins returns to Darden at a pivotal time in determining how organizations navigate the opportunities and risks of generative AI. Mr. Higgins will bring his experience across enterprise technology transformation, AI innovation, and digital strategy to lead the La Crosse Institute in this era of transformation in technology and business.
A proud “double fu,” Higgins earned his bachelor’s degree from UVA and his MBA from Darden. He has spent his career helping organizations transform emerging technologies into business value, including leading enterprise transformation efforts at IBM, leading AI and mobile innovation at WillowTree, and most recently developing AI-first delivery strategies at Robots & Pencils.
“In a nutshell, my career has been centered around helping organizations move from technology promise to practice,” he says.
“We are thrilled to welcome Patrick to Darden. He brings a wealth of talent and expertise to the intersection of what’s happening today in the areas of technology, new business creation, and responsible leadership at the La Crosse Institute,” said Mark Johnson, senior associate dean and chief strategy and innovation officer. “Patrick will bring some of the latest information from the field to our partnerships with leaders across Darden as the Institute advances Darden’s impact in research, teaching, learning and commitment to ethical AI practices in today’s business.”
Replacing Mark Rugiano, who led the Institute for the first two years, Higgins will lead efforts to advance the La Crosse Institute’s mission of helping leaders harness the potential of AI to create human value and new business models, while ensuring that the use of AI is ethical, inclusive and socially responsible.
“A lot is evolving every day, especially with AI, and conversations are happening in every part of our lives. Some of it is noise and some of it is signal, both in the potential value and the ethical questions we face.”
Patrick Higgins (MBA ’16), Managing Director, La Crosse Ethics AI Institute
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 activities span faculty research, interdisciplinary collaboration, student engagement, and industry partnerships.
“The La Crosse Institute was founded on the belief that AI leadership requires both analytical rigor and ethical clarity,” said Rajkumar Venkatesan, Co-Academic Director of the La Crosse Institute. “Patrick understands that first-hand. He has spent his career at the intersection of emerging technologies and business impact. His appointment enables us to achieve the Institute’s mission of building a community of academics, students, and industry leaders who develop academic research-based frameworks that enable organizations to responsibly and effectively deploy AI.”
A lifelong technology enthusiast, Higgins traces his interest in emerging technology to when he was 4 years old, creating masterpieces with a paintbrush and searching for Carmen Sandiego on his family’s first computer, an IBM PS/2 running DOS. A little later, he first came to Darden to get his MBA after working at IBM after college. I was looking for a way to reset my career and become more ambitious and make a bigger impact with more cutting-edge software. He also found Darden’s original application essay. The essay focused on his goal of making a career in technology meaningful and positive for the world.
“It was a really fun full-circle moment to come back here and continue doing what I was passionate about and excited about in 2014,” he says.
In 2026, the wave of generative AI brings with it a plethora of flotsam and jetliners, along with new possibilities brought about by technology. Higgins believes Darden can be a trusted resource for leaders navigating this new paradigm in business.
“A lot is evolving every day, especially with AI, and conversations are happening in every part of our lives. Some of it is noise and some of it is signal, both in terms of potential value and the ethical issues we face,” Higgins said. Through the LaCross Institute, he aims to support efforts to cut through the noise and develop legitimate approaches to responsibly integrating AI.
He observes that there is strong uncertainty among leaders and executives about the best way to handle AI, stuck at the crossroads of the technology’s potential, its risks, and the speed of its advancement.
“What’s still missing is a broader framework for how to approach this problem with your team and start figuring it out,” he says. “In this age of information overload, we still hear people in the market asking for reliable sources of information.”
He said Darden and UVA are well-positioned to help bridge that gap through research, collaboration and a focus on innovation that creates a positive impact on society.
Higgins also noted Darden’s long-standing focus on combining analytical rigor with human-centered leadership, collaboration, and real-world problem solving. “That’s always been a core part of Darden’s approach,” he says. “I think the La Crosse Institute, if we can scale it the right way, will be a unique application of that culture to this area.”
