James I. Cash, Jr.

Business school professor James I. Cash, Jr. was born on October 25, 1947 in Fort Worth, Texas to Juanita Maurine Beaty and James I. Cash, Sr. He received his B.S. degree in mathematics in 1969 from Texas Christian University in Fort Worth, Texas. He earned his M.S. degree in computer science in 1974 from the Purdue University Graduate School of Mathematical Science and his Ph.D. degree in information systems management in 1976 from the Purdue University Krannert Graduate School of Management in West Lafayette, Indiana.

After receiving his Ph.D. degree, Cash was hired as an assistant professor of business administration by Harvard Business School in Cambridge, Massachusetts. His work focused on information technology. He was appointed to the U.S. Department of State Advisory Committee on Transnational Enterprises in 1976. In 1985, Cash became the first tenured African American professor at Harvard Business School. For more than twenty-five years at Harvard Business School, Cash taught in all its major programs: the M.B.A. program, the program for management development, the program for global leadership, and the advanced management program. In 1998, Cash was named the Harvard Business School James E. Robison Professor of Business Administration.

Cash is the author of numerous scholarly articles and books, including Building the Information-Age Organization: Structure, Control, and Information Technologies (1994), Instructors Manual for Corporate Information Systems Management (1992), and Corporate Information Systems Management: Issues Facing Senior Executives. Cash retired from Harvard Business School in 2003 and founded his professional development firm, The Cash Catalyst LLC, in 2011. He became the co-owner of the Boston Celtics beginning in 2003.

Cash has served on many corporate boards throughout his career including Microsoft Corporation, Walmart, General Electric, Sprint, State Street Corporation, and The Chubb Ltd. He also served on the advisory board for the National Museum of African American History and Culture, the board of trustees of the National Association of Basketball Coaches Foundation, the Harlem Children’s Zone, Newton-Wellesley Hospital, the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, and Massachusetts General Hospital.

Cash has been the recipient of many awards and honors, including the United Negro College Fund Lifetime Achievement Award in 2023; Trailblazer Award from the Grain Thought Leaders Atrium in 2017; the Greenhill Award from Harvard Business School in 2003; and the John S. Day Award from the Purdue University Krannert School of Business in 1994. His alma mater, Texas Christian University, unveiled a statue in his honor in 2021 and awarded him an Honorary Doctorate the following year. Harvard Business School re-named the Glass House the Cash House for him in 2022. It is the only building named in honor of an African American on Harvard Business School’s campus.

Cash lives with his wife, Clemmie L. Warren, in Sarasota, Florida. They have two adult children, Tari Renae Cash and Derek Cash.

Cash was interviewed by The HistoryMakers on January 5, 2023.