Dr. Ruchi M. Watson serves as CEO of the Goff Strategic Leadership Institute at the University of Utah. Under her leadership, the Institute has experienced 700% growth in demand, engaging more than 2,800 students through 5,000+ experiential learning engagements across the full university ecosystem.

Ruchi brings over 20 years of experience spanning strategy, operations, and leadership development. She previously served on the Executive Team at the David Eccles School of Business, leading strategic initiatives, communications, analytics, and accreditation under former dean and current University of Utah President Taylor Randall. Earlier in her career, she held leadership roles at Target Corporation and Bain & Company, bridging enterprise strategy with institution-building at scale.

Named one of Utah Business magazine’s Most Influential Women, Ruchi is recognized for her ability to connect strategic insight with actionable execution—helping individuals and institutions translate big ideas into measurable outcomes.

Before joining the University of Utah, Dr. Watson was a Senior Marketing Manager and Enterprise Strategy Lead at Target Corporation in Minneapolis. She also worked as a consultant at Bain & Company in New York City and in Research and Development at General Mills in Minneapolis. Dr. Watson holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University. She holds a doctoral degree in Higher Education Management from the University of Pennsylvania.