AllianceBernstein exec John Weisenseel named executive-in-residence in College of Business

At Lipscomb, the city is our campus and the world is our classroom as students have an opportunity to learn from successful leaders in their fields.

Kim Chaudoin | 03/22/2021

Lipscomb University’s College of Business has named longtime finance executive John Weisenseel an executive-in-residence this spring. 

Most recently, Weisenseel served as senior vice president and chief financial officer for AllianceBernstein LP, a global asset management firm. In his role at AllianceBernstein, he supervised all global finance and administrative services activities for the $9 billion market cap, $3 billion revenue publicly traded asset manager including SEC financial reporting, investor relations, treasury, tax, financial planning and analysis, strategic plan and financial forecast, real estate and office services functions. 

AllianceBernstein announced in May, 2018 it was relocating its corporate headquarters from New York City to Nashville. The 51-year-old asset manager will relocate about 1,250 jobs to Nashville. Weisenseel was a key member of the team leading the nationwide search process and executing the eventual relocation.

As executive-in-residence at Lipscomb, Weisenseel will share his experiences and expertise with undergraduate and graduate finance students as well as finance faculty to add to their classroom experience and co-curricular finance instruction.

“John Weisenseel is a well respected and successful executive. Our students and faculty will greatly benefit from his knowledge and depth of experiences as he shares his time and expertise from the real world perspective,” said Dr. Ray Eldridge, dean of Lipscomb’s College of Business. “He is passionate about making a difference in the lives of our students as together we prepare them for careers and life after graduation. John will be an inspirational role model for our students and faculty. It is a unique opportunity for any aspiring young business leader to have a resource such as John available to them.”  

Prior to joining the AllianceBernstein team in New York City in 2012, Weisenseel was senior vice president and chief financial officer for Standard & Poor’s, a subsidiary of McGraw-Hill, from 2007-2012 and senior vice president and corporate treasurer for The McGraw-Hill Companies from 2004-2007. He also served in financial leadership roles at Citigroup and Barnes & Noble Inc. Weisenseel began his career as a senior accountant at KPMG Peat Marwick in New York City.

He said he looks forward to the opportunity to interact with business students and to help them prepare for their careers.

“A CFO deals with a lot of numbers, but my favorite aspect of this role has been on the people side, in staff development. Mentoring staff and watching them grow in their careers is always the most rewarding aspect,” said Weisenseel. “This opportunity to mentor and engage with students is very appealing to me and hopefully the lessons that I have learned in my career will be beneficial to them as they prepare for their own careers. I think I can add value in terms of my background in financial markets and the global experience with a very large international organization. I've also always enjoyed being in an academic environment, interacting with professors and faculty. I find it very intellectually stimulating, very thought-provoking and to be able to combine that with engaging with students is the best of all worlds to me.”

He said the nature of the Lipscomb community reminds him of his undergraduate experience at Adelphi University, where he received a Bachelor of Business Administration degree in accounting and was a student athlete on the swim team. 

“The institutions are very similar in size and scope,” he recalled. “In my experience as an undergraduate student in that environment was that it is one where I flourished because I wasn’t just a number. Professors knew my name. When I look at Lipscomb, I see so much of a parallel to that and it’s a place where I believe I can make a difference in students’ lives.”

Weisenseel believes strongly in the importance of having a mentor professionally and personally. Throughout his career he has encouraged employees to seek a mentor. 

“I always encourage employees to have a mentor. It’s a great way to get honest feedback, to encourage you in your career development, to have someone to confide in when times get tough or to bounce something off of when you have to make a tough decision,” said Weisenseel. “I have personally found that having mentors has been incredibly helpful as I have navigated my career.”

Weisenseel moved to Nashville in 2018 when AllianceBernstein began to relocate its corporate headquarters from New York City to Music City. As he led the search for a new home base for the company, Weisenseel said it quickly became apparent that Nashville was the best place for AllianceBernstein. They met with numerous leaders representing diverse groups and interests during the exploration process. "We visited cities throughout the country, and did our due diligence. It was very apparent, very early on that there were cities outside of New York, that were exploding and growing, and Nashville was the one for us," recalled Weisenseel. "A number of factors attracted us to Nashville including the diverse population as well as the number of universities in this area that helps provide a rich talent pool. It was just unbelievable."

"On a personal note," he continued, "what I have found really satisfying is the ability to get involved in Nashville. The number of nonprofits here are just amazing, and the opportunities to get involved with them is fantastic. I'm on the board of four nonprofits, and I find that work really, really rewarding. I find that people want to get involved here. They have this characteristic that they want to make Nashville a better place and to contribute to a better quality of life ... to make an impact. You don't find that everywhere."

As do many successful leaders, Weisenseel has developed a set of guiding principles that has shaped his leadership approach over the last three decades. 

• Collaborate. Work with your team to collaboratively establish goals and objectives. 
• Empower. Empower the team to execute on the goals and encourage your team to make decisions, even if they may turn out to be wrong. "We'll regroup and we'll get through it together. That's all part of the learning process," he said. 
• Empathy. People come to the workplace with a variety of backgrounds and things going on in their lives. "At times a leader has to sit down and talk to team members to touch base with them to see if they are okay," he said. 
• Diversity & Inclusion. Encourage diversity & inclusion, “because when you have a diverse group making a decision, research shows you're going to make a better decision because you have more knowledge of differing viewpoints upon which to draw,” said Weisenseel.

In addition to his undergraduate degree from Adelphi, Weisenseel also has a Master of Business Administration degree from the University of Texas and is a Certified Public Accountant. He currently serves on the boards of Nashville Downtown Partnership, Thistle Farms, Nashville Public Television and the Nashville Zoo.

A major component of the College of Business’ approach to education is to provide opportunities for students to interact with business leaders. Weisenseel is the eighth business executive to be “in residence” in Lipscomb’s College of Business. Others with in-residence appointments include: Kevin Monroe, retired Deloitte partner and professional practice director and chair of the Tennessee State Board of Accountancy; Sue Nokes, retired senior executive at Asurion, T-Mobile and Walmart.com. among others; Burt Nowers, former co-founder and CFO of AIM Healthcare and retired president of Healing Hands International; Phil Pfeffer, president and CEO of Treemont Capital Inc. and retired CEO of the Ingram Distribution Group Inc. and Random House Inc.; Ernest Silva, retired CEO of Coca-Cola FEMSA, Mexico Division; Joe Slawek, founder, CEO and chairman of FONA International; and Greg Sandfort, retired chief executive officer of Tractor Supply Company.